I'm currently working on a game that heavily relies on multiplayer, how willI get people to play it?

I'm working on an online multiplayer game that will heavily rely on people playing it, interacting, and fighting each other. I'm getting close to releasing an alpha, but I'm not sure how I can get people to play it. The alpha will just be released to test the servers but how do I create even the slightest bit of hype for the game?

I have tried creating twitter accounts for games but they never really got followers and the people that followed were often empty accounts.

I would consider a kick starter (I need money for graphics) but I'm just not confident anyone will see it or donate. I don't really have time to create a quality video or campaign so I don't think this is a very good option.

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?

 

You don't need to create hype for your own game....

Just show the herd what you have, if its pleasing to the eyes, the herd will create the hype for you...then you will get their support etc...

We are no different then the seaguls as shown in the clip...

 

That's sort of what I thought I'll work on it more and share it when it's ready to be played!

 

Marketing is a thinking man's game.

There are a billion games out there- market saturation is really high, so you need to sit down and work on your elevator pitch- describe your game and what is different about it in 15 secs or less.

Identify who your audience is- kids in high school? College? Men in their 30's who get 30 min to play before bed?

Figure out where those people are- are they even on facebook? Do they hang out on reddit?

Become a part of those communities. Add to discussions, compliment people. Talk about what you're working on, but not JUST what you're working on. Describe what you think MGSV got wrong that your game gets right, ect.

Make content for your audience. A video that shows why they will love it. How you made it so that dad's can play with one hand while burping the baby. Or the feature you put in that everybody wished was in some other game.

And lastly, don't expect big numbers overnight. Start by trying for 12. Them grow it to 20. Then get up to 35. And keep going. Marketing is also a patient man's game.

 

I have heard of teams who have set up a multi-player game and rigged a script to let them know if there were not enough players, so they could then join the game. Ensuring that the game has opponents early on.

There are social features so you can allow people to ask their friends to join a game, which you can build into the game.

You could ask for IM details so the game server can get back to them when more people are playing?

Bite the bullet and write some AI driven opponents so every game has a full complement of players.

 

1. For test of your game, you need the services of a cheap test service or naturally, others that are working the same project with you.

2. For actual release of your game, unless you are a celebrity or rich enough to buy pervasive advertising ask yourself once the game is done and take note of, do you actually pay the game for fun? That's the only judgement you can answer honestly that can help you ascertain your game's chances for success absent yourself or organization being a celebrity or you being independently wealthy enough to buy pervasive advertising. If you are a celebrity or independently wealthy then problem 1 is solved for you.

 

You could have started off when you were in development of the game.
Is the game for PC? Can I play it?

 

Totally! It'll be web based for the first few versions so I can get as many people to test it as possible. Once I fix some performance issues I'll upload it and post a link in the forums

I am currently still in development, it's not even close to being done haha

I was thinking I might record myself play around in the game and then play that until it encounters another player than act according to what they do. They game should be heavily AI driven anyway so that should keep the players busy leveling up and getting gear while they wait for someone to get online. It's pretty focused on PvP, so there should be incentive to explore and find gear while playing alone.

My biggest struggle with this is finding a community. I'll try to be more active here but I don't know where else to look

 

What is the game about? If you're trying to get a few people to play and want some free testers post about it here in the WIP forum or on reddit etc.

Some will be interested in playing/testing just to see what it is. Some of them will stick around and point out bugs, offer suggestions etc.

I'd also suggest starting a game dev blog or vlog to talking about the progress you're making on the game and direct people to it. Those who are interested will follow it, talk about it on social media etc and others will trickle in. At some point your own website with a forum would also be a benefit so the community you're developing can discuss it with each other.

In addition to the community, contacting media/journalists at certain milestones wouldn't hurt either. They likely won't report on it until you have something to show and if it's good enough. Having a community already following you helps there too.

If you don't have time to build a community to follow the game and support them with updates and being involved with that community then you're just relying on store page banners to expose the game when/if you release it. With stores being flooded these days you've only got a slim hope of that working unless it's a standout title with rave reviews etc.

