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During Development

Marketing begins before you even finish your game. There are things you can do now that take a little
time, but will pay off BIG when you launch. The checklist items in this section should be completed
before you complete your development and publish your game.

• Research your target market.
  • Make sure you understand who plays your game and why. This can evolve over time.
• Get your Game HQ up and running.
  • Your game HQ is the central point that you sell your game. Make sure it’s live early.
• Create an email list for interested gamers.
  • You can use Mailchimp for free, but just make sure you can capture people’s info.
• Build a review capture system.
  • Implement something into your game that asks for a review at high points.
• Implement and in-game help of support page, or email address.
  • People leave a lot of bug reports as bad reviews…catch them before they do.
• Install analytics in-game and on-site.
  • Keep track of what happens when people visit your site and play your game.
• Find 20 people to play the opening experience and get feedback.
  • The more the better, but 20 minimum need to play the completed opening few levels.

Game Completion

There is a period (or there should be you slackers!) between when you finish your game, and whe n you
launch. The items in this section should be done right around the same time you complete your game.

• Design your (kick-ass) icon.
  • Your icon is the single most important image in your game. Make sure it draws them in.
• Finish and upload your trailer.
  • Video can increase your downloads by 10% - 30%. Do not skip this! It’s worth the time.
• Assemble your very best screenshots.
  • Don’t just take random screenshots. Work hard to produce the best of the best. Your game will be judged on them.
• Formulate your pitch.
  • Understand in 1-2 sentences what your game is, and use a version of that everywhere.
• Choose your point of distribution.
  • Steam, Google Play, or the App Store, pick the one that best fits your distribution strategy or platform. There are tons of them, but pick the one that works for you.
• Build out the distribution requirements.
  • Every distribution platform has a set of requirements like a header image, short description, etc. Find those requirements and build out the required components.
• Build your press kit.
  • I know, it sounds scary, but it’s easier than it sounds. Here’s a great template to start.

Pre-Launch

The period leading up to your launch is the most critical window of time that you have in marketing your
game. You should concentrate the bulk of your marketing on the items listed here.

• Hop on the hype train for 4 weeks.
  • The 4 weeks before launch are the time when you should kick into full gear and promote your game EVERYWHERE.
• Send an email to your list at least once a week.
  • If you built up your email list, send them an email about your progress, or new features/announcements. You can also reveal a tiny bit at a time over a few weeks.
• Optimize all of your content for search.
  • Learn the basics of SEO, and know which keywords your target market searches. Optimize for those, and you’ll get more people looking at your game.
• Join and post in relevant Facebook groups.
  • Groups on Facebook can have a lot of power and give you a lot of exposure. Find the ones that have a bunch of people that play your genre of game.
• Tweet in relevant hashtags on Twitter.
  • Find the hashtags on twitter that have people that play your specific genre of game.
• Find and post in relevant Subreddits.
  • Find the relevant subreddits that have people that play your specific genre of game.
• Join and participate in relevant genre-specific forums.
  • Find the forums and boards that have people that play your specific genre of game.
• Contact relevant streamers and YouTubers.
  • Research the specific streamers and YouTubers that play your specific genre of game. Or check out these lists of streamers or YouTubers.
• Contact blogs and relevant press outlets.
  • Find bloggers or writers of press outlets that play your genre of game.
• Post a press release announcing your game.
  • Press releases help you get some exposure through potential press outlets that like your story, but they also give your site or game a lot of inbound links, which increases their searchability.

Launch Day

These items take place on the actual launch date of your game. It’s going to be a long day, so prepare for
it ahead of time and know what’s coming in the following items.

• Make sure nothing blows up.
  • Seriously. Things can get crazy. Your job on launch day is to just make sure everything works.
• Push all of your friends/family/fans to download and rate.
  • A lot of portals pay careful attention to how well your game does in the first couple of hours or days. Push it harder than ever before in this window.
• Respond to everyone, make sure they have a great experience.
  • Lots of people will voice their opinion or report bugs. Respond to them nicely and make sure everyone is having a good time.
• Fix any showstopper bugs.
  • Sometimes there will be bugs that for whatever reason weren’t caught before launch but they severely hinder the player experience, rendering the game unplayable. Fix these ASAP. And yes, this is marketing. Because if you don’t fix showstoppers, people spread negative things about your game.

Post Launch

Believe it or not, marketing does not stop after you launch. You still want players to have a good taste in
their mouth about you and your studio. Make them love you! And your next game will have repeat
customers for life.

• Iterate and improve, fix bugs + launch problems.
  • If your launch has any issues, take care of them as soon as possible. And iterate quality of life improvements to keep players happy and have an excuse to keep people talking.
• Talk directly with players weekly and gather feedback.
  • Feedback doesn’t end when your game launches. If you want to do well over the long term, you will take time after your game launches to round off and sharp edges and take into account user feedback.
• For each update, write a clear + concise game update description.
  • Every time you publish an update, make sure that you take time to craft the update description. Make it sound exciting but also be detailed in what you change.
• Post a press release every time you update.
  • Every time you update your game, post a basic press release. You can do that for free here. This again keeps you in front of the press, but also builds links which helps with search.
• Send an email to your list every time you update.
  • The people that have subscribed to your email list want to hear about your game. Email them and let them know what is changing and what to expect.