Wolfire’s Indie PRMaking noise from day 1.

What Is PR?

Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing the flow of information between an organization and its publics.

--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations

Some PR Tips!• Only show off finished assets.

• Never mention the competition.

• Avoid direct interaction with fans.

• Don’t generate buzz too early.

• Let the game speak for itself.

Some PR Tips!La• Only show off finished assets.

• Never mention the competition.

• Avoid direct interaction with fans.

• Don’t generate buzz too early.

• Let the game speak for itself.

Wolfire’s PR

Make Friends

Build a Community

Open

Development

Make Noise

Making Noise

• Be Open About Everything• Be real• Make Noise Often

Tech Posts

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SAtwQa8t_3g&hd=1

Concept Art

Game Design

Silly Posts

Esoteric Posts

Personal Experiences

PR ChartMake Noise

Build a Community

Open

Development

Make Friends

Making Friends Online

• Cold Emails• Talk about other indies that inspire you• Cross-Promotion Opportunities

Cold Emails

David’s Design Tours

http://youtube.com/watch?v=XAoW9fjKmo4&hd=1

Cross Promotion

• Cletus Clay• Gratuitous Space

Battles• Rubber Ninjas

http://youtube.com/watch?v=h9Ob_CEjzBY

Making Friends Offline

• Parties • Meetups• ConventionsResult: Warmer Emails

Edmund’s Birthday

Conference != Vacation

Meet The Press

Warmer Emails

”… and their main marketing dude at industry events wears a kilt and a lumberjack beard."

-Reverend Anthony Burch, Destructoid

PR ChartMake Noise

Make Friends

Open

Development

Build A Community

Building A Community

• Facilitate Communication• Be “Sticky”• Start Now

• Translations in 20+ languages

• International news sites

Footholdby Hale

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5R45xrFWerA&HD=1

Communication: A Two Way Street

Wolfire’s Bag o’ PR Tools

Make Noise

Make Friends

Build a Community

Open

Development

Blog

• Blog often• Pick relevant topics• Use pretty pictures and

videos• Encourage feedback• Make it sticky!

Forum

• Discussions, fans can answer each other’s questions

• Builds a community• Fans can share content

and make maps together

• Can be crazy?

Public IRC Channel

• Group live chat• Multiple devs can

field questions• Fans can field each

others questions• Mibbit• Rabbot

Meebo Live Chat Widget

Visitors: • are psyched by

live chat• can ask questions• can get support• can troll me

Google App Engine &Amazon Cloud Front

Social Media

ModDB Page

• Friendly towards Indies

• Community is hardcore gamers and modders

• New posts get sent to the front page

YouTube Channel

• YouTube has HD• YouTube has a lot of

viewers• So make lots of videos

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tdx8dBGbi4c&hd=1

The 3 Pronged Attack

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cc5L9sBF7D0&hd=1

Insights

Facebook Page

• Lots of users• Easy to Use• Can import your blog• Uploaded media shows

up on your wall• Promotions• Fosters its own

discussions

Twitter

• Twitter is like a mini blog• Makes noise• Can attract followers• Medium for meeting

people in the industry• Great for tidbits

Steam Group

• Avatars• Screenshots• Posting

announcements• Group chat room• Room for

improvement

Nimai used our map editor to make each of us an in-engine house. This is David’s house.

Games Press• Games Press is the one PR

service we pay for• Provides a nice way to get

PR announcements auto fed to news sites

• Games Press has helped us get content on IGN, GameTrailers, GameSpot and G4 among others

GameTrailers

Worst of GT Quotes

• Boring! What kind of game even is this? Animatsion? Get real

• i can't wait for the nerd to comment an try and correct everyone talking about how cool the textures look an this is revolutionary... too bad its a f**king ROCK....show some f**king character models not a rock changing colors wtf is this crap.

• And if THIS is how they're trying to sell the game... you KNOW the game is going to be really... really bad.

Early Preorders

• TaleWorlds• Data Realms• Wolfire Games• Unknown Worlds• Valve?

Conclusion

• Open development– Make Noise– Make Friends– Build a Community

• Start early.• Stay agile.• Note: The Wolfire Experiment isn’t over yet.

Question To Ponder

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yOXrAQhShDk&hd=1

Final PR Tip

Leap at every opportunity!

If GDC invites you to speak, say “yes”!