Schulles 2013-09-10 17:55:54

Sounds pretty rough to me. Chibi knight was one of the first flashgames I really loved and it kind of motivated me to create my own games. For me you're already a star. Keep up the great work! :)

MSGhero 2013-09-10 18:19:36

Gamasutra has like a million articles about how to spread the news about your game, how to make it good, how to polish it, monetization, etc. Every time I want to read up on something, they post an article about it the same day.

TheMAM 2013-09-10 18:45:11

Never realized how tough the indie game world is. But hey, a lot of people played Chibi Knight 1, and I'm sure that large fanbase will be hyped about its sequel.
The screenshots look awesome by the way.

MSGhero 2013-09-10 19:01:29

One from a while ago about sending your game to a press site to be featured: do research on whom you're sending it to, bring up aspects of your game that would appeal to that person specifically, make it extremely easy for them to test the game out (link+pre-access key in the first email, don't make them ask for it or they'll ignore you).

http://gamasutra.com/blogs/BenServiss/20130516/192317/Maximizing_Your_Side_Project_Success.php
http://gamasutra.com/blogs/ThomasSteinke/20130415/190484/Response_to_quot8_keys_to_indie_successquot.php
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/RobertFearon/20130830/199336/Overlooking_the_obvious.php
http://gamasutra.com/view/news/199141/Steam_Greenlights_100_new_titles__but_is_the_system_working.php
http://gamasutra.com/view/news/199117/The_Churn_Predictor_intends_to_warn_you_when_players_are_about_to_split.php
http://gamasutra.com/blogs/ElaineHeney/20130910/199904/10_Things_You_MUST_DO_to_Become_a_Successful_Games_Developer.php

Lots more if you go back far enough.

Asandir 2013-09-10 23:15:26

Sounds like a good amount of bad luck to me. It's unfortunate that the responses were underwhelming. I have to admit though that I laughed a bit when I read that a CHIBI Knight takes up most of the screen ^^

Still looking forward to it, and I voted for it on Steam Greenlight some time ago.

deadspread83 2013-09-10 23:17:36

Keep your chin up Nick. Don't let a couple of bad experiences take a dump on all your work. You're awesome buddy.

poxpower 2013-09-11 00:41:38

My guess is that the Indie market is probably not really geared towards kid's games, which is what your game is marketed as, or at least how it comes across.

I have very little experience in the matter though since I don't play anything really lol. Seems to me that the games that work best when you have a small dev team are things like:

- retro pixel stuff
- violence
- mindfucks
- addictive crack-like games
- things that rip off Ren and Stimpy and Adventure Time

lol

TomFulp 2013-09-11 10:26:02

This is tough advice from a financial standpoint but I really believe it's worth it - get some space at PAX. Preferably in the Indie Megabooth but more and more people are gunning for that and I hear they are having to turn people away now. Being on the PAX floor helps legitimize any game and having a spot in the Megabooth would give you that extra cool-kid cred that comes with it.

The crowd for indie games at PAX has exploded since we started going six year ago; the PAX 10 used to be some guys standing around like, "Please play our games!" where this year the PAX 10 had a total scene going on the whole time.

PAX Boston is in March, you could bring the family and grab some chowder! The cuteness of Chibi Knight is deceptive because it's lots of fun, getting people in a hall to play it would help them see that.

There are also smaller events in lots of cities for indie games, where you won't get in front of as many people but you could build more awareness in that scene for a lot less money - comes more down to the cost of the flight and hotel. There's a Boston Indie Festival this weekend (NG is sponsoring a game jam there, I should probably be posting about that) and Portland has a retro gaming expo next month where Behemoth is setting up a booth.

Luis 2013-09-11 11:48:45

I think maybe asking in that context made it a tough question to really answer. I dont think anyone really has that secret sauce that's a sure-fire path to succeeding in the scene or maybe that's how he interpretted it and didnt take it as a genuine inquiry. Or maybe he thought you were just some fanboy kid just poking around buggin people, i dunno, i havent spoken to Tommy in almost 8 years but I've never had a problem with him.

I do think that chibi knight is one of those franchises thats a tough sell to 'serious' gamers cause the presentation of it is something that most hardcore gamers arent accustomed to. No big guns, no crime and grit, no assassins etc.

