Alora Fane

purplerabbits148~4Y

How do I gain Twitter followers?

Honestly I have no idea, I rarely post and I mostly retweet things and I gain a follower every 2 months on average.

Is there a clear jump in attention on social media after releasing a playable demo?

I'd say yes. With a demo you give something that is sharable and give the players something directly that they can form their own opinions from, which is far different from seeing development posts.

Again I bring up YandereDev, even after his terrible demo, there are a lot more eyes on his project now for a long time,(mostly videos talking about how much the demo is a buggy mess, but still it is attention.)

The other example I could think of would be Undertale.

Should I reach out to the press? Who? How? When? Are presskits worth the effort of setting one up? Do press articles increase attention in a statistically significant way?

I have no idea. I am in the story development phase of my own game and the mechanics are still a hazy idea, so I am not even thinking about how to get it out yet.

Is it worth doing Early Access?

I'd say it depends on the game. Recently via word of mouth, I've been hearing people receomend the game Hades. A game that was in Early Access since December of 2018 and just been officially released September 17, 2020. I've seen some artists talk about the character designs for a long time on twitter so that game has been in my peripheral for a bit before it's official release.

At what point should I do a demo?

I'd say when you can accurately portray what the feel of the game will be when released.

Again with the examples being Yandere Simulator and Undertale.

Yandere Simulator really rushed out a "demo" that's better described as a play test build. There are so many bugs, that he is still pushing out bug fixes. There's even stuff from a test character that's still in the "demo" when they really shouldn't be there for the demo.

Undertale on the otherhand put out a ademo that captures the feel of the game so that it gave a taste of what the whole game is like.

Are there benefits to using a publisher?

I have no idea all I know came from reading your blogs.

Which publishers would be interested in a game like Atonal Dreams?

Again, I dont know.

What would it cost to use a publisher? Can I even afford it?

Again, I dont know.

How do self-publishing indie devs typically get the word out about their game?

I can only guess since I play video games, I think for the huge success needed for sustainability, there needs to be a moment of virality so that you get that boost in numbers. However, the hard part comes after where you need to keep that audience. Because once you get that spark of virality, you have been given an opportunity that has a time limit. Once the viral spark is gone you have to get another going. Kinda like now where the virality of MARDEK has definitly fizzled and those of us that remain aren't enough to sustain you.

If you do manage to keep a large enough following you'll need to essentially operant condition them so that they'll stick around for the inevitable long wait times it takes for a game to develop.

Which indiedev-related Twitter hashtags are most effective/popular?

I'm not sure. I only really follow you and Matt Rosak as game devs.

What are some other indie RPGs currently in production? How much traction are they gaining? What have they done to get eyes on them?

I guess the most recent release I can think of would be Hades an action rouge-like rpg that's just been released. I known about it for a while when doing research for developing my own game this year. (Using Greek mythology as an inspration) I'd say that there's a bit of traction since Philip DeFranco recomended the game in his Today in Awesome section of his show. I've also seen someone recommend the game on discord. I do not know what they have done as promotion, but I do know that it was in Early Access starting in December 2018.

Is it worth posting on Reddit? Where? How frequently, or at what stage of production?

I don't know about reddit, since from it's reputation and from a friend's own interaction, the people there can be the worst and be the best. You can find the people who are just assholes because of anonymity and you can find people that are so supportive and go above and beyond for others.

Do Youtube devlogs make a difference to eventual sales? How many views do these usually get? How long would it take me to make one?

I have no idea, since I mostly watch lets players and find out that a game is a demo.

The only one I know of that does any sort of open updates would be YandereDev though he is unique in that his PR is so bad that most of his comments are suspiciohsly supportive while there are so many videos "exposing" him and tearing apart the game's code for being spaghetti code.

Is it worth doing a Kickstarter campaign? Would that be a good idea? What do Kickstarter campaigns require to succeed?

For kickstarters, the has to be a workable demo and maybe a trailer. The example for a game that went the kickstarter route and succeeded would be Undertale again.

Another example would be Shovel Knight where it far surpassed its goals that they are still working on fufilling pledge goals. One of the best games out there for platformers

There is a thing that's called an overfunded kickstarter where so many people are excited fro a game that the goal has far exceeded the pledge goals and the product is mediocre as a result of expectation. An example would be Mighty No. Nine, a Mega Man inspired game

With YandereDev his trailer of the demo had a lot of mentions about the kickstarter reaching its goals leading to more features. However he already has a patreon that has given him $300k throughout the 6 years its been in development, and he's averaging $2500 per month currently. Taking into consideration the stuff he spends the money on (bought 2 nintendo switches on a whim becausw he doesn't like the island the first switch for Animal Crossing gave him) , the people are very skeptical and feeling very negative about giving to the kickstarter, which currently hasn't been started yet.

So yeah as long as you don't do what YandereDev is doing you should have a better reputation and a far less stressful time with promotion.

I hope that my answers helped.
Good job of facing Undertale. I look forward to your opinions

How do I gain Twitter followers?

Honestly I have no idea, I rarely post and I mostly retweet things and I gain a follower every 2 months on average.

