I’ve solo developed an Android game as a hobby, but the 12+ testers at the same time for 14+ days requirement is a nightmare.
If you developed an app, how did you get past this? My game is fully free, no ads, no in-app purchases, so paying for testers isn’t an option either.
Maybe I’m just lacking friends (:
I do blame Google a little bit, as in you can’t just give someone an app-store link, they join your test and can play.
Having to invite each tester per email, or have them join a Google Group really hinders things. I did try making posts on Reddit to find testers, got 1000 views and barely anyone signed up :-/
As for marketing, sure, I could always fall back to that. But it’s a fully free game, I’m not expecting to make any money on it. It does have a “Support the developer” option, but those usually don’t work well at all (no reward for it, fully optional donation).
Hell, I made the game because I wanted to go on more walks myself, but then I spent the last months in front of the PC actually making the game instead of walking, so that backfired :D
As for marketing, I met learn how to appeal to communities, improve your sales pitch. And considering it’s a free game, that should be easy! Things like implying scarcity, or urging action through time limitations.
c/gaming: Now Accepting Beta Testers (indie dev, limited spots fill quickly! See details below)
If you’re interested, sign up quickly! I’m only accepting a limited amount of beta testers for (elevator pitch of game, brief description of yourself and your history to appeal to emotion).
If you want to have your voice heard in game development, be a part of the journey of [game], or just want access before anyone else, apply now!
Discord is awful of course, but I would try some of the more populated game development discords. If you mention it’s free and not monetized at all you’re likely to get a few dozen bites out of curiosity if nothing else. I know a few that got their first hundred players that way.