Finding an Audience

Hello everyone! I'm currently working on the team behind Schoolyard Snodown - a retro inspired beat 'em up staring Cody and his kid brother Sam as they participate in a school-wide snowball fight and try to beat Diesel, their self-proclaimed rival, once more before Cody graduates.

You don't see a lot of beat 'em up games anymore, but we know there have to be people out there like us, who love the genre. Finding them, though, is going to be tough! We're doing our own research/networking/social media/etc. but thought posting here might be worth a shot. Does anyone know of a community specifically built around retro titles or side-scrollers that might be interested in Snodown? If not, do you have any tips from your own experience of finding an audience for your game? Any and all feedback is always welcomed!

MrFrettz

hi its a great game.. sorry I can't be of any help.. maybe others on here can offer some advice.. How is your own research going?

MrFrettz

hi its a great game.. sorry I can't be of any help.. maybe others on here can offer some advice.. How is your own research going?

Pretty well! We're hoping to get the demo up on Newgrounds, Armor Games, Kongregate, and Gamejolt, in addition to right here on the Scirra Arcade. We also just posted a new demo with a lot of great new features. <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" /> (You can mute it, now!)

MrFrettz

I'm not sure if Armor Games accept html5 games (they only seem to mention flash on the site). The other three are definitely good places, though demos are often scored low just for being demos.

It's probably also worth trying Clay.io (which gives you access to many useful features, including ads, analytics, ability to push the game with ease to other sites), and Facebook. I'm currently in the process of testing out various sites with my own game, so I'll be sure to let you know if I find any other good places.

MrFrettz

I'm not sure if Armor Games accept html5 games (they only seem to mention flash on the site). The other three are definitely good places, though demos are often scored low just for being demos.

It's probably also worth trying Clay.io (which gives you access to many useful features, including ads, analytics, ability to push the game with ease to other sites), and Facebook. I'm currently in the process of testing out various sites with my own game, so I'll be sure to let you know if I find any other good places.

Hmm well I'll be sure to let you know, as well!

Pitch your game to YouTubers who review indie games; not necessarily the big names but some of the smaller guys. They are often more willing to review a game for you, and can drive a lot of traffic if your game is good.

Wow, great idea! Never even occured to us. I'll take a look around YouTube - any specific recommendations?

Don't forget html5 game arcade HTML5er. It's new but I'm the developer behind it so you can ask me any questions about it.

Good news: GameJolt works! I'm currently running into an issue where text does not disappear when you close a menu, so Snodown isn't yet public on it. Hopefully I'll be able to figure that out, soon.

Don't forget html5 game arcade HTML5er. It's new but I'm the developer behind it so you can ask me any questions about it.

Thanks, I'll give it a shot! The 840 x 480 restriction is a bit constricting, as Snodown is 640 x 480, but I'll see what I can do.