THIS is Why Most Indie Games Fail
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- Опубликовано: 5 июн 2024
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As indie developers, we're constantly reminded of the importance of marketing our games. With game development becoming increasingly accessible, the competition for attention is fierce. But why do some games soar while others barely make a ripple?
Join us on a journey through Steam's Top Wishlisted page as we dissect the elements that draw players in. From the sprawling landscapes of "Light No Fire" to the serene charm of "Tiny Glade" and the whimsical world of "MOUSE," each game has its own unique appeal.
But what sets these games apart? It's more than just marketing-it's about creating an experience that resonates. From stunning visuals to captivating soundtracks and tight gameplay mechanics, the key lies in delivering excellence on every front.
So, whether you're a solo developer or part of a small team, remember: make your game the best it can be. Polish every aspect, play to your strengths, and watch as your efforts pay off. Because in a sea of games, it's the ones that truly shine that capture hearts and minds.
If you're new to our channel, we're Brandon & Nikki from Sasquatch B Studios. We sold our house to start our game studio, and work full time on building our business and making our game Samurado.
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Игры
Unless you go digging into why other games aren't getting wishlisted, you're only getting about 30% of the story on how to make your game succeed. You need to look at failures and mids as well.
There is useful information here, but I would say, do not get discouraged by looking at this video if its going to be your first game, some of these game's dev team already released games before or have experience. If you are a solo game dev or releasing your first game, just keep up with the motivation and learn as you go!
It's also super important to set up for some realistic expectations though... If a game simply isn't very good to begin with, it'll never become this sleeper hit outlier success story. And for some weird dumb reason people still seem to think indie games just randomly become successful. It's not random. If something is great and it had enough eyes on it to get momentum in sales, it will be a success. If a game is trash, it most likely won't sell even a single copy.
I don't know. I don't think I will learn to play music because I am worried the first song I write will not be a hit. Learning to play music does not feel worth it unless I can earn money doing it. 😏
Ya I hear that! Man, finding success as a solo indie game dev these days is seems about the same odds as winning a lottery. Even if you have an amazing game, chances are it won't be noticed, with 35 games a day coming out on Steam. And as a solo dev, I'm competing against 20 person, multi-million dollar budget 'indie' games.
But hey, if I wanted a safe, reasonable or lucrative career choice I wouldn't have quit my Activision Blizzard job and started gameboardgames, I guess, jokes on me 🙃
Considering your audience, it’s too bad you didn’t showcase some more ‘scrappy’ looking indie games, even if you had to go lower on the list to find them. It’s no surprise, but all the games (you showcased) that are on the top wishlisted just look amazing. They have great art and art direction and look appealing. This is very hard to emulate for most game devs who are not already artists. So this video may be a bit discouraging. Then again, a top 10 wishlisted game is no small feat and not a realistic goal for most devs. That said, I’m not sure what you meant for the takeaway of this video to be for a solo dev except something like ‘try your hardest to make your game extremely visually appealing’.
Getting your game to look like "professional" instead of like a student project is so fucking hard frfr. I've been iterating on art for weeks and although it's improved a lot over earlier iterations it's still missing that last JE NE SAIS QUOI to make it truly good.
Hiring an art consultant? If I had the budget for that I would have done it already!
Yup, meanwhile games like Vampire Survivors made a great hit. There is as much pretty looking boring games down in the drains of Steam as crappy looking gameplay-wise gems
@@sealoftime Yea I agree, even though Vampire Survivors isn't the most visually yappealing game, it's got that rewarding/satisfying game-feel that keeps ya coming back. Even Minecraft is not really that pretty looking when you think about it (especially early on) but it still became the #1 best selling game of all time. Basically, there can be other things to market besides graphics, just as long as the graphics aren't appalling.
@@juneru2how are you guys missing the point? I fell in love with VS but I wouldn’t have discovered* it if not for the hype it got. There’s no harm in making your game visually appealing if you wanna get someone to click on the thumbnail instead of a gif
None of us watching will be able to compete with the top 10 wishlisters.
