Getting noticed by the media

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by milkmangames, Jul 27, 2011.

  1. milkmangames

    milkmangames Well-Known Member

    Obviously it's a hot topic for indie developers, and I wanted to share some of my (very limited!) knowledge about it and get a discussion going where we can share with one another and improve.

    I've done a few game releases on not-iOS platforms now. Windows, Mac, and Blackberry PlayBook. I had the most success with Blackberry Playbook, at least in terms of getting a media response. It was a learning experience but I also think there was a luck and timing element here because my game launched on the platform, got featured, and the general Blackberry focused media was excited to write about quality games since there's not much in that area at the moment.

    The biggest thing to remember is that games editors are busy, and they get bombarded with thousands of emails every day from developers like us. You need to find a way to stand out. I don't know a magic formula for this though.

    1. Be short. I do know, that when you do get a response from someone, it's going to be fairly short, and that you want your messages to be short and to the point too. Not exactly related, but if you ever exchange email with a biz dev person or CEO, you'll see their correspondence sticks in the less than a paragraph range. It can be hard not to ramble on if you're excited about your game (and if you're not, who will be?) but it's worth finding a few sentences that will tell what makes it special and stick to that.

    2. Don't be a pain. One editor did a review of my pc game awhile back, and I also got to meet with him at a conference not too long ago. Incidentally, meeting people in person when you can helps I think if you can make a good impression and be memorable/get a direct email. I'm very passionate about my new game, and I got a response about it from this same editor. Incidentally, I also broke the 'be short' rule and I think I sent him 3 emails in the interim with different attachments, which he asked me to please not do. So think before you send, don't waste people's time. :D

    3. Don't always get a response. When I was promoting a game for PC, I got almost no responses to emails to editors, but a couple resulted in a review eventually. In these cases I didn't get any contact at all, even after the reviews went up, so you have to keep an eye on it yourself sometimes.

    When I was promoting for my Blackberry game, I got a response from everyone i contacted but in most cases it took days. Like I said- editors are busy and there's a whole lot of games out there.

    I think Hodapp has said before on this board that TA reads every email but can't respond to them all. So I think you need to resist the urge to pester people and stick with rule 1 and 2, and just hope that if your game is good enough to talk about than someone will.

    4. Be able to talk about yourself. This is hard for me- I'm a geek and I'm kind of shy. But being indie means your'e the programmer, ceo, head of marketing and everything else, so get ready for it. If you do get a chance to chat with someone, be able to talk about what you do with pride, and succinctly explain what makes it special. I had an interview for a blog article recently on a games site, but it would've gone much better if I was more prepared to talk directly and to the point about my work.

    That's all I have. I'm trying to start earlier and get some attention pre-release for my iOS game, so we'll see how it goes.

    So what's worked and not worked for you guys? Do you make a zip of full media and screenshot resources with your introductory email? Do you attach an image? Do you attach nothing? How do you stand out when contacting media people for the first time?
     
  2. BravadoWaffle

    BravadoWaffle Well-Known Member

    Sep 25, 2010
    420
    0
    16
    Game Designer
    Well, we are still a couple months out from releasing RoboArena, but over the course of promoting it on Kickstarter and other places my current press packet consists of:

    • 6 commemorative pinback buttons
    • professionally produced OST with 12 all original tracks made for and inspired by RoboArena
    • professionally designed Print-and-Play board game (currently talking to publishers about getting it officially released)
    • and an adorable cubeecraft cubee of the main character the Blue Robo

    Hopefully that in conjunction with a compelling info sheet, screen shots, and a well made trailer video will get somebody's attention!
     
  3. pinkandpurple

    pinkandpurple Well-Known Member

    May 19, 2011
    220
    0
    0
    Secretary
    Is it worth releasing on Playbook for the mas market?
     
  4. milkmangames

    milkmangames Well-Known Member

    #4 milkmangames, Jul 27, 2011
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2011
    it was for me. The audience is much smaller than iOS obviously, but it's been a nice supplement to my income and helped bootstrap my business.

    Edited: didn't respond to the 'mass market' part. The audience seems to be a combination of tech enthusiasts and your standard blackberry using business type. You're better off with something with a kind of mass appeal here, we did very well with a puzzle game (very highly rated and top selling puzzle game on BBPB app world for quite awhile.)
     
  5. milkmangames

    milkmangames Well-Known Member

    Sounds like a great list bravadowaffle. I would guess that the kickstarter involvement helps sell it to people and is a talking point. What kind of luck have you had so far with contacting the press?

    The 'info sheet' mention also reminds me of the page in Jesse Schell's art of Game Design about writing a sell - sheet. Will see if I can find and post here.


     
  6. milkmangames

    milkmangames Well-Known Member

  7. BravadoWaffle

    BravadoWaffle Well-Known Member

    Sep 25, 2010
    420
    0
    16
    Game Designer
    #7 BravadoWaffle, Jul 27, 2011
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2011
    Yes it's a great talking point and hook. It's worked rather well actually, though it's hard to get people to cover a game when it's still months out from being developed. The trick was finding our story, since 2 out of 3 of my team is located in Chicago, I contacted a bunch of Chicago reporters and newspapers personally and pitched them our story of a local chicago based game development company turning to crowd funding to raise capital.

    We got a mention in the Chicago Sun Tribune which was cool. I'm about to begin another major push for prerelease buzz since we are now only a couple months away from releasing the game.

