Friday Facts #293 - New remnants 2 & 1.0 Marketing plan

[theolderbeholder]

Given how good these remnants look I was shortly tempted to let some biters in. But only very shortly. Before giving them another barrage from the 28cm/65 instead

[redlabel]

Hello, red from COMFY Factorio here.

Perhaps hiring some gaming PR specialists could help to a degree?

Other than that.. FORTNITE/PUBG are super popular right now. I personally love the dynamic of "Hunger Games" type games. We even did a few attempts on our servers. People were interested but it is really hard to balance.

I really enjoy the multiplayer aspect of gaming and I feel Factorio could do more to attract more people to it. Not many online players considering how many copies of the game have been sold.

I also love when a game does a version of another game, it is an interesting idea.

A map that works like PUBG in some things: You can choose where to drop, are on your own or can collab with others, find semi-abandoned factories you can bootstrap, increasing danger zone (or flooding). This could be done either for several hour games or 40 min or so games where you prob cant produce much but would need to get crates with loot. A fast paced pvp survival scenario but I would still include some building thingies.

I really like that you guys are making it easier (visual) to pick your color. I wanted this for a long time but hard mods are not practical on multiplayer for the most part.

Now that feminism is so trendy, adding the option to pick your character's gender and even some hair/facial features could be neat. When you click on a player you would get basic info about him (a screenshot of his chosen avatar, what armor he wears and weapon he equips for example) I know it is a bit stupid but I think it is kinda cool. EVE Online has this and it is a very [...]* game. (can't think of the right word)

Anyway I'm an ideas guy so I'll try to follow this thread. If anyone is interesting to reaching out to me directly, you can find me (redlabel) on getcomfy.eu/discord

Cheers

[BHakluyt]

Yeah, having a female Factorio dudette is a good idea.
Also Popular Mechanics. I know their magazines are in America and they also have a publication in southern Africa. You will surely reach a few people who haven't heard of the game but have the mindset for this game through Popular Mechanics. Maybe have a one page interview and some info on the game or something.

[Therax]

no selling-out to big companies that would use the game as cash grab while destroying the brand (we actually declined to negotiate "investment opportunities" like this several times already, no matter what the price would be), the same would be when it would potentially come to any exclusivity deals

Bravo, good sirs. I say again, bravo.

For marketing, I would reach out to anything related to Engineering and Science.

Popular Mechanics, Scientific American, IEEE Spectrum, Discovery are just a few. Explain and show them why Factorio is more than a typical game. How it massages active problem solving skills, can be used to teach logic, how it encourages that kind of rigor and rewards it, often without you even realizing it.

I was thinking the same thing. Also "Wired" would be a good fit, I think.

[jdestefano]

Maximum PC would also be a good magazine. They are mostly about PC building and such, but do reviews on games.

[Xeanoa]

Yeah, having a female Factorio dudette is a good idea.

That would also mean having to make a male character, since it does not seem to have a defined gender.
Personally I'd love me some Barbie in a Bikini.

[BHakluyt]

^^^ Thatss actually a very good point hey. We all just assume the current character to be a male. Maybe its an advanced futuristic non-binary triple digit asexual android clone.

[meganothing]

Re: interesting stories that spread themselves:

The 3D game engine of last week might be a hook to get game magazines to talk about Factorio. And surely won't appeal to the wrong crowd

You could also host a "massive multiplayer event" like the test event that happened last week. Something like 100 people building a massive factory on release day to start 100 rockets at the moment Factorio leaves EA.

Both ideas already suggest who you could be working with and show an absence of originality on my part

[TazerLazer]

They could just add a male/female/other selection that does nothing but set the player to thinking their person is the gender they selected.

[J-H]

Great post, great links too.

Some kind of deliberately-shareable announcement post/new trailer that a bunch of us can repost or share on Facebook might work. For viral-ness, consider a "Craziest things that happen in Factorio" type post, possibly including highlights like the programmed music,videos, computing, and whatnot.

Downside: I heard about Factorio a couple of years ago from Shamus Young's blog. With over 1M copies sold, you may have already sold to the cream of your target audience.

Can anyone validate if Brigador is actually a good/fun game? I enjoy BattleTech & MWO, and played MW2, MW4, etc.
https://imgur.com/gallery/bGLAQ/ If it is, I would be willing to buy it as long as I don't have to go through Steam.

[Theikkru]

A couple that haven't been suggested yet:

A showcase video of something ridiculously complicated (think Sandstorm or FactoRayO) but starting with a montage of its construction that begins zoomed in at 1× speed so that people who don't know how Factorio works can grasp the level of complexity...and then have a massive horde of biters swarm in and eat it all at the end.

Develop (campaign?) or pick a scenario that works especially well for cooperative play, and include it with the free demo. Then, host a special 1.0 launch event where demo copies of the game are allowed to connect to multiplayer servers alongside full game copies specifically for that scenario. Invite plenty of streamers.

[GuiltyBystander]

I think your pricing strategy is admirable and is the right thing to do.


However, it might not be the best thing for the company/game/community. A while ago I learned about the J.C. Penney Effect (summarized well by Extra Credit on Youtube but he focuses on how perceptions of fairness can be applied to games as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxfkWZPAUg4).
They started a new pricing strategy where among other things, they would be honest with their customers by getting rid of sales by having a consistent low price and having nice round prices $5 vs $4.99. Sound familiar? On paper this sounded wonderful, but failed horrible. They lost tons of money and customers even though it is objectively better for the customer.


