Hi..

I'm not gonna get into much detail right now (because nothing has been signed yet) but I'm currently working on a way that Indy companies could use to reach 300 gamers (fans of game like WarCraft III and Counter-Strike) directly.

Would anyone be interested in reaching directly that kind of audience for a reasonable price ?


Nick

300 gamers? Maybe if it cost a dollar. Not a very large target there, specially without knowing more. Now, if you garanteed all of 'em were gonna buy... ;-)

What if by directly I mean in person and not on the net ?

Most of them age between 16-25, 95% Man. That the would see the game and hear about it during a period of 2 days (consecutive).

Would it seem more interesting ?

Nick

Possibly, but, let's not make this a discussion where I feel like I have to pull teeth to get information. Spill the beans, lad!

300 people... 16-25 years old... 95% male... 2 consecutive days...

Let me guess, you're going to set up a special "indie games only" computer at a big LAN party somewhere.

If he told, someone else might get there first..... ;)

Hmmmm... now if you said it was 30-70 years olds with young children, 50% female, then you'd have my attention. :)

Dexterity: I agree with that ;-)

Dan: Yeah, but, if I tell you I'm gonna sell ya something, but, I just say that it's big, comes in a box, and I don't know what the price is.... you'd give me a really strange look :-)

haha, yeah, i'm just being a tool, If it turned out there were two people pushing indie games at the lan party, it wouldn't really make much difference. It's not like exclusivity really matters in an enviornment like that.

Plus I've got this mental image of some kid standing there, lookin' at the game, then finally saying "Can I play Warcraft III on this machine?" ;-)

Granted, I'm poking fun at this, but it's not a bad idea, and has me thinking about a couple o' things related to the topic. Mo' marketing.

RedClaw got it right but not entirely.

It's indeed a 2 day week-end Lan-Party but it goes beyond that.

The "beyond" that is what still need to be officially devellop but, it would also involve presenting the game at weekly events which would take place at Internet Cafes.

We're also hoping that we'll be able to expend the crowd the events reach in time.

Like I said, right now I'm checking to see if people are interested the idea of being able to reach this kind of crowd directly. After that, if things turn out okay, we're hoping to extent the number and the age of the crowd.

On top of that, we're pushing to finally give the gaming the recognition it deserve as being something more than just Interactive Multimedia Entertainement.

Nick

Are the guys who go to two day LAN parties really your target demographic? That's the same demographic that the big name publishers (with their billions in advertising) go after.

It might be worth trying once or twice, if the price was REAL low. I could see that sort of demographic buying copies of TZ at a LAN party like that (particularly if they had the chance to play some multi-player), but I KNOW my puzzle games wouldn't sell there ;-)

However, I have some serious doubts about the last comment you made. Others with backers have tried, and failed. And truthfully.... that's what games are at thier core. The can be looked upon as art, they can be looked upon as sports, but, usually that's not what they were developed for. They were developed as entertainment :-) (Sorry if that causes a thread hijack!)

Originally posted by Midnight Ryder
And truthfully.... that's what games are at thier core. The can be looked upon as art, they can be looked upon as sports, but, usually that's not what they were developed for. They were developed as entertainment :-) (Sorry if that causes a thread hijack!)


hehe.. I wouldnt' mind if this turn into a thread hijack, because I think it's good for developpers to debate and discuss about the gaming industry.

That being said, I don't think anyone can deny that Indie companies are starting to be in danger of becoming extant in the years to come if something is not done to at least get some descent respectability (especially in Canada).

That's why I think it would be a good thing to not only get more popular support by presenting gaming has being more than just entertainement but would also help business people realise that a video game, althought it provide entertainement, is not like a movie or a book. That it also doesn't fall into the categories of dot com that have failed in the past years and that you don't need to be appealing to the main demographics to work but you do need to have means reach this other market.

There's also a need to "educate" gamers about the importance of supporting the Indies and that actually Indie games can be a lot more fun than some of the games they pay 65$ for. A Lan-Party is a good place to start.

Sure, there's always the jerk who will come and laugh at you. But that's when you have to show him that his favorite games cost millions to made and the company charge a lot while they don't care one bit about the gamers opinion while Indies tends to listen more to what people say and that on top of that, they're not to ripp them off with big marketing skim, they are there to create something fun. If the game is multiplayer, than it's even better.

We have to remind them that most of the best game on the market today are made by people who just like us started with a small company at home and that back than, making a AAA game was not costing the millions it cost today and that many people still manage to enjoy these game even more than some of the games existing today.

Anyway, all this to say that I think there's a lot of work to do in the Gaming Industry as an all and that I don't think the Suitcase people in charge of the big names companies will do anything about it until the money stop coming in and that by than, I hope the Indie will be where the gamers will turn to find their fun.

Nick

This might be a good opprotunity for Alien Flux: guys who like lots of action, aren't afraid of different control schemes, have high-end machines and aren't afraid up updating them.

Someone tell Princec.

somebody mention me :P ?
Ok SG_N, I'll get you an affiliate build together and you can try to flog it to your mates. Try hard, coz it's $8 a pop for you :D

Cas :)

hehe Princec,

like Steve, I'm gonna try a little experiments with my own game first and see how it turns out because the last thing I want is to rob my follow Indie devellopers ;).

I truely think that, if done correctly, there's a really good potentiel for marketing there.


Nick

Quick Update (sorry for bumping didn't want to start another thread).

I'm just dropping by to give you a Quick update about the all presenting your game to 300 people in person.

Well, Steve, you'll be happy to know that something is in progress regarding presenting these game toward our type of public.

I can't discuss much more here (yet) but something is on it's way to give the indie a little more visibility and a good opportunity to market their product. We're gonna need some support of course from the Indie side but I hope that this will work out.

Anyway.. like I said, just a quick update to let you know that this was not just a show but something becoming more and more tangible everyday.

I'll keep you posted.

Nick

hehe steve was just trolling, he's working on a warcraft clone ;) that's the perfect audience for his future hit.

pat.

Hi all,

sorry for not coming and giving more attention to this great forum in the past few months but I've been extensively busy trying to figure out how to have more exposure and more importantly on finding ways to make more money.

Anyway, regarding the something to help other thing I've been talking about, I have two project that might be of interest to some of you.


The first one is a web magazine where we will review, among the well-known game, the game devellop by Indie company in hope of giving them more exposure to the rest of the gaming community.

The second one would involve presenting Indie games during specific Lan events (where the main tournament is not Counter-Strike games and where the audience are mostly adults).

Anyway, I'd just like to know what you think about it ?

Nick