One of the biggest things Ive got from a few guys I know, is that the best thing you can get for your game, is to have some press "Buzz" going on for it.

This just means press interest really, or coverage.

Now as an indie, thats one hell of a problem, because in general, the magazines and press arent THAT interested in hearing about indie games.

So, with that in mind, has anyone got any suggestions about how we might create this buzz?

Make a view that we are ordering from each other amount of different licenses, technologies, know how things, libraries and that we are paying huge millions to each other for these things?

;)

I am working on a way to build awareness, not only for my product but for other indies, but I can't comment on it yet. (not until its official and it works)

So I guess that doesnt help!

Joseph Lieberman

Well it isn't completely impossible. PC Gamer actually had Spideweb Software featured in it this past month. I found it interesting because a review of Geneforge 2 was just posted on Game Tunnel, and there was a screenshot of the game in a major "mainstream games" magazine.

Of course, not everyone can get such recognition. I guess one thing you can do is act like Snood. Get the game to be easily downloadable and playable for college students. Everyone tells everyone else about it there, it spreads to other colleges, etc.

Controversy maybe.

I'm expecting that SHB may be a little controversial upon release, depending on what Sega make of it.

Er, one more thing to add.

Avoid the word Buzz.

Buzz marketing is the most difficult and most dangerous form of advertising. Not only is it usually very expensive, it also has a horrible habit of backfiring, causing a negative buzz that can destroy a company.

Buzz is dangerous because it is NOT CONTROLLED. That is a key to buzz marketing. Sometimes it comes about, starting negatively.

Example: Firestone tires. Back when they were exploding, they were a little dangerous in SUVs, but the company as a whole didnt deserve the mass publicity it got. Firestone was a name brand, brand awareness has increased tremendously now, but when that occurred it nearly killed the company to have such negative connotation mixed with your brand name. Now, for the record, firestone has done incredibly well to retain its profits... chalk that up to some brilliant corporate strategy.

Positive buzz can be created: Furby.
It made Furby a massively popular product, and nobody really knows why. Pet rocks were the same way... Buzz created a market, which was short term. However, these things tend to turn off much quicker than furby, and what may end up happening is you produce a million furbies to meet the demand and suddenly the buzz stops, and you are left with 600,000 furbies that nobody wants.

So, there's your lesson for today. Buzz isn't just a buzz word(it used to be), it is a technical type of marketing strategy now... and one most companies avoid like the plague.

Joseph Lieberman

I actually thought of this while I was in the shower today:

When I do finish a game, I could leave a number of CDs of the game demo around university campuses. If people like them, they tell their friends, and perhaps I can even provide a way for them to send a link for my site to their friends by email or something.

Now, that is interesting about buzz backfiring. Does the Furby example hold up when it comes to distributing games online? I mean, I produce maybe 10 CDs, then all other copies are made online. I don't really have to worry about producing too much supply and not having enough demand.

I can understand reputation-wise something going wrong, like having a buggy game associated with me, but what else can we look out for?

When I do finish a game, I could leave a number of CDs of the game demo around university campuses.First question to consider - would you try a CD-ROM that you found lying around the Uni somewhere? If not, what would it take to convince you to try it? (eg What would it take to convince you the CD doesn't really contain a virus?)

I produce maybe 10 CDs...Well, for the buzz to get started you'd need at least 1 of the 10 to start spreading the word... that's 10% of people who find the CD. Since generally only 1-2% of people convert to paying customers online, I imagine you may need 50 - 100 CDs before the word started to spread. You'd also need to ensure those CDs get found.

I'll tell you how to generate "buzz"

Have a team of some of the best indies unite. People working in their garages, with practically no budgets, and consumer level software, and have that team of indies make a game so wonderful it pulls in the same fun points and entertainment value as any of the "big players"

also, make this game playable online, so the game will REMAIN popular over time.

Indies need to make a game like starcraft or halo, so wonderfully fun and exciting that it hits retail stores and becomes an internet phenomenon for a year.

But of course, its just a dream, and who knows how many talented computer artists out there are willing to risk their business putting 6 years into something that could make them a goldmine, but could just as very well crash and waste all the productive time making smaller, less risky games.

I do think however that indies are talented enough to make a popular game, and I intend to work my way up and one day move to high-end games like Space Sims and 3d FPS.

@Cosmic Geek-
I really dont think that is the nature of buzz- a great product that every one will love does not need special strategy-
IMHO Buzz is creating a "whatever product" into a "name" product-
What i want to say that the quality of the product does not need to be stagering, just good enough, then you buzz it up to something people will talk about around the water cooler..
Then the "sheep nature" of you regural consumer will kick in-

Originally posted by GBGames
When I do finish a game, I could leave a number of CDs of the game demo around university campuses. If people like them, they tell their friends, and perhaps I can even provide a way for them to send a link for my site to their friends by email or something.

This sounds like a really fun guerilla marketting idea, although I wouldn't do it with a serious expectation of profits from it. I think a simple addictive multiplayer game has the best chance of success at a university with this underground method. Students are good at getting to little time wasters, and making it mulitplayer helps increase the chances that they will talk to others about it. The CD case IMO would have to be a nice color one (eliminates a lot of "omg it's a virus" fear) and with a clear notice stating that this CD was intentionally dropped to be found and is free for the finder to keep (you don't want your efforts to result in the school's lost and found bin to be filled with CDs). This sort of marketting could be a good example of applying the Purple Cow (http://www.dexterity.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2014). I also agree with SyneRyder that you shouldn't waste your time on less than 100 CDs if you want your efforts to get noticed (your goal should be to get people talking about these weird CDs that popped up all over the place).

