Thread by @RetroBreakNick

Here’s my response to this great thread by @GumpyFunction…

As a youtuber who plays and reviews homebrew games, let me give a bit of context around what gets played and what doesn’t. For me at least, i’m contacted all the time by devs making new Game Boy games. (1/19)

https://twitter.com/gumpyfunction/status/1536906264898580481

There’s so much out there now that unless something really impresses me, it’s impossible to showcase everything I want to, there’s also loads of really impressive games out there on itch.io and other sites that I just don’t have the time to get to. (2/19)

The quality of releases has skyrocketed in the past few years and it’s getting increasingly competitive! In the next set of tweets i’ll share some ideas for how you can get seen, get your game played and hopefully in turn, build your own audience and get more downloads (3/19)

So, what can you do as a dev to get seen and played by a YouTuber or Streamer? First, keep sharing, whether that’s screenshots, ideas, gifs etc, just keep posting snippets of your game on social media, forums, or wherever you think the audience for your game will be. (4/19)

Include the right hashtags and I can guarantee that if your game is good enough, people will begin to see it and take interest. (Be careful with self promotion on Reddit though..) Also, don’t panic that you’re not getting the engagement you think you should be. (5/19)

I guarantee a lot of people see your tweets and just choose not to interact, it doesn’t mean they aren’t interested. I may not like every tweet you put out about your game, but I do see them! I think it looks great! (6/19)

Every time I see a new tweet of yours, whether I interact or not, it’s always reminding me of the game, and if you do that enough, if the game is interesting and polished enough, then there’s a bigger chance that it will get added to my list to do a video on in the future! (7/19)

So, don’t be disheartened if your tweets aren’t gaining the engagement you’d like, and more importantly, don’t compare yourself to bigger developers, who get more engagement. (8/19)

They were in your situation once, and have built up a well deserved following over time. Which you will definitely do too if you keep posting and keep working on what excites and motivates you! (9/19)

In response to this tweet -

https://twitter.com/gumpyfunction/status/1536906971965968384?s=21&t=4fYKGvG4X7NfbsNXVW2Wsg

- I have always found that it’s better to make several shorter, more unique games before working on a big project that you hope will take off. (10/19)

By making several small games first, you’ve already got a good library of titles for people to stumble on, you can build up an existing audience before diving into your dream project, it will take longer, but it will be worth it to have multiple projects to show. (11/19)

Plus you’ll have more experience working with the engine and solving problems, so when you do get round that that big project, the whole thing should go smoother too! (12/19)

Discord is a good option for sharing too. I have a great community of game devs on mine (discord.gg/F73uJ4Wey3)who all share updates on their games and get feedback, that can be a good place to post but most people there are devs or fans, so don’t expect content from… (13/19)

sharing there, just some good new relationships and useful advice from other people in the field, all with the same struggles that you’re experiencing already. It helps to share your struggles and to know everyone is on the same path, just at different stages! (14/19)

Reach out to youtubers, but be aware that they may already have many other people doing the same, so keep it short, include a rom to download, and don’t expect anything in return, at least not in the short term. I know it can be disheartening, (15/19)

but you have to understand that from a growth point of view, a homebrew game for an old console really doesn’t bring in many views, so personally, any GB games I play on my channel have to be either very unique or interesting, ones i’m personally attached to in some way, (16/19)

or ones i’ve agreed to review thanks to a publisher or someone sending them over physically. (Even then, don’t expect anything, as there’s so many releases being sent to me now, I already can’t keep up!) (17/19)

There’s times when I put together a video on some upcoming games too, if yours does stand out in some way that I think the youtube audience will enjoy, then I will add it to the video list and eventually record and share it. But these videos take a long time to make. (18/19)

Hope this helps anyone who’s trying to make it in the competitive homebrew scene, whether for Game Boy development, or any other console! Let me know if you have any questions or want me to elaborate on anything! (19/19) #RetroGaming #IndieDev #Homebrew #GameBoy #GameDev