You have created your indie game, tested it, and debugged it. Your next step… where can you promote your indie game.
If you are just about to launch your indie game, you will want to get as many potential players as possible to view your game. If you just build it, they probably won’t just come.
To promote your indie game, you need to find where your relevant target audience frequents and where you believe the highest percent of interest will be held. You can use social media to generate excitement for your game with screenshots, news posts, and videos. Visual platforms such as Instagram may also present an opportunity with sharing images and video clips of your game in development. Video-sharing platforms such as YouTube are another great way of showing your potential players what your game is about.
Any platform that has an active community of indie game devotees should also be considered when considering where you can promote your indie game.
Promoting your game offline in places such as shows, events, and in print indie could present another golden opportunity. You can use events to also soft launch your game and build a bigger following for your indie game.
To answer the question with another question – “Where can I promote my indie game?” where is your crowd? Take the time to consider where your crowd spends their time, this is where I would invest in promoting my game. There is no point in promoting your game in spaces where the viewers or readership don’t care about what you are offering.
List of places where you can promote your indie game
The list below is a range of informal ideas on where you can promote your indie game from offline to online. It should be noted that the items mentioned below will not guarantee that you get the results. Here are some ideas to promote your event – in no particular order.
Social Media
In modern-day, this should be given for promotion. Although some platforms may have waned in popularity, Social media is still a very popular area to distribute information and news. This also would include promoting your indie game too in the right groups. On social media, you can publish your game and promote it for free too. Just remember to use your #hashtags and make sure to actually speak with your audience. Don’t set your expectations too high when using social media if you’re expecting purchases to immediately come off of URL links in posts. Audiences don’t like to be sold at.
Other Video Showreels
Another idea of where you can publish and promote your game is to get some gameplay or a trailer in somebody else’s showreel. For example, if you have found an influencer with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, getting a video clip of your game into one of their reels would be a great way to promote your game.
Influencers In The Gaming Sphere
There are many influencers with a large following in the gaming sphere. The challenge comes with persuading a popular and friendly influencer to discuss and play your game. You may stand a better chance with influencers with a smaller following if you are a new indie developer.
ASO Optimisation
If you have already uploaded your game app ( where you can publish your Unity game ), make sure to take the time to do a full optimisation and make it easier for your game to be found.
Social Media Adverts
Another place where you can promote your game is through social media advertising. For those of you unfamiliar with social media advertising, you can pay to have your advert put in front of a certain target demographic to get the most out of your advertising campaign.
For example, Facebook ads can create targeted ads to certain groups which would potentially be ideal if you’re looking to send people to a landing page or directly to your App Store or Steam.
Crowdfunding Platforms
Crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo are places where you can ‘promote’ your game. However, I would say that calling them promotional platforms is slightly misleading. These platforms do not directly go as far to promote your game for you, many of those new to crowdfunding portray it this way.
The crowdfunding platforms are perhaps best regarded as being middlemen, they will support, hold and help the exchange to make your product, but they are not a promotion machine. They do not directly market your campaign for you, although they can move your listing higher up the rankings if your campaign shows promise.
Meet Up Groups
Never underestimate the power of the human touch! If you’re looking for other places where you can promote your game, search for Facebook groups or Meet Up groups where you can share and discuss your new game – in person.
Computer Game Shows & Conventions
Trade shows and conventions are a great way of publicising and promoting your indie game. This is often a golden opportunity to allow you to discuss and showcase your game in some of the early stages. Some shows also have a dedicated indie section too.
Online Websites Dedicated To Indie Games
There are a few indie game websites out there with the primary focus on discussing and promoting indie games. One such example is this website which is both online and print.
Dedicated Indie Game Forums
Shameless self-promotion on forums may be frowned upon, but in certain forums, this is permitted. Find the correct places to discuss and showcase your game. One such example is the Adventure Creator forum which has a dedicated area for showcasing new games created with their software.
Indie Game Press Releases
Seek out journalists and writers to get them to talk about your game! This can be both for online blogs, social media, and print. Gaming outlets and press releases to a large readership may help the visibility of your game.