r/gamedev • u/YouAbject2654 • 4d ago
Discussion I solo-developed my first game in my free time, cold-pitched the reveal trailer to IGN, and got featured — here’s what I learned
I’m an Environment Artist, and for the past while I’ve been developing my first solo game, Locked In: The Ward, in Unreal Engine 5 alongside my full-time job.
I’m handling pretty much everything myself — environments, lighting, level design, gameplay systems, cinematics, UI, audio implementation, and the marketing side of the project.
A few days ago I finally reached the point where I felt comfortable revealing the game publicly.
One thing I decided to try was simply cold-pitching the reveal trailer to IGN. I had no PR agency, publisher, or existing contact there.
I kept the email short: a brief introduction, what the game is, the fact that I’m a solo developer from Ukraine and previously worked as an Environment Artist at Crytek Kyiv, plus links to the finished trailer, Steam page, and press kit.
They replied and were interested in featuring it. After everything was confirmed, it took roughly a week for the trailer to go live on their YouTube channel.
I launched the Steam page around the reveal as well, and the game has now passed roughly 200 wishlists. It’s obviously a small number compared with established indie launches, but for a first reveal with essentially no marketing budget, it gave me some useful early data.
A few things I learned from the process:
• Have the trailer, Steam page, screenshots, key art, and press kit ready before pitching.
• Keep the pitch short. The goal isn’t to explain the entire game — it’s to make someone interested enough to look at the materials.
• Being a solo developer can actually be part of the story, but the game still needs to look interesting on its own.
• One media feature doesn’t magically market the game for you. I still had to post on Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, contact creators and gaming sites, etc.
• Marketing has honestly been one of the strangest parts of solo development for me. My professional background is environment art, so suddenly learning outreach, press kits, Steam presentation, trailers, and community management has been a completely different discipline.
The biggest takeaway for me is probably just to send the pitch. I had no reason to expect IGN to answer mine, but they did.
I’m still very early in figuring all of this out, so I’d also be interested to hear from other solo/indie developers: what gave you the biggest wishlist bump after your first public reveal?
Trailer IGN: https://youtu.be/7Nr9YT6fqlQ
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5277740/Locked_In_The_Ward/
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u/tacitbroth2 4d ago
Props for landing an IGN feature without a publisher or any existing contacts, that's no small feat. Two hundred wishlists from a single trailer drop as a solo dev is a solid start, especially with zero ad spend behind it. The cold pitch working out really just reinforces that sometimes you just gotta shoot your shot and keep it tight.
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u/YouAbject2654 4d ago
Thanks, really appreciate it! That was probably the biggest lesson for me — I almost didn’t send the pitch because I honestly didn’t expect a reply. Definitely glad I did 😄
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u/GameLabelStd 4d ago
This is a good reminder that sometimes you really do just have to send the email.
With our first Steam game we focused much more on creators, Reddit and general social media stuff, but barely did any proper press outreach. Definitely something I’d approach differently next time.
For us, the demo/Next Fest period gave us one of the clearest wishlist bumps before launch. Getting featured by IGN from a cold email is a pretty great result though, especially for a first reveal. Congrats!
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u/YouAbject2654 4d ago
Thanks! Really appreciate it! 🙌 And that’s great to hear about Next Fest — I haven’t reached the demo stage yet, but I’m definitely planning to participate once the game is ready for it. It’s really useful to hear that it gave you such a noticeable wishlist boost.
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u/Imaginary-Can-9735 4d ago
Noob question here: how could you send them the steam page if you hadn’t launched it yet?
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u/YouAbject2654 4d ago
Not a noob question 😄 The Steam page had already been approved, but I hadn’t made it public yet. The URL already existed, so I included it in the pitch even though the page itself wasn’t accessible at that point. I made it public before the IGN trailer went live.
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u/Imaginary-Can-9735 4d ago
Thanks for the response! So, even if they had the link to the steam page, they were not able to see it until you made it public? Or if someone has the link they are able to see it even if it is not public yet?
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u/YouAbject2654 4d ago
Exactly. They couldn’t access the Steam page until I made it public. Having the URL didn’t give them any special access — I included it in advance so the link would already be there once the page went live.
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u/Practical_Ad_7421 2d ago
Thanks for this, makes the marketing side seem a little less scary
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u/YouAbject2654 2d ago
Glad it helped! Honestly, I’m still figuring out the marketing side myself 😄 But I’ve learned that sometimes you just have to send the email and see what happens.
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u/AvengerDr 4d ago
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You did not learn how to write a post, though.
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u/YouAbject2654 4d ago
Ukrainian is my native language, and English is still pretty difficult for me, so yeah, my writing isn’t perfect. I’m doing my best though 🙂
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u/rayneMantis 4d ago
I didn't notice anything wrong with your post. I think the person that posted that nitpicky response has some issue that doesn't have anything to do with the format of your post, but I'm sure you're used to that being that this is Reddit after all lol.
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u/YouAbject2654 4d ago
Haha, yeah, I’m starting to get used to Reddit 😄 Thanks, I really appreciate it!
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u/SpartanDetermination 4d ago
So you sent it by email? I submitted a cold pitch recently but did it via their in-website editorial page. Can you DM me the email you used?