I don't know the numbers, but I am pretty sure VS didn't have impressive wishlist numbers before launch. The hype came after people played it.
Marketing is probably the hardest thing for me personally. It's much easier to make a game than to market it. And it's even harder if the game you are working on is not really marketable, like in my case. But I'm doing my best to learn...
May be you should try also do some short videos? But yeah I see, incremental clickers are kinda hard to market. But I believe there still a big pull of good ideas.
Umm, each to their own but I cannot at all see how marketing would be the harder part, I think you should focus more on the game in that case.
@@noah8162 people have different skillsets, some people just have a much harder time with marketing trying to explain what it is that they made, rather than make it. finding the right audience isn't too hard, but actually bringing it to their attention is a bit harder for some, especially when first-time solo devs would have to deal with other games that have more than just one person backing them in that same genre
imo, it's best to have a small group of friends to manage some of the different parts, but then you run into splitting profit
I honestly think the best thing you can do for your game and for your sanity is to keep the scope small. Think less about making your dream game and more about making your dream mechanic
Marketing as a multiplier: If you multiply zero, you get zero. :)
you can sell random cover images.
In my case I divide it, but that might be an error on my part since figuring out marketing is an impossibility for me ;3
Going to take a before video guess and my thoughts: marketing is important but the main reason is quality.
A lot of indies copy other indies, so they're competing against each other, use minimal innovation or new ideas, and don't make something worth playing.
Why should I play your farming simulator or roguelite deck builder over the other 500 indie games of those genres?
Yeah, the same idea I had but said better
Many years ago I wrote a post mortem on a mid sized game that had done ok-ish in the market. Our conclusion then, and I believe this is true still, is that if anything in your game isn't excellent, leave it out. Every part has to be top notch. If you can't afford/don't have the skills to make an element look excellent, you should leave it out. Your graphic shapes should be properly anti-aliased. Your fonts should be professional. Your music should not be from the local elevator. If you include an element that is just so-so and think 'this is a peripheral thing, nobody will care' you are wrong. It will stick out, the players will focus on it, and it will hurt you badly.
I think most fail because the devs are beginning and when you start out you make generic cookie cutter games. We don't need more pixel platforms, we need innovative and risky games, unfortunately most indie devs like myself don't have the knowledge or resources to pull it off, but i have hope.
It has a lot to do with beginner devs refusing to go through the whole phase of learning to make videogames properly. There are no shortcuts. The first 100 (mind you, I'm talking finished prototypes) or so prototypes a beginning dev works on shouldn't even have this goal of being published and sold at all. And depending on how quick of a learner people are, the next 100 might not be suited either. I also wouldn't say taking risk is what counts nearly as much as you think. Remember the game Braid? That was the most safest thing the developer could have gone for. A simple platformer with literally only 1 core gameplay feature. Not saying it is necessary easy. But the scope of that game was always extremely realistic for a single developer.
I feel like this video is just a less specific and less useful version of the video made by Eastshade studios "Marketing is NOT Why Most Indie Games Fail". It's just some examples of top wishlisted games picked in no order in particular to get some abstract conclusion that "uhhhh, polish matters". Yeah, no shit.
Saying that a lot of indies are "not going to get where they want to go", and then exclusively analysing the tippity top of wishlisted games just seems like handing another recipe for failure to small indie teams.
Eastshade studios has a really nice introductory video on the topic of analysing a genre that you wish to make a game for and then identifying the revenue bracket for which you would like to make the game, analysing the genre's deep cuts and top-sellers, what the standards are in the different brackets. Some of the presentation of this video just seems straight up ripped off but without the substance. I don't think that abstract content like this serves anyone.
This video has the same issue most indies have. Mindless recycling of ideas without understanding the essence.
Pretty ironic.
