In my chat with Zack Bertok about what how he became a full-time indie developer, he shared how one of his core values is putting the community at the forefront.
He’s not alone. At GDC 2017, the session “Beyond the Install: “Building Robust Communities on Mobile,” Andrew Stalbow agreed – “Community building is the best marketing you’ll ever do.”
(That session is hosted on GDC Vault for free - search for it. It features panelists Kristian Segerstrale of Super Evil Megacorp, Andres Bou of Socialpoint, Andrew Stalbow of Seriously; and hosted by Dave Geffon. There were a lot of great sessions, filled with a wealth of insider knowledge.)
Go, watch that session now. Excellent way to spend 30 minutes of your time. Then come back here. I'll totally wait for you.
For the Lazy - Some of my notes from the Session
Community building is a long-term 10-year plan. You can’t fail fast with community building. It requires work and pays off in the long run.
Start community building by publishing content about what you’re building. Just something small - every day.
Give recognition to your audience. If they create a video, poem, something – showcase it. Show that you’re listening - promote their work.
Rocky, what was missing?
First, the session was 30 minutes short, with a focus on ‘the why.’ That’s not enough time to go beyond the surface level. It’s not their fault. There’s just not enough time.
Second, while there is a lot of valuable to get the input of industry experts of large teams – there’s some disconnect when using the advice of big companies for small niche indie studios. In fact, one of the panelists commented that his company is “a small team of about 50.”
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Indie developers have to wear many hats to run their studio. When you’re wearing that Developer hat and also wearing the Community Manager hat - you’re going to get a whole new set of problems that are unlike the Blizzards/EAs/Bethesda forums.
I had the opportunity to meet with Jay Rab, Lead Community Manager for Dungeons of Tal’Doria, as well as community manager of Tyranobuilder, Supercharged Robot VULKAISER, Eryi’s Action, and a host of other indie games. His work also includes the Assistant Community Manager on Edge of Space, and a Forum Moderator for Tabletop Simulator.
Jay is THE GUY with an expert’s perspective about community building in niche indie games.
What Exactly Does a Community Manager Do?
If your answer is: “To crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women.” Then you’re probably a Conan fan.
Jay’s definition of a Community Manager: “When the marketing of game promises x, y, and z features, the community manager’s role is to maintain that idea.”
I like that definition a lot.
Take for example - No Man’s Sky. The promise of an enormous galaxy filled with beautiful wildlife and unusual animal behavior. Upon release, that didn’t happen. Instead, there was a huge backlash and community managers having to put our fires. (My heart goes out to those community managers.)
The Top Three Fears Indie Developers have about Community Building
From that GDC Session, and my chat with Jay - I highlighted three major fears for indie developers on Community Building.
1) How do you Handle the Trolls and Complainers?
Let’s face it. With community building, you’re managing people. In that GDC session, Kristian shares: “Treat them, invite [your audience] along. Communicate to them the way you want to be communicated.”
I agree. It’s my life motto. But there’s still the main issue.
How do I handle the trolls?
What do I say when forum goers are venting?
How do I avoid the community getting into verbal fights with one another?
Jay shared his strategy for managing your community the start:
“[Responding] when a question pops up, especially in the early life of your game, will set how other users should behave and act in your forums without you laying out any rules what so ever.”
Jay points out that developers (and their teams) have an incredible influence on how the rest of the community acts. The way a developer frames their response shows the community how to react in the future. It makes sense. When you agitate the complaining with negative feedback, the players will gladly return the favor.
Jay provides an example in the Cherry Tree High Comedy Club forums. A forum user asked if characters get naked in the game. (I bet you clicked to find Jay’s answer, didn’t you? Hah - you perv! No worries - I did too!)
Via Jay: “The request was still valid, and it didn’t need me to share more than a yes or no answer. It turns out that he asked this question on many game forums and got banned from them - simply for asking a question! [My response got the] community engaged, and I had another person ask a serious question - who ended up buying the game and its sequel.”
(get your mind out of the gutter!)
2) How Do You Handle Criticism?
Another common fear by new community builders is handling the critics, reviews, and those long rants about how your update killed their first born child and is now spreading across the globe.
In that GDC session, Kristian shares: “Listening to your player base doesn’t mean listening to the loudest.”
We’ve all seen it –
The infuriating reviews about how your Survival Horror game is too scary but not scary enough. And how after 800 hours of play, they can’t recommend it.
“Justify why the game is the way it is or downplaying the player’s concerns will get you into trouble,” Jay says. Making it personal, and reacting harshly to the review can get you all sorts of negative press.
For the Dungeons of Tal’doria community that Jay manages - the community shared that for the character animation - “they all look robotic.”
“With their Greenlight stage wrapping up, the team was rushing to get everything together. “They all look robotic” wasn’t what we wanted to hear.
We would have to delay the Alpha and remake the trailer just to get the animations correct. But they were right. The animations did look
