DISCLAIMER: This post is NOT targeting anyone, this is a general problem I have seen and experienced EVERYWHERE on the social media I have had.

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I used to be SO guilty of a rookie mistake way back when I was young and first introduced to social media - I would post my content, and then try to speak privately with the first person that gave me any positive comment cos I took their commentary to mean they were invested enough to hear me ramble for hours about the worlds I created. Found out the hard way that I could not be further from the truth.

Now I know better, but new people come to the internet all the time, as well as those who are experienced, but lucky enough to be able to retain that idealism (simply because they have yet to get the same wake-up call that I got). Since I have a practice of leaving encouraging comments to help other devs as people before had helped me, I am now on the other end...and I try to be polite while understanding their frustration.

This has been happening to me a lot lately, and to be clear, I will not stop doing this. I genuinely enjoy the effort I see other devs put in, and I mean the comments I type with my whole chest.

I only want people to understand that what I do (like, comment, sticker) is often the most I can do for you. If I ever believe I can do more than that I will reach out to YOU and let you know, otherwise - I probably can't do more, especially since I am actively working on projects myself.

LIKE SOME OF YOU, I AM A BROKE AND BUSY SMALL-REACH SOLODEV.

While I have brought up the idea of recruiting help to get to creator/donation status before (though I won't do so cos I would rather take the long way), I wouldn't go into the DMs of people to try and do that - I would post publicly to ask everyone at once almost every day for years if I had to. I have no idea what the average person may be dealing with or what shape they are in to devote time to my project.

Just to be clear, I am thankful for every last person who has or plans to help keep my work within the public sphere of any site to build an audience, and I will never take that for granted just because they follow me. What they are doing is a privilege I have somehow earned, and one they have the right to take away at any time.

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On that note, I don't wish to invalidate the efforts of those of you that have been on GameJolt for years. As someone who had built a pretty big tribe/presence elsewhere over a number of years, only to lose it all and start over on this site, I get it. Staying small after years of doing everything in your power to get your product noticed/sold can feel like you just can't win. That, my friends is the uphill battle all indie creators must face, and it can compel us to be better devs by professional standards.

It really is a test of time and endurance, as we will never know how long it will take for us to reach our goal, nor how fragile it can be - how easily it can come apart once all those eyes are on us and our work.

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I will also pay attention to the devs who jumped the gun - those who try for things like profit on a site where they are still "green" in terms of presence.

By this, I mean that a creator can have a huge tribe on another platform, but unless the greater half of that tribe follows you HERE, you will be very small and new in the eyes of this platform's average user. It would then be smarter to get as much of your other platform's following over here as possible instead of thinking that platform's reach will automatically expedite the journey of growing on this one.

This especially goes for the solodevs - by definition, we gave up our entitlement to a team of any kind, including PR. All we can do is work by ourselves to attract a tribe.

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It may take you months or years, but just keep PUBLICLY posting about your work and never stop for too long. Make sure you keep your work in the public eye long enough for your tribe to discover it and you.

WHEW, I know that was a lot, but if you made it down here, thank you for hearing me out and hopefully we all grow large enough to get what we need.

#advice #rant #support #solodev #gamedev #art #OC #creator #follow #smallcreator #smalldev