In my last column I introduced you to the sales funnel. A funnel is a conceptual model for how to move someone from not being aware of your game all the way to laying down the money to buy it. It is a marketing system. It was a pretty heady subject so Continue Reading
What we can learn from indie fiction authors
Ask any indie game dev what the secret to marketing an indie game is and you will hear pretty much the same thing: get featured on the Steam or the mobile App Stores, get covered by the press, get covered by a popular streamer. Launch without those and that game Continue Reading
How to actually finish your first game this year
It is the new year and that means it is resolution season. There is a good chance that you have decided, this year, finally, to finish a game. Great goal! You should definitely do this! You have probably already heard the same advice from hundreds of other people: keep your Continue Reading
Top 5 Mailing Lists of 2017
I admit it. Composing a list of the best bits of email marketing of 2017 might seem about as thrilling as awarding the best “Terms and Conditions Agreements” or best “Privacy Policy” text. I get it. But Please, stick with me here. Email marketing is the number one thing most indies Continue Reading
What Nintendo Power Can Teach Us About Indie Game Marketing
As a 9 year old, the greatest day of every month was when the new issue of Nintendo Power appeared in the family mailbox. I would pour over the 100+ pages of screenshots and game previews the same way a medieval monk would a sacred religious text. Nintendo Power was Nintendo Continue Reading
Email Marketing 101: How To Actually Use Your Mailing List
Good news, you read that email marketing is more powerful than Facebook and Twitter for getting people to buy your game and so you signed up for an email marketing service. But now you are thinking, what am I actually supposed to do with my email list? Well luckily I Continue Reading
Your first indie game failed? Here is what to do next.
Important note: I don’t have any good graphs or flow charts for this blog so I am going to annotate it with the greatest movie abut entrepreneurship and marketing: Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. So nobody bought your game? Nobody wrote about all the work you put into it? Only one random internet man Continue Reading
The 5 Reasons Why You Need to Build An Email List This Year
It was Kevin Kelly who wrote that if you have 1000 true fans you can make a sustainable living being a creative because they will always buy whatever you produce. I always wondered though, how do I know how many true fans I currently have? Am I at one true Continue Reading
How to Design Mario Levels That Don’t Suck
With the release of Mario Maker, everyone has the opportunity to create levels for one of the greatest series in the history of video games. This presentation will give you a brief history of the genre, an understanding of what makes 2D Mario levels so good. This talk includes links Continue Reading
Drill Planet: How I developed and released a game to the App store in 69 hours
Yesterday I uploaded Drill Planet to the iOS app store. If the review gods are on my side, Drill Planet should be available before the end of July. This is how I got it out on time and with minimal monetary investment. Note: You can play an HTML-5 version of Continue Reading