We get a lot of questions on where to start with marketing indie games when you’re first developing something new. One thing that you can’t really hire someone else to do is a Devlog. This should be made in conjunction with your social media accounts, but today we’ll be focusing on the devlog.
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If this is your first game, it’s especially important to have a devlog. Before starting a log though, make sure your game has something to show. Don’t start a devlog just for the sake of starting one. At the beginning, focus most of your energy into creating and starting your game. If you start a log with no screenshots or info, there’s not much that people can take away or help you with. Your devlog is one of the first things you’ll be doing towards indie game marketing.
We’ll first explore the reasons why developers choose to keep a devlog, and then move on to what your options are when choosing a place to start your first log.
Why make a devlog?
While Devlogs aren’t the hardest thing to write in most cases, it still consumes time. So why do developers take precious time out of working on their game to jot down notes on a devlog? It’s a mixture of outside and inside influences and some of them include:
- It forces you to keep to a schedule
If you’re not working on the game full-time, it’s sometimes hard to find a consistent schedule to work on your development. However, if you’ve committed to writing weekly devlogs, you know you’ll have to take out some time to work on something new or improve on something old during the week to make content. By setting a deadline to summarize what you’ve done over the week, devlogs are a good way to encourage a schedule. - It’s a good way to reflect on what you’re doing
Looking back at your own devlogs is often times how developers realize how far they’ve come. It may seem like you’re spending all your time fixing bugs and not moving forward, but having a log of the problems you’ve fixed and things you’ve accomplished helps you realize you’re progressing. Your time wasn’t wasted despite the game not going any further in terms of gameplay and plot. This is sometimes hard to see in the shorter term. - It gives others confidence in your game
Committing to writing weekly or monthly is a commitment. This helps shows your seriousness in working on the game. Again, you may not have a complete game, but a devlog can help track all your learnings as you polished off bugs and worked around problems. If you’re looking for a publisher or investor, they can see how much love and work you’ve put into the game and how long the process has taken through your devlog. - It’s a good tool to attract some player attention
While not a lot of gamers read devlogs, there is a portion that do. This is especially true when you promote your devlog through social media. Having content to share so a player can feel they can get involved in your development journey is especially exciting. This leads into the following… - Helps with building an early community
Some who visit your devlog may feel inspired or resonate with what you’re working on. As they see your progress and perhaps you even take their feedback into consideration, you’ll be getting early champions for your game. These people are very important for your game’s future crowdfunding or release campaign. Having a set schedule for devlogs allow your community to know when you’ll be sharing new content, and they, in turn, can check back and see how their new favorite game is progressing. - Getting feedback
Most likely, you’re not the only person on the platform you’re devlogging on. There’s lots of other developers who are going through the same problems and journey that you are on. They can offer advice and share their own experiences. For the most part, devlog communities are helpful and nurturing, leaving positive or constructive feedback. All you have to do is return the favor!
Where to write your devlog?
TIGForums
TIGSource’s Forums are one of the most popular places for devlogs. You first start your log by creating a thread in the DevLog section of the Forums, and when you’ve got a new update, just reply to the thread you’ve previously created. In this way, you’ve got a thread dedicated to your game.
What’s useful is that there’s also the ability to state how complete your game is. If it’s just starting, you can label your game as 0% complete. If you’re close to launch, you can label it as 90%. This way, you can get the appropriate feedback and set up the proper expectations before people read your log.
Examples: 1, 2, 3
Gamejolt
Your game doesn’t have to release on Gamejolt in the future for you to use their devlog system. Create an account on Gamejolt and choose to “Add Game” from your profile’s drop-down menu. Then select “Devlog-only” to specify you’re only looking to start a devlog. Then you can add posts towards your devlog. Everytime you post something new, people on Gamejolt who are following your game will get a notification. Pretty simple!
Visitors can also “like” and leave comments on your devlog posts.
Examples: 1, 2, 3
Tumblr
Tumblr is a popular place for developers, and works well for games with catchy and impressive art. The sharing function (“reblogging”) is simple and quick for those who want to give your work some exposure within the site. A reblog essentially means a user is sharing a link to your post/work on their own blog’s feed so that their followers can also see it. Tumblr has a lot of free themes that you can set up and personalize pretty quickly. One drawback is that Tumblr doesn’t have the best system for carrying conversations, leaving comments and giving feedback. Remember to use tags to categorize your posts!
