#all of your tags and votes have driven me to this conclusion

[khrysos-karnifex]

Okay I think I get it

[lgdays]

NOTES FROM THE EARLY DAYS (PART IV)

BUILDING AN AUDIENCE

Now that I had a couple of screenshots and concepts, it was time to share what I had been doing, and see if there was any interest in a non-fantasy modern-day RPG. In this article I’ll be sharing some numbers hopefully to serve as a reference point, as these numbers are usually not made public.

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V (in process)

The first step was to start a devlog. I decided to use tumblr instead of Wordpress or my own domain, so people could easily find those posts and engage with them. It’s important to note that people are less likely to use those Share buttons than to simply like/reblog within the platform.

Starting a Devlog

It’s common to hear people wondering when is the best time to start posting about their projects. In my opinion, the earlier you start posting, the more time you’ll have to build up an audience, so the earlier the better. In fact, showing your projects at their early stages will allow you to get feedback at a pertinent time.

The first post I made was an introduction to the story and the characters, with some concepts and really early screenshots. All of the art I posted there ended up being replaced in the end, though, like the in-game menu below:

Now, even though I said you should start as soon as possible, there are still some recommendations. When you start developing, it’s easy to overpromise, but try to make sure you’ll be able to develop the main features you’ll use to promote the game, otherwise you are off to a bad start.

Reception of the First Public Announcement

In all honesty, I had very low expectations, I hoped I would get at least 10 likes and no hate mail. I panicked wondering if I should  really publish it as it is. As it was my first post, even if people hated it, I wasn’t risking too much. If anything, I could always make a better post later.

Contrary to my expectations, within the first day people where liking and sharing the post. Within the first 10 days, there were already over a hundred notes, and some people even took the time to leave some really nice comments. Frankly, the game wouldn’t be the same if I hadn’t posted those screenshots online back then.

Spreading the Word

After the reception on tumblr, I had enough confidence to post about it on more sites. The ones that made a difference were the following sites:

TIG Source: This is one of the most popular forums for indiedevs. Popular indie games like Papers, Please, Owlboy, Rain World and even FEZ had their own threads there during development. TIG Source also has a Screenshot Thread.

RPG Maker forums: As far as I’m aware, every game engine has its own forum, so it’s a good idea to start there. In the case of RPG Maker, they have their own rules about the content required to make your own thread, so it’s easier to write an introduction using that as a guide.

IndieDB: As the name suggest, this is a database for indie games. It allows you to create a devlog, upload a presskit, and make announcements that will be displayed on the frontpage for a couple of hours. A lot of journalists (and bots) browse the frontpage, so it’s a good place to post if you hope to appear in the media.

Reddit (/r/gamedev & /r/rpgmaker): Both subreddits have their own Screenshot Saturday threads. Posting as early as the thread is up is your best bet, as these threads tend to get crowded. There are also genre specific subreddits that are good for big updates.

Now, while the 4 sites listed above are a good place to start, it’s important to keep in mind most of the people who browse the sites above are developers or people who work/want to work in the industry.

From all of these sites, TIG Source was the one were Long Gone Days got more reach. Within the next days, composers, sound designers, voice actors and publishers were reaching out to be part of the project. Soon after, the game got its very own first article on Siliconera: “Long Gone Days, An RPG With A Story 12 Years In The Making” by Chris Priestman.

Reaching Potential Players

Unless your game is targeted towards a really obscure niche, your best bet is to use the most popular social media platforms. I initially used Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook, so these are the ones I’ll be comparing.

1) Tumblr

On Tumblr the follower growth was quick. Without much effort, posting once per week, and relying mostly on 3 tags (#gamedev, #pixelart, #rpgmaker), within the first months there were on average 300 new followers monthly, and then it got on an average of 90~150 new followers per month. We also found a lot of loyal fans here, and there’s a big sense of community for story-driven games. By the first semester I was reaching about 1,500 followers here.

I noticed that posting videos or static images on tumblr didn’t go too well. GIFs on the other hand always resulted in at least 100 notes.

2) Twitter

On Twitter, contrary to my expectations, the follower growth was a bit slower. It takes more effort, as you need to tweet more often and you only have 140 characters to get your point across, but there’s a wider audience you can reach. The first months were slow, with a growth of 100~150 new followers per month, and mostly by using tags like #screenshotsaturday, #gamedev and #pixelart. By the first semester I was barely reaching the first thousand followers.

After reaching the first thousand though, the growth was way faster, and nowadays it’s the fastest growing platform Long Gone Days is on. Since numbers on Twitter are public, they affect how people see you.

3) Facebook

On Facebook, during the first few months, it would have felt like a ghost town if it wasn’t for my friends (thanks ♥!). Checking some Facebook pages of popular indie games in development, things were pretty similar, unless they used the “share+like+comment to win/vote” tactic. By the first semester I was barely reaching the first 800 followers.

