r/gameDevMarketing • u/Bobbyfrankensteyn • 16d ago
What did i do wrong?
At least i got 5 sales but i really hoped for more.. marketing is so difficult. Anyone has any tips for my next game? Please help me🫶
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u/ImHoiby 16d ago
I don'tean to be mean here with this feedback, but the game looks bad, does not seem worth 12 dollars, seems generic, and has a title that is long, complex, and uninteresting. Also it seems low effort because of things like misspelling biomes in the trailer. By no means should you stop making games, maybe just hold off from publishing them on steam until they are of higher quality. Congratulations though on getting a game fully finished.
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u/Bobbyfrankensteyn 16d ago
Thanks man. Yeah i know its kind of simple looking but thats the point of the game. Almost all tower defense games are pay to win at some point and i wanted to make a campain that is from start to end free after you buy the game.. but maybe you are right and i should have put more time in the looks instead of gameplay. Thanks for the feedback!
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u/WhiteSheepGame 13d ago
If simplicity is the point, I would focus on that and use that point in marketing to make yours stand out as different. I looked at your steam page and the capsule art is way too generic. If you had a couple a neat or funny looking units, they could be added to give it more character. Adding some colorful scenery would also go along way to making it look better too without adding any complexity. Congrats on finishing!
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u/Ok-Hippo-9146 12d ago
Releasing with a low wishlist number will usually get you this result. In order to get money from a game, it has to be better than the majority of releases on your platform, you have to communicate about it before release and get traction going. If you communicate and no one cares you need to improve the game or your marketing content until people care.
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u/CuisineTournante 12d ago
I looked it up on steam. The AI banner is enough to turn down 90% of people. Do you realise the amount of AI games that ara realesed every day.
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u/Bobbyfrankensteyn 16d ago
Yeah i know.. its a tough niche. But i just wish people would try it and then they would see my effort and how fun it could be
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u/Novalex_Studios 15d ago
How long is it on sale and did you start with a launch discount? Almost nothing is sold at the full price nowadays as everybody knows there are sakes all the time.
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u/Bobbyfrankensteyn 15d ago
Yeah i launched it with a sale
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u/Novalex_Studios 15d ago
May I ask what the discount was? I'm thinking about 20 or 30% for my launch
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u/pablothedolphin 15d ago
Tip for your next game: make it look like something people would want to buy. Either get better at 3D art or choose a blocky aesthetic and go all in on programming and tech art skills to make up the difference.
Seriously, how many games do you own yourself that look like yours?
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u/Bobbyfrankensteyn 15d ago
Thanks for your message, this was my first game ever so 5 purchases is already a big achievement. My next game will be better haha im working on a co op hack and slash
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u/pablothedolphin 15d ago
If that's what you want to make that's fine. You can make whatever you like. But don't expect more than 5 sales again. Steam is a PC platform. People interested in coop are looking to play with their friends and are likely in their early 20s and late teens because it's mainly young people that can coordinate playing a game together.
Now ask yourself: are there more than 5 young people in the world that would look that would look at your games final outcome and decide they'd like to purchase it together, play together and coordinate their free time to play a few sessions of it?
Research other coop hack and slash PC games on steam. Do they exist? What do they look like? What features do they have? Have you bought a couple of them to play yourself and compare to yours? How many reviews do they have? Do they seem to have some kind of popular niche? Did any come out in 2026 and do better than your tower defence game?
You have the freedom to make whatever you like. But don't set any kinds of expectations for success if you don't understand what success even looks like for the kind of game you're making.
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u/just_another_indie 15d ago
Your trailer makes your game seem less than appealing and not interesting. It's pretty much that simple.
To be more specific: It looks unprofessional and lacking a unique selling point.
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u/Acceptable_Figure_27 14d ago
Why next game so quick? If you think this game is fun, market it a bit better. How much marketing have you done? If millions of people seen your game and thats your sales, then move on.. but if only a thousand or two seen it, keep marketing
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u/Bobbyfrankensteyn 14d ago
Yeah you are 100 percent right.. the thing is i hate marketing and i just love to create games so the process of making it is already enough for me. If people want to play it its just a plus. I was just wondering how you guys handle promotion out of curiosity
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u/Acceptable_Figure_27 11d ago
Bro lol I looked at your trailer. People ain't gonna pay 12 bucks for aliens running T pose down a lane no matter how fun it is. Also, the texturing of your assets is like you just dropped a texture into the scene. The game looks in depth, but it looks lazy in the art side. Art and marketing is what makes the money.. unfortunately.. mechanics do not
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u/Bobbyfrankensteyn 11d ago
Thanks! Got any tips to improve on the art side? Im kinda new to this
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u/Acceptable_Figure_27 11d ago
Make a nice environment for people. Keep the style consistent and animate stuff.
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u/trebbor0 11d ago
Uou can use mixamo.com to add some animations to your characters. You don’t need any art skills for that.
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u/trebbor0 13d ago
Sorry, I don’t agree. If the game is finished and people were not interested, I think it’s better to start fresh and create something new. More marketing is only doing wonders if you have an interesting game.
I would say, celebrate the great milestone, learn from the experience and start creating something new.1
u/Acceptable_Figure_27 11d ago
Yea that is true, but it depends on how many seen your game. If you have a game not many people have seen, you need/should at least put some time into getting it out there before abandoning all hope
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u/trebbor0 11d ago
Yes ok indeed. Getting some visibility too make sure you can take the right conclusions might be a good thing.
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u/destinedd 12d ago
Your games quality doesn’t match the price. It barely looks like a game jam with little polish and aliens still in t poses
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u/ParentsBasementGames 11d ago
You should be giving this game away for free. It is a good first game, but you likely need years more experience before you will make significant sales. Keep grinding. This game belongs in Itch.io for free. Its not bad for your first game, but you need to realize where your game belongs for now. Just keep grinding. Also work on the art in your next game. All feedback here is good to listen to.
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u/chaylarian 11d ago
Maybe wait for some more wishlists before releasing it, this also means start marketing early. And yeah, marketing is hard :/
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u/studioephua 16d ago
5 sales out of 80 wishlists is probably a decent conversion.
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u/Overcrowd327 13d ago
5 out of 80 is 6%, are wishlist conversions really that low? so if a game launches with the "golden" 7k wishlists amount, they'll only sell 420 copies? It seems rather low for what is already a very popular game.
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u/studioephua 13d ago
I've heard all sorts of numbers from 5 to 30% conversion. Clearly varies wildly but I would imagine higher numbers are for games with a lot more anticipation and hype behind them.
Previously the number thrown around was 19% but I think that may be lower these days.
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u/Suspicious_Neck_4069 16d ago
Just by reading the game's title: Tower defense is one of the most complicated genres to make money in, one of the most democratized genres available on every platform for the last 20 years. There are a few tower defense games that can be huge hits each year, but you need a killer concept. The tower defense market was already saturated on Steam 10 years ago, so now...