Is there a clear jump in attention on social media after releasing a playable demo?

I'd say yes. With a demo you give something that is sharable and give the players something directly that they can form their own opinions from, which is far different from seeing development posts.

Again I bring up YandereDev, even after his terrible demo, there are a lot more eyes on his project now for a long time,(mostly videos talking about how much the demo is a buggy mess, but still it is attention.)

The other example I could think of would be Undertale.

Should I reach out to the press? Who? How? When? Are presskits worth the effort of setting one up? Do press articles increase attention in a statistically significant way?

I have no idea. I am in the story development phase of my own game and the mechanics are still a hazy idea, so I am not even thinking about how to get it out yet.

Is it worth doing Early Access?

I'd say it depends on the game. Recently via word of mouth, I've been hearing people receomend the game Hades. A game that was in Early Access since December of 2018 and just been officially released September 17, 2020. I've seen some artists talk about the character designs for a long time on twitter so that game has been in my peripheral for a bit before it's official release.

At what point should I do a demo?

I'd say when you can accurately portray what the feel of the game will be when released.

Again with the examples being Yandere Simulator and Undertale.

Yandere Simulator really rushed out a "demo" that's better described as a play test build. There are so many bugs, that he is still pushing out bug fixes. There's even stuff from a test character that's still in the "demo" when they really shouldn't be there for the demo.

Undertale on the otherhand put out a ademo that captures the feel of the game so that it gave a taste of what the whole game is like.

Are there benefits to using a publisher?

I have no idea all I know came from reading your blogs.

Which publishers would be interested in a game like Atonal Dreams?

Again, I dont know.

What would it cost to use a publisher? Can I even afford it?

Again, I dont know.

How do self-publishing indie devs typically get the word out about their game?

I can only guess since I play video games, I think for the huge success needed for sustainability, there needs to be a moment of virality so that you get that boost in numbers. However, the hard part comes after where you need to keep that audience. Because once you get that spark of virality, you have been given an opportunity that has a time limit. Once the viral spark is gone you have to get another going. Kinda like now where the virality of MARDEK has definitly fizzled and those of us that remain aren't enough to sustain you.

If you do manage to keep a large enough following you'll need to essentially operant condition them so that they'll stick around for the inevitable long wait times it takes for a game to develop.

Which indiedev-related Twitter hashtags are most effective/popular?

I'm not sure. I only really follow you and Matt Rosak as game devs.

What are some other indie RPGs currently in production? How much traction are they gaining? What have they done to get eyes on them?

I guess the most recent release I can think of would be Hades an action rouge-like rpg that's just been released. I known about it for a while when doing research for developing my own game this year. (Using Greek mythology as an inspration) I'd say that there's a bit of traction since Philip DeFranco recomended the game in his Today in Awesome section of his show. I've also seen someone recommend the game on discord. I do not know what they have done as promotion, but I do know that it was in Early Access starting in December 2018.

Is it worth posting on Reddit? Where? How frequently, or at what stage of production?

I don't know about reddit, since from it's reputation and from a friend's own interaction, the people there can be the worst and be the best. You can find the people who are just assholes because of anonymity and you can find people that are so supportive and go above and beyond for others.

Do Youtube devlogs make a difference to eventual sales? How many views do these usually get? How long would it take me to make one?

I have no idea, since I mostly watch lets players and find out that a game is a demo.

The only one I know of that does any sort of open updates would be YandereDev though he is unique in that his PR is so bad that most of his comments are suspiciohsly supportive while there are so many videos "exposing" him and tearing apart the game's code for being spaghetti code.

Is it worth doing a Kickstarter campaign? Would that be a good idea? What do Kickstarter campaigns require to succeed?

For kickstarters, the has to be a workable demo and maybe a trailer. The example for a game that went the kickstarter route and succeeded would be Undertale again.

Another example would be Shovel Knight where it far surpassed its goals that they are still working  on fufilling pledge goals. One of the best games out there for platformers

There is a thing that's called an overfunded kickstarter where so many people are excited fro a game that the goal has far exceeded the pledge goals and the product is mediocre as a result of expectation. An example would be Mighty No. Nine, a Mega Man inspired game

With YandereDev his trailer of the demo had a lot of mentions about the kickstarter reaching its goals leading to more features. However he already has a patreon that has given him $300k throughout the 6 years its been in development, and he's averaging $2500 per month currently. Taking into consideration the stuff he spends the money on (bought 2 nintendo switches on a whim becausw he doesn't like the island the first switch for Animal Crossing gave him) , the people are very skeptical and feeling very negative about giving to the kickstarter, which currently hasn't been started yet.

So yeah as long as you don't do what YandereDev is doing you should have a better reputation and a far less stressful time with promotion.

I hope that my answers helped.
Good job of facing Undertale. I look forward to your opinions

3

Natrythe4th10~4Y

Personally I don’t have enough time to play early-access; most games I play once and I’d rather it be in a polished state. If you try early-access I’d still buy immediately to support you and then wait until later.

