Usually, I could just find a Discord server with a few hundred people and run a giveaway in exchange for playing the game. The problem is that this doesn’t really help long-term. The game doesn’t spread naturally, and if I lose access to that server or ad, the player count drops immediately.
This feels especially difficult for newer developers who don’t have an existing audience or any real visibility to push their game to a wider public.
I’m specifically looking for advice from people who’ve worked on larger games that aren’t simulators or low-effort trend games.
I’d really appreciate any insight or experience you can share on how to approach this.
Hi, I don’t consider myself successful, my practical experience is minimal, but I can try to guess theoretically, you can ignore this feedback or not.
Personally, I would avoid making a battlegrounds game, because of how many there are already, and probably most by teams. If you are solo, that may reduce your chances even more.
In my opinion, if you don’t have a large established target audience/community already, a few hundred people (that may also not be your target audience) won’t help much.
Paid ads may initiate a start, but long-term success and large player counts may depend on how many influencers pick up your game (that you pitch), but your game needs to have that viral potential: innovative+fun, ideally.
Well I’ve got a team and a community of around 20 people with friends in like 100 people, and I’ve got the budget to do content creation, I’m just unsure how to do this.