    I also personally contacted and got covered by a large number of board gaming blogs since our game appeals to that market. It's built up a nice amount of buzz and a nice sized fan base for a brand new game from an unheard of game studio. :)

    That would be great! I'd love to read it!

    edit: just saw you already posted it. Thanks so much!
     
  8. milkmangames

    milkmangames Well-Known Member

    bravadowaffle, congrats on your success getting noticed so far!

    This blurb is from the pocketgamer submission guidelines, but seems relevant and useful as its written by an editor of a game blog about submission tips:

    ---
    If you're looking for coverage, the most important thing is to make an interesting game. Assuming you've got that covered, you can improve your chances of being noticed by following the steps below.

    - Make sure you include trailers, screenshots, and relevant information.
    - If Pocket Gamer has already covered one of your games it's a good idea to remind us and include a link to the story.
    - Don't be afraid to name drop and tell us about any significant industry experience. If your best friend and mentor is Shigeru Miyamoto or you worked on Big Console Game X, that could be what makes your email stand out from the dozens of others we get on a given day.
    - Write an interesting email. It sounds obvious, but no matter how good your game is if you send us an email ignoring all of the above advice there's a very good chance we'll miss it.
     
  9. pinkandpurple

    pinkandpurple Well-Known Member

    May 19, 2011
    220
    0
    0
    Secretary
    The chicken and egg thing is should you release the game first then do trailer?



     
  10. BravadoWaffle

    BravadoWaffle Well-Known Member

    Sep 25, 2010
    420
    0
    16
    Game Designer
    Good point about the name dropping. RoboArena was inspired by RoboRally and I actually have Richard Garfield beta testing the game for us. That's about the biggest name drop I've got at the moment. :D
     
  11. milkmangames

    milkmangames Well-Known Member

    My current feeling is marketing preparation should start as early as possible, and you want to have videos trailers and pictures ready to go before release, at least as much of it as you can. It can take weeks to get a response from websites, many of which who plan their features weeks in advance, so getting in touch ahead of release seems like a really good idea.

    Remembered another thing: I had a good response in some cases by watching what people write about. Meaning, be sure to follow the news and articles in relevant sectors, so you can reply directly to an author who might have an interest in your game, if you have something meaningful to say "(I read your article XXX published on date Y, and...")

     
  12. milkmangames

    milkmangames Well-Known Member

  13. schplurg

    schplurg Well-Known Member

    No. My 2 cents, with an explanation.

    I released the trailer for Daredevil Dave before the game was complete. Pocketgamer picked it up on their forum (where I'd also posted it) and featured it with a short blurb. Within a week, 2 major publishers had contacted me. I ended up self publishing but the contacts, plus the advice they gave me as we discussed the game, were invaluable.

    More importantly, the trailer and other PR helped maximize hype and exposure right at the time of release. Most of my sales were within two months of the release date.

    Surprisingly, my trailer (not the game) was reviewed on CNet. That was a shock, I didn't know they did that type of thing.

    I would also say that releasing a trailer too early could be unhelpful, though probably not hurtul. You want to build up hype for the game, but there is a certain amount of timing involved.

    You could also release an early trailer, and then a separate trailer upon release.

    I don't claim to be an expert, that was just my experience.
     
  14. SimonTag

    SimonTag Well-Known Member

    Jul 20, 2011
    144
    0
    0
    Product Evangelist
    Dundee, Scotland
    To be honest,... the best way to get noticed by the media is by attending dev conferences and actually talking to the people that comprise it. It's amazing how easy it is to ignore an email.... but it is a so amazing how far a bit of charm can get you. I feel a lot of journalists now are so swamped with impersonal press releases that they actually welcome in-person conversations with developers.
     
  15. Foursaken_Media

    Foursaken_Media Well-Known Member
    Patreon Indie

    Definitely do a Trailer before releasing your game imo... how can anyone honestly preview your game without a good clue as to what your game actually is? A trailer is what generates interest...

    I know for me personally, until I see something in action, a game concept is just all talk and empty promises.
     
  16. BravadoWaffle

    BravadoWaffle Well-Known Member

    Sep 25, 2010
    420
    0
    16
    Game Designer
    Just like presidential elections!
     
  17. pchukwura

    pchukwura Well-Known Member

    Sep 15, 2010
    184
    0
    0
    Co-Founder/Software Engineer
    Atlanta
    Some very informative stuff here. I'm finding that getting noticed is a lot of hard work, and seems to be a crap shoot most of the time depending on the schedules of the media you're contacting. But we'll keep on trucking through our launch date (Aug 2nd) and hope for the best!
     
  18. milkmangames

    milkmangames Well-Known Member

  19. milkmangames

    milkmangames Well-Known Member

    and while i'm trawling the same blog, another article about making a good video:

    http://a-13.net/post/98060270/iphone-developer-psa

     
  20. yemi

    yemi Well-Known Member

    Feb 3, 2011
    454
    0
    0
    A big factor which no developer wants to hear is luck. Unless your game is on gameloft,sega,capcom level, or is a niche game its hard to get covered. Games seem to be picked at random for coverage , just do your best make the best game you possiblely can.
    As far as getting noticed by by consumers it's different. If you make a great game and add solid meaningful updates word of mouth will develop over time. You might not ever get meaniful press but you will get mentioned in forums and people will talk about your game more. Also you have to stay focused with marketing. Dont let a slow day stop you , keep up the pace with marketing your game.
    It all comes down to believing in your game and adding the most content you can. The are many strategies whether to release alot of games or rapidly update your game till it becomes a masterpiece. Also know that even if writers or moderators at toucharcade dont consider your game , there are plenty of over venues to go to.
     

Share This Page