I asked about age and school/work for a couple of reasons.
First thing I noted is that you don't have "Honest Feedback" in your sig...so it wasn't clear if you actually wanted critical feedback or if you just wanted cheerleading. A lot of people just want cheerleading to help with their motivation...which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But if a person wants a "You are awesome, Keep going!" then something a bit more substantive is a waste of everyone's time.
So, not knowing if you want real feedback or not...and even if you said you wanted real feedback...well...we have quite a few people here who are under 18. According to the 2014 Survey (
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=26915&hilit=demographics ), 20% of the LSF respondents are under 18. And we have 11 year olds hanging out here. I have found it not that useful to give a 13 year old the same sort of feedback as a 20 year old. Also, you are asking about difficulty of generating a social network...and the way I would respond to a 13 year old would be different than a 30 year old.
Similarly, a person who is in school has different avenues for social network building than someone at a full time job. Also school tends to mean more time than money, and job tends to mean more money than time.
So that is some background on why I asked...so some blunter feedback.
Viniciuskk wrote:
• I've been told over and over to start a twitter, and I finally did a few days ago. I know how hashtagging is important and all that, but... I have no idea how to get the first followers other than depending on sheer luck. I don't think my tweets are bad, but beside depending on the hashtag search, how will anyone even see it if I don't have a single follower? Is there no other way than having to contact fellow game developers/anime fans/etc... on twitter and ask them to check what I have to show?
I've made 5 tweets in three days. If you're curious, check them out:
https://twitter.com/Interactive_HR
BáiYù makes great points about Twitter usage. I'll add a few more. Twitter is a conversation. It isn't traditional advertisement. People in the social media don't want to be "advertised to" so much as they want to be in a relationship with you. Looking at your Twitter feed, you aren't in conversation with anyone. You only follow 15 people and it doesn't look like you have commented on any of their tweets. Why would people follow you and check you out when you aren't really doing that in return. So follow more people...a lot more people. And interact with them. Favorite tweets you like. Give people shout outs...basically...be present for real. I really don't use Twitter hardly at all. I mean...it is embarrassing how little I really use it... and I don't advertise it...I follow 252 people and am followed by 320 people. Now my main Twitter account is full of a random mix of people and people are following me for all sorts of random reasons...so I wouldn't want to promote my game/dev persona on that twitter. I'd want to make a new Twitter account that is focused on game dev so I'd have a more focused audience. How would I find people to add? Well, bunches of people here on LSF have their Twitter handle on their profiles/sigs. Follow them...then look at who they follow and follow them. Then read their feeds and respond/retweet/favorite. In other words, reciprocity.
Viniciuskk wrote:
• A website. I've also been told a million times a website is simply a must. I don't know HTML, and all I might manage to do is one from those "Make your own website" sites. If I somehow make it look good, will it still be considered amateurish since it's not my own domain / it has been created with a cheap website creator?
You have no website? How am I going to get to know you as a game maker beyond that one game? How am I going to connect to you and become invested in you? How am I going to know you are serious? If you are only planning on making that one free game and then doing nothing else...then maybe you don't need a webpage. But if you want to build something, you need a webpage. It could be Wordpress like many use. It could be Tumblr. Now you say you don't know HTML so anything you do would be bad...that doesn't give me confidence in your game...which also involves programming. If you can learn Renpy, you can learn HTML...though most places don't even require you to use complicated HTML anymore. If you got someone else to program the Renpy for you...then you can get someone else to make the website for you. But if you are wanting bigger audiences, then you need to lay the groundwork for it.
Viniciuskk wrote:
• Proper advertising per se. If you happen to have a game published or a at least a fan base, how was it when you started? I thought I could depend on those that created art and music for my game to at least start spreading the word, but turns out that despite them being highly skilled professionals, they barely have any fans themselves. I just fell flat on my face when I tried Kickstarter (Got a measly 300 page views after 30 days of campaign) and a Patreon campaign (Still sitting at $0 after almost a week since launch).
If you'd like to check those failures, here are the links:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/11 ... sual-novel
https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3028917&ty=h&alert=1
I did all that, and yet I haven't achieved anything. I'm still a no one. Geh. I guess I've been doing it all wrong?
Yeah, I could have guessed your Kickstarter/Patreon wouldn't have gone well.
