Promoting TDM

[Summer]

I was wondering, now that there is all this voting for the best mod of 2010 going on at moddb.com, if there were any other plans or designs for promoting TDM to a larger public. Brand awareness, you know

 

I was namely thinking of something like T-shirts or other stuff with the TDM logo. I would certainly were, carry or own such an item proudly. Is this just plain crazy...? Or merely hopeful thinking of something which might come to pass somewhere down the line?

 

For the continuing prosperity of TDM in the long run is why I'm asking.

 

[SiyahParsomen]

well, it's already discussed several times. Here other links if anyone is interested in:

 

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/11062-tdm-t-shirts/page__hl__tshirt

 

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/10832-main-picture-rights/page__view__findpost__p__214742

 

The problem is as SneaksieDave said: "No artist-types have stepped up with a design yet, so it's sorta in limbo at the moment. If no one ever does, will probably end up going with splash screen logo eventually."

So I hope this time some volunteers will come up with a design.

[Noisycricket]

Forgive the brain storm: Getting our update news on Bluesnews or similar sites might be nice. Having an link on the homepage to an article about "The City of Bridgeport" (what we know of it), with some concept art on the homepage is something i'd be interested in if i were new to TDM. I think its about time for a well done cinematic "trailer", if you will, since quite a few fan missions have been completed. Personally, i'd introduce that video with "Welcome to Bridgeport", followed by a word about Bridgeport (can you tell im interested in Bridgeport?), its large variety of inhabitants, not all of which are...alive. I'd create a list of all of the things i'd want to mention, like "7 complete vocal sets", and scenery, like coming out of the water and up to the dead guy in Goldchochobo's first mission, some locking picking, some animation, guard reactions, our funniest vocals, Darkradiant, etc, etc, etc. Lots of fade in/fade out shots of different things. Maybe a video making contest, with the winner earning a link on the homepage.

 

How about a list of most recently released missions for TDM on the side of the home page.

[Summer]

I would've loved me some TDM hoodies or mouse-pads...

 

Ah, well, if this ever comes to fruition, sign me up!

 

As for the trailer/homepage idea, Noisycricket, you should definitely go ahead with the idea. More TDM promotion out there, please, since what would be the point of creating something that no-one ever plays or even knows about. We who know about it will play, of course, but some new people would absolutely be welcome! I posted info about the TDM and TTLG websites at Helsinki University, in paper form only though. Maybe something will come out of that...

Edited November 25, 2010 by Summer

[Melan]

What does a T-shirt with an ominous hooded figure tell me if I don't already know what it means? Nothing; probably that the wearer listens to some weird metal band. It is good if you like to wear them, but as branding/marketing, it is horribly inefficient for a product that has no brand awareness in the public.

 

If people want to market TDM, they should be thinking about places where concepts like "mod", "open source" and "Thief" have a nice ring. That means places like Rock, Paper, Shotgun (after all, Kieron Gillen is an immersive sim enthusiast, and has already featured the first release; might be good to see a "here we are more than a year later" feature) or Slashdot (open source + Linux) as well as similar tech sites. Maybe open a topic on game forums if you are a regular - there has been fairly little coverage on Something Awful, for example.

 

How to accomplish it, no idea. But these are the potential public who aren't already on TTLG or here.

[Summer]

What does a T-shirt with an ominous hooded figure tell me if I don't already know what it means? Nothing; probably that the wearer listens to some weird metal band. It is good if you like to wear them, but as branding/marketing, it is horribly inefficient for a product that has no brand awareness in the public.

 

 

That is why I was thinking specifically of the TDM logo. It's recognizable at least, as opposed to a pic of a generic thief or a builder or some architectural design or gameplay feature.

 

But anyone who is willing to do these, can chose whatever they want! I'd still buy it.

[Melan]

It is a clock face. If I see a clock face on someone's T-shirt, it doesn't exactly make me check out what it means - just one visual stimulus in a day of hundreds or thousands. It is preaching to the converted where the converted are very few.

