Philip Sinclair

Indie video game developer currently working on unannounced racing game. Creator of multi award nominated puzzle-platformer OCO @ocogame

[Philip Sinclair @spectrum48games]

I’m very excited to be showing Grow Wild at IMPACT! indie games expo in Bristol on 22nd May – Come along and have a go!

If you can’t make it then join the Grow Wild community https://t.co/g9qlGljBpZ

#impactindies
#indiedev
#wildlifegames
#cozygames
#naturegame
#rewilding

[Ashley Gwinnell @ashleygwinnell]

Today, I’d like to announce a big bunch of https://t.co/NXvGs7SFSF marketing toolkit updates, including ✨Press Kitty: Plus✨, but first some back-story:

I started this IMPRESS project back at the start of 2021. I’d been running a lil Discord coverage bot since 2019 through Patreon after adapting some prototype tech I’d made for my old games studio originally around 2015…

It’s been 3 years of dedicated hard work so far, but in reality, this idea has been bouncing around in my head for a lot longer. 9 years is quite a timespan!

It’s been a long road to getting here today, and to understanding my place and purpose in the games industry, and I’m happier than ever to be supporting your games marketing efforts with my tools and articles.

There's almost 500 of you now!

But here’s the thing, I went all in on IMPRESS about 12 months in, quitting the full-time work I held through the Covid-19 pandemic. There was some very promising early-stage growth, and with reasonable projections, I had enough savings to see it through.

And I did – I really did…

But then came the games industry bad news that we’ve all been seeing lately: mass layoffs, publishers closing up, funding running dry, budget cuts across the board, and loads more I’ve likely forgotten.

I’ve also been heavily affected. My revenue from Coverage Bot started going in reverse, and has dropped over 30% in the past 5 months. Cue existential panic! So alongside these new product/feature announcements, I am also asking for your help, if you are in a position to do so.

Press Kitty is still a completely free service, but it now has a few extras for Plus supporters.

Multi-language Press Kits 🌍

You can now add a second language to your press kits – this is free for everyone. If English isn’t your first language, I recommend doing this for your native tongue: this will help communicate your game/message in your domestic markets, e.g. for local press/creators.

With Plus, you can now add as many languages as you like! (To be completely honest, I’d like to remove this restriction in the future and truly level the playing field here, but as above, I have to balance staying alive and keeping things running…)

Massive thanks to members of the community who have contributed translations:

German: @PixelProphecy
French: Evian from @eternal_twin
Dutch: @MrPeanutBelly
Ukrainian: @Rayfulrand from https://t.co/1WYHgg4y6L
Croatian: @CrucialUpdat3
Japanese: @cuz_traveller from @StudioAsahiDev
Simplified Chinese: @RickWePlay
Polish: @MichalGem

Please be sure to check out their projects, studios or services too. And if you’re able to localise to any other languages not listed here, please hit reply and reach out!

Custom Domain Support 🔗

With Plus, you can now set up your press kits on your own domain / subdomain. This provides an extra layer of professionalism and credibility to your brand, as well as a few extra SEO-related benefits. I’ve set one up as an example for my old studio here, but keen to receive feedback and keep progress going!

Dark Mode 🌚

A few folks asked about press kit customisation options, and this is the first step on that path. More font and colour options will be made available soon!

PSD Support 🍰

This isn’t technically a Plus feature, I just forgot to announce it, ha! I want to make sure that creators get everything they need from you to play and promote your games, and layered thumbnail templates are really helpful time-savers for that, so here you go. It’s a freebie!

Increased Limits 🚀

If you support the project with Plus, you’ll have your Press Kit limit increased from 4 to 10, and your Cloud Storage limit increased from 100MB to 1GB. You’ll also be able to upload large assets up to 50MB each.

There’s still a lot to smooth out; from improved onboarding, image gallery views, pdf export options, and other remaining feature requests from a survey I sent out last November, not to mention Coverage Bot updates (saved for a future post). I’ll keep doing my best to support you where I can, and I only ask for a little help in return.

