Marketing. The bane of every game developer’s existence.
You could make the most exciting, innovative game there ever was, but if your marketing sucks and nobody knows about it, your game is dead in the water.
In case you’re a fellow game developer who just happened to stumble across this blog, I have to kick this off by mentioning that I released a total of one whole game and it’s in a niche genre (otome visual novel) about a niche topic that doesn’t get much attention from the media (marching band). However, I know there are a lot of hopeful otome developers out there who might enjoy this point of view, and even if you’re not from that niche, you might still pick up a few tips. Or maybe you’re just a Band Camp Boyfriend fan who loves learning every little detail of our process. Either way, hope you get something out of this!
So disclaimer: This is a summation of my experiences and opinions on the joys of marketing an otome visual novel, along with some advice. Feel free to take it or leave it!
Another disclaimer: I actually do work in marketing for my real life job so I might know what I’m talking about. A little bit. Maybe.
There’s so much to cover, I hope I don’t miss anything. Let’s start with your Steam page!
Steam
If you’re serious about getting eyes on your game, you’re going to want a Steam page. There’s a reason they share in 30% of your profits–they’re the biggest hub for online gaming and they know it.
I put off making a Steam page for a while because there’s quite a bit of work that goes into it, plus a $100 fee for registering your game. Most of my efforts were going into the game itself, but once I finished a lot of major programming, I asked Google, “When is the best time to create a Steam page for my game?” The response: “Yesterday.” …Oops. Luckily, we were a little over a year away from release.
Chris Zukowski’s free course on “How to Market a Game” was an absolute lifesaver! There are a lot of complicated bits you need to get right, straight down to the pixel size of your images. Chris’s course and his blog gave me a lot of insight I didn’t have, and totally shaped the direction of my marketing. Please check out his work and support him if you can!
It’s recommended to get your Steam page up as soon as you have something to show for your game: trailers, screenshots, features, etc. Do NOT put it off until close to release. Steam has a thorough review process for both your store page and your game. If this is your first time, you will probably be going back and forth a lot. They will even tell you helpful advice like, “Hey, you need more gameplay in your trailer,” which honestly is pretty fantastic. They want the products they’re showcasing to look as professional as possible and I love them for it.
You’ll also want to put your Steam page up early so you can reap other benefits including building your wishlist count and partaking in Steam Next Fest. If you didn’t already know, Steam wishlists are a way consumers can save the game and be notified of its release or a sale. They will receive an email once the game is out, or if the game goes on sale for 20% off or more. The more wishlists your game has, the more visibility it will get at launch and during Next Fest.
One vital tool of marketing is the CTA–the “Call to Action.” It’s telling your audience what to do next and it works wonders. “Wishlist the game on Steam!” will become your battlecry before release. “Play our game!” and “Review our game!” will come later. Don’t forget to often encourage them to follow you on social media, too. Make sure you’re peppering video and graphical assets with calls to action, so your fans know what steps to take!
Let’s talk numbers. I mentioned earlier that a high wishlist count means more visibility at launch. If you have enough, you’ll appear on “popular upcoming games” or even the front page upon release! But you need lots and lots of wishlists for that to happen. I recall the minimum amount being 8,000 to 10,000 wishlists to start appearing. I knew a first time developer releasing a dating sim about a marching band with a female protagonist wasn’t going to appear on “popular upcoming” …but I wasn’t not going to try my hardest! I set a goal for 2,000 wishlists before release and I’m happy to declare that we did indeed make it, having 2,057 wishlists at release! The conversion rate for wishlists to purchases currently stands at 11.6%, which falls within the average.
I don’t know how accurate this is, but I read the number of sales you make in your first year should be around the number of wishlists you had at launch. I would be over the moon with 2,000 sales. I need to check back on May 11, 2024 to see if that holds true or not.
Let’s talk about festivals!