I've been making my first 2D metroidvania game for more than a year now, good luck to everyone!
Metroidvania, Rogue-like, Zelda-clone, Mario style game… Most indies are fanboys, tribute artists..
I will create the game that I like to make, not to please you or anyone else, to please me.@@Timbermannetje
And it is clear that at the beginning there may be too many similarities with other games but it is my first game and I have only been doing it for a year, each year that passes it will have more of its own essence and less of the rest, or at least that is what I intend.@@Timbermannetje
I think it takes a lifetime to develop your own signature style, a lifetime of poverty and loneliness.. The way of the artist! @@LightShellStudio
I know finishing it won't be easy, and making everything fit and have a good artistic style won't be easy either. But I am willing to take as long as necessary, even if it is my first game and I have only been doing it for 1 year, I am willing to take as many years as necessary to finish it. I know it's not easy, people only see the good part, making a game alone is a lot of stress, eating your head, etc. But I think that if I take 3-5 years making a game day by day despite having no previous experience I will achieve a game that has a result that I like, I also don't intend to make a metroidvania of 40 or more hours as a hollow knight. I'm just a person and I know my limits, I won't make it a very exaggerated duration, but I want you to remember the game and make it a good experience and to tell the truth I learn much faster than I thought, although it is also true that the more you learn about A little more you realize everything you need to learn. Maybe the day I finish it no one will buy it, it can also happen, but it's better to try than keep it in your mind. Sorry for the English, it's the translator hahaha, have a nice day!
Most games suck, indie or not. The path is wide, but the gate is narrow
I think you have to define success here. Is success earning a living wage from development or is it earning enough money to retire from a single game? Of the ~60K games on Steam with the "indie" tag, nearly 1000 have revenue of more than a million and about 3500 have revenue over $100K. On the flip side, roughly 50K made less then $10K. But you have to ask yourself, how many of those 50K games are hidden gems, great games that _should_ have a big audience but don't. I set out to figure that a few years ago and contrary to what you might think, at least based on my criteria, there is no such thing as a "hidden" gem. Sure, there are always one or two outliers, games with a devoted fanbase and very low sales, but in the vast majority of cases, good games get purchased and played. The question going forward is about genre saturation, competing against past successes, and to what height the bar of entry will be raised to as the space gets increasingly crowded, but the takeaway should be that _original ideas_ and polished execution will almost always lead to some kind of "success" (see the first sentence).
I think what I fear the most is even if I make an absolutely incredible game, it may not even get noticed. That'd be a fate worse for me than say, making some lame meme game in a month that blew up and made a million dollars. Marketing currently is my weak point, no doubt about it. I thought (before researching) that if you make a great game, the audience will come. But it really seems like making a good game is only half the battle and the other half is marketing, marketing marketing and luck. (My game btw is RoadHouse Manager).
@@gameboardgames I think you get into troubled waters when you use terms like "incredible game", incredible to who? When you pour so much of yourself into a project it's impossible not to lose perspective, which is why it's important to get people, strangers ideally, to play your game and get (and listen to) feedback. It's why making your first game a passion project is also generally a bad idea as any critical comment is taken as a personal attack. You need to be realistic about your skills and, if possible, hire people who can augment your weaknesses. If you are learning everything on the fly, that _will_ show up in gameplay. As the video ends with, you need to maximize every aspect of your game, be realistic about its shortcomings and work to shore them up. Weak areas of your game _will_ be noticed, bad art, animation, UI, soundtrack/audio design, that'll all work against a project long before people will experience gameplay. So, keep working on your game and if you stick with it, making it the best it can be, it'll find an audience. As I said, very few games on Steam with an Overwhelmingly Positive rating go entirely unnoticed. That doesn't mean you'll sell huge numbers, but it should mean you'll recoup costs at the low end and do pretty well on the high end.
