Amassing a huge panel, and drawing a large crowd, Unity evangelist, Oscar Clark, brought together a panel of developers and journalists to talk about how to interact with YouTubers and the mobile media to get your game out there.
The panel consisted of:
- Alysia Judge, Editor, AppSpy
- Herdjie Zhou, Co-Founder, Lucky Kat Studios
- Keith Stuart, Games Editor, The Guardian
- Mike Rose, Firestarter, tinyBuild Games
- Richard Keith, CRO, Yogscast
- Samantha Loveridge, Games Editor, Trusted Reviews
Judge said that both the traditional press and the new media channels are worth interacting with, and developers need to "tell the story that you want to be heard" by creating a media plan and working out exactly how you're going to pitch your specific angle.
Rose spoke about paying YouTubers to play tinyBuild's games, which he says works, but "it's not a thing we've focused on" as its focus is on Twitch as a platform for advertising games.
On the other side of the spectrum, Keith said that Yogscast is always looking for ways to take the game "to the next level" for its content, and so if you want to work with Yogscast you need to make sure your game fits their ethos and will help them as much as it helps you.
"Approaching the press is very much about working out who on the publication will do the best for you," said Stuart, noting that sending a blanket, copy-and-paste press release will likely get you absolutely nowhere.
Judge, however, said to avoid telling your life story if looking for a review of your game, and instead "open with a .GIF", or some kind of visual link to make it easier for journalists to become interested in your game.
The floor was then opened to a panel of Indie Heroes, which consisted of:
- Andrew Smith, Managing Director, Spilt Milk Studios
- Byron Atkinson-Jones, Founder, Xiotex Studios
- Daniel Da Rocha, Director, Mudvark
When asked which of the media outlets will still "survive" over the next five years, the general consensus was that all outlets would still be around, with Loveridge noting that "if you don't make games, we don't have anything to write about."
On the topic of attending major events, such as PG Connects, Stuart pointed out that you should turn up to them all just to engage with people within the industry, as "we're still a very person-based industry".