Steam is very kind to upcoming games and will hold Steam Next Fest every three months, which lasts for one week. Developers will often make demos available during this time, or host developer streams. It’s free to enter, so you should definitely opt your game in if possible! I opted in for the February Next Fest, the last one that would be taking place before our release in May, to generate as much hype as possible. My sister and I hosted two developer streams. We were super nervous at what sort of reception we might receive, but our fans showed up for us and there was nothing but positivity! I’m still grateful to this day. In the first hour of each stream, we had hundreds of viewers, thanks to Steam’s extra visibility granted in the first hour of the slot you signed up for. I was pleasantly surprised. A couple of streamers showcased our demo as well. We came away with an additional 198 wishlists at the end of Next Fest.
Band Camp Boyfriend also took part in the new Storyteller’s Festival, hosted by Two and a Half Studios. This festival focused on visual novels and games with strong storytelling aspects. We re-aired our Next Fest stream during this time and gained 124 wishlists.
Definitely take part in festivals! You don’t even need to do a livestream if you’re uncomfortable with it. You can grab pre-recorded gameplay or even simply showcase your demo or Steam page. If you do decide to livestream, I would recommend aiming for a slot earlier in the week when hype for the festival is at its peak.
Wow, did I talk about Steam enough yet? Actually, there’s one more thing to be aware of!
Once you release your game, it’s time to push for reviews! Steam keeps your game locked in a basement like a certain character in Band Camp Boyfriend until you get 10 reviews on your game from people who bought it. Then it receives a rating, and Steam deems it worthy of showing it on their store. So don’t be shy in asking your fans to leave a review!!
Okay, that’s enough of that. Let’s move on to something else…
Itch.io
If you’re an otome or visual novel developer, Itch.io is a great place to upload your game. While Steam has a convoluted upload process, Itch.io’s is as simple as clicking a button (though be warned, they have a file size limit). Itch.io often hosts all sorts of game jams such as the annual Otome Jam, which shines the spotlight on the little guys.
I also had a much easier time in uploading a Mac build of my game here. A lot of people have asked why a Mac version of Band Camp Boyfriend is not available to play on Steam. It’s because you need to jump through even more hoops and pay for a yearly developer license with Apple. Based on the ominous countdown at the top of my Steam page, Steam and Mac systems really seem to be going their separate ways.
I also enjoy the fact that Itch.io has a space for your devlog and a special section to show off the latest entries. Definitely take advantage of that! Your fans will also thank you for updates. I made Quarterly Updates a habit. It helps keep your motivation up when you want to share good news every three months.
I will say, I do wish Itch.io’s customer service team was a bit more responsive, but since they are smaller and don’t have the same resources as Steam, it is to be expected.
Grab a drink and a snack because it’s time to talk about the dreaded…social media.
Social Media
The brunt of our marketing is definitely social media-based. Despite my penchant to grouse about it, I do feel most comfortable advertising the game in this medium. However, each social media platform comes equipped with its own mechanics, algorithm, and audience. I had a very different experience on each one, so here are my thoughts on what did or didn’t work.
Tumblr
I love Tumblr! It’s no secret this is my favorite social media platform. Though it is not the best for being seen, the search function is pretty bad, and it can be a bit tough to build a following here, I love the post formatting, I love how I can write as much as I want, and I love the ask box. It really lends itself well to hosting a developer log. I would recommend having a Tumblr solely as a home base to write about development and interact with fans.
Tumblr also has a bit of an older audience and is popular among millennials (sorry to call us an older audience, fellow millennials). If you’re aiming your game at a more mature audience, all the more reason to create a Tumblr.
If I were to rank our social media accounts based on number of followers, Tumblr would come in a solid third place, leaving those behind it in the dust…but it’s still number one in my heart.
I went kicking and screaming into creating a Twitter, and I definitely didn’t know anything about Twitter etiquette, but eventually I learned to embrace it. It took Twitter a little while to figure me out, which meant a slow start. At first, I was existing in the voice acting circles since most of our followers were, you guessed it, voice actors. Then I entered the gamedev sphere, because there are quite a lot of game developers on there trying to be seen. Then finally, I found the otome audience.