I'm reluctant to comment on your game specifically, but after a quick look at your Steam image gallery, the five images of the white-headed bird-person standing in the exact same pose throws up a red flag for me. Your aminations look a little rough too. If this look is intentional, or a part of gameplay, you need to sell it as a feature, if not, fix it. And just as a reality check, while it's good you're making it clear from the outset, I suspect there will be a portion of your potential audience that won't be keen on requiring a network connection (though I get why it is necessary).
You also might want to check into the Best Indie Games YT channel (no affiliation), Clement has been at this for a long time and can provide you with some resources that might help you with the marketing. (links in every video)
@@gameboardgames Thinking about this a little further, you can't underestimate the value of market research if you're want to make money on a project. Broadly speaking, (not about your game), I think you need to ask yourself, does anyone want this game? If so, how did you determine that? Who are they? What is your potential max audience? (only _very_ special games can _create_ a market) You need to know people want the game you want to make (ideally before you start making it). If you're working on a passion project, this might not be so important, but if you want to make money, you _need_ to know there's a market out there. This step is crucial in setting realistic expectations for yourself and your project.
@@the_elder_gamer Thanks for your detailed comments! Appreciate it, and giving me some things to ponder 👍
@@the_elder_gamer Good points and I agree, but for my own game in particular these are really difficult questions to answer because there's never been a game like mine with the same gameplay loops or this combination of mechanics, and it is also a genre blend of 4 or 5 genres, and that's not even considering the AI integrations which are mostly a new frontier in gaming, using randomized AI-generate narrative engines; so I can compare some games to mine in some ways but identifying the audience or demand is almost impossible.
My strategy is to make the demo as fun and engaging as possible to try to convert interested players into purchasers, but ya, I certainly realize how much of a difficult and uphill battle even getting noticed will be.
6:22 which game is this?
Tiny Glade is definitely wave function collapse. My first impression was that it's a lot like Townscaper, which also uses that algorithm. Solar Punk reminds of the art style and gameplay mechanics from My Time At Portia.
Was confused since I thought I had already seen this video, but apparently Eastshade Studios just made a video with the exact same title and thumbnail a few days ago. I thought for sure I had seen the thumbnail with CotL though, but guess that's just dejavu
Yes, for me it was deja vu as well. But, probably Eastshade borrowed the idea from someone else too? Last most I posted some comments about games quality under gamedev videos, I saw similar comments from other people too, and channel's owners probably read their comments, or watch older videos about games quality.
@@flamart9703 No. I am the OG lol. My video was straight from my heart. It's something I've been thinking about for years (and yelling about on gamedev reddit subs lol).
Could you also begin to explore the different ways to increase the quality of a game without much of a budget next? since it can be assumed that a good majority of indie projects need the funding from the marketing and fundraisers to increase the quality of their game.
Funny you mention Mouse since I ran into that game a while ago and can say that trailer is not the original one.
The original was definitely... not what you would call marketable, but it did showcase what the game wanted to be, so I can give the original that.
As for me, I still can't comprehend code, so I'll think about marketing when I pass the first hurdle.
Yea I also get ahead of myself with these game dev marketing/release videos when I don't even have a game to release 🤣
Been thinking similar ideas recently; How will your game present in a trailer, will it hook people in, is it clear, a game people want to experience. +Will it appeal to streamers/reviewers/youtubers. I still think indies should ultimately make the game they want, but if you can hit key things you will make it more marketable, I think thats surely true.
Most of us won't be able to make a top 0.1% game, so looking at what they are doing is useless. I would say, look for games that make the amount of revenue you need and compare your work to these games. It will still be hard enough to compete with them, but you will be happier 🙂.
Trying to make my game look polished, etc. is the reason that it's taking so long to finish my game.
I don't think you should have used the top 10 games as examples as most are teams or are industry veterans and will/could be discouraging. Eastshade studios recently released a video like this and everyone should watch it as they have released a successful game. I think these games are great for breaking down elements like lighting, sounds, thumbnails, capsule art etc
To point out Light no fire is honestly not a good point to the argument for marketing, it was shown at the game of the year award show with millions and millions of viewers (so was Tiny glade and Mouse I believe), also their company is already famous.
