Demigod, Marketing, and You!
Things that really help:
Frogboy playing public games
The PCG vs. Devs matches and writeups
The Devs vs. Ladder tournament
Sorian in general ( mods, blog, attitude) and specifically as a *GPG presence on forums*
Status reports and Journals
Things that should kick in with 1.2:
- Stardock as producer sets aside $150 or so from the marketing budget and announces a tournament with cash and loot prizes. You don't even have to spend money if you don't want - Winners get a VIP version of Impulse, one year's 10% discount on all games on Impulse, free copy of Elemental, whatev, just make it juicy and worth writing about. The announcement is sent to out to every niche gamer's website and major blog hub, maybe get Gamasutra to interview you about it. If the first one works out then make it a monthly thing if at all possible.
- Stardock arranges several exhibition matches between writers on game blogs and gives them review copies of the new DGs to play them with
- Stardock arranges a custom league and encourages Kieron Gillen to write a diary of each match he plays (this might be difficult but it would totally be worth it)
- The art assets are spectacular and explanation is over-rated. Make vids for each of the new DGs which showcase the game the way the first vid did and post links to the vids all over the internet
Just a few thoughts, but I think aggressive outreach would be excellent, at this point.
Thanks for reading
Kestrel
P.S. Does Stardock have a dedicated marketing group?