There is actually quite the otome community that exists on Twitter! I always try to make use of the hashtags #otome, #otometwt, or #otomedev. A faithful little otome bot would help me get seen. I would also participate in #wipwedneday, #wishlistwednesday, and #screenshotsaturday but honestly, I think that’s mostly just gamedevs advertising to one another on there. Fans still appreciated seeing the screenshots while they waited for release, though.
So…many…screenshots…
Unfortunately, I don’t know what the heck is going on with Twitter anymore and I’m not sure I can offer much advice. I’m sure you’ve caught wind of what’s happened. Accounts that don’t pay for a subscription are becoming less and less visible. Hashtags are apparently obsolete now. I have no idea what’s going to happen next. This is why you need to forge your own web presence, but more on that later.
One super cool account for otome lovers is Sammi, who runs otomeaddicted. She will often highlight or stream indie otome games, plus her posts are really fun. Another awesome account is Indie Otome, who gives all kinds of love to indie otome and is super wholesome. Next to Reddit, I’d say Twitter is a good place to find your active otome audience.
Twitter comes in second place on our social media ranking, with over 950 followers. Argh! When are we gonna break 1000?!?
TikTok
One thing we were struggling with for a while was finding our marching band audience. Marching band is beloved by so many, yet never treated right or depicted accurately by the media. I really wanted to get the eyes of (current and former) band kids on Band Camp Boyfriend, but it was proving to be difficult in locating them. Then, I finally bit the bullet and made an account after reading multiple articles saying that you should be marketing your game on TikTok. The very first video TikTok showed me was a blurry video of someone sticking a fork into a toaster and exploding…greeeaaat…sure hope that’s not a metaphor.
Yes, I went kicking and screaming for this one too. I’m very aware of social media’s effect on one’s mental health. I also majored in Film/Video and TikTok’s celebration of shoddy, home video type format appalled me. Of course, I eventually embraced it too, and had a blast with it. And yes, this is where I finally found my missing marching band audience. TikTok is definitely where the younger generations are hanging out.
If you’re struggling for content ideas, feel free to peruse my account and see what did well. You can tell I wholly embraced the home video format. Sometimes it’s as simple as pointing my phone at the game. Or it’s just a quick video of me being the comic relief character. Occasionally, I edit something higher quality in Adobe Premiere and upload it to YouTube as well, but this can be more time-consuming and TikTok has proven quality is not a priority. Shorter videos are also favored over long-form.
TikTok is fantastic for getting your game in front of new eyes. Tumblr stinks at it. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram want you to cough up some money first. TikTok is definitely starting to head in that direction, but it’s still “the wild west” in a way. TikTok will run up to random people with your video and ask them if it’s good. If it gets a positive response (the video is viewed until the end/replayed, liked, favorited, shared, or commented on), TikTok shows the video to an even bigger pool of people. If it’s getting plenty of interaction, TikTok will acknowledge it has something good and keep that momentum going. TikTok is special in this way.
I reuploaded this promotional “How to Survive Band Camp 101” video made back in 2018 in pieces and it just took off. I was totally hooked watching those views shoot through the roof. But with great visibility comes great criticism, and videos that performed well came paired with nasty comments. It can be tough to take when you’ve poured your heart and soul in this little passion project of yours, and they’re judging it without really knowing it, or slinging insults at you just because your game doesn’t 100% cater to their tastes. The reality is, marching band kids face a lot of bullying…as do otome games, female protagonists, and media catered towards women…and visual novels aren’t even considered to be real video games by some…so we’re really stacked when it comes to making ourselves a target.
Since game release, I’ve gotten better at brushing off those comments. Sometimes, I’ll straight up delete them because this world needs less negativity in it. If I have the power to delete negativity, then why not? Why shouldn’t I?
