Have you just developed your first indie videogame? Good! But now we have to monetize!
Begin your marketing campaign the moment you have something that illustrates the fundamental mechanics and look of your game.
Splash Page
Create your videogame splash page, it will be your most important marketing tool!
You need some images, a video trailer and a brief presentation, your contacts and a giant download button 
Be social! It is important to collect fans, to start you have to create a facebook and twitter pages.
Press Kit
Create for your Game journalists ready to use materials:
– Relevant Screenshots
– Video
– Press Coverage
– Game Info Sheet
– Fact Sheet
– Logos and Awards
To create apress kit see http://dopresskit.com/ also.
Where can I self promote?
During the development process, my advice is post your WIP (work in progress) inside forums and social media group for developers.
There are a lot of nice people here that can give you constructive opinions about content, graphic, music and appeal.
If you are a lucky guy, you may be contacted by an editor before even finish the game.
A good place to self promotion is:
– http://www.gamasutra.com/
– http://indiemegabooth.com/
– http://www.reddit.com/r/indiegaming
– http://www.indiecade.com/
– http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/
– http://kotaku.com/
– http://indiegames.com/index.html
– http://www.cinemablend.com/games/
– http://www.tigsource.com/
– http://indiegamemag.com/
– http://www.pcgamesn.com/indie
– http://theindiemine.com/
– http://indiegamerchick.com/
– http://gamejolt.com/
– http://www.indieteamup.com/
– http://www.gamespress.com/
– http://www.nomsg.net/
– http://videogamecaster.com/
Cross Promotion
– http://moregamers.com/
Game Jam
– http://globalgamejam.org/
– http://nordicgamejam.org/
– http://www.orcajam.com/
– http://www.tojam.ca/home/default.asp
– http://www.trianglegamejam.com/
Find a Publisher
Try to find a publisher, you can have a direct contact with him using his website.
Remember, the best practice is obtain a minimum of royalty in advance or sign a good contract flat fee.
Here a list a publisher fro Wikipedia:
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_publishers
3D RAZA
– http://www.3draza.com
Type: Publisher finding
It connect your productions with large video game publishers who also distribute the games.
Videogame projects are revised case by case.
In exchange for the videogame publishing and distribution, they will take 15% of the game sales.
Steam
– http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/FAQ.php
– http://steamcommunity.com/greenlight/ (great exposition here)
Type: publisher
Now your game can take advantage of a gaming platform that has over 40 million players worldwide and spans multiple systems.
It’s free: There’s no charge for bandwidth, updating, or activation of copies at retail or from third-party digital distributors.
It’s freeing: With Steamworks you avoid the overhead and delay of certification requirements—there are none. Distribute your game on your terms, updating it when and as often as you want
Ad Sense
– http://www.google.com/adsense/start/
Type: Pay per click
Ad Sense program of Google can be a good way to earn money, but you need a lot of users.
Ad Sense works well with Google Analitycs and other Web Master Tools of Google.
ADS can turn off users alot if you abuse of that.
Revenue: Ad Sense will pay you per click, 1000 impressions can return about 1 USD.
skillz – eSports for Everyone
– http://skillz.com/
Type: Play for cash
Skillz is the first cash competition platform for mobile games.
Skillz is the only place where you can win bragging rights and real money by playing your favorite mobile games. Compete against friends and rivals in exciting multiplayer competitions and show off your skills today!
How does it worK:
1. Create a free Skillz account and use it to log in to your favorite Skillz-enabled game.
2. Practice by playing for Z, the Skillz virtual currency. When you’re ready to win real money, enter a cash competition!
3. Get match results and collect your prize as soon as you and your opponents are done playing. You can withdraw your winnings anytime.
Revenue: enabling pay-to-play cash tournaments. Monetize gamers in a way that aligns with their competitive nature.
– http://cashplay.co/
Type: Play for cash
Integration of the Cashplay platform is simple and typically takes no longer than two days of programing for a mobile game integration. Cashplay currently supports games developed for iOS, Android and Unity.
Cashplay offers developers a completely new way to generate additional revenue from their mobile games via offering player vs. player cash tournaments.
Revenue: game developers who integrate Cashplay are rewarded on a revenue share basis meaning that you can earn up to 60% of the profit generated from every single completed cash tournament or challenge.
FGL
https://www.fgl.com
Type: sponsorship – publishing – monetize
Over 7,000 publishers are on FGL looking to buy HTML5, Android, iOS, Unity and Flash games right now.
Beefjack Promote
– http://promote.beefjack.com/
Type: sponsorship – publishing – monetize
Seriouslyweb
– http://seriouslyweb.com/services/indie-game-marketing
Type: sponsorship – publishing – monetize
Crowd funding
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people, typically via the internet. If you want find investors you will need a great presentation with the best graphic, cool characters, good music.
A video will be more effective of thousands of written words!
– https://www.kickstarter.com/
– https://www.indiegogo.com/
– http://epocu.com/
Alphafunding
This allows you to get your game out into the public eye before its released, and maybe make a few bucks in the process.
– http://www.desura.com/
Free-to-play
Create a Free-to-play game, find thousands of users and add pay items, props or quest.
This is the way of Dota2, Tera on Line, League of Legends and others.
Inside Tera on Line, a free fantasy MMORPG there are a lot of packs from 4 USD to 50 USD to make your character cool ;p
Walking in Tera I have seen a lot of customized characters, I think some characters have at least $ 100 of cosmetics!
IMO monetize a F2P game is a fascinating process that involves psychology, art and UXD (User Interface Design)
Psychology and Free-to-Play
– Flow Theory
Introduced by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, flow theory is something all gamers have been through. It’s that feeling of being fully immersed in a game not knowing how much time has passed.
Flow theory can be defined as a state of positive immersion in an activity. Its components are full absorption in that activity, clear goals, a high degree of concentration, and a distorted sense of time.
This is the state that can lead to impulse purchases.
– Impulse Purchases
Purchasing virtual goods largely relies on impulse buying, as there is little planning involved. Players usually purchase virtual goods after playing the game a certain amount of time and this differs for each game.
Virtual Goods
– Vanity Items
Vanity items provide purely aesthetic purposes, such as items that can change the look of an in-game avatar.
– Power Enhancements
Power enhancing items elevate the player’s abilities in the game, and therefore affect game play overall.
– Boosts
Boosts accelerate progression or make the game easier to play by speeding up game play elements, such as getting experiance point inside and RPG
– Consumables
gThey give the player the same kinds of upgrades
– Monetization Strategies
Now that we know what to sell, how do we sell it? The most basic necessity is having multiple ways to pay to remove any friction and help increase conversion of non-paying to paying players. The longer a user plays, the more likely they will pay. Other strategies include having a store that’s simple to navigate and constantly checking metrics.
Subscription Fees
Offering subscriptions can be part of almost any monetization strategy, and it offers great flexibility. Subscribers are power users.
Offering discounts, giving hard currency each month, having subscriber-only events, these are all ways to create more value and give players incentive to become subscribers.