Something that really helped me reach more people was to talk about the game on Facebook groups (mostly gamedev or engine oriented groups). I haven’t yet used promoted posts, as those should be saved for big announcements, but I’ll do my best to share the results if we do.

There are of course a lot more things you can do to improve your reach, like taking into consideration the time and day of the week you post, the amount of words you use, using GIFs instead of videos or static images, but I can expand on that on another post if there’s enough interest.

Conclusions

Before I started releasing info about the project online, I expected to see the worst, but I was overwhelmed with the support that we got. There were a few hateful comments as well, but they unknowingly gave us tons of useful feedback.

This goes without saying, but avoid getting into fights and be open to critiques. You don’t have to do everything the way some people want it to be, but they might be able to tell you the things your friends are afraid to say.

Releasing something that took you months or even years of effort is really overwhelming, it makes you feel exposed and vulnerable. Showing others your progress as you go really helps to reduce the emotional stress you could have once you release the completed piece.

With all of the feedback I got during the first few month, I had less worries on my mind, and it even motivated me to work even faster so I could share more stuff. Now all I had to worry about was the next big milestone: Releasing the demo.

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V (in process)

The next part of the series will be about the release of the demo (what do to before, during and after).

[ffxvhoe]

A Journey to Redamancy || Ch. 2

The second part is finally up, huzzah!  Anyway, as I was writing this I came to the definite conclusion that this fic will be character driven instead of plot driven.  So no huge fights or anything, just two people growing into themselves and one another.

Tagging: @xnoctits @cagedbycravings @goodmorningawfulbye @sonsoflucis @ultimoogle @blustersquall

CH. 1 | CH. 2

Mysteries stayed mysteries largely due to the fact that people preferred them to stay as such.  If people desired to truly know about something formerly thought as mysterious, the mystery would cease to be.  There were many reasons why people chose to leave mysteries as they were.  For one, it allowed people an excuse for not learning more about a person or thing.  Second, it was often times more enjoyable to leave things unknown.  Third, it was simply easier.  

It was easier for people to not bother to learn about the type of person Lysandra was; it was easier for people to continue to weave some sort of tale about the Goddess of the Night; it was easier than trying to get to know someone that did her best to keep others at bay.  Perhaps that was Lysandra’s own fault, that last bit.  She often felt lonely, yes, but she had gotten herself to believe a long tie ago that it was better to be lonely than to be surrounded by those that weren’t going to truly invest themselves in learning about what made one a true individual.  She had a close couple of friends, and of course her brother, and she was very much fine with these circumstances.  That didn’t mean, however, that she didn’t feel a pang when her friends talked about going out with other friends of theirs, or when she watched the mortals in the Land Below laugh brilliantly at their parties.  

The mystery was a shield to keep her eternal life as it were; to avoid change and the pain that often came with it.

Which was why she had been so quick to leave Gladiolus the night before.  

If a god was old enough -- if they had been around long enough to become one with the way the world worked, body and soul -- they could feel the slight changes in fate.  It was a tug in the pit of your stomach.  It was a warm tingle that ghosted up your arms.  It was the feeling of your caged heart ruffling its wings.  And this was what Lysandra had felt when she spoke with the God of Love.  She had seen the accepted sorrow in his eyes and was all too familiar with the feeling herself.  Many gods dealt with the trials and emotions of eternal life in their own ways, but to find someone who dealt with it in such a similar way was unsettling.  

Lysandra had heard many accounts of the God of Love, and from all she’d heard his personality seemed so wholly different from her own.  So when she spoke to him last night and found such glaring similarities she felt thrown -- tumbling down a mountain in an endless fall.  He was a mirror of another version of herself.  Where he was friendly with most of those he met, she did her best to separate herself from others.  Where he radiated warmth, she was cold and aloof.  If they were so opposite, why did she hear a whisper in the back of her mind chanting same, same, same.

“You’re awfully quiet over there.”  Lysandra looked up from the white cat lounging on her lap to look over at the goddess that had spoken.  

“I’m always quiet, Cindy” Lysandra replied, voice even.  

Cindy, the Goddess of the Forge, and one of Lysandra’s closest friends.  Realistically the two of them shouldn’t have become as close as they had; they were much too different from one another to connect.  Yet Cindy had been hellbent on becoming friends with Lysandra.  What Lysandra had done to be deserving of a friend so utterly selfless and sweet was beyond her, but she made it a point to thank fate for bringing them together.  Cindy was often the one person Lysandra went to when her mind became too muddled to make sense of herself.  Occasionally Cindy would give advice, but most times she would simply lend an ear to the moon haired goddess as she worked on her newest project.  

She answered the comment with a hum before asking, “What’s eatin’ at ya hun?”  

