Why developers are leaving the FB platform - Andrew Chen (app marketer)
Harsher restrictions, weak visibility, and constant retooling are among
my top fears with FB. The blog article above goes into greater detail.
If you use FB on a regular basis you may have noticed the reduced visibility of request from friends to play a game. I had thought this was because I was blocking them all (I still do not want to play Zynga Slots). Apparently it goes a bit deeper than that. FB has realized these marketing ploys are annoying most users. This spells misfortune for the indie developer as it appears it will become more and more difficult to use Facebook to get our apps noticed.
Another big issue with FB is weak visibility. You either have to post constantly about your game (or other interesting/related news) or pay to have your post sponsored. Constant posting not only takes time, but it will annoy your current followers. Sponsoring your posts doesn't guarantee much more visibility since if no one comments or likes the post it still gets lost in the feed.
Possibly my biggest concern is that FB constantly changes its API (or so this article claims). That means if I make a game with the current SDK then I'll have to keep updating it just so it will continue to work with FB. Plus they can drop your app at anytime, killing your integration.
The landscape for apps is rapidly changing for FB. They seem to recognize the value of games on FB, but have had to change their methodology due to abuse (thank you again, Zynga). Who knows exactly what the future will hold for FB apps, but right now it seems grim.
On the other hand we have newer platforms to gain support for our game. One that I'm particularly interested in trying out is Reddit. I've watched Reddit for quite some time and the sense of acceptance and community in the indie dev feed continues to amaze me. This is mainly because my perception of Redditers as really mean to those they don't like (
man doesn't leave tip). But if you watch the Indie Gaming feed on Reddit you'll see stories like
this one. I think the big difference between Reddit and FB is that on FB you're limited to your friends' interests. Your FB friends can be made up of anything from family to HS buddies that you don't have a ton of interests in common with (not to mention it seems to be a place for platforming political interests and baby photos). So while FB is all about the "self", Reddit seems to be more about the community.
In the upcoming weeks (after dFenz is on iTunes and AppUp) I'll be attempting to post on Reddit to get some interest in my game. I wholeheartedly understand that dFenz has a limited audience and is hardly innovative. So this kind of game is a challenge to market. Depending on the timing of dFenz being approved on iTunes I'll be waiting at least a weekend to announce on Reddit. That way any buzz from FB will have worn off and won't interfere with the Reddit announcement.
I hope you guys enjoy articles like this. If anyone at AppGameKit feels this isn't the proper platform then just let me know and I can move it elsewhere. I plan to do a quick share and analysis like this whenever I see a good article pop up on Gamasutra so we can all discuss the implications here. Oh and if you don't already frequently read
Gamasutra articles, then check it out, it is a treasure trove for developers.
Cheers!
www.NaplandGames.com