One line of thinking I’ve embraced is this is MY platform. It is not anyone else’s. It will not be a platform for hate or negativity. If they want to spew that stuff, they can do it on their own, not mine. This is my space and it is for celebrating Band Camp Boyfriend.
Looking at our follower count on TikTok, you would probably call this our most successful platform, but to be honest, I am not sure the conversion rate (a.k.a. followers turning into customers when they buy your game) is anything to write home about. TikTok hosts a young audience and a number of them have lamented that they don’t have money or own a PC. However, every time we have a video perform well, there is a noticeable spike in views, and recently now that the game is out, a tiny spike in sales!
As for TikTok’s mysterious algorithm…quite frankly, it’s unpredictable. Some videos take off when I never expected them to (and almost didn’t even want them to). Others immediately go belly-up like a dead fish. The time you post your video is very important to TikTok. I’ve tried posting at different times and have found the most success posting in the late evening of weekdays (minus Friday), when people are typically relaxing with their phones at the end of the day. But that’s not to say I haven’t had a Saturday video go viral on Sunday. All I can say is, find what works best for you–and keep those videos on the short side, because we humans have a short attention span and TikTok pays the most attention to view count, including rewatches. Grab their attention with a hook, but don’t keep them hanging for long. Shareable content also gets you super far. Our videos that did the best always seemed to show a high amount of characters, holding different instruments, because it gave every band kid something to comment on. Another successful approach is videos hinting that Band Camp Boyfriend isn’t as innocent as it looks on the surface. A quick flash of blood certainly gets people talking.
I do think TikTok is starting to get greedy. There was a period of time where I was only getting around 300 views per video despite thousands of followers. Unfortunately, TikTok will not even show your videos to followers at some point because it would rather show them new content, which is super lame. During this time, TikTok started shoving a bunch of coupons at me, trying to get me to buy views, which I stubbornly refused. I didn’t post for a long while, but recently, I got back into it and we’ve been seeing a little bit of success again. I just never know what the heck to do to please TikTok. Sometimes you just gotta post and pray.
Recently, I downloaded CapCut, which makes video-editing easier than ever. Grab a trending template, put it with a background from your game, add a silly caption, and boom, you’re done. I have quite a few sitting in my drafts that I made within one sitting. If you’re not into editing complicated videos, try out CapCut’s templates to make your own memes.
In the end, would I recommend making a TikTok for your game? Yes, absolutely. You won’t find this kind of exposure anywhere else. It’s low effort, high reward. Go in with zero expectations and just have fun with it, because TikTok is unpredictable. And if you encounter haters, don’t let them get you down because you’re making a video game, and that is super cool and a ton of hard work. Keep on keeping on, you absolute badass.
Discord
I always forget about our Discord, which is weird because I’m on Discord a lot…
If you’re really starting to build a following, you should definitely create a Discord for your game. It has caused me a few headaches in the past, when it was subject to the occasional troll. But ultimately, it is a place where fans feel the most comfortable posting fanworks and sharing thoughts on the game with one another. I also love seeing the friendships that have formed as people connect over the game. So you can’t go wrong with building a Discord, which (surprise!) is another wonderful way to keep everyone updated on the latest with your game.
You should also join Discords that relate to your game. The Otome Development Discord is a very cool place to speak to other developers. I’m also in the “How to Market Your Game” Discord, where a ton of awesome resources are shared every day. I bucked up the courage to share my Steam page in there, despite thinking no one would care. Someone watched the trailer, their wife who was in the band heard the music and went “Is that a marching band??” and became interested in the game. And I’m happy they thought to share that with me. That’s my story I remind myself of whenever I’m nervous to share the game somewhere. You just never know where you will find someone who might want to play your game.
Facebook/Instagram
I made a Facebook page forever ago, but the follower count is still in the gutter compared to the other platforms with a little over 100 followers. Same for Instagram. You’ve got to pay up if you want visibility on these platforms. They’ve been around for quite a while and know how to make a profit.
