THIS is Why Most Indie Games Fail

Summary

This video script delves into the critical role of marketing in the success of indie games, highlighting the importance of creating a marketable product. It explores Steam's top wishlisted indie games to understand their appeal, showcasing examples like 'Light No Fire' with its procedural world and 'Tiny Glade' with its cozy gameplay. The script emphasizes that a game's art, sound, and gameplay must be compelling to stand out, and that marketing a polished, appealing game is significantly more effective.

Takeaways

• 🎮 Marketing is crucial for the success of games, especially as the market becomes more saturated with developers vying for attention.
• 🚀 A game's success is often determined by its appeal, which is influenced by factors such as visuals, gameplay, and storytelling.
• 🏞️ 'Light No Fire' by Hello Games exemplifies a game with strong appeal due to its beautiful graphics, fantasy theme, and multiplayer aspect.
• 🏡 'Tiny Glade' showcases the success of a cozy game with a focus on relaxation and creation, appealing to players with its art style and sound design.
• 🎨 'Mouse' stands out with its unique black and white art style, blending vibrant visuals with a first-person shooter gameplay.
• 🌞 'Solar Punk' catches the eye with its bright and vibrant art direction, offering a charming and relaxing survival experience with exploration elements.
• 🎯 The key to a game's success on platforms like Steam is its marketability, which is determined by its ability to immediately appeal to potential players.
• 🛠️ Developers should focus on making their game as polished as possible in all aspects, from visuals to gameplay, to increase its marketability.
• 🎼 Sound design and music are integral parts of a game's appeal, contributing to the overall experience and setting the mood.
• 💡 A game's thumbnail and initial presentation on platforms like Steam are critical in attracting players and should be carefully crafted.
• 🌐 Social media platforms and the internet provide developers with numerous channels to promote their games, but quality and appeal are still paramount.

Q & A

Why is marketing important for game developers?

Marketing is crucial for game developers because it helps them gain visibility among the vast number of games being released, especially as game development becomes more accessible and the market becomes saturated.

What is the primary reason many games fail to make a significant impact despite marketing efforts?

The main reason many games fail to make a significant impact is that they lack marketability; they may not have features or qualities that immediately appeal to potential players.

How does the script suggest analyzing the success of games in terms of marketing?

The script suggests analyzing the success of games by looking at Steam's top wishlisted games and understanding what makes certain games more appealing to players.

What game is mentioned as an example of a game with strong marketability due to its visuals and theme?

The game 'Light No Fire' is mentioned as an example of a game with strong marketability due to its gorgeous visuals, fantasy theme, and the fact that it is developed by Hello Games, known for 'No Man's Sky'.

What is the appeal of 'Tiny Glade' and why is it highly wishlisted?

'Tiny Glade' appeals to players with its cozy, non-stressful gameplay and beautiful art style. It is highly wishlisted because it offers a relaxing experience and is easy on the eyes and ears.

What makes the art style of the game 'Mouse' stand out?

The art style of 'Mouse' stands out because it is vibrant and full of life despite being black and white, reminiscent of early Disney characters in a first-person shooter setting.

What is the significance of the game 'Solar Punk' in the context of the script?

'Solar Punk' is significant as it exemplifies a game with a charming art direction, a relaxing atmosphere, and a unique concept that has helped it achieve success on Kickstarter.

Why is it important for a game to be polished and appealing in every aspect according to the script?

It is important for a game to be polished and appealing in every aspect because it makes marketing efforts more effective. A game that is well-crafted and appealing will naturally attract more attention and interest from potential players.

What advice does the script give to developers regarding the development and marketing of their games?

The script advises developers to focus on making their games as good as possible in every aspect, including visuals, sound, gameplay, and story, as this will make marketing easier and increase the chances of their games being successful.

What should developers consider when deciding the scope of their game projects?

Developers should consider their team size and capabilities when deciding the scope of their game projects. It is suggested that smaller teams or solo developers focus on games that are manageable and play to their strengths.

