With Valve greenlighting roughly 99% of all the games in existence this month, I’m almost certain I’ll be putting my game up on greenlight at some point in the future. However, is it better to put your game up there as quickly as possible, or should you wait until the game is done?
Obviously, putting the game up quickly could let you get some votes faster, but it seems like it could be harmful in the long run by turning away some players who might support the finished product. In addition, I would hate to be the dev who promises an awesome feature (coughLevelEditorcough), gets greenlit, and ends up having to cut it due to some unforseen technical problem.
So, is putting a game up on Greenlight before it’s complete worth the risk?
Make sure your screenshots look polished and you have some pretty concept art in there too.
Don’t put up bad art. People only really take a look at the first screenshot or two before voting, so make them look good.
Good point on the screenshots; it’s a shame I can’t seem to get any I like.
Is concept art necessary? My game is pretty close to it’s final appearance, and I don’t actually HAVE any concept art, so you can see why I’d rather not have to put some up.
Any example of games that have done this really well?
No you don’t need it, but anything that is ‘pretty’ will get you upvotes.
If you’re going to put up a video, make it polished, and no longer than 30 seconds.
And keep your text short and to the point, nobody wants to read waffle, the next game to vote is but a click away.
Would a stripped down version of this be good for a video (ignoring the part where I only have 3 maps)? Or should I wait until I have more of the story in place and do something more akin to a movie trailer?
For anyone but big production houses I think it is too expensive to make some huge complex game. We have a peanut budget and limited spare time.
I wouldn’t call such games alpha or beta, I’d simply say they are games intended for the mobile market where we all know the best way to have a chance is a short free level followed by purchased levels if there is enough interest. Don’t mistake that Unity, UMA, and some other assets are making the capability to create such a game simply for being the same thing as a simple game, although, yes, point shoot is simple, even if the tech behind it isn’t.
yes lots of good screenshots, have good videos and active presence where you are involved with steam members listening to their feedback. and dont forget to have good game summary, detail description, and like what you hope to do / the game to be and the more can you do to make people interested the better . and dont forget steam members like steam integration like steam overlay, achievements, leaderboard, etc and those new trading cards things. also give discounted early access. learn from warz dont fake/mislead/exaggerate/insult, etc.
Theres no obligation, commitment or anything to people that are greenlighting games, all they want is a video to show them if it is crap or not, they’re usually in and out between 10 - 30 seconds. They might just skip it if the thumbnails suck.
I think what you’ve got there is fine, just add some screenshots that show some diversity if its available since it all look like a bunch of tron-tron-tron-tron-tron and seeing something else would be nice.
I’d say that’s in the top 5% of greenlight in terms of quality. It would probably sell better if you could connect it somehow to some AAA game or film. I’m not talking copyright of course, but just hint at the style so people who are fans of what you are copying will buy.
Well, speaking from experience, make sure you have something interesting to show and that it plays good and looks good, the last is probably the least important. Also share what you want to accomplish with the game and what the ultimate goal of the game is ( features, gameplay, etc).
Unfortunally i put the game on greenlight very early in development and it was received with very mixed opinions, first day with ~3500 NO and 1300 Yes, but at the end the game managed to get 21500 YES and 19000 NO, the ratio isn’t good but it improved alot from the begining impressions.
It didn’t have many features and the game only had one feature that interested the public, the inclusion of a parkour/free-running. Other than that, the game didn’t have much else to show until many months later many features were added like weapon customization, destruction, dynamic weather and day/night cycle and the gameplay improved alot.
That’s the reason it took 1 year to be greenlit.
Just be sure to share how the game will be when it launches and offer something unique that will grab the attention of the public.
This. Visual candy makes a strong first impression. As long as people think your game looks decent enough they will vote. And I don’t think that will be a problem.
Those few times I have actually done some voting I probably spent 15 - 30 seconds per a game. If a game’s page had a few pretty pictures/videos and if the whole page was composed in a very professional manner then it was generally good enough for me. Walls of texts were off putting. I always looked for a brief summery with right buzzwords. Although too little text could give an impression of a lazy/careless developer.
Rather than try and release around Christmas, Thanksgiving and such, release around scheduled school holidays in the US at least they’re generally the same time frame.
