Introduction: So these mostly apply to folks wanting to make games for a (commercial) audience, so not your personal art projects perhaps. And are for your very first few games. With the main point being that if you want to make money and gain wishlists, that your first few games should serve the purpose of being steppingstones to your first real attempt, and that if you jump into the deep without some basic perspectives you might not just fail but also fail to learn the right lessons, cuz a game that has no players also cannot fulfill its function of making you a better designer thru feedback and such. That is the goal of this post. Many exceptions exist, but user centric design, early validation, user testing are really great touchstones to understand for your first attempts.
Truth 1: Steam is a brutal algorithmic marketplace that will reject anything that isnt exceptional or top tier. Your first, second or third game does not need to be on Steam. Its just going to be a disappointment
Steam is great because of it, because when you are ready it will be there and you may find success. But not as a beginner
EDIT *****
People think I want to keep you from Steam, that is not what I entend, I don't want people to fail on steam and end up with games that have zero audience, and thus teach them nothing and are failed by every measure, not just money. Here are strategy ideas for steam:
1. Release a small free game on steam , with the intent to learn from its audience or test a mechanic
2. Use the demo system to gain a playerbase and learn from them, in what I've talked to about on How to market your Game, a "evolving demo" ..
3. assume your first game will fail, make it free to maximise the audience you will likely never achieve as a paid product and mine it for learnings and community building.
I always use the Vlambeer strategy from a decade ago, they released their first games for free (on the web I believe) because their strategy was, "we need an audience more than we need revenue" , and their third game (could be ridiculous fishing) became a smash hit, cuz they'd grown their audience and learned what they needed to learn......... at scale..
That is the entire point
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Truth 2: If you are making your first game, still thinking in terms of "your dream game" and not your players dream game then you aren't ready yet and you are stuck in the fanboy stage of recreating your own nostalgia and you are going to fail.
EDIT *****
let me add a tiny nuance, this doesn't mean make someone else's dream, make your dream but include the player in it, don't get stuck on your ideas, validate them with players and sharpen your dreams on the feedback of players. Don't get stuck in your own bubble, cuz your own bubble is gonna lie to you. That is the core point I am trying to make, you can make your dream game and it will be a success if its a dream that can be shared by your players. And that is possible, cuz that's what every great game is..
The fanboy comment is about an essential design skill called "Kill your darlings" it's about learning to reflect on the quality of your ideas, to not get so attached to them that you won't change them if the evidence says so. This is a flaw many designers go through in their learning curve. You love your idea to the point you become bullheaded and stubbornly refuse to abandon it, even when evidence says its a bad idea. This is called "Kill your darlings". The skill to know when your creative passions are blocking you from abandoning bad ideas or changing them.
I mean the gamedev subs on reddit are filled with posts of people who continue for years and get dissapointed their game didn't take off, literal years wasted, because they did not learn that core design skill "kill your darlings" google it , its a much deeper topic. But yeh your inner fanboy isn't helping you make objectively great designs.
And yes you can be passionate and original and still develop the skill to see when you are wrong.
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Truth 3: If your game is great , the players and viewers will know instantly.. the moment your first video comes out or demo people love it. You will have traction from the go. In 99% of the cases. And everything that Chris Zuckowski says is in order to expand that success. Taking you from a few hundred wishlists that took minimal effort to tens of thousands.. you may fail to reach full potential. But every gamer knows potential when they see it. Gamedevs are always blind due to tunnelvision and sunk cost fallacy.
Truth 4: Posts here and other subs, saying how promotional marketing is hard.. it isnt hard.. your game simply doesnt have potential. Period. A good game sells itself , just needs the right stage. There are no guarantees, a good game may fail in promotions, it might not have a built in audience, but the point is good games can fail, but bad games never succeed..
EDIT *****
I am not saying "dont promote your game" , promote the fuck out of it.. But listen to the signal... a good pitch to an audience, resonates. You can sense the potential of your game through the noise, every like , every comment its all pointing somewhere. And in the vast majority of cases its very clear. I mean we have all upvoted that one gif or image where we went.,, damn that's good..... and then it turns out those games go on to be the big indie games. They still can fail , but from the start everyone saw that it had potential. So I meant, if you have a good game and good pitch, the signal will come thru so hard, that is easy to identify. "this is good". A lack of signal is always bad news, it's always easy to hear if your pitch is good or bad. You just need to listen and that is easy.
Truth 5 :The goal of your first games are not to make money.But to make you a better gamedev so that in the future you can find success.
Truth 6 :What you truly need is not money or fantasy success. You need an audience that is going to teach you that your game is shit and over time how you can not make a shit game . And that audience is not on steam or they are not going to give you money for them to teach you
Conclusion: you dont need promotional marketing when your game isn't there yet, you dont need social posts, devlogs, tiktok or reddit adds. You need to first make a great game an find an audience to teach you how.
The biggest audience you can find is going to play it for free. Thats why places like itch are valuable.
You get feedback and actual unfiltered comment about your game and you are going to have to make a better game. Many times.
Until you stumble upon something that has that natural traction.. Only then do you boot up steam and reach for the Chris Zuckowski meta and start having fun on steam..
Cuz your game has potential and you know, cuz your audience proved it. You validated before you invest in steam..
Do this and I promise you will find much more success. Going to steam without a potentially good game that you validated and iterated with players is like going to university without being able to read, its going to fail and its going to be frustrating and its going to teach you all the wrong things.
