This week was a grab-bag of work. Among other things, I worked on audio, gave a few environments some much-needed touch-ups, worked on my Steam store page, and put together a press kit. In general, it’s all being done with the goal of “marketing”, so let’s talk about that — and maybe our feelings, too.

First, what do those tasks have to do with marketing? Well, for example, I need a trailer to officially announce the game, and I can’t (wont?) make a trailer without properly implemented audio (I’m sure my audio collaborators wouldn’t appreciate this, either.) I’ll need screenshots, too, and certain images could be dangerous to release — it’s cute having rip-pff Mario and Metroid posters in Wryn’s room, but they aren’t my characters to use and I don’t want to risk any legal trouble. Luckily, some indie dev pals have been kind enough to let me shout out their games in the posters instead (Shutshimi and They Bleed Pixels, for anyone wondering!)

I also plan to open a “coming soon” Steam store page for Bleed 2 when I announce it. Along with the trailer and screenshots, I need to prepare other assets for the store page, like trading cards. I’ve put together some simple cards using images from the “box art” — I might add more, non-box-art cards in the future, but honestly my time could probably be better spent.

Finally, in case you aren’t familiar with press kits: all these materials (along with a bunch of marketing copy about myself and my game) get combined into a ‘press kit’ — literally, like a “Write Your Own News Story About Bleed 2 Kit”. It has the trailer, screenshots, text, links, etc etc etc, everything a journalist might want or need to cover the game. Then you start emailing and hope someone’s interested! Here’s an example of a presskit (made with the great tool, presskit(), by its creators.)

I’ve talked to a bunch of fellow devs, and the general feeling I get is that nobody really enjoys marketing. Maybe we’re all “artists” who don’t want to “waste time” “whoring out our game” when it should be able to “sell on its own merits” (not actual quotes, just me being over-dramatic.) More likely, we’re all a bit sensitive and insecure, and don’t feel like our games are worth making noise about — or we fear the response if we do. What if people hate it? What if nobody even cares??

I’m not any different — it’s nerve-wracking putting this stuff together (even positive feedback quickly overwhelms me.) But it’s what you gotta do if you want to give your game a good chance at being noticed and enjoyed on a large scale! Right now, barely anyone even knows that Bleed 2 exists. If nobody’s aware of it or excited for it on release, then it doesn’t stand much of a chance at being successful.

If you’re a developer reading this, and you don’t market your games — please. PLEASE. I beg of you. Just try. Be proud and be courageous and try to get the darn thing out there!

I should point out: if you’re reading this and thinking “BLEED 2 TRAILER NEXT WEEK HYYYYPE” then cool your jets a little please!! There’s been a hiccup or two, so it’ll be at least another 2-4 weeks before it all comes together. I’ve got all this work done though, so I’ll be ready to go the moment the last pieces fall into place. I’m excited as hell to finally, officially show you (and hopefully the world at large) what I’ve been working on for the last three years. I hope it’ll be worth the wait!