We won't compete with the top games looks-wise. It isn't necessary for a modest success. What is absolutely necessary though is a robust product. A player can judge graphics from screenshots, gameplay from trailers, but what they cannot judge is code quality. I follow a few mid-tier games with pretty big follower numbers but only average reviews. At least half of the negative reviews focus on bugs, crashes, lags.
So have your damn game tested 😀
I’ve thought about my trailer since before I even made a prototype. It’s crucial to grab them by the eyes with something interesting from frame one.
2:55 - that looks like 1:1 geometry node tool from blender or UE5 somebody had idea to pack it into GUI and ship it. Interesting. If that is a case, then they have infinite amount of customisation to be introduced.
Yeah, I do not think it is WFC. At least not for most of it. WFC uses adjacency rules and a grid [Even if it is an irregular grid like Townscapers]. It seems more like they are using spline construction tools cranked up to 11.
No idea on the actual methods they use but I remember hearing that the game logic is written in Bevy (Rust) with a custom Vulkan render pipeline if that means anything to anyone.
Marketing and making my Puzzle Game known to people is the worst part of my life. Cant get enough likes and views its nasty. Really demotivating. Thanks for your hard work.
I agree 100%. People often forget what the word "marketing" means. Marketing is the act of satisfying and retaining customers. And a good way of satisfying customers is to sell a satisfying product.
This is an excellent summary for indies. If you do make a great game, put in the work to get it out there, and your persistence will likely pay off. I was able to get reviewed and noticed after putting up a free demo and contacting a lot of sites directly. My next one, I'll be marketing right from the start, rather than waiting to the end. Thanks for the content!
Great video although I'm not sure that 'Marketing a game that is marketable' is great advise. I think I understand what you're going for, try and polish every detail in order to market it, however that wasn't obvious.
i actually would of love to play cult of the lamb but its too satanic for me and im not down to cross those lines i fear God
Summary: If you don't have money and skills on really cool art, Sasquatch won't even look at your game
He was looking at the most whitelisted games, so people like good looking games
@@davidcaceres9184 This doesn't change my point. The title of the video literally says that games without expensive graphics are automatically failure.
I don't think it is possible for indie dev to create something so beautiful as seen here. Beside, even if you do create something very beautiful, you also need to get something to work well and be addictive. So gameplay is VERY important. If you gameplay sucks, you can have wonderful 3d world and have paid 200,000$ to artists to have the best art possible, it WILL FAIL. One bad review=10,000 people who had wish it, to not buy it. People are busy and they will jump on a bad review right away to read what is wrong with the game and immediately switch to another one.
At this point in time, we are like writters who try to finish our first book, but still don't realize that even if we get one out, there is 2000 new book on shelves each day...
And with AI coming along, ....Don't quit your day job...
I enjoyed the vid & agree. Some criticisms though:
While watching this video, I felt a little aimless as you reviewed the top games because you didnt give any hint as to what I should be paying attention to before you started the sequence (namely, core concept appeal + aesthetics/vibe + polish). Even just something like, "Take note of what qualities give immediate appeal when looking at these games," would've been good.
Also, while you do provide an answer as to what concrete things someone MIGHT need to do to improve their game's quality, you don't provide any examples or direction on how a dev should go about arriving at those steps to begin with. how do I know if my game concept isn't clear & appealing if I myself think it is? And if I do know that these things need refining, there are a literal myriad of options and my time/resources are limited; how do I know WHICH things I should refine? HOW do I refine things that are more abstract like game design as opposed to just music/SFX/art/animation/etc.?
Finally, I think the video should conclude with actionable steps the dev can take rather than just, "these are things you might do." (Again, too many options so Call To Action is vague/nebulous).