Well, for indies buzz could be made mostly only accidently, methink. And most likely it could be created by making a product which fills some very empty niche. I might be wrong, but I think thats what happened with various wargame titles and some sims: these niches are pretty active online, are pretty underserved by big game studios and any release which meets certain quality standards, can make such a buzz.

Buzz needs some kind of soil, which in these cases was strong online community actively searching something to "buzz about".

I dont think buzz is something to spend marketing effort on, its more question about recognizing it, if it has already happened and then use it.

just my 2 cents.

See? If I didn't share this idea of mine, I would have been stuck wondering why the 10 CDs didn't really create a buzz.

Now of course I wouldn't just create some crap looking CDs with a single label written in pen. I would make them look good/professional, with maybe a nice small booklet included too. This booklet would maybe even have some info on how to spread the word. "Tell your friends about this game! Here are some small postcards!" or something like that. Of course, the actual game could allow them to email their friends which is more likely. The URL for the game would be easy to find on the CD, in the game, etc.

I think this could only work if the game was really well polished because yeah, otherwise people will assume it might be a virus and throw it away. And any attempt at pushing for people to tell their friends would have to let them know that they shouldn't worry about their privacy being violated.

I have to run, but this is good discussion.

I don't think you need to push too hard to get people to spread the word. The existance of 100 random CDs around campus and a really fun and addictive game would generate plenty of talk. I think talking too much about telling friends and the like might actually backfire, as it removes some of the mystery from the promotion. I would also try to make sure that it comes across as the work of a student (without sacrificing a nice look). Students wouldn't be happy if some random corporation started litterring their campus (think attitude towards AOL cds), but if it's a student distributing some awesome game through underground means, that's different.

There are ultimately all educated guesses at best though, you would have to try it to know the result.

It would be smarter to have it somewhere official.

In my college we had the student center, Reitz Union (anyone who has been to UF has been there I am sure). If you could get permission to setup a small kiosk you would probably attract attention with less risk.

Terin

This is a very interesting conversation. I'd thought about dropping CDs of my game around, but decided it would not be cost effective. I'm sure I could find campuses and stores to put up my CDs for free (here are free CDs you can give your customers with a free game on it), but getting enough of those CD takers to cover the cost of the disc and time spent burning and distributing is a slim margin. However, if a group of us did this and shared the cost I suspect it would be a good idea. Most of us have very small demos so we could load up quite a few games. The more we put on there, the smaller the per-indie cost. And there's nothing to stop CD holders from buying more than one game. The thing that concerns me the most is the drop out rate, people who will take a free disc but let it sit there, or people who try out only one game then toss it. I agree that making the CD look professional is of great importance. A booklet with a few games on each page is good, but this means the CDs will probably be distributed with a case. More expense, and a greater likelihood of college students taking the disc and thanking us for the free case to replace the cracked one they have in their dorm. :) Nevertheless I do like this idea. If we had an autorun program give an overview of each game and shortcuts to each installer, that would make it more likely for people to trust the product and install more of the games.

Thats a great Idea Eric

If you guys ever decide to make something like that happen, be sure to post a thread to cover expenses etc.

I live on a college campus, but I dont really know where these things could be distributed.

Originally posted by elund
However, if a group of us did this and shared the cost I suspect it would be a good idea. Most of us have very small demos so we could load up quite a few games. The more we put on there, the smaller the per-indie cost. And there's nothing to stop CD holders from buying more than one game. The thing that concerns me the most is the drop out rate, people who will take a free disc but let it sit there, or people who try out only one game then toss it. I agree that making the CD look professional is of great importance. A booklet with a few games on each page is good, but this means the CDs will probably be distributed with a case. More expense, and a greater likelihood of college students taking the disc and thanking us for the free case to replace the cracked one they have in their dorm. :) Nevertheless I do like this idea. If we had an autorun program give an overview of each game and shortcuts to each installer, that would make it more likely for people to trust the product and install more of the games. Two comments:

People tend to be less inclined to register if a game demo is one of many. they play the game and then reach the end of the demo and instead of ordering they just go to the next demo. Not to say that everone would do this, but some will.

I would recommend an install everything option. A single installer that installs every game.

Awesome idea elund. Not without it's flaws, but getting 1000+ CDs professionally pressed would be quite cheap if 20 or 30 people all participated. Getting demo on 1000 CDs for only $20 (guessing a per-CD cost of 50 cents, and 30 indies in on this)? I would jump on that instantly (assuming it happens after Feb 15, when CustomBar is released, and that it's not restricted to games).

Well thought-out distribution is key though! If these 1000 (or whatever quantity we are talking, I shouldn't assume 1000) CDs are passed out in a way that provides a reasonably effective chance that a good percentage will actually be tried out, then this seems like a fair chance to make a few sales and get some creative exposure. 1000 potential customers, magical conversion rate of 1%, and that's hopefully 10 sales. Not enough to be life-altering, but enough to justify trying this out for fun. :)


Edit: Lerc makes a good point about the install all option.

I got a small buzz going on the pcgamer swedish forum. Posted some screens along with info, got only good feedback and many has read it.

IF you could get 30 people to get together and make a 'demo' CD...

and your aim was 'bulk' CDs... I have seen 1000 CDs bulk for .47 each and I think free shipping, but it was only 3 color print. That'd be $16 per person.

I've also seen bulk CDs for 10,000 @ .31 each, which would be $106/person. (4 color).

Or 5000 @ .36 ($60 per person). Shipping I believe is not included on those prices.

However: I did also find 1000 in a jewl case (no insert) for .87 each.

Also 1000 jewl @.945 with a 4 pg insert (Color 1 side, BW on others) and free shipping to the US.

So there you go. Our product wont be availible for another 6-9 months so good luck :-)

Joseph