“MODSORK is a challenging arcade game: Having a publicly visible leaderboard has proven quite effective in attracting competitive players and even sparked a friendly rivalry or two. People would get on it, then walk past later and see their score had been surpassed, which motivated them to have another go. It also provided a photo/selfie…

“We very early on realized that our demo was too long for a convention setting. The demo could take a new player 30+ minutes to complete without aid. Many early players didn’t stick around for the entire demo not surprisingly.”

“With the context established and the scaffolding of a why in place to support it, the next part is to tell the audience something about the game that amazes them and makes them want it. You want to light off a mini-nuke in their imagination and blow their mind.”

“But the amazing thing was when someone had the Gear VR on and was playing the game; then the video took on a whole other paradigm. Whenever someone came up to the booth while someone was playing our game, they would assume the video they were watching was of live gameplay.”

“My learning: don’t do the press work two weeks before the Gamescom as most journos will already be booked with appointments. Although I’m super-happy with the response this time and that most of the invited journalists at least agreed on coming by if they found some time. Starting everything earlier is my big goal for…

“Fun Fact: I’ve purchased titles and/or visited booths every year because they dropped flyers off at the Media/Press room.”

“Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get a reply, and don’t cherry pick outlets.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve not been able to schedule an interview and still stopped by a booth because I recognized the name. Chances are, if your name lands in their inbox, it’ll ring a bell when they…

“Let’s be honest: successful game development is not about developing a game. Is about being able to find an audience for your game. A mistake that many independent developers are doing is to push all their resources into the actual making, leaving little to no budget for networking and marketing. Being able to build hype around your game is, in most cases, essential.”

“Once upon a time, marketing was considered taboo and almost completely ignored by indie game developers. These days, most devs recognize its importance and do make some effort, but do little to differentiate themselves from the masses. In this article, we explore the art of marketing, and how you can use it to gain much-needed…

“At expos the Mini Metro booth mainly attracts people that end up enjoying the game, and likewise the Steam page only seems to pull in people that enjoy it. This has left us with a low return rate, a very high review user rating, and few complaints to answer.”

“Being personable, funny, or just plain social will go a long way when it comes to inviting convention goers into your booth and more importantly, playing your game. I know it may be somewhat startling to know that not every developer has the personal skills, or desire to interact with large groups of strangers, but…

“I liked this display for what appears to be a gaming movie, but there wasn’t anyone there to tell me more about the movie. Is it an indie movie? Will it be released in theaters or digital only? This display just seemed like an orphaned child sitting in the corner alone.”