“Have you met Gladiolus before?” Lysandra asked, silver eyes flicking up to watch Cindy as she hammered away at a new weapon.

“God of Love, yeah?  Sure, he’s come in here plenty o’ times.  Seems friendly enough, why?”

“He picked a fight with Aranea apparently.”

“And that’s what’s botherin’ ya?”  No, that certainly was not what was bothering Lysandra, and she had a very good feeling that Cindy knew that as well.  But Cindy also knew that when Lysandra ended up caught in her own mind like this it was best to let her work through it on her own -- to not demand answers to problems that Lysandra was already attempting to sort through.  

“He seemed surprised to meet me,” Lysandra murmured, hands idly running through the cats fur.  

“Well ya do tend to hide from everyone.”

“I do not hide,” Lysandra said indigently.

“Fine, fine, avoid.  How’s that?”

Lysandra took a moment to think before nodding, white hair coming to cascade over her shoulders.  “Better.”

“Would ya be a doll and hand me the mallet over there?” Upon entering the forge, Lysandra had realized that Cindy was in the middle of creating a new sword.  From the detail she was putting into it Lysandra was left to believe that it was a custom order as opposed to one of her own personal creations.

Placing the white feline on the chair, Lysandra did as she was asked.  She watched, enthralled, as Cindy began hammering away at the metal, shaping it into what she needed.  The first time Lysandra had watched Cindy work she’d been more than a little envious. Cindy had the wonderful job of creating things every day and it was obvious how much she enjoyed doing said job.  Lysandra, on the other hand, was left to deal with the prejudice her domain faced not only by mortals but the gods as well.  

“For which god are you creating this?” Lysandra asked, peering over Cindy’s shoulder as she worked.  “It’s quite...intricate.”  The hilt alone was decorated with twining pieces of metal, molded to look like tangled rose vines.  Small, unopened buds were dotted along the vines as well with a singular, fully bloomed rose at the end of the hilt.  “It seems more decorative than something you would use for battle.”

“Towel.” Lysandra picked up the already dirtied cloth and handed it to her blonde haired friend who wasted no time in wiping her forehead.  “Don’t ask me, hun, I just make what I’m asked.  They should be comin’ t’ pick it up soon though if ya wanna ask them yourself.  Maybe after we can go grab somethin’ t’ eat?”  A rare, brilliant smile graced Lysandra’s features at the suggestion; it danced with unbridled happiness and gleamed with a childish freedom.  It had been much too long since she was able to spend leisurely time with Cindy as she typically had piles upon piles of requests to fill.  

“That sounds absolutely fantastic,” Lysandra replied.  So there Lysandra stayed, keeping her friend company and aiding the master blacksmith in any way she could.  Time passed swiftly, the air filled with an easy chatter between the two deities.  Once again Lysandra was reminded why she appreciated Cindy so much; it wasn’t easy for Lysandra to find someone she could converse with so seamlessly.

As the sun began to set, Lysandra excused herself from the forge, promising to be back once night had truly fallen.  

“We’ve been friends for over seven centuries, you don’t need t’ say anythin’.”  Lysandra smiled in turn, that warm feeling of being known filling her lungs, her heart.  With a small nod she pushed open the doors to the forge.  

As Lysandra was the Goddess of the Night, the gradual change of the reds and oranges to the navy blues and blacks was something of a sacred experience.  Nothing particularly special happened; there were no explosions of stars or changes of the wildlife, it was simply Night coming into being.  It was the gradient of the sky -- her brother embracing the her domain and she embracing her brothers.  It was the gentle blinking of stars coming out to speckle the sky.  It was the moon’s glow slowly beginning to kiss the land both Above and Below.  It was Lysandra bearing herself for all to see, silently pleading “Look at me.  See me.”  

Kissing the tip of a finger, Lysandra blew gently upon it, and a new shining star began its first ascent into the sky.  “Another gift, mother.”

As Lysandra returned to the forge, her steps slow as she attempted to compose herself once more, she was startled by a boom of laughter.  There was something faintly familiar about the voice, though Lysandra couldn’t quite figure out who it reminded her of.  As she pushed open the metal door, the bottom of it scraping against the stone floor, she was startled to see Cindy laughing along with Gladiolus.

“Oh, hun, you wan’ed t’ meet the person who requested the sword, right?  Well here he is!”

“Nice to meet you again, Lady Night.”

“I told you already that Lysandra was fine.”  

“Fine you are indeed.”  Gladiolus’s smile was roguish, his eyes glinting with restrained laughter.  

Lysandra turned her silver gaze back to Cindy, missing the slight disappointment that flashed across Gladiolus’s face at her dismissal.  “You could have simply told me it was him.”

