Marketing is as important for indie game developers as it is for major triple-A studios, if not more so. With thousands of indie games all vying for attention, there is a lot of noise on the market now, and standing out from the herd is almost impossible even for the few games that are actually good.

That is why Filip Kraucher, one of the developers for the critically acclaimed indie platformer Blackhole, says that it is essential that developers work toward building their own communities right from the start.

“I think that the most important thing for every indie game developer is to build their own strong community,” Kraucher wrote in a recent post on Gamasutra. “It doesn’t even have to be big. I mean, even a 100 people can make a difference in helping you with your game and with the initial sales.”

“It’s not only about the game. It’s about connections”

Kraucher admitted that building a community takes time and persistence, but he believes that the ultimate rewards are worth the effort.

“It’s not only about the game. It’s about connections,” Kraucher explained. “If you want to market your game in 2015, you’ll need help. You have to be good and you also need followers. What worked for us was to make sure the community felt like we cared about them. We had to build an idea that everybody who followed our development made the game stronger and more successful. That every thought, idea, comment, preview, review, interview was also success of the followers, not just ours. And that worked.”

According to Kraucher, many developers consider community building to be a waste of time and money for certain types of games, especially indie platformers.

“Don’t fall for that,” he said. “Having a community isn’t something for MOBA games and big budget triple A games only. Even you can benefit from that. For instance, the community will let you know if there’s something wrong with your game, and you can use it to your advantage.”

Kraucher added, “Building a community is the best “free” service to market your game in 2015. It’s also a great opportunity to make real friends. It will also boost the initial sales, since your followers will talk about your game and share it with others. They will also review it. And they will provide precious feedback so you can make your game better. All of this applies to the community of 10, 100 or 10,000 people. The size of a community is up to you and others.”

You can read Kraucher’s full post on Gamasutra.

Image courtesy of FiolaSoft Studios via Steam Store