Regardless, I liked the review/content/message and have enjoyed reading the discourse in the comments. Thanks!
These are so called "self promoting games", and if after release their gameplay is as good or almost good as the visuals, then this self promoting will continue because of word of mouth effect and will profit for longer period, if not, then will flop like some emblematic failures we saw already. You can pack a sh*t in a golden foil (make great marketing), but after customers unpack it and taste it, it still will be a sh*t and end of story (big decrease of sales after publishing). So, for me the question "Is the game quality more important than marketing?" is rhetorical. Why are you wasting time to learn marketing and market researching instead learn how to make better games? The answer is, because it's much easier and satisfying to browse statistics and dream for big profits.
Hmm, I think this was kind of a no-brainer take away and, honestly, things others (and yourself) have stated before. I'm kinda agreeing with other commenters. It would have been a lot more interesting of a video to have taken a look at games that were further down the list. Even games within the top 100 would more than likely be considered successful. So, some of those games that don't have that striking visual aesthetic...why do they market well? Or looking at games that do seem to have that level of polish...but aren't higher on the list. Why is that? Those would be more interesting takes on this topic than simply saying...make a good game. Then again, it might be because I've watched almost all of your videos and several other game devs that I've heard this bit of advice so much now that it seems like such common knowledge.
TL;DW:
Good games don't sell themselves, but indie marketing won't help sell bad games.
You do not need "marketing" for indie game, its all about gameplay. Its either hook people up or dont.
What game is 6:13?
Sky: Children of the Light
I am beginning solo game development, with Unity as my game engine, and I used to consume tutorial after tutorial, from SO many channels on RUclips - until I came across you guys channel - for me, your tutorials and educational videos are superior - by far - from any other Indie Dev channel on RUclips. I wanted to thank you guys for the informative, very well put together tutorials, you've put together. I understand things about Unity and Game Dev, that I never understood before; and it's all because of your channel. So, thank you very much !!! Maybe I'm missing it, and haven't done my research, but do you guys have a full course (paid or otherwise), on Unity & Game Dev, on any other platform ???
It definitely seems the requirements are always changing. But that just seems like par for the course as well. As technology changes so do the requirements to get people's attention.
I understand, the game I am making is a niche game. (Vids under my channel). I will take steps to make sure I focus on channels that cater to the segment that enjoy my type of game. But also, I am in a lucky position that my livelihood doesn't live and die on the success of my game. Good luck to all you indie devs out there let's make something awesome.
I saw this thumb somewhere..
Marketing 😁
I have a strong feeling that the video emphasizes a lot that your game just must look compelling and stylish, if you want to quickly grasp a lot of attention. If your focus is not on the art, you must try way harder.
Great video. Thanks!
I ´m about to fail, too, I added "Hobby Horsing" to Minecraft :D
TLDW: Your game has to have the highest quality possible in order to be noticed by others.
Geez, these games highlighted all look amazing. Hey I got a new video idea: "How to be a solo dev and not be super depressed by how much more amazing your competition's 20-people-dev-teams' games look' 😜 The odds sure are stacked against my game, RoadHouse Manager. But with my free AI powered Cocktail Creator that''ll be in the demo, and my low price point (thinking $10 bucks), to entice people to try out the great and deep novel gameplay, hopefully I have a chance.
Great videos, only comment I’d have is that you shouldn’t include those random b-roll clips (like the ‘oozing’ clip), makes it feel generic and irrelevant to the video style
I remember watching tik toks about tiny glade i think they have some devlogs on there
Thanks for your insight!
Hello Games is indie?
However, considering their track record, I would NOT get psyched for them until you see the final result.
I failed in gamedev and I failed in life, might as well put an end to it! ☠️
Conveniently avoiding Karlson which is near the top with zero visual appeal =P
If you like Light No Fire, you must try Valheim. It's amazing.
Copying other youtubers is kinda sus
Did they plagiarize or something?
