Empires Edge Hits 2000 Steam Wishlists
Solo dev shares marketing journey, reaching 2000 wishlists in 4 months without a demo or Next Fest
A solo developer has shared their marketing journey for Empires Edge, an isometric strategy game inspired by Tyrants: Fight Through Time and Mega Lo Mania, detailing how they reached 2000 Steam wishlists in just four months without a demo or participation in Steam Next Fest.
The developer created the Steam page early on, though they question whether this was the right decision, citing three possible approaches to creating a Steam page: doing it early and improving it over time, waiting until the game is further along, or creating a prototype and testing the market.
Initial rough screenshots and a short gameplay edit were eventually replaced with final pixel art, and the developer began reaching out to other successful devs for advice and publishing articles on regional websites, leading to increased wishlists.
Despite a quiet month where Reddit posts and social media updates had minimal impact, the developer found success with long YouTube videos about upcoming strategy games, mentioning Empires Edge and reaching 150,000 views, and a large regional gaming Telegram channel posting about the game, bringing in around 150 wishlists.
The game's progress and marketing journey offer insights into the challenges and opportunities of indie game development and marketing, particularly for solo devs looking to build an audience without the backing of a large studio or publisher.