We did run a Facebook ad during our Kickstarter in 2018, and I will say that I was impressed with its reach. You can really narrow down and find your target audience with their tools. However, I don’t think it amounted to many financial contributions, and I won’t be doing it again.
I think the die-hard, creative fans from TikTok migrated to our Instagram. I have seen awesome fanart show up on Instagram and my interactions there have been very wholesome and sweet. My clumsy fingers are just very bad at typing on a phone so I don’t post there as often as I should. Plus, it’s very hard to be seen on that app by new people. Sorry, Instafam.
Since neither of these platforms have fared extremely well, I pour most of my energy into the previously mentioned social media!
I could stand on a mountain and shout about how much I love r/otomegames, which I did a fair bit of promotion on, since they are very generous in allowing it, even letting me hold a giveaway. I would recommend posting in Self-Promotion Sunday for smaller updates, but if you have a big announcement like a Kickstarter or game release, create a topic for it.
There is also the smaller yet mighty r/IndieOtome, which lets you promote twice a week and spotlights games. The people who run it are very sweet and passionate about promoting indie games so definitely check it out!
I didn’t have as much success with other Reddits, but depending on the topic of your game, you may find success elsewhere. There’s r/visualnovels, though it seems to favor galge over other genres, so I didn’t get much traction there. There are also reddits for indie game developers and gaming in general, but I never got the courage to post my game there.
YouTube/Twitch
Video marketing is becoming more and more popular, so why not go ahead and upload your trailer to YouTube? Even though it’s becoming tougher to get views on there (the algorithm now favors loooong videos because that’s what keeps you on the platform), it’s good to have a YouTube presence.
And if you enjoy streaming, you might as well add Twitch to that list. We did a few enjoyable Twitch streams in the past, though we’ve shifted gears into streaming on Steam as of late.
Your Website
I cannot stress this enough: social media is impermanent. We’ve all borne witness to it, especially as of late. The sad fact is, you don’t truly own your social media account. It could be gone tomorrow and that follower count you worked so hard to raise can vanish in the blink of an eye.
That’s why it’s so important to carve out of your own space. If you have the savings for it, consider making your own website. It’s not as fragile as a social media account. If you have an issue with your web host, you can easily switch to another. Also consider an email list! It’s a great option to keep your fans updated with the latest news. I, uh, haven’t gotten around to it yet myself, but I’ve heard good things!
Another cool thing you can do with your website is write a blog, which is good for SEO (search engine optimization) and being seen! There’s no shortage of things to write about when you’re a game developer, and a lot of budding devs will appreciate your perspective!
Other Marketing Methods
If you abhor social media, no worries. There are other marketing strategies you can employ such as reaching out to journalists, reviewers, and streamers. For whatever reason, I always feel the shyest about this. Around the time we got on Steam, I was on such a marketer’s high, I created a press kit and reached out to a handful of people for press releases and requests for reviews of the demo. Sweet n’ Spicy, an otome game review website, did this fabulous review of our demo I like to occasionally reread. Otome Kitten and Otome Obsessed did press releases. Whenever you request this kind of coverage, make sure to send along your press kit: a little zip file that includes basic information on the game, screenshots, trailers, logos, and whatever else you deem important. It will make the other person’s job much easier.
Honestly, I should’ve done this kind of thing for the game’s full release, but I ran out of steam and just kind of collapsed right after passing the finish line.
In the week leading up to release, I ran a free game giveaway on our Tumblr, Twitter, and r/otome. During that time, we gained 23 Tumblr followers, 84 Twitter followers, and 94 wishlists, pushing us past our goal of 2000 wishlists!
I wondered if we would lose those followers once the giveaway was over, but I didn’t notice an obvious decrease. It did a great job getting eyes on us and I would recommend having a free game giveaway since it costs you nothing, generates hype, and gets you a lot of visibility! Everyone loves free stuff!