Outlines

00:00

🎮 The Importance of Marketability in Game Development

The script discusses the necessity of marketing games effectively, especially as the industry becomes more accessible and competitive. It emphasizes that many developers struggle to gain attention despite their efforts, and suggests that understanding why some games are more successful than others is crucial. The speaker embarks on an 'adventure' to analyze Steam's top wishlisted indie games to identify what makes them appealing. The analysis includes games like 'Light No Fire,' which is visually stunning and developed by Hello Games, and 'Tiny Glade,' a cozy game with a beautiful art style and relaxing sound design. The summary highlights the importance of creating games that are not only functional but also have immediate appeal, as this makes marketing efforts more effective.

05:00

🌟 The Art of Crafting Wish-List Worthy Games

This paragraph continues the exploration of what makes a game stand out on Steam's wishlist. It features games like 'Mouse,' a first-person shooter with a unique black-and-white art style reminiscent of classic cartoons, and 'Solar Punk,' a vibrant and charming survival game with a focus on exploration. The speaker notes that each game on the wishlist has earned its place through a combination of appealing visuals, sound, and gameplay. The takeaway is clear: to make a game that is marketable, developers must excel in every aspect of game design, from visuals and sound to gameplay and storytelling. A polished and appealing game will naturally attract attention and make marketing efforts more successful.

Keywords

💡Marketing

Marketing is the process of promoting and selling products or services, including the planning and implementation of ideas, offers, and activities aimed at attracting customers and retaining their interest. In the context of the video, marketing is crucial for game developers to succeed, as it helps their games stand out in a crowded market. The video emphasizes the importance of marketing in conjunction with creating a high-quality product.

💡Developers

Developers in this script refer to individuals or teams who create video games. The video discusses the challenges faced by developers in a market saturated with new games and the importance of marketing for their success. Examples in the script include Hello Games, the developers behind 'No Man's Sky', and the two developers of 'Tiny Glade'.

💡Indie Titles

Indie Titles are games that are typically created by independent developers or small studios rather than large game publishers. The script specifically mentions looking at Steam's top wishlisted Indie titles to analyze what makes certain games more appealing to players.

💡Steam

Steam is a digital distribution platform developed by Valve Corporation, which offers digital rights management, multiplayer gaming, video streaming, and social networking services. In the video, the top wishlisted game page on Steam is used as a reference to study the success factors of certain games.

💡Wishlisted

In the context of the video, 'wishlisted' refers to games that users have added to their wish lists on the Steam platform, indicating a high level of interest and desire to play these games in the future. The script uses this metric to identify popular and appealing games.

💡Appeal

Appeal in this video refers to the attractiveness or interest a game holds for potential players. The script discusses how games with immediate appeal are easier to market and sell, as they can instantly make people feel something or want to experience the game.

💡Procedural World

A procedural world is a game environment that is generated algorithmically rather than being hand-crafted by designers. The script mentions 'Light No Fire' as an example of a game with a procedural world, which can offer a sense of exploration and discovery for players.

💡Cozy Game

A cozy game, as described in the script in relation to 'Tiny Glade', is a type of video game that emphasizes relaxation and comfort, often with a focus on creating beautiful and serene environments without stress or combat. The script highlights how this type of game can be appealing due to its calming nature.

💡Art Style

Art style in the context of the video refers to the visual design and aesthetic choices made in a game. The script discusses how games like 'Mouse and' and 'Solar Punk' have unique and appealing art styles that contribute to their attractiveness and marketability.

💡Kickstarter

Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform where creators can raise funds for their projects from the public. The script mentions 'Solar Punk' as an example of a game that exceeded its funding goal on Kickstarter, indicating its appeal and marketability.

💡Marketable

Marketable in this video refers to a product's ability to be easily sold or promoted due to its features or qualities. The script emphasizes that making a game marketable, through high-quality design and features, will make the marketing process much more effective.

Highlights

Games need effective marketing to succeed in a crowded market.

Developers must stand out in a sea of content on platforms like blogs, TikTok, and Steam.

