Is Curator Connect working?

[AstroMonkey]

Hello young and elderly gamers, i am a solo indie developer who takes pride in not making 15 minutes games.

Just as a brief explanation i will say that it takes me between 1 to 2 years to make a full game.

Hitting the release button for me is the most painful thing to do because i know for a fact that i will not even make enough to earn a monthly minimum wage over the course of a year and that my game will be submerged in a couple of hours by a seaflood of asset flips and school projects cause steam greenlight was too much efficient, and we hate good things.

So I turn to steam curators because it's a form of free marketing(silly me) and youtubers/influencers rarely discover games for free(unless you are so naive to think that someone with 700k subs will share your game out of generosity).

For my latest game Omega Squad i have sent keys to 77 curators, including some famous ones like splattercat(at least i think it was his curator group, whatever), only ONE after 2 weeks found the benevolence to leave the review, he recommended the game by copy pastying the description of my game so whatever. Everyone else didn't even bother to either get the key, or blatantly got the key and didn't even try the game or leave a review.

I UNDERSTAND curators are not obligated to leave reviews, but really?....

I'm sure many indie devs are feeling the same pain, so i am here to ask y'all if curator connect is actually a feature that is working as intended or it might need some tweaking.

Do i really have to send money to reviewers to get them to review my games?

I'm a truly concerned solo indie developer.

Have a nice day.

[MalikQayum]

as a game dev myself and analysing all the curators there were from the beginning to around 2020. i had come to the conclusion it is a system that can work however many abuses for a free copy of a game.

the thing is you should never just randomly sent curator copies, you should approach the curator by their work.
the backend on the partner site is useless, it is beyond words how bad valve made that.
so reach out first to the curators you think has good exposure and actually matches the type of game you are trying to have them review.
if you are making 2d platformer and you are sending curator copies to a curator that seemingly only curates fps games.. you are kind of asking for a bad review or no review at all.

let me remind you, we are only able to send out 100 copies, i believe. i haven't really looked at the limit as of late but i recall it being that.

so do use your curator copies wisely and do your homework before sending out copies. always and i repeat always have some sort of contact with the curator before sending the copy and keep them on a leash.

[AstroMonkey]

Originally posted by MalikQayum:

as a game dev myself and analysing all the curators there were from the beginning to around 2020. i had come to the conclusion it is a system that can work however many abuses for a free copy of a game.

the thing is you should never just randomly sent curator copies, you should approach the curator by their work.
the backend on the partner site is useless, it is beyond words how bad valve made that.
so reach out first to the curators you think has good exposure and actually matches the type of game you are trying to have them review.
if you are making 2d platformer and you are sending curator copies to a curator that seemingly only curates fps games.. you are kind of asking for a bad review or no review at all.

let me remind you, we are only able to send out 100 copies, i believe. i haven't really looked at the limit as of late but i recall it being that.

so do use your curator copies wisely and do your homework before sending out copies. always and i repeat always have some sort of contact with the curator before sending the copy and keep them on a leash.

Totally makes sense, it's a lot of hard work filtering curators, especially if you don't know them or their group. But it seems the only possible way to make a broken system work.

But there is so much fluff using curator connect, i sort them by the 3 tags we're given to search and match them with my games but jeez it's a lot of dubious curators, how can i spot the good one from the bad one?

[wuddih]

functionally it works, that's about it.

otherwise it is an open secret for what it is really used:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSx3ez70Rlg

it is also used for other more shady crap but that is not for elaboration. i recommend my devs to directly work with content-related streamers instead. that is mostly equally disappointing but a positive interactions will have way more impact than a few reviews on Steam itself.

[Start_Running]

It works OP. But at the end of the day that is a shotgun approach.

[primeinsurrection]

I know curators are a thing and alot of people like them. But I think if you went around asking people that 99.9% would never listen to a curator. I never really hear curators I agree with but I think I agree with most regular reviews.

I was an indie devloper on Unity a few years. Trying to make a game by yourself with a job that isnt a garbage game is standard considered impossible. Its a rough world. If you want to do that I think you need to spend a few more years and pump it out like you are training for the olympics or nobody will ever care about it. Just being real. Its usually something rich guys with a team do.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by primeinsurrection:

I know curators are a thing and alot of people like them. But I think if you went around asking people that 99.9% would never listen to a curator. I never really hear curators I agree with but I think I agree with most regular reviews.