We’ve also been employing some old-school marketing methods since release. Our amazing, supportive parents wanted to help us promote the game and offered to get T-shirts and business cards made. At first I was like no, that’s fine, we don’t need business cards, but I’ve actually passed out quite a few! If I see a bulletin board in the wild, I tack a little Tom or Poptart to it. I’m looking forward to handing out a few at Otakon if I meet any otome fans, too!
One silly memory I will look back on fondly is the evening of release, my sister and I went out for a nice dinner and drinks, wearing our shirts, to celebrate. Since we’re responsible adults, we walked off the buzz from the alcohol by checking out random stores in the area. A salesman in a furniture store approached me like, “Can I help you?” then he spotted my shirt and was like “Band Camp Boyfriend…I had kids in marching band.” I lit up, uninhibited thanks to the one whole drink I had (leave me alone, I’m a lightweight), and started selling this salesman on Band Camp Boyfriend.
I remember there was a time when I couldn’t tell people the name of the game without getting a little embarrassed. Those times are long past! Let’s go!!!
What does success look like?
I feel like throughout this entire journey I was constantly like “We got this many views/followers/downloads! Is that good?!” YES! The answer is always yes, especially if you feel good about it. I had never done this before and had nothing to compare anything to.
As a competitive person who tends to aim for the sun, I would often see all of these successful Kickstarters or otome games that really did well for themselves and feel bad that my game wasn’t seeing the same success. Yeah, don’t do that. Comparison is truly the thief of joy. We are all starting from the bottom, we are all on very different journeys. There’s little point in trying to compare your game with others. It’s like how everyone uses their socials to show off the best pieces of their lives, but we’re all facing challenges behind the scenes. Don’t ever forget that…we ride this struggle bus together.
Focus on yourself and set personal milestones. Celebrate your growth and achievements. Look back on the path you’ve traveled and reflect on how far you’ve come. You define your own success.
Resources That Saved My Bacon
Here are some awesome resources that came in handy for me that I’ll share with you, too. I’ve mentioned him before, but Chris Zukowski’s contributions to the indie game developer scene cannot be understated! Check out his free course on how to create a Steam page as well as his blog.
Aurodev, an indie game developer who speaks on his experiences via YouTube, definitely saved my bacon when it came to uploading Band Camp Boyfriend to Steam. His how-to videos are so easy to follow! Be sure to check out his game releases as well!
Arimia is another one I need to shout out! She’s released many visual novels under the name Crystal Game Works and has written numerous articles about marketing visual novels, utilizing your social media to its fullest potential, and more. Be sure to check her out, especially if you are creating a visual novel game!
There are quite a few other useful articles that taught me valuable things, but I don’t have the energy to hunt down every single one. Just know that Google is your friend!
Final Tips
I’ll wrap things up with a few final tips.
- Have fun with it! If you’re having fun, others will too.
- Repurpose your content as often as possible. Pull still graphics from videos. Share the same content across all platforms, fitting it to their format. It will save you time and give you more content to share! Screenshots, gameplay videos, progress updates, memes, polls, personality quizzes, fanart, thoughts on your gamedev journey…there’s all sorts of content you can share and repurpose!
- Watch out for scammers. Once you release a game, your inbox will fill with requests for free keys. If someone is reaching out to you first, and the copy in their email reads pretty generic, they’re a scammer.
- Don’t ever feel annoying. This one is forever a work in progress for me, but I at least feel comfortable yodeling on my social media at this point. If people are following you, they want to hear from you and will gladly eat up the content you post. It’s what they’re here for! So post away!
- Choose your release date carefully! Steam has major sales every season. Do your best not to release during them or near them. Otherwise, your game will be competing with discounts and getting less visibility since Steam will be devoted to highlighting the sale.
That’s all I got for today! I hope you came away with a tip or two on how to market your game more successfully. Look forward to a future post written by Alex all about composing Band Camp Boyfriend’s soundtrack. And remember to always believe in your strengths! Have a great day!
Lovebird Game Studios | Official Site 