Why Many Innovative Indie Games Get Unnoticed -- And What To Do About It

The reason most innovative indie games get unnoticed is because being unique ALONE doesn't attract players.

Innovation needs a bridge. What I mean is, the player needs an anchor that emotionally connects what they are familiar with with something they are NOT familiar with.

If there is no bridge between the new and old, that innovation can feel alien, confusing, or just simply irrelevant.

And that's the key takeaway: most new, innovative, features just seem irrelevant to players. Without that "bridge", a player has no idea if that innovation is any good or not.

So it's your job as a game dev to bridge that gap between something new and crazy you're doing with something that a player is familiar with.

Hey, my name is Dariusz. Thanks for being here. So, first, let me show you a real-life example of how an indie game dev was able to get noticed in a very competitive genre where being different was a bad thing.

Then I'll give you a step by step guide on how you market your innovative features in a way that gets you noticed.

Ok, here's an example of what I'm talking about...

Old World: Your Innovations Need To Justify Their Existence

In this part, I want to show you an example of an indie dev who innovated and pushed the 4x genre further by bridging his new innovative ideas to old ideas.

If you watch Soren Jonshon's Postmortem on his game, "Old World" (youtube link: Old World Postmortem), he spent almost an hour talking about the problems of the 4x genre -- and how he fixed those problems and frustrations.

Then he talked about how he "bridged" those big problems and frustrations players had with NEW innovative features.

For example, the Tech Tree is a staple in 4x games. It helps players set goals. But also, some players may dislike Tech Trees because they can feel predictable and make games feel less strategic. And because Tech Trees are a fixed path, this leads to players repeating the same optimal strategies over and over. So players don't explore different avenues.

So to fix this, Johnson created the Tech Deck. It's where all available Techs are placed in a draw pile and shuffled (like a card game). Whenever the player completes a Tech, cards will be drawn from this shuffled deck and the player can choose one.

And another feature he came up with is the Undo Button. 4x games punish players if they're not paying attention. And when you're in the late game, and you have 100 units, that means you have to make 100 decisions. So no matter how hard you try to pay attention, you're going to mess up. You'll misclick. Or do something absent-mindedly. And setting your units to auto just makes the game boring. So by adding an Undo button, the player now won't be punished for not paying attention. Also the Undo Button lets players experiment with strategies and try new things they wouldn't normally try.

These are just two examples of new, novel, features that Old World added to the 4x genre. In the video Johnson talks about at least 10 of them.

BUT!

These innovations were not done for the sake of being novel. Each innovative feature justified its existence. Each innovative feature was "anchored" to a problem or frustration a player had in the 4x genre.

So when a player sees a feature like the Tech Deck and the Undo button, it's easy to emotionally bridge that innovative feature to something they're familiar with.

When your new, innovative features solve a problem in your genre, they don't feel alien... the don't feel out of place and confusing... and more importantly they feel RELEVANT.

And this isn't just for the 4x genre. Every genre has game systems that often frustrate the player. And if your new innovative features can remove those frustrations, then the player can easily get excited about how you're trying to push your genre further and better.

But again, if you just have unique features for the sake of being different, then the player has no "anchor" to hold on to. And so those new features mean nothing to the player, and the game goes unnoticed.

Ok, so how do you exactly do this? And how can you use this technique to help you promote your game? Let me show you that next...

Anchor Your Innovative Features To Problems Players Have In Your Genre -- And You'll Get Noticed For Pushing Your Genre Forward

So the best way to make sure players notice your innovative features is to understand what frustrations, problems, and pain-points they have in your genre.

Then, you need to "bridge" those pain-points and show how your new features get rid of frustrations.

So here's your 3 step action plan:

Step 1: Come Up With 10 Problems In Your Genre

Get out a pen and paper, or open a Google document. On top the sheet, write down:

10 Problems In My Genre

And then take 10 - 15 minutes brain storming 10 frustrations, problems, paint-points that your genre has.

And if you can't come up with 10, then do this:

Find 3 games in your genre. Go to their Steam page. And read player reviews. Players will ALWAYS tell you what they want and need. Don't ask other devs. Don't ask friends. Go directly to your potential customer, because they will be more than happy to vent and tell you everything that is bugging them about a genre or certain game.

