Philomena Schwab

Community Building for Indie Game Developers

How can indie game developers build up and maintain a community for their game?

Game Design

Countless games are created every day by independent game developers. But even if you are a gamer, chances are high that you will never hear of them. Only very few of these games will reach a big enough audience to cover their development costs. Most of them will fade and be forgotten, not due to a lack of quality but a lack of visibility.

Building a community around a game in development is an excellent way to connect with people early on. Having a loyal fan base is not only beneficial for the financial success of the game, but provides the developer with constant feedback and can serve as a great motivator to push through the tough times of development. This thesis introduces the EEE approach of community building: Evaluate, Establish, Engage, and demonstrates its effects in different examples and experiments.

Mentoring:
René Bauer, Robbert van Rooden

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