Any Suggestion to Promote my game?

Hello friends, all the developers.

I published my first game Colors Puzzle on iOS + Android last year and just wondered that could there be any more places that I can promote my game because what I did was making ads with FB & IG by spending money to them. And some community like Unity Connect, Show case Forum, Local FB group.
So do you guys have any more recommendation for the app promotion?

Thanks a lot!

 

YouTube, own page, blogs, reddit, multiple game forums, twitter etc.

 

Make something great so people promote it. If it's just another puzzle game it is unlikely to have any success with or without marketing. This is not a knock on your game though, it's just a category which has endless competition.

To stand out you're best off taking the one thing that the other titles don't have and making that the main point of your campaign.

You can also try https://blogs.unity3d.com/2020/01/08/7-steps-to-grow-your-game-with-paid-user-acquisition/

This only makes sense if your title is monetised within though.

Is there a reason why it's not already all in your signature, mentioned on this thread etc etc, if you're even slightly shy about promoting your title, it's basically not going to happen, miss 100% of the shots you don't take etc etc

 

Hannah Flynn recently did a good very talk on marketing:

 

Wasn't able to find ops game by googling even knowing the name within 60 seconds. This is challenging already!

 

Really appreciated guys!!!

 

Yes you're right, there are so many games in this category and this just doesn't make it unique among others or give people more interest on it. So right now I think of making a game in 3D with far different category and mixing the games that I loved to play too.

I think I didn't post here because I was focused on promoting with FB & IG only which cost quite a lot, and didn't think about forum or social media at all also don't know that there is a place like made with Unity to show case my game.

 

If you guys interested the links are available on www.bestvoxels.com
Thanks a lot!

 

Colors Puzzle looks pretty cool, I like the idea

As for promotion, I would suggest trying to build an audience, perhaps use social media like Twitter or Instagram to at least get some followers so that your games have some exposure outside of organic downloads

It's amazing how much that can help! I only have 500 followers as of now for my little game studio, but it's enough to get at least 50 people to interact with each post which can translate to quite a few downloads if you do release a game - especially if it's cool

 

I think one avenue that people don't mention a lot and I think should be considered is that there are youtubers out there who frequently get demonetised unfairly over their content and it's something that I've been considering as an option for advertisement. The only downside is there are dodgy companies like the people at raid shadow legends who put extremely unfair restrictions on them with their contracts and take advantage of them for the sake of peddling their game.

A lot of these youtubers would probably be very grateful if more games developers considered them for sponsorship even if it's a relatively small amount compared to ad money because it would be a more guaranteed form of income for them especially if you're way more honest than the usual lot that offer them ads.

Just something to consider with the recent demonetisation and ad money scandals going on.

 

BoatBest, it all depends on your final purposes. I mean, is it going to be your project forever, for a long time, or shortly for selling it to another company? Anyway, here is some great tips I've found about naming processes ( url: https://reinvently.com/blog/best-app-naming-process-mobile-apps/ ), which really helped our few apps, we've developed in our company couple of months ago.

 

I'm going to be the arse and say it. Colours puzzle looks really bland and boring. A multi choice quiz where I have to count numbers? Even my children's homework apps have more interesting interaction. And the screen shots are pretty boring too.

It looks like a first game or a home work assignment. And its fine for a portfolio piece. It just doesn't look like something that is worth my time to actually play.

When selling a product, you have to have a product that beats your competitors offering. Look through the top hundred list on the app store. Your app doesn't look like it belongs anywhere near there. Given the number of better alternatives customers have, why download your game?

Mobile games often operate on thin margins. You will likely spend more promoting this game than its possible to earn from it.

 

Plus the time to market it wasn't a year after it's initial release. Marketing should have started before the game launched and continued for a period of time after it.

A game that has only had 1,000 installs over a year is going to be so thoroughly buried under everything else that you would need to constantly shove it in front of everyone to have any chance of getting an audience and you're just not going to get enough people playing and spending to make up for that kind of advertising.

You have a new game in development. If it were me I would spend my time and money marketing that over the old one.

 

I don't know if it'll make a difference, but I'd get someone who's good at writing to copy-edit the text in your game's description on the storefronts and on your website. If it's been out for a year, I'd also consider re-releasing it with a different title and maybe some snazzier presentation. Where's the juice when someone picks the right thing? What's encouraging me to play again when I lose?

None of that is having a dig, by the way. You've finished and published a multi-platform game, which puts you head and shoulders above many people who never get that far. You can't be good at everything at the start, so that's just pointing out things that stand out to me as opportunities for improvement.

 

Before promoting the game, do market research and read below mentioned tips:
1. Send your game to several publishers
2. Beta ready and soft launch
3. Work on your ASO
4. Send your game to several stores
6. Google Ads Universal App Campaigns (UAC)
Hope it will help you.

 

She is great, I saw her at EGX Rezzed last year doing a similar talk and her suggestions are really worth considering.

 

Thanks a lot guys for your opinion on my game and those good suggestions for promoting the app. Really appreciate.

 

@BoatBest
This one you have to be really careful with.
Publishers and big name publishers, can be shady con artists, and are like a double edged sword.

 

As with any business deal, definitely be careful.

That said, the advice was super vague and just said to send it to them. Even if you don't sign with them their response and feedback could be super valuable to you. Remember, they're looking for stuff they think they can sell. If every publisher you contact is luke warm on your game then that's an indicator you should pay attention to.

 

Sure thanks! But I'm not quite sure what is the main different between promoting the game myself through several social medias like using their ads system and promoting with publisher? Since they must also use the ads system as well?

 

It sounds like you're under the impression that promoting stuff online is a simple matter of pay money -> get clicks. That is unfortunately not the case.

The part where you promote your game is just one link in a long chain of events. The stuff you do leading up to it will impact what you do and how effective it is. Ideally you start getting market feedback very early on in your project, and it'll influence things as fundamental as your core design, presentation, etc. which will ultimately bubble up to also impact how, where, when and to whom you promote your game.

Even when you get there, chances are that a publisher has had a lot more practice at it than you, and has a lot more existing data they can draw from to maximise the potential of their effort and spend. Marketing is just like programming or art - it takes practice to get good! Furthermore, they may have existing audiences who enjoy similar games, or existing relationships with distribution channels, media, and so on which can be leveraged.

Then there's the simple fact that they probably have deeper pockets than you.

 

Thank you very much for the information! I appreciate this knowledge.

 

I really appreciate your team work keep it up and keep posting such a informative articles...