@FishSticker ruclips.net/video/LCzhyUsDHPE/видео.htmlsi=OVdBON4ZG6v8ccpu
Just so happened to release a near identical video in the same week coincidence surely 🤣🤣
You are not the first one who points that. Everyone think their game is the coolest and unique, but actually a lot of them (if not the majority) are junk and generic, and accept this is the first step to succeed.
Haven't you made a mistake in your thinking here? You're looking at the list of games that have managed to get into the spotlight. And of course the list includes games that are basically beautifully made, who would have expected anything else? But you haven't looked at the countless games that are possibly just as well made but have been overlooked by the masses - precisely because it takes a bit of marketing to be seen at all!
Bro skiped karlson 🤣
This is identical and yet much less informative to another devs video from a few weeks ago?
You algorithm hoping?
I wanna become indie developer too 😢😅
Shiny images and so many disappointments after purchasing... I had... uninterruptable videos, endless wood chopping, RPG without motivation to play, crashing, too much story to read.
conclusion: make good game, good game sell
Also for every 100 indie games made, there is like 1 worth playing lol. I love indie games, but there is a ton of trash made
Thousands try, few succeed! Just like sperm cells, life is very harsh on the majority and the lucky few get it all 🙌
You need to make quality... 90+% of indie games are made by people with little experience in gaming. They are 20 finishing education, having played 5 games for a longer period of time and only approaching it from a surface level consoomer perspective. "Hey i got to make money to live, i like playing games, im gonna make my own". You wont succeed without outcompeting a thousand other inexperienced slackers. Without understanding appeal of gaming which is now a study of a medium thats been around longer than likely youve been alive. You wont make a good gane if your experience us pubg and lol...
Exactly. Steam is oversaturated with so much garbage it's unreal. There are so many coomer games being sold for a cheap price. Problem is these beginners start off thinking they'll just sell their tutorial projects for an extremely cheap price. Thus, the market gets overflooded.
Nobody is gonna pay for some garbage looking game that barely has any gameplay. Let alone support it just because it has the title indie in it.
Mentioning a game made by the same devs as no man sky... implying they wouldn't develop and over ambitious game with only 26 people forgetting that these are the developers for NO MAN SKY.
In fairness... no man sky turned it around... eventually. But i would never trust an overhyped game from them on launch.
sooo...make it look like breath of the wild. got it
Not enough ppiness.
"Why most indie games fail - because they're bad/unpolished". Boom 7 minutes saved. Some of your videos are useful and informative but this is just not it...
I think he made a point worth making 🤷 It's clearly illustrated too.
Just make every aspect of your game good haha.
cult didn't fail though?????????????
This was my main problem...😢
Marketing my games and softwares...
This video is not accurate. It only shows 3D games with beautiful art. That's not real. What about Among us, vampire survivors and other games? Dislike the video.
.
From what I see, most take the advice just build something, and then just sell it, is one common occurrence. The other is developers not finishing, or polishing, and as of late would think in part is impartial contract deals from up-and coming gaming studios, or triple AAA buying into the indie markets, and was the life line to begin with, but seems they torment their creation, or try to put it down. The Dev's name stays on it if it goes badly, and the game studio's name is highlighted when there's success. A pattern here 🤔
I don't know, it seems like the assurance that none of these are out of place isn't true. For instance, solarpunk looks fine but there's nothing to differentiate it from a dozen other survival craft games and it doesn't look *that* good or interesting.
Real reason. Can it be turned into hentai?
Just make a good game 😂well he's not wrong
420th like
First
Looks matter, as with anything in life.
*Looks matter to get you in the door, as with all things in life, but they won't make you stay.
No one keeps reading a bad book cause it has a pretty cover.
Best example, Minecraft is the best selling game of all time, but is also the ugliest I've ever seen that went mainstream.
Looks don't matter more than the substance. They help, but they alone won't keep a ship from sinking.
