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Indie Game Marketing Technique: Name Your Innovative Features

Your ability to grab a player's attention is just as important as having a high-quality, fun, innovative game. That's because there are thousands of high-quality, fun, innovative indie games -- and most of them get ignored.

So to help you stand out... to help you differentiate yourself... to help you cut through all the noise in an overcrowded marketplace... here's a simple technique you can use...

Name Your Unique Features

Giving your game features a unique name is the easiest way to help you stand out, and add more value.

For example, say you're making an RPG. And if you just say...

"Innovative level-up system where you gain experience points"

This just sounds like another idea that thousands of other games use.

But if you say...

"You gain Souls from enemies. And if you die, you gotta find your bloodstain and retrieve your Souls. If you don't retrieve your Souls and die again, you lose them all. And you use Souls to level your character and purchase upgrades"

FromSoft took the XP and level-up system, and added their own twist to it. And then gave it a NAME. And now when you hear the terms "Souls" or "Bonfire", you know exactly what it means.

Here are some other quick examples:

It's NOT Just Another Idea

To a player, most cool innovative features just sound like another idea... but once you give that feature a name, it increases its value. Having a formal name for your features makes it more valuable.

For example, "Nemesis System" sounds MORE valuable than saying "enemies have good AI".

And "V.A.T.S or Tactical Pause" sounds more valuable than "real-time combat with pause". That's because "real-time combat with pause" is a generic term that thousands of games use. But by giving this system a name, Fallout and Dragon Age help differentiate themselves from other games that use the same mechanic.

Again, the idea here is, your game has unique systems, mechanics, features. To a player, who hasn't played your game yet, these systems are just another idea. And these systems sound generic.

But the moment you give that system or feature a name, it adds value to it because that system goes from generic to interesting and different.

Names Help You Differentiate And Stand Out

Let me give you another example, because this simple technique is very important.

People who sell diets know this technique very well. For example, the term "low-carb diet" sounds generic. There's thousands of low-carb diets. But a person or group will put a twist to the low-carb diet and give it a name like: Atkins, Paleo diet, Keto.

Apple does this too. They made a digital music player. But it wasn't an mp3 player. It was an ipod player. And also, it's not Apple AI. It's Apple Intelligence.

And just look around you right now. A lot of products use their own unique names. Right now I'm on a gaming chair, not an office chair. I'm drinking tap water and not mineral water, spring water, or sparkling water. I have loose-leaf green tea, but I also have pyramid-infused green tea.

Most of the products we use do all the same thing. But companies know that if they want to avoid being a commodity, they need to differentiate and stand out somehow. And one way they do that is they come up with their own names.

The Big Takeaway

So that's your big takeaway here: this simple, subtle, technique is VERY important because a lot of games have unique, new features. And most players, when they see these innovative features, they often think of them as "just another idea".

So to help you and your game not feel like a commodity, giving a name to your unique feature is the best way to help you stand out.

And by giving your unique features a name, it makes that feature more valuable.

And naming your features will help your game differentiate itself from other games that have similar features.

Need Help Naming Your Features? Here's How To Contact Me...

If you'd like me to have a look at your progress with naming your features, then send me a message. I'll have a look and see if I give you some insights... and help you make sure you learn how to grab attention.

Because remember, your ability to grab attention is just as important as developing a cool, fun, interesting, quality indie game. Having a high-quality game isn't enough anymore. You need to learn little techniques (like naming your features) to help you stand out.

So if you're stuck, below is my info...

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Dariusz Konrad
Email: dariusz at mainquestmarketing dot com
Discord Username: dariuszkonrad
LinkedIn: My entrepreneurial successes
Work: Game devs I've helped so far