Market the game

[shubla]

hafen is actually already pretty good, more developed and has deeper mechanics than most of the recent popular indie games.

Maybe even too deep sometimes, for example look at how food items work.

[jorb]

We could obv do more with our soycial media platforms, as our digital footprint there is laughably small compared to the no. of people who have tried the game over the years. Paid ads are nothing I'm interested in, because ads are cringe and the world would be a better place without them. Anyone who even sees ads on the internet is already doing something wrong.

(Big yikes whenever I try youtube without adblock. Could not be me.)

Realease on digital distribution platforms is on my radar, but I take a long view of that. The game isn't there yet.

I'm otherwise pretty ride or die with the "build it and they will come" mindset.

[Sephiron]

We could obv do more with our soycial media platforms, as our digital footprint there is laughably small compared to the no. of people who have tried the game over the years. Paid ads are nothing I'm interested in, because ads are cringe and the world would be a better place without them. Anyone who even sees ads on the internet is already doing something wrong.

(Big yikes whenever I try youtube without adblock. Could not be me.)

Realease on digital distribution platforms is on my radar, but I take a long view of that. The game isn't there yet.

I'm otherwise pretty ride or die with the "build it and they will come" mindset.

Have you ever considered working with community developers to add long requested features to the vanilla client? There are tons of QoL fixes that could be made without ruining the vision for your game.

[Ferinex]

Totally get the aversion to ads, I use dns black holes for ads myself. promoting posts on social media today doesn't really work that same way anymore though. like on ig or twitter you can 'promote' one of your normal social media posts and it will be inserted into the feed of users based on the criteria you give for audience, like interests, age, gender, etc. it works really good for conversion. it's still advertising but it feels a lot more like pay-to-play word of mouth. the platforms know the people who will be interested in your content and sell the connect to you. speaking from experience on this not strictly out of my ass all this is really just to say that I respect you being your own biggest critic, but the game is fucking good compared to what it was Jorb and far better than an endless number of other games on the market. i want coplayers and youll make some cellar cheddar. if the server can't handle scale tho that would sure be a stopper.

the early game is hard and offputting to new players. a mature world is a carnival for newbs in comparison. there are established roads and tools and players to assist them. every reset throws away a very valuable aspect of the game

[Audiosmurf]

I personally believe that anyone who plays ball with marketers/advertisers is a traitor to the human race and should probably die

[luarocks]

I personally believe that anyone who plays ball with marketers/advertisers is a traitor to the human race and should probably die

I agree by a million percent. If people are so dumb that their choice of computer entertainment depends only on ads in Steam (which is essentially proprietary spyware), then fuck them.

[pawnchito]

Agree with the sentiment of paid ads. It would be nice to be able to lead others to the delicious haven water but like you said the game isn't there yet for full broadcasting. It is a fantastic beautiful game that's super deep and engaging with sophisticated mechanics that once they hook you you just keep coming back for more.

A ton of that is missed with the UI though. It feels like I'm running a marathon in a scuba suit, not meant as an insult. When you try to play it for a great deal of time it makes you almost physically tired because its cumbersome.

I know there are other hot topics about the game but the client is the bread and butter of the game. My worthless two cents as a business boi that would love to help the game thrive.

[MagicManICT]

There are two type of ads--informative and subversive. They can be both, but they don't have to be. If people don't know a thing exists, they won't buy it or at least investigate it further.

I'm more in the "word of mouth" camp. Get your advertising via people spreading word about it. At least until the project is to the point of "near finish" and is capable of supporting thousands (tens of?) of new players.

[pawnchito]

There are two type of ads--informative and subversive. They can be both, but they don't have to be. If people don't know a thing exists, they won't buy it or at least investigate it further.

I'm more in the "word of mouth" camp. Get your advertising via people spreading word about it. At least until the project is to the point of "near finish" and is capable of supporting thousands (tens of?) of new players.

You are right, can't experience it if they don't know it exists. A world with thousands of players would be INSANE. Don't jack my tatas sir.

[MagicManICT]

You are right, can't experience it if they don't know it exists. A world with thousands of players would be INSANE. Don't jack my tatas sir.

Not trying to jack anything, just say what camp I'm in when it comes to how to advertise things. FWIW, from what I can see is there a lot of people that enjoy the game, but either can't find a way to get their friends to play, or they don't like the state of the game enough to get their people to try it. Past press doesn't help--it leads to a perception as a cutthroat game you have to have a high loss tolerance for.