 

It's going to be very similar to Realm of the Mad God and Agar. I'm actually going to try and do everything you just suggested. Those all sound like really good ideas. As for a blog/vlog, how would I get people to initially look at it? Through forum posts here?

I'm also thinking of streaming the progress on Livecoding.tv

 

The Unity forums are a great place to find devs, hobbyists, people interested in game development- who make great testers, but you probably can't build a game audience here. You want game press forums, like gamespot or rock paper shotgun. Or gaming interest subreddits- r/multiplayergames for instance.

A word about getting press attention- it might help to have a bit of interest already from the people on their forums. If they see their audience is interested, there's a better chance they'll cover you.

 

Interesting...for the initial test (just to see if people can connect and play on the server) I'll just post here and maybe get at least a few people interested and then maybe post else where once the blog is going. Does that sound like a good plan?

 

Only one way to find out!

 

I haven't built a community myself for a game, just read a lot from others who have succeeded and also others that have failed.

The start is the hardest, you have to generate momentum. I'd suggest participating in other communities in order to generate your own. Posting here is one good idea, other forums and reddit would help too. Include links to your blog in forum signatures so even if you're commenting on something else if people see the link they may be intrigued and go see what you're doing.

The key seems to be generating a dialogue. It's more interesting for your community if there's a discussion going on either between you and them or amongst themselves. Get people talking, read their comments and reply. Implement their suggestions/feedback if you agree with it and it fits into your plan etc.

My own personal method that I'll be implementing when my game progresses a bit further is basically a dev diary/vlog on YouTube. I already have a few hundred subs from my previous stuff on YouTube so that's a decent place to start for me personally to build a community around a game. Starting promotion of your work in a community that you're already a member of will help.

 

You guys inspired me! Here is the blog for my game: matafor.blogspot.com

I plan on calling it Matador but that name was taken put Matafor in as a placeholder

 

Good work. Your game sounds interesting, is it going to be bullet hell like Realm of the Mad God?

I can think of a variety of different ways you can take the game based on your description. Will be interesting to see what path(s) you take.

 

Yeah hopefully it will feel a bit like a bullet hell and be very fast paced

 

It's pretty hard to get a decent amount of people online without some sort of hype.
There is nothing worse than logging into a game and the servers are empty.

What you could do is create bots that appear to be humans, so the players 'think' they are playing against other people.

What many games do nowadays is have either a single player or turn-based mode to grow the community and player base and then release a realtime multiplayer mode.

The key is to retain players somehow so they will keep coming back.

 

I just released the first version (basically a test for the servers) on the blog.

Here's a link to it:
http://matafor.blogspot.com/

If anyone could play in it for a bit and then comment on the latest post about how it went and if anything weird happened I'd love the help!

 

Wow, daily blog entries. Good work!

I had a bit of a fly around, left a comment on your blog.

 

Hi !
I played your game. It's pretty cool, still needs some art work (enemy ships in 3d etc.), but looks like it's gonna be a pretty bad-ass game!

 

Thanks! I really appreciate it

Yeah I have mo idea how im going to get enough art

 

Just buy models from the Unity asset store. Or go to turbosquid and get models there.

 

Also, if you want a much higher chance of players being in multiplayer, let your game be free and make money other ways like in game purchases.

 

Yes, that's an interesting one as pretty much all MMOs are free to play these days. Even Realm of the Mad God that's an inspiration for this game follows the same model. I got a bit too into that at one stage and spent about $30-$40 on it. Effective payment model imo as I normally wouldn't spend more than $10 for a game like that.

 

Check out World of Tanks for a good f2p online model, I've dumped well over $100 into it over last couple years because it's fun and not pay to win. First couple years they were entirely free just to attract tons of users(technically it was "beta"), but you need a good bankroll for that.

 

Yeah I really want to develop the game without spending too much money so I don't have to charge until I have waaay more content.

I'll check that game out though and see how they monetized it

 

None of the models on the asset store or on turbo squid are really what I'm looking for:/ I want a low poly cartoon look. I think I'm going to have to make my own assets

 

Lol, wish it was that easy to get players like luring those sea gull.