Black Shell Media, LLC

5 Tips for Running a Successful Live Stream

Thinking of doing a live stream to gain traction for your game? Congratulations on making a smart marketing decision! Not only are live streams a great way to connect directly with your audience and build a dev-player relationship, it’s also an opportunity to answer burning questions.

But the thing is, it’s not enough to conduct a live stream. It needs to be a successful experience, meaning, it…

Are Demakes Going to Increase in Popularity, or Fall out of Style?

Demakes, you know, like Gang Garrison 2, a direct reinvention of Valve’s Team Fortress 2. Games heavily inspired, influenced and dependent on a predecessor, often created on an older platform (or at least made to look that way) by completely different studios, these demakes have sort of popped up out of the woodwork recently. There’s Codename Gordon, The Border Lands, and Halo Zero, to name a few.

Email Marketing Best Practices

In a day and age where everyone is connected through Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter, it may seem surprising that email is not only still around, but still relevant. Something that began in the 1960s is still around, being used to communicate with business partners, coworkers, and potential clients, and it’s as important as it was back then.

For game developers hoping to sell their…

Are Advanced Degrees Worth It in the Games Industry?

As we’ve covered before on the blog, college and education in general is important for any career, gaming or otherwise. It can open doors, give you a foundation for a new job, and maybe even an edge over the competition.

But again, as we’ve stated before, getting a degree doesn’t exactly guarantee success either. There are too many variables, like your location, for instance. Some states are…

Choosing a Content Managing System for Your Website

Thinking of creating a new website for your studio? In this digital age, that is more important than most things you could do! Think of your website as your own storefront, with a proper landing page and call to action. A blog to increase search engine optimization (SEO), and provide a sense of community. Links to everything you have to offer, including your games and your social media accounts.

Put Up or Walk Away: What to Do When No One Buys Your Game

No developer wants to think about this kind of scenario, but . . . What do you do when no one buys your game? This isn’t something commonly addressed, despite the fact that it happens all the time. Games get released and lost on digital platforms, hit the sales bin at the store after a month or two, or just . . . get swept under the rug (others, perhaps, are born under the rug).

But why? And what…

Is Porting to Console Worth It?

Thinking of porting to console, but not sure if it’s worth it? Welcome to the club! This is something that every developer, indie or AAA, has to deal with at some point. There are projects where the platform just makes sense, such as mobile games that are clearly… mobile. Good for tablets and phones, but not ideal on a PC or console platform. You wouldn’t play Cut the Rope on console, right?

But…

Content Marketing 101: 7 Tricks for Better SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is vital to every single business out there, large or small: Solo developers need it just as much as any large 300+ employee business.

The thing is, SEO makes it possible for you to show up in more searches online. Anytime someone types in the name of your video game, or anything else related specifically to your studio, you want to show up first, not on the 5th…

The Top 5 Movies About Game Development

If you’re new to the industry, or you’re debating whether or not to go into game development, there are a few movies you should probably watch. Now, it’s easy to ask, “Are there even . . . more than 2-3 movies about game development anyway?”

Yes, there are.

And by watching these films, you can get a better idea of what it means to create video games as a career. It gives you more of a detailed…

6 Tips For Living A Healthy Lifestyle While Working A Desk Job

Game developers lead a very distinct lifestyle. Regardless of whether or not they have day jobs, they always wind up in front of their computers working on games for hours. While entertaining, and certainly rewarding, game development is also quite challenging. More than the pressure to make sales and fund another project, it’s a matter of . . . trying to not turn into a blob.

It’s no secret…

10 Personal Finance Tips for Entrepreneurs

Being an entrepreneur means a careful balancing act of many things. Marketing and advertising, product manufacturing (actual game development), and even personal finance just for starters.

The thing is, everything must be carefully kept up when you’re an entrepreneur. On an average day, you might have to handle a huge mess in development, live stream on Twitch to get more exposure for your game,…

Crossroads: Is It Time You Switch Career Paths?

Game development can be a difficult road filled with demotivation and self-doubt, so on the BSM blog, we try to stick to positivity, good messaging, and overall hope. How to be a better designer, how to overcome obstacles, how to better manage your time and handle criticism.

But that’s just one side of the coin.

In order to truly be helpful, it’s crucial to talk about the tough issues too, and…

3 Reasons Discord Is A Great Place for Your Indie Game’s Community

Discord has established itself as the go-to for many gamers and developers when it comes to communication. It’s become the place where gamers meet new friends, where they learn about new games, and where they get to express their distastes openly. It’s Discord, and it’s a reflection of the long way we’ve come since Ventrilo, Teamspeak, and IRC.

So why has everyone exactly switched over? Other…

10 Easy Ways to Grow Your Dev Blog Fast

Remember when blogging was a hobby? It was some random teenager on Tumblr just reposting their favorite celebrities and quotes. Any blog with its own domain was relatively unfollowed and unread.

Well, both digital advancements (the rise of the digital age, the conquering of the internet) and SEO changed all of that. Suddenly, blogs were all the rage, with more and more popping up out of nowhere.…

Top European Cities for Game Developers

We’ve covered the American cities that should make your list, but now it’s time to focus on Europe. While it may seem like America and Asia have the hold on games, Europe shouldn’t be underestimated. The coffee-fueled, book-reading public enjoys their games too, and as such, there’s plenty of work to be done in France, Italy, Spain, and more!

Here are the top European cities for game developers:

C…

Most Popular Cities in the U.S. for Gaming Companies

Whether you’re looking to move, visit, or potentially even kick off a career in gaming sometime in the future, it’s likely you’ve wondered what cities to look into. After all, AAA is kind of the big leagues of game development. And some indie studios really do have . . . well, studios! Filled with up to 30 people all chipping away at a game together.

As such, you’ll need to be relatively close to…

7 Reasons Why Your Game Isn’t Selling

Scenario: your game is done, and it’s been launched and marketed. It’s available for purchase on platforms like Steam and itch.io—maybe even console if you’re a lucky indie development studio. And yet . . .

The game isn’t selling.

What’s going on?! Surely, there wasn’t enough marketing. Maybe the messaging is off. Maybe you’ve developed a niche game that requires extreme focus on a specific…