Examples: 1, 2, 3
IndieDB
Just from the name itself, you know you’re going to be in a community of indies. It very much is a database of indie games. On IndieDB, you can add “articles” to a game’s page if you’re the creator of that page. These articles are usually used for updates on a game, so in other words, devlogs would work too. You should take the time to flesh out your game’s page with screenshots and a description.
IndieDB also has a rating system for their games, ranking them in terms of their popularity. If you get higher on the popularity scale, you may want to share your rankings on your game’s website or social media channels!
Examples: 1, 2, 3
Your own Subreddit
Creating a subreddit isn’t hard and can be done relatively quickly. While posting on /r/indiedev or /r/games might have rules and restrictions to limit self promotion and spam posts, when you’re on your own subreddit, you can do whatever you want. This includes devlogs, which you can format with markdown.
Of course, that being said, if your subreddit is not interesting and engaging, don’t expect visits or people to subscribe to your sub. In fact, a lot of subreddits don’t have many followers, so it’s up to you to build up your following there.
Having your own subreddit also allows people to post their own topics regarding your game to lead to more discussions. You can direct people to report bugs and leave feedback straight onto the sub. Make sure you’re monitoring your replies and new posts in case people have questions!
Examples: 1, 2, 3
Itch.io Devlogs
Located in Itch.io’s community forums, there’s a section for Devlogs. It works similarly to TIGForums as it’s also devlogs hosted on a forum with the same rating system for a game’s percentage of completion. There are less responses and eyeballs though. This can be good or bad. If you feel your game will get lost on TIGForums, perhaps you can benefit from making a very good devlog on Itch.io instead.
Examples: 1, 2, 3
GitHub Pages
GitHub pages are a great way to host a website for your project. It’s very much making your own site with the help of GitHub. You can use the GitHub pages generator (that comes with a few templates), or use Jekyll to help you generate your devlog. If you want more customization and flexibility, you can always create your own website/blog from scratch by uploading your website files to Github.
Examples: 1, 2, 3
Medium
Medium is a place for people to browse and read articles online. Again, it’s relatively easy to set up and you’ve got a blogging platform ready for you once you begin. You can also tag your posts so that people looking for that topic can pull up your devlog. It’s clean, but there’s less of an indie dev community on there than some of the other blogging sites above.
Examples: 1, 2, 3
A blog on your own website (WordPress, or format your own)
If you’ve already got a website, you can add a blog to it. You can also use WordPress to integrate their blogging platform onto your site. WordPress allows you to add plugins, such as making sure your content is optimized for SEO. However, with hosting your own blog, you’ll have to be responsible for all of the traffic for it. Expect to do promotions to actively drive people to your site. You should have some sort of newsletter sign up so that you can notify interested parties of new devlog posts.
Examples: 1, 2, 3
When’s the best time to start?
If you’ve started working on your game and you’ve got something to show for it, the time is now. If you’re well into your game, the best time to have started a devlog is in the past, but the next best time is also now.
Your devlogs shouldn’t feel too much like a burden— after all, you’re recapping what you’ve done over the week (or whatever duration you choose to do your logs)! Sit down for maybe an hour each week to work on a post, and then share that post on your social media channels so people can check in with you to see what you’re up to.
Sometimes, it’ll get discouraging when no one responds to your posts, but this is most likely what all devlogs have gone through at some point. Also, remember that a big part of the devlog is for yourself, to keep track of your progress.
What to share in your devlog?
You can literally put anything under that sun that involves your game into your devlog. But here are a few suggestions that makes for interesting content:
- Visuals (gifs work well, and there’s places that makes gif-making easy, like Gyazo)
- Trailers (gameplay trailers help gamers decide if this is something they’ll like playing)
- Recap of events you attended for your game (pictures of crowd interactions, people playing the game)
- Tutorials on getting past problems while programming, or how you made your art
We hope this post gave some insights into why it’s important to keep a devlog, and also allowed you to choose a place suitable to your style and needs to keep your log. Feel free to share your devlogs in the comments below or suggest other places developers can consider for starting their log.
If you’re ready to take your indie game marketing to the next phase closer to release or a major announcement, we’re here to offer our services. Reach out to us and see what we can do to help you prepare for an upcoming launch, contest, or just for indie game marketing consultation.
The post Top 9 places to start a devlog— and why you should get started appeared first on Manamark.
