Gimmick 2020-10-03 12:56:26

It's all in the promotion and marketing. Post teasers and trailers, and gameplay videos and development logs, solicit feedback and you can make changes without having to release the game first.

Alternatively, you could make some other games to get attention first and then use that as a jumping off point for your upcoming games.

Gimmick 2020-10-03 19:47:01

@Gimmick @ONimiv A lot of it is based on luck. Even after making a lot of promotional material, it's still quite likely that you're not going to get too many comments about it. Unfortunately, that's the state of things for the foreseeable future - there's just too much choice available on the consumer side and so it's easy to get lost in the sea of content.

Organic growth fwiw is the best but acquired the hardest. If you're streaming a game on twitch, for example, then viewers would likely also be interested in it as well. However, to get _that_ audience you'd have to either get someone with a larger audience to play it (which often is costly unless they legitimately like the game, which is very improbable), or you have to have a long history and a lot of luck as well.

There's more in marketing but really, a lot of it boils down to luck. I suggest acquiring an audience (not necessarily followers) through a variety of platforms - youtube, twitter, newgrounds, etc. - and releasing content when you think it's ready (not when it's "done" because there'll always be something to be done) for the audience. Don't lose hope if the results aren't what you expect, because that's the way the cookie crumbles these days, but definitely toast the wins here and there, big or small.

Me, I can't really care for an audience on the games I have or will make because I'm even more of a hobbyist in that aspect. It's also a LOT of work, which doesn't sound worth it to me (but it might to you.)

Gimmick 2020-10-03 19:49:10

Also, I suggest not going for sponsors even if you have the money for it - most of the time people know it's not genuine even if it's from their favourite personality. It's part of the reason why Among Us got so popular - they legitimately liked and played it for multiple times on end, which will very likely NOT happen if it's sponsored - because a streamer will likely not need any convincing to give their "seal of approval" on something they legitimately like. (And sponsored ads aren't really a "seal of approval" because they're being made to say they like it...)

Gimmick 2020-10-03 19:50:14

You could try asking on the gamedev subreddit for more about this, although it's such a popular topic they likely have their own guide on it.

Gimmick 2020-10-04 09:26:40

@Gimmick @ONimiv @ONimiv Oh, I'm more a programmer and less of an artist (although I've been wanting to break into art for quite a long time) so I hang around the Game Development forum more than Art. Really the only forums I visit these days on NG are the GD, Programming and General forums.