I have a love/hate relationship with the indie scene. I think theres some passionate people who really have made great strides in pushing the movement forward and made a community that can go head to head with AAA games anyday. There are some people in the scene though that have incredible hubris and suddenly their shit doesnt stink and probably give the whole scene the 'hipster' vibe that its often stereotyped with. I think sometimes you lose sight of where you came from and the people that helped you get to where you are and that you should feel atleast a shred of responsibility to sow the seeds for the sake of the whole community to continue to thrive for generations. The indie scene actually has a human element to it and that's probably what makes it so appealing to both gamers and developers, its important to never lose sight of that unique quality of it. LONG POST.

TomFulp 2013-09-11 13:54:07

GDC has the whole IGF which is a decent place to get exposure, but I'm more into the public events where fans can show up too - GDC is all industry.

Glaiel-Gamer 2013-09-11 22:30:01

"Yeah, it's also ridiculously expensive!" regarding GDC

Not really, you could do the whole trip for <1000$. Airfare from salt lake city (if you're still in utah) to SFO is very cheap, could probably get the round trip for 250$ or less if you planned it ahead, an IGS pass is around 300$ (maybe 375 i forget) but they run out of those if you wait too many months to register. SF Hostel International Downtown [http://www.sfhostels.org/downtown] is where most of the other indies stay and its very cheap especially if you split a room with 3 other people (around 40-50 per night per person, so 8 nights would be 400$), then food+drink for the week.

It's not about getting exposure there it's about meeting people who can help.

Glaiel-Gamer 2013-09-12 12:59:26

passes havent gone on sale yet, they're sold out from last year

IGS pass gets you all of the indie game summit (monday + tuesday presentations) and show floor access, but no presentations on wed+thur+friday which doesnt matter much

I-smel 2013-09-12 17:36:49

I just got back from exhibiting a game at PAX.
Basically the only way I could do that was to work with people who are 100% business-minded, the people who churn through a dozen games a day on FGL and don't give a shit about any of them outside of stats, clicks n traffic. This is the total opposite of people like us on Newgrounds, who are notorious for racing through with blinders on to that shit.

This is the ONLY WAY I could've ever got tickets to PAX, because he organized that stuff months ago while I was working on assets. The only way we got a space was for a friend of a friend to badger the hell out of event organizers, and I definitely couldn't have wrangled a schedule of interviews by myself cos I don't have one press contact whatsoever.
I'm an animator! Why would I know what a press release looks like!
I'm surprised Tom said to just GO to these events, cos I went as a group of about 5 and I felt like it took all of us. While two of us were demo-ing the game and doing interviews that another guy had lined up, dude #4 was off in meetings with potential investors and developer partners. I absolutely could not sell, or promote, a game by myself. I wouldn't have the first clue what to do.

I don't know shit about any indie community, but this is my 2nd game on Steam and that's how that happened. I made a revenue split with someone who's my polar opposite, and we slowly learned to not hate the fuck out of each other and start running a business. It's not the advice you'll get from everyone, but hey that's what's normal to me.

and to be fair: "Make a good game" is a pretty alright Step 1 if all you've got is a hundred n forty characters. The guy's a tensely wound-up bedroom programmer, he's not famous for being especially helpful and approachable.

I'll write a post about my PAX trip later, but I'm not in the secret inner-circle now at all. I don't think that's something you have to worry about.

stunkel 2013-09-19 18:57:55

Your game looks very interesting. I'm not sure if you have posted stuff about this before hand, so no idea what your game could be about, so what I have to say could not apply in any way at all. But I think there are many different strategies to making a game go viral without "begging" as you said. I'm certainly no expert, and there really is no set way of making sure your game will go viral. For example, I recall hearing that Team Meat chose to make Super Meat Boy (based off meat boy which was a flash game) because it was Eds most popular game and they were desperate for money, and that was just one part of why their game must have been popular (along with everything that you said about them making connections). They also later added a community editor and their game had TONS of replay value along with that. I'm actually doing game design along with music, and I'm working on an iPhone game now with a friend so all of this stuff really interests me. Do you have any niche market that you are trying to target? Also, what is your game about and what do you do in it? Clearly the art style is very fun and can definitely attract many different types of people. Perhaps it may not apply to your game, but having an active community is a huge plus, and that is part of the reason why a lot of games like Little Big Planet and Black Ops, which I don't like so much, but it clearly seems to work! I personally think that any genre of gaming can be marketed the same way, but perhaps it's all about the content of what you put into the game. That is just an idea. And I see that you have quite a following and you have many games with tons of plays. Have you discovered anything in particular that catches your eye as to what in games might attract players?