Hello, in my previous post we covered the basics of the foundation that your first project needs. In this section of the series we will touch on how and where to expose your project to the public, gathering initial feedback, start forming your community and preparing your campaign.


Your community
Nowadays there are many gaming communities out there. Some of the major publishers have their own community based online game store catalogs like U-Play and Origin. But probably the most popular one is Steam.

Visit Steam Website


In this section we are going to talk about the features that Steam offers to the independent developers and how you can start your own community on Steam before your game is released. Pitch your game concept to potential players and gain initial feedback from the gaming community. To do that, you will need an active Steam account.

Visit Steam Greenlight

The Steam Greenlight program is designed to help independent developers to pitch their game idea to the Steam gaming community. You can submit a concept of your game for players to vote on and provide you the initial feedback on your idea. This will help you get a general idea of your audience and if players are interested in the game, and if they are you can start forming your community by creating a Steam group to keep players engaged in your project. And eventually submit your game once it has reached an Early Access stage of development.

Crowd funging
Another important aspect of the independent game development is the crowd funding campaign. One of the places that you can start your campaign is the well known KickStarter. There are plenty of information out there on how to prepare for your crowd funding campaign and you can engage PR firms that specialize in digital marketing promotions.

Some of the key elements you need on your KickStarter campaign page are your project video, gameplay videos, screenshots, detailed information about the game, pledges that offer unique rewards for your backers and the reason you are starting the crowd funding campaign.

As a reference you can visit our currently running campaign.

The Withering on Kickstarter
The Withering on Kickstarter


Once the crowd funding campaign is prepared, you really need to invest all of your time and effort into keeping it up to date. Post announcements and updates frequently. Show your progress and be involved in the campaign. A successful campaign can help you expand your team and promote your game before it is released.
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