I was an indie devloper on Unity a few years. Trying to make a game by yourself with a job that isnt a garbage game is standard considered impossible. Its a rough world. If you want to do that I think you need to spend a few more years and pump it out like you are training for the olympics or nobody will ever care about it. Just being real. Its usually something rich guys with a team do.

And yet so many single people and small teams do manage.
The thing tio remember is. The competition is fierce so you have to know the audience you're targetting. I'm talking precision targetting.

[AstroMonkey]

Originally posted by Start_Running:

Originally posted by primeinsurrection:

I know curators are a thing and alot of people like them. But I think if you went around asking people that 99.9% would never listen to a curator. I never really hear curators I agree with but I think I agree with most regular reviews.

I was an indie devloper on Unity a few years. Trying to make a game by yourself with a job that isnt a garbage game is standard considered impossible. Its a rough world. If you want to do that I think you need to spend a few more years and pump it out like you are training for the olympics or nobody will ever care about it. Just being real. Its usually something rich guys with a team do.

And yet so many single people and small teams do manage.
The thing tio remember is. The competition is fierce so you have to know the audience you're targetting. I'm talking precision targetting.

That is true, but the audience you're targeting will not know about your game or let alone pay for it if there are no reviews or the game is well known.

I mean look at vampire survivors, a game you can develop in less than a week, all it took to take off was a big youtuber making a video about it and all the streamers following along for the views.

Being succesful in any endeavor requires a huge amount of luck, most people talk about hard work, but that's just motivational speaker's mumbo jumbo.

I see a lot of skilled people being left in the dark, nobody knows about them.

So if curator doesn't work well then valve should make some effort in improving it, why do i even bother paying 100$ if the service you offer is just being listed in an over crowded marketplace.

[( ( < < <🤖> > > ) )]

curators have to have some sort of regular value...

i only subscribe to the free game curator...
i only get bugged/harassed when there is a free game...

consumer fatigue is a thing... which is sort of like giving people a mental illness...

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by AstroMonkey:

Originally posted by Start_Running:

And yet so many single people and small teams do manage.
The thing tio remember is. The competition is fierce so you have to know the audience you're targetting. I'm talking precision targetting.

That is true, but the audience you're targeting will not know about your game or let alone pay for it if there are no reviews or the game is well known.

Thats why you start opening communication channels with your audience BEFORE you release. Ideally you should start doing this once you hit the halfway mark in development. Post in the forums you know your target audience frequents. Find out what curators and youtubers they listen to, reach out to those youtubers. Find the community hubs that center around your type of game. Heck even network with other devs developing games in your field.

Of course this is why it is necessary to have a very clear definition of your target audience.
Age, Sex, Gender, Geopolitical location, hobbies, etc.

I mean look at vampire survivors, a game you can develop in less than a week, all it took to take off was a big youtuber making a video about it and all the streamers following along for the views.

Originally posted by AstroMonkey:

Being succesful in any endeavor requires a huge amount of luck, most people talk about hard work, but that's just motivational speaker's mumbo jumbo.

Luck is what people say to dismiss the hard work and dilligence of others.

Originally posted by AstroMonkey:

I see a lot of skilled people being left in the dark, nobody knows about them.

And what are they doing to make themselves known?

Look here's the thing. You're not going to wake up one day to instant stardom. No. That will happen but thats rare. What you wuill find is many studios basically finding their audience, and steadily working to grow that audience. There's no Press X for success. It takes long, grinding work.

Originally posted by AstroMonkey:

So if curator doesn't work well then valve should make some effort in improving it, why do i even bother paying 100$ if the service you offer is just being listed in an over crowded marketplace.

It works as well as it can already. The thing is, have you given the curator a reason to talk about the game?, Have you given them a reason to think twice about it? As opposed to the other games out there.

[AstroMonkey]

Originally posted by Start_Running:

Originally posted by AstroMonkey:

That is true, but the audience you're targeting will not know about your game or let alone pay for it if there are no reviews or the game is well known.

