Black Shell Media Blog
Check out marketing tips, development advice and more, authored by our team of expert writers, marketing professionals and industry veterans!
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Business | Developer Spotlight | Game Design | Game Development
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Community Management 101: Audience Engagement and a Dev Blog Quickstart Guide
What I’ve found in my time working with indie game communities is that very few game developers are in the loop in terms of what community engagement really entails. To most, it simply means posting when there’s an update or occasionally asking for player feedback...
The Nintendo Switch Appeal: Not Having to Commit
A month or so ago, Nintendo held a financial results presentation for their second quarter of the ongoing fiscal year. During the presentation, company president Tatsumi Kimishima presented the graph you see below, illustrating the playing habits of Nintendo Switch...
Developer Spotlight: DinoSystem’s Daniele Ferraro
Here at Black Shell Media, we find ourselves extremely lucky to represent a wide array of developers from different backgrounds. Each and every one of our developer friends took very different routes to end up where they are today, published and professional. This...
Learn from the Best: 3 Awesome Indie Games from 2017
Just like great authors got good by constantly reading, and famous artists got good by consistently painting and drawing despite the odds, developers have the same journey. It's long hours of coding, rendering, writing and iterating. Hours spent teaching yourself...
Demo the Right Thing: 3 Tips for Making a Strong Demo
There’s been a lot of debate as to whether game demos are good or bad. There’s the argument that demos are great because they encourage potential customers to try your game out, when they may not otherwise. There’s also the argument that they’re bad because someone...
Christmas Dev Shopping List: What You Should Get For Christmas
It's that time of year! It's the time for festive cheer, hot cocoa by the fire, cozy blankets and . . . presents! And lucky for you, people know what to get you, right? You're a developer, so chances are you're still an avid gamer, and you want to get games for the...
Why Should Indie Devs Care About Video Game Usability Testing?
Testing the usability of your video game means evaluating how happy, comfortable, and satisfied your potential users are when they play it. It seems obvious that you’d want your video game to meet all of those standards, but achieving them is probably not something...
Not so Overdone: A Look at Assassin’s Creed Origins
With a score of 82 from Metacritic, a 4 out of 5 from Trusted Reviews, an 8.5 from Polygon, and a 9 out of 10 from IGN, it's astonishing to think that Assassin's Creed Origins has essentially breathed new life to the franchise. And we're talking rave reviews, high...
9 Kick-Ass Women in Game Dev
The tale is as old as the gaming industry itself, and is completely overplayed: the lack of respectable female roles in games. No, not the character kind – the developer kind. Because, honestly, there’s way more men in development than there are women. And when a...
From Past to Future: A History and Present Look at Game Writing
The following article was written by Jackie Boyeston from Mega Cat Studios and BSM's own Jennifer Mendez. Video games and novels have a long-shared history. In fact, like so many new technologies, it was in science fiction that video games were first conceived. Sir...
How to Build a Computer for Game Development
There are no bones about building a computer for game development. Many indie developers don't plan on building a computer the first time they start making games. Many use the system they already have, whether it is a outdated low tier Macintosh laptop or a state of...
Game Dev as a Way to Fight Bigotry – Interview with the Anti-Defamation League, Organizers of the “Being an Ally” Game Jam
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recently ran their Being an Ally game jam in Oakland (and online). We had the chance to interview Brittan Heller, the director of ADL's Center on Technology and Society, about the game jam. What made you decide to start a game jam...
YouTube Marketing: Why You Need It And How To Do It
I’m going to put this bluntly. If you aren’t using YouTube to market your game, you’re doing it wrong. YouTube is currently the best marketing tool in an indie developer’s toolbox. Think I’m exaggerating? Strap in and keep reading, because I’m about to blow your mind....
The Epic Marketing Mini Guide: 6 Steps to Getting Your Game Noticed
If you’re an indie developer, chances are you’re trying to share a game—or a few—with the world. You spend hours crafting the perfect characters, tweaking the God Rays, setting the tone, and placing the platforms in just the right spots. It’s no wonder you want people...
Silicon Valley Gamers Are Embracing Cryptocurrency
Today's guest post is from JT Nguyen, CEO and Co-Founder of Gameflip. Atari. Arcade games. Consoles. Multi-player. Mobile. Free to play and digital goods. After a decade in gaming, I can attest to how adeptly this industry adopts new technology. But as we all know,...
Cutting Through the Static: The Immersive Greatness of Oxenfree’s Radio
Today's guest post is by Ishaan Sahdev. This morning, I had a difficult decision to make: Do I want to complete Oxenfree or not? Do I want to see it through to the end and spend another night tossing and turning in bed, or do I want to drop it while I have the chance...
Barcelona Games World 2017 Recap
Barcelona Games World 2017, which ran between October 5th and 8th, broke all the participation records from last year, with 35% more companies and 11% higher attendance. It’s only in its the second year, but the consensus among the press is that BGW has already become...
Will PUBG Have a Future in eSports?
Playerunknown's Battlegrounds is an early access battle royale game that pits one player against 99 other people on one map. Being an early access title can be a deterrent for many players, but this hasn’t stopped it from becoming one of the fastest growing games on...
You Don’t Need Motivation, You Need a System: 4 Mechanisms to Complete Projects
Ugh, a post about motivation. I know what you’re thinking. Probably a bunch of fluffy tips on "thinking positive" or "never giving up." I think that’s hogwash. Ask any professional successful developer, and they'll tell you their secret to being incredibly productive....
6 Reasons Games Industry Investors Have Their Eyes On China
China has over 600 million avid gamers and the largest gaming market in the world, last valued at $24.4 billion in 2016. With an annual growth rate of about 15%, it's clear China is in dire need of more gaming companies to meet the demand. This explains the takeovers...
Finding the Right Voice on Social Media for Your Company and Game
Indie titles are made with smaller teams—sometimes even solo developers—and while, development-wise, this can sometimes be a hindrance, when it comes to marketing, it’s a major advantage. As an indie dev, you have the ability to really connect with the people you work...
Stuck In A Rut: 10 Ways to Unleash Your Creative Potential
Even the most creative people in the world struggle with creativity at some point in their lives. It can be in the form of failure, with their ideas not succeeding, or it can simply be a genuine lack of ideas. As Brene Brown, author of Braving the Wilderness once...
How to Encourage Players to Share Your Content
Getting players to share your content can be a very tricky task. The bulk of it requires creativity, the ability to create content that is attention grabbing and interesting enough to share and make it go viral. Viral marketing can take a lot of time, effort, luck,...
Slack vs. Discord: Pros and Cons
Building a game community involves plenty of work. You have to establish moderators, secure and reliable servers, as well as plenty of rewards for players who are highly active. There's a lot of trial and error involved, but what if we told you there are two main...