IGS @ GDC Austin: John Graham - 'Effective Marketing For Indie Game Developers

Wolfire’s Indie PRMaking noise from day 1.

What Is PR?

Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing the flow of information between an organization and its publics.

--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations

Some PR Tips!• Only show off finished assets.

• Never mention the competition.

• Avoid direct interaction with fans.

• Don’t generate buzz too early.

• Let the game speak for itself.

Some PR Tips!La• Only show off finished assets.

• Never mention the competition.

• Avoid direct interaction with fans.

• Don’t generate buzz too early.

• Let the game speak for itself.

Wolfire’s PR

Make Friends

Build a Community

Open

Development

Make Noise

Making Noise

• Be Open About Everything• Be real• Make Noise Often

Tech Posts

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SAtwQa8t_3g&hd=1

Concept Art

Game Design

Silly Posts

Esoteric Posts

Personal Experiences

PR ChartMake Noise

Build a Community

Open

Development

Make Friends

Making Friends Online

• Cold Emails• Talk about other indies that inspire you• Cross-Promotion Opportunities

Cold Emails

David’s Design Tours

http://youtube.com/watch?v=XAoW9fjKmo4&hd=1

Cross Promotion

• Cletus Clay• Gratuitous Space

Battles• Rubber Ninjas

http://youtube.com/watch?v=h9Ob_CEjzBY

Making Friends Offline

• Parties • Meetups• ConventionsResult: Warmer Emails

Edmund’s Birthday

Conference != Vacation

Meet The Press

Warmer Emails

”… and their main marketing dude at industry events wears a kilt and a lumberjack beard."

-Reverend Anthony Burch, Destructoid

PR ChartMake Noise

Make Friends

Open

Development

Build A Community

Building A Community

• Facilitate Communication• Be “Sticky”• Start Now

• Translations in 20+ languages

• International news sites

Footholdby Hale

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5R45xrFWerA&HD=1

Communication: A Two Way Street

Wolfire’s Bag o’ PR Tools

Make Noise

Make Friends

Build a Community

Open

Development

Blog

• Blog often• Pick relevant topics• Use pretty pictures and

videos• Encourage feedback• Make it sticky!

Forum

• Discussions, fans can answer each other’s questions

• Builds a community• Fans can share content

and make maps together

• Can be crazy?

Public IRC Channel

• Group live chat• Multiple devs can

field questions• Fans can field each

others questions• Mibbit• Rabbot

Meebo Live Chat Widget

Visitors: • are psyched by

live chat• can ask questions• can get support• can troll me

Google App Engine &Amazon Cloud Front

Social Media

ModDB Page

• Friendly towards Indies

• Community is hardcore gamers and modders

• New posts get sent to the front page

YouTube Channel

• YouTube has HD• YouTube has a lot of

viewers• So make lots of videos

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tdx8dBGbi4c&hd=1

The 3 Pronged Attack

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cc5L9sBF7D0&hd=1

Insights

Facebook Page

• Lots of users• Easy to Use• Can import your blog• Uploaded media shows

up on your wall• Promotions• Fosters its own

discussions

Twitter

• Twitter is like a mini blog• Makes noise• Can attract followers• Medium for meeting

people in the industry• Great for tidbits

Steam Group

• Avatars• Screenshots• Posting

announcements• Group chat room• Room for

improvement

Nimai used our map editor to make each of us an in-engine house. This is David’s house.

Games Press• Games Press is the one PR

service we pay for• Provides a nice way to get

PR announcements auto fed to news sites

• Games Press has helped us get content on IGN, GameTrailers, GameSpot and G4 among others

GameTrailers

Worst of GT Quotes

• Boring! What kind of game even is this? Animatsion? Get real

• i can't wait for the nerd to comment an try and correct everyone talking about how cool the textures look an this is revolutionary... too bad its a f**king ROCK....show some f**king character models not a rock changing colors wtf is this crap.

• And if THIS is how they're trying to sell the game... you KNOW the game is going to be really... really bad.

Early Preorders

• TaleWorlds• Data Realms• Wolfire Games• Unknown Worlds• Valve?

Conclusion

• Open development– Make Noise– Make Friends– Build a Community

• Start early.• Stay agile.• Note: The Wolfire Experiment isn’t over yet.

Question To Ponder

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yOXrAQhShDk&hd=1

Final PR Tip

Leap at every opportunity!

If GDC invites you to speak, say “yes”!