@@honaleri I agree, but once someone has bought your product it doesn't matter if they'll play it to the end or forget about it, right?
I have countless beautiful shallow games in my backlog that I've only played for a short while. The developer has done their job selling it no matter how ripped off I feel.
@@supapaw
In the world of refunds and bad reviews... Them making a buck of off someone who buys their game and never plays it, isn't a survivable business model. Yeah, some people will do what you did. But a lot more won't. Small studio or large, you can't dud a game and expect to sell the next one.
I'd say a very small fraction of players buy and don't play. Sub 10%. If you can profit off that...go for it. I guess.
Thumbs down. Art & Art & Art & Art & Art. Let's judge a book by its cover literally. Yeah art sells but game play/decisions make a game playable for more than 2 hours.
You obviously didn't pay attention. Here listen again 6:53
looks matter, you can't deny it, 99% of successful indie game have great art or art direction
and it doesn't matter how long is your game, I finished little nightmares in 2 hours, it is not about the quantity, it's about quality
@@wqix Yeah I agree art sells. Said so. I just think this video analysis is poor. Art, yes. A human face, (I think he says in two or three words). I just think this video has about 30 seconds of info...
Yes basically nothing matters except graphics
Oh sure light no fire looks amazing, but heres the thing. No one should trust them, their credibility has been and will always be DS because of NMS.
NMS release was a complete disaster, but they continued to update the game until it became fun to play. The thing is people still have this lack of trust because of the release, but they could just take all the money they made and let NMS be garbage. Because they didn't I still believe that they are trying to make a good game
You didn’t really say anything in this lol, and you started off talking about a game that is a stretch to consider and indie game.
Thats totally wrong dude. Any sales guy will tell you that you can sell things that are totally unmarketablle. Marketing is how you present things, and even a garbage ass product can have a steller presentation. Look at terrible movies with stellar trailers for example.
What comes to mind? Do you feel like a lot of bad movies do well just because of marketing?
"The Day Before" was a huge gaming news story in the past year. A terrible unfinished game that was one of the most wishlisted@@EagleTopGaming
Example terrible game with great (but fake) marketing is The Day Before, finally they was must refund all sales no matter how long peoples play so they only wasted own time and everybody else
@@holliscf it had so many wishlists because of it's looks, in the trailers the game looks awesome, they just underdelivered.
so, yes, looks matter
@@EagleTopGamingTheres alot of mediocre and bad games that sell well do to stellar marketing. Starfield comes to mind. Recently napolen had a stellar trailer but ended up being garbage. No games sky years ago sold well and then was trashed.
Marketing well isnt always telling people exactly what the game is, its selling a vision.
Hell for me personally i didnt like tears of the kingdom. But the trailer sold me. I never finished it out of boredom.
I think most games fail because they're unoriginal. I see so many of the same tropes being recycled over and over, most often top-down tile-based 2D RPGs and 2D platformers.
I have nothing against anyone who chooses to make those kinds of games. My point is that there are just so many similar games that it's almost impossible to stand out.
I believe that if your game's trailer showcases gameplay that isn't quite like anything else the player has seen, then you're setting your game apart from the rest and giving yourself the best chances of success.
One of my absolute favourites is Sorath's "Hyper Demon". My channel has an entire playlist dedicated to it.
It was one of the very few times I've ever discovered a game, watched the trailer then immediately purchased it.
No regrets, honestly one of the best games I've ever played in my decades of gaming.
My point is that immediately it presented fresh new gameplay that I had never seen before.
Here's the official trailer. Compare this to the endless lists of similar indie games you typically see on Steam.
ruclips.net/video/ScglDSi9KUs/видео.html
_Hyper Demon_ is a great example for the point you're making. Visually original, unapologetically individual, and was rewarded with ~$580K in revenue.
Okay, i get it. I'll quit while im behind 🥲
Not really, cause i desperately needed a hobby. Lol. Heres to making games no one wants or asks for.