Thats why you start opening communication channels with your audience BEFORE you release. Ideally you should start doing this once you hit the halfway mark in development. Post in the forums you know your target audience frequents. Find out what curators and youtubers they listen to, reach out to those youtubers. Find the community hubs that center around your type of game. Heck even network with other devs developing games in your field.

Of course this is why it is necessary to have a very clear definition of your target audience.
Age, Sex, Gender, Geopolitical location, hobbies, etc.

I mean look at vampire survivors, a game you can develop in less than a week, all it took to take off was a big youtuber making a video about it and all the streamers following along for the views.

Originally posted by AstroMonkey:

Being succesful in any endeavor requires a huge amount of luck, most people talk about hard work, but that's just motivational speaker's mumbo jumbo.

Luck is what people say to dismiss the hard work and dilligence of others.

Originally posted by AstroMonkey:

I see a lot of skilled people being left in the dark, nobody knows about them.

And what are they doing to make themselves known?

Look here's the thing. You're not going to wake up one day to instant stardom. No. That will happen but thats rare. What you wuill find is many studios basically finding their audience, and steadily working to grow that audience. There's no Press X for success. It takes long, grinding work.

Originally posted by AstroMonkey:

So if curator doesn't work well then valve should make some effort in improving it, why do i even bother paying 100$ if the service you offer is just being listed in an over crowded marketplace.

It works as well as it can already. The thing is, have you given the curator a reason to talk about the game?, Have you given them a reason to think twice about it? As opposed to the other games out there.

Nah bruh, i disagree, too much stuff to reply to and it would be pointless, especially if you tell me that the curator system actually works as well as it can, then i don't think we have much ground for understanding each other.

[Start_Running]

Fair enough. But the base question. HAve you given the curators any reason to spend any of their time covering your game as opposed to the who knows how many others?

[AstroMonkey]

Originally posted by Start_Running:

Fair enough. But the base question. HAve you given the curators any reason to spend any of their time covering your game as opposed to the who knows how many others?

I can't do more other than write what the game is about and it's main features, since i already target them with the appropriate tags i assume it's down their alley, there are three trailers of my last game in the store page. Other than that i cannot do anything else, and i've already eliminated the obvious cases of key collectors.

[MalikQayum]

this is what i go by, always make the contact never send them more than 1 copy because there are no reason as to why they would need more than 1 copy unless there is a coop / multiplayer feature implemented.

but again never actually send someone a copy without have some sort of discord with them about when it is going to be reviewed. if their answer is well you can send it now and we will review it in a week or 2 then your reply should be i'll wait a week or 2 and reach out to you again.

then you want to know whether there will be a full review linked to curator review, youtube vid (gameplay) commentary or no commentary either one is fine.

like i said the backend of the partner site is broken beyond comprehension. this is why you don't actually use the search feature backend. just browse for the same tags on the public curator page or find a game on steam that you find fits your genre then look at the curators that has reviewed those games and then from there see how they review it.

i would auto exclude anyone that just writes the 200 character curator review.
1. would be youtube vid + written review.
2. youtube vid
3. written review.

then you can look at their twitter stats if they have that or maybe even facebook.

it is a lot of work but then again marketing is not easy it is half the work of a game and time has to be put into it.

also i would probably not look at anyone curator above 10000 followers and even less at 15000 followers. you might want to look at the ones with around 5000 - 7500 followers. it shouldn't be less than 2500 unless your game is very niched.

[žar]

interesting

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by AstroMonkey:

Originally posted by Start_Running:

Fair enough. But the base question. HAve you given the curators any reason to spend any of their time covering your game as opposed to the who knows how many others?

I can't do more other than write what the game is about and it's main features, since i already target them with the appropriate tags i assume it's down their alley, there are three trailers of my last game in the store page. Other than that i cannot do anything else, and i've already eliminated the obvious cases of key collectors.

Well then your game was simply not worth their time. Aim for lower tier curators, or as said. Woprk to reach out to your audience...Facebook and Twitter are a thing. So is Twitch. Maybe do some lets plays on your youtube channel.

Better yet, Please define the target audience for your game.

Dude. You are literally one sardine in a school. You need to work your ass off to stand out. Look at all the successful inies and you'll find that they had to grind and press the flesh to get awareness.