And as you read the reviews, pay attention to the common words and phrases you hear often.

For example, I'm marketing a Fallout-like RPG right now. And doing my research, I noticed that a lot of old school RPG enthusiasts hate most modern CRPGs because they are too streamlined, and hand-holdy. They miss the days when you created a character, and because your build was so dumb and not efficient, you had a difficult time playing the quests. My point is, if a game dev is making a Fallout-like RPG game, and their target market is the old-school RPG enthusiasts, then the new game better not be streamlined and handholdy.

Again, it's so easy to figure out what players want and don't want... all you have to do is check out Steam or GOG game reviews: and players will tell you exactly what appeals to them, and what doesn't.

So, if you're not sure what frustrations your target player has in your genre, then go reasehach a few games by reading the game reviews.

Ok, next...

Step 2: Bridge Your Innovative Features To Those 10 Problems

Now look over your 10 Problems List, and see how your innovative features could fix those problems. Or you might even come up with NEW features you've never thought of before.

Remember, this is what Soren Johnson did. He looked at the 4x genre, looked at all the problems and frustrations players had in that genre, and then developed new systems and features to fix those problems.

So specifically what I want you to do is, go through each of your 10 problems. Then beside each problem, write down what feature or system fixes that problem.

And it's ok if there's overlap. For example, the Undo Button in Soren's game fixed a bunch of frustrations.

And it's also ok if you only have one feature that fixes one problem.

You don't need to revolutionize your genre. By fixing just one problem can help you get attention.

Then this leads me to...

Step 3: Promote Your Game Using Your Innovative Features

Ok, so far what you've done is created an emotional bridge between your innovative features with players. What I mean is, when a player sees your new features, they'll easily see how it relates to them because your feature is solving a problem. That new feature is now relevant to them.

But great. Now what? How do you use this technique to help promote your innovative indie game, start finding players, and getting wishlists?

So let's do that in this step.

You know how you came up with 10 problems? And then figured out how one feature (or many) can solve that problem?

Well, now let's leverage that and start getting noticed.

How?

The easiest and fastest way is to ask potential players what they think. Let me show you exactly how (and this is exactly what I do when I'm marketing a client's game that has unique features).

Go to a subreddit that is inline with your game, or genre. For example, I'd go to r/Fallout. And then I'd find a thread, go in the comments, find a user, and then request a chat.

Here's what I'd say:

"Hey, can I get your opinion on a Fallout-like game I'm making? Fallout 1 and 2s gameplay felt clunky and out-dated. And I want to see if my new combat system I'm working on is fun. If you have time, I can send you a build to play and get your feedback. Thanks!"

I would DM at least 10 people a day. And I'd do this for a few months.

And yeah, this promotion IS tedious. It IS hard work. But there is NOTHING easy about trying to grow your game studio... there are no life hacks... there are no easy steps. You can't put in the minimum amount of effort and expect the maximum amount of profits.

Also, this technique works because this is how you slowly build your audience. This is how you start building word-of-mouth. One person at a time.

And of course, if you want me to help you, one-one-on, grow your audience for your indie game, then read I have more details below.

But I highly recommend that you do learn how to find customers because it's the number one business skill you need to grow your studio into a profitable company.

Your Challenge Right Now

So if you want your innovative indie game to get noticed, you need to find a way to emotionally anchor your new unfamiliar feature to something a player is family with. And you do so by bridging their problems in a genre with your new features.

So go do this right now:

Step 1: Write down 10 problems, frustrations, pain-points in your genre. Go read reviews of games similar to yours if you're stuck.

Step 2: Beside each of the 10 problems you came up with, write down a feature in your game that solves that problem.

Step 3: Promote your game by going to reddit and asking users their opinion about your feature and how it solves a problem.

What's Your Goal?

Launching soon, need wishlists? Click: Get Wishlists

Game sales low after launch? Click: Get Game Sales

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Thanks for reading! Again, my name is Daruisz. Good luck with game dev!

Later!

Dariusz Konrad
Email: dariusz at mainquestmarketing dot com
Discord Username: dariuszkonrad
LinkedIn: My entrepreneurial successes
Work: Game devs I've helped so far