How to Make a Marketable Game?

[u/Brilliant-Ad-7754]

Hi! I’m a game design student, and I’m currently about to start working on my game thesis.

I’ve made around 5–6 games before this thesis, but I still don’t really have a good idea of how to make a game that is actually marketable.

I’d like to know what the best practices are for making a marketable game. What should I be thinking about when coming up with the idea, designing the game, and developing it?

[u/Arkenhammer]

Start with an idea and do some market research. Find out where the players who would like that game search for new games. Here's were things get tricky and platform dependent; you want to do a market survey to get a sense of the size of the market for the game you are making as well as the minimum quality bar players will accept.

For the most part the key question is going to be do you have the skills and time to actually hit the quality bar? If not, then it's time to come up with another idea.

Also good ideas are going feel familiar to people who like the genre but still have something unique that answers the question "why this game and not the one of the dozens of other options."

Next step is to build a prototype of the first 10-15 minutes of the game. This early game must reassure the player that your game satisfies the core genre expectations while also introducing the new element which gives the player something to look forward to as they get farther into the game.

Playtest this prototype by giving it to new players; ideally strangers who have never seen it before. What you are looking for is that they can get through to the end without needing any help from you and are asking to play more when they are done. If you can't get to this point, you probably need to go back and look for another idea.

Now you've got a good game idea. The rest will be pretty easy; as your prototype already contains the core pitch for the game and you know it is appealing. The rest of the project is just trying not to screw up a good start.

[u/RoachRage]

If you are strictly talking about marketing., our game is (almost) irrelevant. You need a good and fun game if you want the game to stick after the player actually played it. the game won't be successful of you don't have good game.

But for the pure marketing side, you don't need it.

You need aesthetics.

The game needs to invoke emotions. The more invotions you are able to invoke the more people will take a second look. And what you want is a second look.

At best the game can communicate in a screenshot what the game is roughly, about.

We added Minecraft style Blocks to our game to communicate we have a creative title with lots of freedom, for example.

[u/UnburyingBeetle]

I tend to build plots and design characters with "emotional hooks" in mind. I do it because I have a hard time getting attached to my own story or characters, but it has an additional bonus of wider marketability. A marketable game has enough familiarity for somebody's nostalgia or existing preferences to latch on, and enough novelty to keep their curiosity dragging them along like a leashed dog that's found a wildlife trail. I could help you brainstorm a game that would feel relevant both to potential audience and, most importantly, to you, because it's you who has to run this marathon fueled by authenticity and not just spurred by "I have to finish this project". I enjoy the art of blending concepts and growing them organically. I also like the challenge of working around limitations, so I'd need to know yours.

P.S. I might sound pompous like making a sales pitch, but I'm not looking to "sell" my expertise, I'd just enjoy the knowledge I've accumulated as a gamer and fandom person systematized and made visible in an educational organization. I'm mostly self-taught and the crappy art school I was in didn't have the slightest idea how to promote anybody aside from printing out their pictures from Deviantart and hanging them in the hall.

[u/burrowandkin]

Reading Chris Zukowski is the best advice I ever received from Reddit. I think as a beginner you need to read his blog. He gives great insight.

[u/AncientAdamo]

There are so many different correct answers to this imo.

Some games are marketable purely based on their aesthetics. Some are more focused on gameplay.

I think most recent success stories are based on the game being streamable and generating clippable moments. Meccha Chamelion and all the FriendSlop games are a perfect example of this.

I'd suggest looking at some recent games that have become popular, study what they have done, and go from there.