Why? One is that you have no website...you want all this money and don't have any track record and no website? How do I know you aren't just some scammer?
Next, you wanted $13k dollars for a VN? That is a lot of money...and you have not finished any previous projects. So you have no experience finishing a project. So why should I risk my money on you? If I had played one or two games of yours in the past, I'd be more likely to support a Kickstarter in the present...but you have no past games. Also, $13k is a lot of money and that turns me off a bit. Especially considering you never said how much was done. You've been working on this a long time...is all the writing done? Is the project just half done? What is your time line?
As for the Patreon...I think of Patreons as a way to support a creator more than just a project, as a way to give you money every month because I like you and support you. But why would I give you money when I don't even know you or have any connection to you? You have no web presence, you have no track record of releasing games...and more importantly for me in this context, you don't even have a presence here on LSF. I looked through your posts...of which there aren't that many...and the overwhelming majority of them are asking for things/advertising things. Rarely are you giving anything other people...feedback, commentary, answering their questions, giving them reviews, etc. There are people on these boards who may not have made a game yet, but they've made a great impression as someone giving back to the community. So when I decide which free games to play...(and I don't have so much free time), I prioritize their free games. And if I played their free games and liked them...and they were good citizens, I'd be more likely to support them in a Patreon. At this moment, just on the basis of their good citizenship, I think I'd easily throw xela money in Patreon just because they are so dedicated to being helpful in the Questions thread. They are so giving, I am willing to give back in the form of a Patreon. What have you given to the community?
But really, I don't give money to people with no track record of finishing things...and things I like...unless there are extenuating circumstances: which are usually a combination of a) them having a long track record of good citizenship, or b) their project being something I think it is important to support either because if i) its politics being something I care about passionately or ii) it is such an underrepresented or original topic I think there needs to be more of them in the world. You are doing a BxG game in anime style with not much diversity. So...it doesn't look all that new to me and I'm not in the core demographic for that genre. If I were a BxG anime slice of life fanatic who would consume anything that falls in that category, maybe I'd support it (though, the lack of demo and no track record is still going to turn me off), but the only thing about the game that is drawing me to it is that you can not romance someone if you don't want to...but then the Kickstarter seems to say there won't be many branching endings? I don't know. Not enough.
Viniciuskk wrote:
• IRL I suck at social interactions. I guess such flaw is also reflecting on my internet social attempts? It's weird though. I'm the kind of person that everyone likes despite being shy and reserved. I gain elderly and youngsters' trust easily. Everyone sees me as a genius and I'm asked for advice all the time in pretty much all subjects. Dating, studying, planning for the future... All that kind of stuff (Even if the most romantic conversation I've ever had was on the same level as this thread. I.e I've never had one. And people seem satisfied with my answers.)
: "But if you do all that, how do you suck at social interactions?"
Well, my smiley friend. I don't have anyone who I can call my best friend. There is no one whom I've told most of my secrets and whatever. No one who seems to have understood what goes on in this skull of mine. Everyone is always like "Woah, you don't cease to surprise me!" "Woah, you knew that too?" "Woah, why do you know so much stuff?"
Thanks for your time ~~
I think being good at social interactions is a different thing that having a best friend. There are people who have deep best friends, but suck at social interactions. There are people who are great at social interactions but have a problem with trust/intimacy and can't open up on a deep level for a reciprocal best friend. And one way or another, I don't think that is relevant here. For advertising people don't need to know your deep inner self, they need to feel a connection to a developer persona and/or be invested in your work...which only happens when you have a track record of work.
So you might ask me...but how do I have a track record of work if no one will give me money?
People do it all the time.
One answer is: Make a less expensive first game. I'm going to spend less than $500 for my first game. All of that for art. Since it is my first game and I'm self funding, I'm only going with very few sprites, very few BGs/CGs. I'm being conservative so that I can do it without outside funding.
Another answer is: Gather a team of people who will work for free. But then they are going to want to be part of the creation process...to be team members. A number of people work together for free to make some cool free game (see NaNoReNo...and a bunch of other teams that have come out of it). But then, again, that is going to be a situation of reciprocity and sharing.
I would really recommend working on your online/community presence. And maybe working on a very small, free game that won't cost any (or much) money to make first.
