Aiding The Indies - Guiding Development Talent into a New World
Australia is without a doubt, chock full of game development talent. You only have to look at the amazing games that are released each year to realise just how much our small nation punches above its weight when it comes to making games. So many titles each year, all of which are unique and entertaining, often made with a small amount of resources and brought into the world with passion and care. But there is one area I feel like these indie teams struggle with and that is through no fault of their own. That area is in getting the word out to the masses, telling the world about their game. In other words, I think the indie developers of Australia have a marketing problem.
While I am speaking in generalisations here, I have noticed over my time in games media that many indie studios really struggle to get the word out, and that is understandable. Marketing and PR are best done by professionals and that is a cost that most indies can’t afford without publisher backing. After all, being a talented developer doesn’t mean you know how to market your amazing game. So how does an indie developer, especially one with a tight budget, manage to sell their game to the masses on the cheap? Well, with the help of the media of course. Now I may be biased, but the media (even in its currently dire position) can really help to make the world aware of an indie title, which is so important with so many games being released every day. Dealing with the media is pretty easy, at least from where I am sitting, but there is a way to do things that will reduce friction and help gain coverage that I feel many Devs are unaware of.
This really came to a head for me this year during PAX when I noticed many of the booths there were undermanned, under-resourced and lacked basic tools that could have improved their coverage immediately. How I generally approach the indie booths at PAX is to simply wander, seeing what captures my eye. I don’t like to take up a lot of time at the booths because I feel the paying public should be getting the attention from the people working the stands, so I generally take note of things I like the look of and chase it up later. That is the privileged position I am in. But this year so many of the booths lacked a Steam wishlist QR code, a business card with a presskit link or even someone to talk to. There seemed to be a general lack of preparedness to the booths which makes me think that the system has failed the developers in some way.
So what can be done? Well for starters I feel like there needs to be more education for the developers in this area. For many, PAX is the first chance to show off their game and thus begins their chance to start the word-of-mouth rolling. After all, games like Untitled Goose Game, Cult of the Lamb and even Hollow Knight really began to build up steam among the gaming public thanks to their showings at events like PAX. That leads me to ask the question, does the PAX show itself have a responsibility to help these indies put their best foot forward? I reached out to the PAX AUS team to ask them if they provided any guidance on how to run the booths. Sadly I never heard back from them, but I did manage to talk to a few developers who have run booths in the past and it seems that no guidance is provided, at least that was the case in previous years.
With that in mind, I would like to see PAX perhaps give these talented folks a quick “best practice” guide to give them the best chance to succeed. It doesn’t have to be much more than a checklist really, but something to point them in the right direction in getting the word out. Things like having a QR code that links to a Steam Wishlist, having a complete press kit (12 screenshots, a transparent logo and some key art as a minimum) and having enough people working over the weekend that the booth is always manned. In most cases, these indie teams are paying quite a bit of money to PAX to allow them to have a booth, so I feel like that fee should include a helping hand in an area most devs have no experience with.
I say this not to be down on PAX, far from it. Without PAX Aus these devs may never get the chance to show their title to the public. It is just an area where I see the possibility for improvement and that is important, right? I also want to make it clear that this is only from my media-focused view of the industry, so I don’t want to come across as being overly critical. I feel I am safe in saying that 99.9% of all people in games media want to see indies succeed, want to see them put their best foot forward and this is how we can help.
With that in mind, there are some other things that indies could be doing to help gain coverage in the media. Now this is a bit more inside baseball for those outside of the industry, but every single day I receive 25-60 emails overnight about games looking for coverage. Every night. That is insane right? But it does show just how crowded the field is and how important it is to stand out. So if you are an indie looking to email market I strongly suggest you follow these basic rules.
- Clear and catchy headline
- Clear description of the game
- A link to the best place to buy the game (Steam, Xbox Store, PSN etc)
- A link to a complete Press kit (as I outlined above, a trailer and B-roll should also be included if at all possible)
- If the game is out soon a code for coverage or an easy way for the person reading the email to request one
- Don’t put GIFs in the email body, they look cool but can cause issues with many email systems
- A way to request an interview with the developer.
Now I am sure I have missed some obvious things and these are just some things that immediately came to mind and may be known by most, but I hope they help in some small way. So much of the Australian games industry can be classified as indie, both in development and media, so I feel like anything I can do to help both succeed I should. I guess the most important thing of all, at least from where I am sitting, is to talk to the media, to reach out, to chat and to ask for advice. Find mentors who can help, writers who don’t mind giving advice and publications that support indies. Be a part of the Australian games community, a community that, in my eyes, is incredibly welcoming and helpful.
I am in no way an authority on this subject, these are just my observations from my 15-odd years of writing about games. I hope they can help because more than anything, I want to see our industry succeed. From the smallest one-man dev team, right up to the biggest AAA title, it is so important to me that our industry is a success so this is me helping from my small corner of it.