Many games fail to make a splash due to a lack of marketability.

Exploring Steam's top wishlisted game page reveals why certain games attract more attention.

Light No Fire, a game by Hello Games, showcases the importance of stunning visuals and thematic appeal.

Games with procedural worlds and multiplayer elements can captivate players' imaginations.

Tiny Glade demonstrates the appeal of a cozy, non-stressful gaming experience.

A game's art style can significantly impact its marketability, as shown by Mouse's vibrant black and white aesthetic.

Solar Punk's bright and charming art direction and Kickstarter success highlight the power of visual appeal.

Games on Steam's most wishlisted list are all deserving of their spots, showcasing quality and appeal.

Marketing is most effective when the product itself has immediate appeal.

Developers should focus on making their game as polished and appealing as possible.

A game's success is tied to its ability to evoke an emotional response quickly.

Developers should create games that play to their strengths, especially when resources are limited.

The transcript emphasizes the importance of a game's overall quality in facilitating marketing efforts.

A well-crafted game can significantly reduce the difficulty of marketing, as it naturally attracts attention.

The video concludes with the advice to put one's best work into every aspect of game development for maximum impact.

Transcripts

if we want our games to succeed we have

to Market them as any developers we know

this it's pounded into US constantly and

as developing games continues to get

more accessible there is a flood of

developers posting blogs devlogs Tik

toks screenshots all over the internet

all vying for some shred of attention

and the reality is a lot of them are not

going to get where they want to go their

games are not going to make the huge

Splash that they are hoping for and this

is for one very simple reason to

properly understand what this reason is

we are going to go on a little Adventure

we are going to delve into steam's top

wishlisted game page to see if we can

pick out why some people want to play

certain games more than others here we

go so we are on steam's top wish list

page and we are filtering to only

include Indie titles and I'd rather look

at something a little less known than

some of these top ones now I swear when

I was prepping for this video I saw

light no fire in the number four spot

and I clicked on it I didn't know

anything about it I had never heard of

it before and look at this a multiplayer

Earth you got three human looking

characters and a bunny but they're

overlook this gorgeous landscape I feel

like this has taken a page out of breath

of the Wild's opening shot where you

emerge from the cave and the camera pans

over all of Hyrule for the first time it

really made you want to explore that's

what this is doing a procedural Earth

okay I'm getting some strong no man Sky

Vibes here a fantasy Earth an unexplored

earth all footage ingame multiplayer I

thought this was a little dig at the No

Man's sky devs here but the joke is on

me because only after watching the

trailer for this game I went back to the

page and saw that it was made by Hello

Games who are the developers behind no

man sky so this game is obviously

gorgeous and to top it off it's fantasy

themed which I love so much I'm seeing

dragons in some of the footage it even

looks like you can ride them so this is

a game about surviving building and

exploring a procedural world with your

friends to me after looking at this game

there is no mystery of why this is

number four on the top wish listed List

It clearly deserves that spot I saw it

for the first time today and I want to

buy it every nook and cranny in this

trailer looked fun and beautiful and it

made me want to EXP explore this

procedural world now as of 2020 Hello

Games had 26 employees so I'm sure it's

more now so this kind of scope for a

game would not be realistic for a small

team or for a solo Dev so let's look at

something a little smaller number six on

the list tiny Glade this is the only

game featured in this video that I had

already heard of prior to writing this

script this is a game made by two

developers and if you don't know

anything about this game there's no

combat there's no Resource Management

there's no timers no stress basically

this is the epitome me of what a cozy

game is you turn it on you press play

and you make something beautiful their

description says just kick back and turn

forgotten Meadows into lovable diaramas

and their screenshots show it every

image of this game could be a background

on my computer so again obviously really

gorgeous art style I'm guessing it's

using some variation of the wave

function collapse algorithm to make

their levels this way that's just a

guess but if you know how they're

accomplishing what they're doing here

let me know down in the comments I

really want to know but everything about

this game is not only easy to look at

but it's also easy to listen to the

sound design impresses me just as much

as the art style just listen for a

[Music]

