How to get more "hits" for your game

[maverik94]

Ok, I have a calculator game that I have made that is not too popular, actually onlu one person seems to have any interest in it besides me. Anyway, I want to know your ideas of ways to try and get more traffic on the topic. This is not an advertisment for the game, I just want to hear you ideas, for example, what compells you to download a game, or even just to click the topic of the game/program? Thanks!

[DigiTan]

There's always youtube, personal webpages and such.

[Graphmastur]

A good way to get you r game recognition is an eye catcher. It is like a newspaper article, where you start reading, and you can't stop. You must find something that the audiande would like that is unike, like 8 level grey scale. Something that is a remake of a game Is sure to get attention. Of course, don't put best app in the world, because everyone know that there is only 1 greatest app, and that is, of course, DoorsCS. LOL.

B sure to look for something that you audiance would like. For example, if you make a rpg that goes on forever, and has an infinte amount of levels due to the amazing new encryption algorithm you made, release the algorithm on a page about you that lists all of your programs. If people who play your rpg will wonder, how did you do that. Ooh, compression algorithm!!! Here is a link to ticalc.org, where we can rate it up!!!

Just some suggestions, but it is basically this:
W) who is this for?
O) On what site is this hosted on. Is it too crowded, or not enough visitors?
W) When should you release this? Right after the release of the progam that make yours wothless? No. Right after the release of a major OS, to which you quickly make use of, and everybody is searching for this OS, the name of which just happens to be in your description? Yes.

[maverik94]

Thanks for the ideas guys, anyone else?

[Builderboy2005]

1: The best way to get more downloads is to have downloads. Seriously, the games with the most downloads are downloaded the most. This may sound strange or obvious but getting an initial spurt of downloads to put your game on the map helps a lot in the long run, as people often take number of downloads as a good representation of the games quality, although this is really not true. at all.

2: FINISH your game. ie: even if you spend months on the gameplay, the Menu is the first thing a downloader is going to see, and if it is unattractive or hard to use, they might even stop playing the game right then and there. generally i prefer making it easy to use more than making it look nice, because most people playing calculator games don't want much loading or opening scenes or anything like that.

3: Have ANIMATED screenshots. This applies even more for programs on Ti-calc, as you can see if the programs have animated screenshots right of the bat. Many times i have looked at BASIC program on TiCalc and seen a single screenshot of the built in menu function (I once even saw a screenshot of a Syntax Error ). Animated screenshots provide the best way to show off your program. They should have footage of the gameplay, as well as detailing most if not all of the games features. People go looking for programs with animated screenshots because they know that they will be able to know almost instantly whether or not they want to download the game.

Note that this is really just my opinion

[maverik94]

Ok, yeah, I have an animated screenshot of the game in action for it, but I just don't have the high download count...I'm working on finnishing the game, but it would be nice if people would give me feedback and Ideas, also, seeing your game being downloaded makes me want to work harder because i see people enjoying my game, whereas when I just get a download or two and just one person replying I almost feel like it's not worth it continuing.