This article is about the website I’m creating for my indie game.
An artist/musician/game designer and I are working on a match-3 rogue-lite game called Necro-Matcher. This is the second in the series of blogs I am making in part to help market the game. It’s kind of meta when you think about it. I’m marketing by writing about marketing my game. Anyway, I’m going to talk about the site I am working on, the current state, and the plans for it. I believe all of this is a drop in the bucket, but if I can convert one person through reading this blog or viewing the website, it will be worth it. So let’s talk about it.
Homepage
If you take a look here, you can see what the homepage looks like. It’s a simple view with the game’s name, a slot for a trailer, and then a couple of options: do you want to learn about the game actively or passively? I think this is really cool, although I am a bit biased. The idea is that I utilize a web build of the game to let you dip your toes into the game. I will give you a handcrafted run that gives you a bit of autonomy, but most importantly shows you what the game is about. You will start at the map:
This is a nerfed version of the map with a linear path, but it shows you all aspects of the game. Whether you start a battle, enter a shop, embark on an event, or rest, you will be given a “playable” version of that scene as well as a little write-up of how that scene works. This way, the player can have a fun little experience trying and learning about the game just through this website. I believe this sets us apart as well as gives the player a better idea of what to expect in the full game. I don’t actually have any experience yet releasing a commercial game, but as a consumer, the worst thing that can happen is misaligned expectations. So I want a potential buyer of this game to have ample time playing before they commit their hard-earned money toward my game. We will also have a demo available for people to play in the next fest. So the ideal pipeline for a player is: play the marketing site (and like it) -> play the demo -> buy the game. If the game is way off of their expectations after all that, then I will need to make changes to realign those for future buyers.
For all of this, only time will tell. But I think this is the best course of action for someone with a limited budget, as well as fanning out to other platforms to get the word out. One of which I need to get better at is YouTube. I’ve seen many games become successful from a strong online following. In the next blog, let’s visit some strategies for how we can build momentum there.
Regards,
Kyle