second I love that this game is so high

on the most wishlisted list because the

scope of this game is obviously so much

smaller than a game like light no fire

it's a very small and cozy gaming

experience it knows what it wants to do

and it does not go beyond that it would

have been so easy to take with what they

have now as a base and turn it into like

a real- Time Strategy game where you're

defending your base but nope they just

stopped at make something pretty let's

do another one Mouse and by the way if

you're enjoying the video then thank you

if you leave a like or a comment so

these guys did what cuphead did with art

style but turned it into a firstperson

shooter I cannot get over how amazing

this game looks it's somehow vibrant and

full of life even though it's black and

white it's not Mickey Mouse characters

but like it's Mickey Mouse characters in

a firstperson shooter game basically

it's incredible it also looks really fun

regardless of the art style I'm not

really sure how well I could handle the

1930s Jazz track the whole time I was

playing a game but that's just my

personal thing it's definitely staying

true to its style I'm having a really

hard time looking beyond the art style

for this one cuz it looks so good but

you've got a variety of different

weapons and consumables a melee attack

sniper scope and explosives all with

really juicy and funl looking animations

you can't look at this game and be

surprised that it's one of the most wish

listed games on Steam right now number

11 on the list solar Punk it's got a

nice bright thumbnail which makes it

stand out compared to the ones above and

below it and right when you enter their

steam page blue sky and bright and

vibrant bright and vibrant so they're

setting the mood before the video even

starts playing we've got some really

nice relaxing music with these beautiful

floating islands in the background this

is pre-alpha footage so I'm sure it's

only going to get better with time cute

little watering mechanic adorable farm

animals and you get a really nice feel

for the graphics in this sh sh they're

simple but very pretty the whole art

Direction reminds me a little bit of

breath of the wild or tears of the

Kingdom but with less cell shading you

can even ride these cool blimp things to

take you to the floating islands okay

it's not always sunny here but this game

is oozing with charm and look they're on

Kickstarter so again obviously after

watching this trailer This Game Belongs

on this spot every little detail I saw

was nailed down to Perfection it's a

survival game focused heavily on

exploration and what's going to make you

want to explore more than taking a blimp

to some floating islands off in the

distance and because of how pristine

this game looked and the feelings I felt

when I watched the trailer I was not at

all surprised to see that this game made

10 times beyond their goal on

Kickstarter if you dig through the most

wishlisted games on Steam what you will

notice is that not a single game on

there feels out of place there's no

games where you're like what the heck is

this doing here this looks like garbage

there's nothing like that every single

game on this page deserves its spot at

the beginning I said a lot of aspiring

developers marketing efforts will not

get them where they want to go for one

very simple reason hopefully after

seeing some of these pieces of art on

Steam it's a little bit more clear why

marketing only really works if the

product is marketable selling something

that has immediate appeal is so much

easier than trying to convince people to

buy something that they're not sure the

like there's a big difference between a

functional game that works and a game

that has appeal or makes people

instantly feel something what makes a

game appealing is difficult to put into

words but it's very very easy to

experience when I was writing the script

for this video I randomly just chose

games from Steam based on the thumbnail

that appealed to me and I walked away

wanting to buy every single one of them

solar Punk blowing their Kickstarter

goal out of the water does not surprise

me at all because within the first 5

Seconds of watching their trailer I

instantly knew that that game would give

me an amazing experience and it's the

same with all the rest we looked at so

the obvious takeaway from this is to

make your game good on every front

possible because it will pay P off it

will make marketing your game much

easier make it beautiful give it the

soundtrack it deserves give it crunchy

sound effects put thought into the story

ensure that the game play is tight put

your best work into every aspect of the

game because it shows marketing is

obviously very very important but

marketing a game that is marketable is

going to exponentially increase your

marketing efforts no game is ever going

to be perfect but your game should be as

polished as possible and ideally the

game that you're working on is going to

play to your strengths especially if

you're a solo developer or on a small

team that's all I got bye