55 upvotes and 19 comments now—this really struck a chord with the indie dev community. Thanks for all the discussion and support everyone.

54 upvotes and 18 comments—this really resonated. Thanks everyone for the discussion. If you want to follow the game: store.steampowered.com/app/3178920

Just chiming in - what you are describing is starting any new business - it’s why “If you build it, they will come” is so readily mocked in the tech industry. You’re never building anything new, 99/100 it’s the soul-sucking marketing/sales team that actually makes a business profitable.

Have you tried mentioning the name of the game? You seem to have forgotten that here.

I suggest you to “invest in piracy”, don’t add anti-piracy systems.

As opposed of what many belive: piracy do help because it helps spreading the game, ut’s basically free advertisement, many popular games just live because they are easy to pirate.

This game could also be used in schools, i see from the screenshots that it has stuff to learn so maybe suggest it to teachers

Btw, if that can help: i usually find out about games by word of mouth and let’s play videos

Thanks for all the engagement on this post! 46 upvotes and 16 comments means a lot. For those asking: yes, the Steam page is live at store.steampowered.com/app/3178920 — wishlists help more than you know.

Find a YouTuber that has a following in your demographic family and education focused and pay for a promotion. Might cost a pretty penny or maybe you can do promo code kickbacks. Maybe try it with progressively bigger channels.

By the way, steam wishlist https://store.steampowered.com/app/3178920/Educational_Family_Games/

If I were in your shoes I would make a couple of videos. Not about the game (directly), but about your ‘why’. With a strong title and thumbnail that makes viewers want answers. Something like ‘why educational games STILL suck’ or ‘learning on computers doesnt have to be dangerous’. For the second one, the potential customer would be like huh? It’s dangerous? How? And then they click.

Then the videos follow a really simple format, 'I want:X but:Y so:Z.

For Instance

’ this AI stuff is getting out of control. Kids are learning from non true sources but what are their alternatives really? Games like this?(show example of trash game)

I WANT: to be there with my kids through their fun learning experience

BUT: oh my god, these games are so lame and boring. How are pre readers even supposed to follow along?

SO: I’m going to develop a game that is fun for the entire family.

Then you state what you want in the game. This game needs: voice over, multi playability so they can play with their friends, be winnable for a child and not just skilled adults, educate about (whatever) then show some development about it. Your struggles along the way, the emotional impact it has on you and the stakes.

Stakes don’t have to be earth shattering. But just think of worst case scenarios and speak on it through the video.

If we can’t get voice over sorted out, I’m not going to be able to play with the whole family because the little ones will leave the room and I can’t wrangle them and play with the older ones at the same time… Etc

Do 12 of these and your on your way. Nothing else on the channel just entertaining vids about educational games.

Could do ones like: the genius of ‘the Oregon trial’ and why the new one failed.

‘Why Laptops don’t solve the massive backpack problem, giving your kids back problems’

‘Educational games are making kids stupider(AI slop, or not engaging etc)’

'Why you dont hear about the games your looking for (because devs aren’t marketers, here are some I found)

‘Roblox is unsafe for your child’

‘Remember club penguin, here’s how you kids can do the same thing now safely’

‘How to help your kid hear more of their native tounge at home’

Etc.

This way you build up a following of people already interested in the space. Highlight the parents concerns, quell them by saying I see it too, and I’m actively trying to fix it. And they will naturally feel the want to buy Instead of feeling like they are being marketed to. Keep it heart focused.

Good luck!

Marketing is a different kind of hard. Coding has logic. Clear inputs, clear outputs. Marketing? It’s storytelling, psychology, timing, luck — and most of it feels like shouting into a void.

There actually is a bit more science behind marketing than your statement suggests. The Marketing Mix starts with the “four Ps”:

• Price - How is it packaged/tiered/price? Is it a one-time fee? Is it a subscription? Where does it fit in the price compared to other products you’re competing with in the same space?
• Product - What is it? What are its claims (things it delivers on)?
• Place - Where can your customers get it? Console only? Steam? Played in a web browser? What regions of the world?
• Promotion - How do people find out about it? This is mostly the part you’re talking about which include advertising, PR, influences, etc.

For those you’re trying to reach, be able to answer the first 3 “Ps”. If your game is sold only on Steam, then you don’t care about console players. You’ve now eliminated a huge chunk of customers you don’t have to try to reach. What kind of game is it, perhaps an RTS? Then you’ve eliminated all players that only play FPV shooters and you don’t need to reach those folks. Are you going to charge $40 for the game? Then you don’t need to worry about appealing to gamers that only spend under $40 for games.

All of this is a narrowing exercise to find where your customers are which lets you focus on streams or channels of communication specifically targeting those that would consider buying your game.

I follow some streamers who mostly play indies. That’s been my intro to most of the games I’ve played the last few years. It’s tough because a multi player family game like you described probably needs to hit a different audience than the standard gaming spaces, even indie oriented ones.

How do you discover new indie games? Steam browsing? TikTok clips? Word of mouth?

All of the above, kind of :3. A lot of them I found browsing steam’s 10€ and under and 5€ and under sections, a lot of them were from youtube shorts (don’t have a tiktok lol), and some were cause friends wanted to play with me, or cause I heard of them in conversations… oh and also video game design video essays lol. Those tend to have a lot of indies with well executed unique mechanics pop up as examples of good game design

Only gaming news I read regularly is gamingonlinux.com and [email protected] (plus whatever pops up on All and is interesting, which is how I found this post). Based on a recent article about the then ongoing Steam Next Fest, I installed a bunch of demos, haven’t played most of them yet because one was so good I played the hell out of it and bought the game a couple of days after Next Fest (impeccable timing for that release). Though as a reasonably well-executed Disco Elysium-like, it kinda markets itself, or at least easier than the type of game you describe in your post. My guess would be that there’s not a lot of overlap between people who spend time on reading about and playing niche games and people who have children …

Please invest in https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/the-1-page-marketing-plan-2nd-edition

Now.

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