x have you contacted the folks over at Indie Games Blog? They always seem keen to post up info about any type of indie game should you contact them. I know from comments about Gratuitous Space Battles there're people on there who'd love to hear about AI War. From what I gather they haven't covered it yet so it might be worth emailing them. Their site gets a fair amount of traffic and could only attract some more players and potential buyers/fans.
What are your thoughts on getting reviews out there as well at this stage, seen as the game is still growing and changing?
I've contact the Indie Games Blog, and they did post a brief thing with our original trailer back in... May? Something like that. They've ignored anything I've sent since, unfortunately. I get around 2-3 emails per week from sites requesting review copies of AI War, and my answer is generally yes. There are at least a dozen reviews still pending for the game, perhaps as many as two dozen (I have not counted), but a lot of those take 1-2 months to actually complete the review. There are at least two major English-language magazines that are working on a review, as well as a major Russian magazine, and some large Polish and Italian and German websites. A variety of other MetaCritic-feeding sites have review copies, also.
A lot of that has been in motion since July, some of it since each month since, and new stuff keeps popping up at a solid rate even now. So, I'd expect to see coverage of AI War continuing through various venues for another 2-3 months at least, if not more. However, that said, if you know of reviewers/bloggers that might not have heard of the game, feel free to shoot them an email, as that tends to have a better impact compared to me emailing them out of the blue. Additionally, when the expansion gets closer to release, I'm going to be not only seeking new reviewers, but going back to the ones who reviewed the base game to see if they'll take a look at the expansion.
My goal, and I think it is attainable, is to double the playerbase from its current numbers within the next three months through English-language digital distribution alone. Then, with other retail deals in the works, and the expansion (and the attendant publicity there), and non-English digital distribution (generally tied to the retail deals), I expect to quadruple or sextuple the current playerbase size at the very least, within probably 6-12 months from now overall.
Suffice it to say, AI War is not winding down, but rather is just really picking up some steam. We've got other digital partners in the works, as well, and there's some exciting potential there, as well -- but I can't talk about those because of NDAs. Granted, a lot could still go wrong, but I'm confident enough to be quitting my day job at the start of December. Arcen isn't cash-rich at the moment, but we're buffered enough to see the launch of the AI War expansion and the puzzle game for sure, and by that point it's going to be a whole different ballgame for a number of reasons.
We're still seeking help with spreading the word, though! That is super important, now as much as ever, because the future is not assured for Arcen -- it's not like we've made a million dollars or anywhere close. But we have a solid shot at making this into a very long-term business, and you better believe I'm leaving no reasonable opportunities unexplored when it comes to promoting, selling, marketing the game!