I'd say keep your existing sale plan, but I'm not a marketing person and things don't always work how you think they should.
I think the lack of sales also probably helps the high review rating of the game. I think the higher price point means you naturally filter out the people who might buy it on a whim and aren't your target audience. More expensive games make me pause more and think about if the game is really what I want before I commit to purchasing it.

[Xterminator]

Been a while since I posted here, but I wanted to add in my perspective and 2 cents in regards to the marketing, specifically related to the Bounty system people have mentioned for streamers.
From a viewer perspective it seems like a good idea, but based on the things you guys said you wanted to avoid and the morals you have (which I'm very happy about by the way), I don't know if that's the best route. Or at least, you should be careful with it. This is why...

The bounty system is cool and can be good, however, as part of the agreement to accepting a bounty the streamer has to agree to not bad mouth a game. Now of course you wouldn't want someone hating on Factorio anyway, but the fact that it's not really an honest review (in my opinion) seems like it goes against what you want. The fact the streamer isn't allowed to say bad things about the game, seems like you're basically just paying them to praise your game. Also, a lot of streamers will do these bounties just for the money (I'm guilty of that myself) even if they have little or no interest in the game itself. Again, seems like something you probably don't want.

I would say though, that one good thing is to reach out to game review YouTube channels and offer them a key to review the game. There are so many large channels that could potentially provide massive coverage. One that comes to mind that I watch a lot is Worth A Buy. He does real honest reviews and if offered a key will definitely cover indie games. He did a review of Factorio previously actually, but that was a long time ago when his channel was much smaller and the game was far less developed.
So just finding channels like that I think could provide a lot of coverage.

I also second the ideas of Popular Mechanics and similar magazines like that.

[AndrewIRL]

Nerd³ is the reason I bought Factorio.

Linus Tech Tips probably has better reach but they don't appear to review games, you might be able to get organic placement like showing Factorio as an example game in a segment about Linux gaming.

[BattleFluffy]

The preview picture of the new remnants looks AMAZING!!! What is the sneak peak preview?? ::starts destroying random objects around my base::

Kovarex, just want to say I totally admire and respect your principled position regarding the marketing and other business aspects of Factorio. It just makes me want you guys to succeed so much!

Regarding media like magazines etc. I have to be honest, I don't read magazines at all these days. However I watch a ton of educational/armchair scientist youtube channels. For example, Computerphile, Numberphile, Sixty Symbols, Periodic Videos, Kurzgesagt, TierZoo, Two Minute Papers, CGP Grey, rctestflight.

Many of these channels are open to the idea of adverts and indeed already run adverts for things like password managers and website creation tools... ie "sponsored content". It's in almost every video, the format is usually to mention the sponsorship at the start briefly, then at the end of the video go into more detail about it in a proper advert. The Youtuber will typically try to do a clever segway from their actual content to the sponsored content, which can be amusing.

That would be my recommendation for media channels to pursue. I would guess that it's likely to be quite affordable, and exposes you to an audience of millions of people who might be interested in this kind of game, and hopefully in a way that is pursuant with principle. :>

[AndrewIRL]

Computerphile, Numberphile, Sixty Symbols, Periodic Videos, Kurzgesagt, TierZoo, Two Minute Papers, CGP Grey, rctestflight.

You should check out Electroboom and Practical Engineering.

[Eketek]

I am not opposed to breaking mods -- but I do think that it would be nice if mod-breakage could be tracked (at least on the level of mod + required dependencies), such that mods that break (either raising an exception during load or referencing a renamed vanilla entity) in a pending update (not yet downloaded and installed) could be flagged and a warning added to the Update GUI stating which mods are expected to break.

[AndrolGenhald]

I must say it bothers me just a little bit how the destroyed rails are so curvy but without any actual breaks. How did they get so much longer?

[Amarula]

Jo I would buy a really expensive limited special edition with a high quality hand made hard cover book ...
I just imagine this really thick in scarred brown leather bound book on your shelve with its gold glistening embossed lettering "Factorio" on its back.

I would totally buy this book!

I would go for very limited, high quality merchandise. Maybe once a year, a promotion to make this year's new merchandise available. Personally, if the store had dozens or hundreds of items, I would feel like the game was being pushed just to sell stuff I don't need, and most likely end up not buying anything. I am more likely to buy something usable, like the T-shirt, a book, a coffee mug, or a key-chain, and less likely to buy a stuffed toy or action figure. (Though I would be awfully tempted by those amazing comic-con posters!)

Yes, a female avatar would be a nice touch.

How about a couple of TED talks? Maybe using Factorio in the classroom... or what it is like running an ethical company, that is very transparent with fans/customers, that supports and encourages a community that builds on your work (modders)...

Thank you again for giving us a peek of what is going on behind the scenes, and inviting our participation!

[neilon96]

As many others already have mentioned, I got to the game through youtube. In my case it was the mass multiplayer video by Arumba. As I liked Anno and loved the design principles I quickly decided, after playing the free demo (which imo was very helpful) to buy it and enjoyed it lots.

In terms of printed media I currently only read the general tech/PC paper ct done by heise media, although that is strictly german and I'm unsure what their requirements to feature a game are. They typically do a quick review text (about 50-100 words) and evaluate price, long term playability and I think graphics.