The question of kickstarter isn’t whether you succeed, but how high to set success. I’ve seen absolutely terrible looking games get funded because they put their goal as $10 or whatever. I think new pledges might decrease once the goal is met, so it’s a gamble between making more money or ensuring you’re funded. You have a lot of good points to encourage pledges: experience with making games, a wide range of game design skills that means your project won’t fail if you don’t hire someone else, and a planned working demo which you definitely should release at the same time if you do run a kickstarter campaign. It’s basically free advertising and you can get a decent cash advance if you guess right.

Honestly though, since this is meant to be a short game developmentwise, you could get away with lowballing your funding goal to ensure success. With you doing the game yourself and living expenses assumedly not in dire straits, there’s not much surplus cash could do to improve your game other than hiring a decent producer and maybe some translators.

Personally I don’t have enough time to play early-access; most games I play once and I’d rather it be in a polished state. If you try early-access I’d still buy immediately to support you and then wait until later.

The question of kickstarter isn’t whether you succeed, but how high to set success. I’ve seen absolutely terrible looking games get funded because they put their goal as $10 or whatever. I think new pledges might decrease once the goal is met, so it’s a gamble between making more money or ensuring you’re funded. You have a lot of good points to encourage pledges: experience with making games, a wide range of game design skills that means your project won’t fail if you don’t hire someone else, and a planned working demo which you definitely should release at the same time if you do run a kickstarter campaign. It’s basically free advertising and you can get a decent cash advance if you guess right.

Honestly though, since this is meant to be a short game developmentwise, you could get away with lowballing your funding goal to ensure success. With you doing the game yourself and living expenses assumedly not in dire straits, there’s not much surplus cash could do to improve your game other than hiring a decent producer and maybe some translators.

4

Jack252~4Y

I would suggest that you can also try releasing your games on a different platforms like gog.com. Though it does not have as many games as steam, but gog has a great deal of good old drm free games from the past. A vast numbers of indie games are also avalaible in the platform and your game, "Mardek" also fits on that good old games genre perhaps.

There are also other ways to earn like kickstarter & gofundme to make sure that you will have enough exposure before your games are released. Although I don't know much about the terms and conditions on how to run a kickstarter campaign but i'm sure you'll find plenty of people to support you there.

2

Tobias 1115~4Y

I'll definitely be looking into releasing on multiple platforms in future; one of the questions I should have added here (but forgot) is what those platforms are, what kind of effort is involved on publishing on them, and whether it'd be worthwhile. If it'd take weeks to port to one and it'd earn pennies in the end, it wouldn't be worth it, but it'd be a different story if I could port to several in a day and double my income or more!

I've been wondering about Kickstarter for months, which is why it's one of the questions here, but I'm also unsure of whether the gain would be worth the effort. You have to devote yourself to a campaign wholeheartedly for a month at least, and even then it might not work out. So it's something I need to think about before diving in naively.

2

Jack252~4Y

Starting a kickstarter or gofundme campaign would be a great option only if you can spare an extra time for advertisements, publishing, publicizing, etc which would be challenging if you still have a developing community. It's true that you really need a month at least for preparation but major campaigns would take more than a few months to be recognised by kickstarter campaign supporters or gofunders since there are lots of fundraising campaigns to begin with and it's really daring to have compete with them at the same time.

Although i'm not an expert nor good at fundraisers but I think having a growing community of loyal supporters to help you out us really necessary to have a successful campaign. Btw if you have a patreon, it's surefire another way of raising funds for your projects since most indie game developers also use patreon to get the support they need.

I've read your blog it's true aging has really took a toll for most of us not unlike when we were young where there are a lot of opportunities to risk but as we get older we became wise to calculate risk so that our bright future would deem to exist. Fundrasing campaigns would give indie users a chance to earn extra funds for their projects but I don't like the idea of relying on crowd raised funds as a source of income alone. Starting kickstarter campaigns really should be planned very carefully.

Starting a kickstarter or gofundme campaign would be a great option only if you can spare an extra time for advertisements, publishing, publicizing, etc which would be challenging if you still have a developing community. It's true that you really need a month at least for preparation but major campaigns would take more than a few months to be recognised by kickstarter campaign supporters or gofunders since there are lots of fundraising campaigns to begin with and it's really daring to have compete with them at the same time.

Although i'm not an expert nor good at fundraisers but I think having a growing community of loyal supporters to help you out us really necessary to have a successful campaign. Btw if you have a patreon, it's surefire another way of raising funds for your projects since most indie game developers also use patreon to get the support they need.

I've read your blog it's true aging has really took a toll for most of us not unlike when we were young where there are a lot of opportunities to risk but as we get older we became wise to calculate risk so that our bright future would deem to exist. Fundrasing campaigns would give indie users a chance to earn extra funds for their projects but I don't like the idea of relying on crowd raised funds as a source of income alone. Starting kickstarter campaigns really should be planned very carefully.

1

LevProtter42~4Y

I've managed to solve pretty much all my insomnia issues. It's one the main things keeping me sane.
A good understanding of sleep cycle duration, and sleep inertia really helped me.
Sleep inertia can make you go back to sleep for a short/long period right after waking up, it's basically a nap, and will amplify any natural insomnia you experience. That in turn will make the habit more likely, and the cycle self perpetuates.

1

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