How much? 🏷️

Press Kitty: Plus will be ordinarily $9 / €9 / £8 monthly or $90 / €90 / £80 annually for two months free, but as an early supporter, here’s a code for 25% off for life, redeemable until May 1st: PLUSFORLIFE

If you’re headed to GDC next week, please think of me and consider spreading the word. I won’t be there unfortunately, but my calendar is open for anyone for the week and the week after, whether you’d like to chat for the first time or it’s long over-due: https://t.co/ElBKcW2LST

I think that’s everything from me. I hope to strike the line between “amazingly free” and “even better with your support”, or “simplified perfection for indies” and “advanced greatness for established outfits”.

You can find Press Kitty – along with some reviews and example press kits – here: https://t.co/2ZndEF4HTW

Please share!

Best wishes, many thanks, and onwards!
Ashley

[Philip Sinclair @spectrum48games]

Please watch this : ‘Chris Packham: Is It Time to Break the Law?’ 😢

https://t.co/p5T71mGSzC?

[Ashley Gwinnell @ashleygwinnell]

Been sitting on this absolutely incredible news for a while...

We've won a game-changing R&D grant to expand the team and develop the next @impressgames marketing product over the summer! 🙌🎉

Beyond excited! 🚀🤖😻 #gamedev

[Philip Sinclair @spectrum48games]

@ESAdevlog Ooo that looks very nice

[Philip Sinclair @spectrum48games]

@ESAdevlog Hey. Is this is a game or just a little experiment?

[Philip Sinclair @spectrum48games]

@Koomatzu It’s giving me DayZ vibes

[Philip Sinclair @spectrum48games]

SOUND UP!
I’ve started working on an interactive generative music project. All the music is generated by the dancer. Extended video can be seen here.
https://t.co/0JLVZ9mZfz

#procgen #generativemusic #generativeart #generativedance #dancing #synth #digitalart #bristol

[keita takahashi @KeitaTakahacy]

Sadly, it will be covered with cooler, but I just wanted to test if the CPU itself can become cuter or funnier:) And I decided to give it away as a holiday gift. It's a Ryzen 9 3900XT.

RT and I will pick the one randomly by Dec 29th Noon PST. no necesito to follow me. Gracias.

[Philip Sinclair @spectrum48games]

Definitely one of my biggest fears

[Chris @AdventureMtn]

What if you discovered that someone is making a game that is almost exactly the same as yours? Same hook, similar art style, same genre. Every indie game developer's biggest fear. But, I want to show you that it is actually a good thing. Other indies are not your competition 🧵🧵

[Philip Sinclair @spectrum48games]

Do you like trees?
Do you like controlling the sun with a torch?

If not there’ll be pizza too.

Come to Made In Bristol : Games Showcase tonight!

https://t.co/NEHjTbYPuc

#madewithunity #arduinofun #woodlands #ecosystems

[DIX POUR CENT @dixpourcent_F2]

Hey Twitter, arrête tout et réconforte Sofia avec le hashtag #SofiaLeprince ! 💖 cc @StefiCelma

[ARCHIVED NASA Exoplanets @NASAExoplanets]

The misconception that there is no sound in space originates because most space is a ~vacuum, providing no way for sound waves to travel. A galaxy cluster has so much gas that we've picked up actual sound. Here it's amplified, and mixed with other data, to hear a black hole!

[Max van Leeuwen @maksvanleeuwen]

I built a working #portal gun in #AugmentedReality!

@SnapAR (Lens Studio) combined with @Metascan3D

[Historic Vids @historyinmemes]

MRI of a person speaking

[Science girl @sciencegirl]

A Lego submarine that actually works and has depth control

Source of video: Brick Experiment Channel:

[Philip Sinclair @spectrum48games]

It’s beautiful weather outside so I thought I’d finally start playing around with one of these 🤓 #Arduino #creativecoding

[Rewild Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🌳 @RewildScotland]

Carrifran 1999 and today 27th July 2022.

Landscape scale habitat restoration.
#RewildScotland #RewildOurPlanet

[badger @badger69420]

How deep is the ocean?👀

[GLASYS @GLASYSmusic]

Self portrait #livemidiart