“Oh, so you were talkin’ ‘bout this Gladiolus?” Lysandra’s eyes narrowed at the mischief that gleamed in Cindy’s otherwise innocent smile.

“What other Gladiolus would I have been speaking of?”

“You were talking about me?  Good things I hope,” Gladiolus said with a grin.

“Neither good nor bad,” Lysandra replied.  “Though I did tell her that you were dumb enough to pick a fight with Aranea.”

“Not sure why ya would’ve done that.  The gal’s quicker than a cheetah on skates; you had no chance.”  Cindy laughed as she shook her head in disbelief.  

“Well thanks for the vote of confidence Cin,” Gladiolus replied with a roll of his eyes.  The nickname didn’t go unnoticed by Lysandra, and not for the first time that night her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Are you two friends?”

“Indeed we are!” Cindy’s smile soon faded into one much more sheepish as she continued, “Sorry I didn’t mention anythin’ sweet pea, I didn’t mean anythin’ by it.”

The potentially lethal brew of self-consciousness, slight betrayal, and sadness dimmed in potency as Lysandra studied Cindy’s open expression.  It wasn’t required of Cindy to tell Lysandra everything about her life -- who she spent her free time with or whom else she called friend.  As Lysandra had only a few friends -- a number small enough to count on a single hand alone -- she had a tendency to become a little too attached, and often felt a pang of jealousy and inadequacy when she remembered that her friends also had a life she was not a part of.  It was a work in progress to wade through those feelings and attempt to finally come out on the other side, but she had at least made some progress in the last century.  It also helped that Cindy was beyond understanding of the matter, especially so after Lysandra had gotten up the nerve to bare herself to Cindy in that way and explain.

Lysandra was pulled out of her thoughts by the feeling of something curling around her legs.  Looking down she was greeted by the white cat from earlier.  “It’s fine, Cindy, nothing to worry about,” Lysandra replied, bending down to pick up the small creature.  

Gladiolus took a step closer to Lysandra, reaching a cautious hand out to stroke behind the cat’s ears.  “Who does she belong to?”

“Lysandra,” Cindy replied, her usual smile back to grace her features.

“She’s not mine,” Lysandra replied with a small shake of her head.  Cindy took a moment to simply stare at the white haired goddess, mouth hanging slightly agape.

“What do ya mean she ain’t yours?  Ya walked in here with her.” Cindy’s voice was incredulous as she stared at her friend.  

“I found her on my way over,” Lysandra said, voice and eyes innocent.

“And you just...picked her up?” Cindy asked.

“I like cats.” Gladiolus let out an unbridled laugh.  The sound of it could’ve rocked mountains, and the utter joy in it could have been bottled it was so tangible.

Lysandra studied him in that moment and came to the conclusion he was quite beautiful.  He was a mixture of fine lines and gentle edges.  His jaw was strong and dusted with stubble.  His eyes decorated by crow’s feet in the corners, giving away a life filled with smiles and laughter.  His body was honed in a way that could be noted even with the clothing he had on, and the way he held himself was reminiscent of a warrior.  Which was strange, Lysandra thought, because why would the God of Love need to be a warrior?

As Lysandra studied Gladiolus, she failed to realize a faint, barely there smile had become planted on her lips. And she also failed to witness the amusement that decorated Cindy’s features as the blacksmith watched her friend.  

“Gladiolus, would you like to join us for dinner?” Lysandra asked, eyes still studying the god’s features.  The question sobered Gladiolus, his eyes coming down to lock with Lysandra’s in surprise before glancing over at Cindy.

“Sure,” he replied once he seemed to assure himself he wasn’t imposing.  “You can call my Gladio, by the way.”

“Gladio...” Lysandra spoke the name, seeing how it tasted on her tongue.  “I like it,” she said, “very well. You don’t mind, right, Cindy?” Lysandra asked, turning to her friend.  Cindy herself looked fairly surprised as well by the sudden invitation that Lysandra had extended.  

“‘Course not!” Cindy replied. “Lemme just go change real quick.”  Just as Cindy was about to head into one of the numerous rooms in the forge, a small birdlike creature flew in through the window, it’s long tail reminiscent of a strand of ribbon. It was one of the  messenger’s of the gods, and attached to its foot was a small scroll. “Oh, now don’t tell me....” Cindy walked over to the bird and unrolled the piece of parchment.  The sigh that left Cindy was something of a giveaway as to what the scroll undoubtedly said. “Sorry ya’ll, a request from the King.  You two go on and eat, I’ll try an’ catch up if I finish in time.”

“Are you sure?” Lysandra asked, lips forming a slight frown.

“Yeah, this was suppose to be your guys’ night out together originally,” Gladio said.

“It’s fine,” Cindy said with a wave of her hand.  A small, teasing smirk quirked the edges of Cindy’s lips. “B’sides, Lysandra could use a new friend anyway.”