[STiFU]

Yeah, it's all about presenting TDM to the right targetgroup and the chance that you run into someone, who is part of our targetgroup, while you wear a TDM-T-Shirt, is rather low. I don't mean to discourage you with the merchandise objects, but I am absolutely of Melan's opinion.

[Summer]

My memory must be really hazy... Doesn't it actually say the Dark Mod somewhere on the logo? Or anywhere for that matter...? It probably should say it somewhere - or else people will just be confused and/or disinterested. In products, I mean, not the game itself.

[Fidcal]

There is a logo with Dark Mod on it. I think it has varied somewhat. For instance the version at the top of this page. Also you can see one in some of the gallery images on our main pages (also I think in at least one of the pictures at the link below.)

 

If you didn't see the link over at ttlg, Strider's done an excellent, professional write up over at http://www.establishingheadshot.com/

[Melan]

We are "what an ideal post-capitalist, post-government society might look like"?

 

Good article.

[Summer]

There is a logo with Dark Mod on it. I think it has varied somewhat. For instance the version at the top of this page. Also you can see one in some of the gallery images on our main pages (also I think in at least one of the pictures at the link below.)

 

If you didn't see the link over at ttlg, Strider's done an excellent, professional write up over at http://www.establishingheadshot.com/

 

 

That's exactly what I remembered. Strider's article was not only good, but also illustrated in two different forms the TDM logo with the name in it, too. Thanks, Fidcal

[demagogue]

Wearing a t-shirt or getting a mousepad IMO isn't really about promotion anyway. It's really about wanting to have and show off something you're a big fan of. If other people ask about what it is, all the better; but I'd want to wear the t-shirt for its own sake.

 

As for what would be good promotion... I think a really special & unique FM or campaign would do better than anything, sort of like T2X did for T2. Something for people to rally around and hyped in the right way as something really break-through (of course it also needs to deserve the hype.)

[Sotha]

Good article.

 

Heh, indeed.

On TDM promotion:

I dunno about the fan merchandise, I'm not interested in that kind of stuff and I suspect it would not be very effective, due to reason already mentioned.

 

On the other hand, internet promotion is something we can do easily. Everyone is probably member of some other internet community. We should drop an offtopic thread for TDM in these other communities.

 

I actively follow this and one other forum. When I wrote about TDM at this other forum, people seemed quite interested.

 

So internet communities might be a really nice way to make TDM more known. Those who are members in facebook (I am not) could set up a TDM fan group or something. Those who blog actively, could mention their finest TDM moments (or blog FM reviews) and maybe new people will spot the mod.

 

Every little bit makes TDM more known.

 

As for what would be good promotion... I think a really special & unique FM or campaign would do better than anything, sort of like T2X did for T2. Something for people to rally around and hyped in the right way as something really break-through (of course it also needs to deserve the hype.)

 

Yeah, some kind of big media circus would also help. The hype/excitement source could be an official campaign OR even simply a new TDM version.

 

I still think that when new TDM version comes out, we should be rather loud about it. Nbohr could write a huge/cool/awesome article (with screenies and videos and bells and whistles and eggsalad) about the new version in moddb.

 

Yep, we should use the publicity when we have something new which interests people..

[Midnight]

You're doing this all wrong guys. If you want maximum publicity you've got to generate a little controversy. Make a trailer or FM containing gratuitous violence and thieving and then write to the Daily Mail. They go ape-shit for that kind of thing. On second thoughts, forget about the trailer or FM, they never check their facts anyway.

 

Hasn't TDM already been featured in Blues news? An RPS recap would be nice, though I'm sceptical of how successful that would be in terms of boosting numbers. Sigh, I'm getting really cynical with gamers in my old age.

[Fidcal]

I started posting on a gamer forum some months ago and it was quickly deleted by them without even a word or a warning. Although I worded it carefully they presumably saw it as spam even though on its own it could not have been. It didn't stop them from spamming me via email of course. Don't let that stop you though but I'm just saying, be aware that you can't always just post promos.

 

An ideal video would not be just a walkthrough but the player should look carefully around as if wondering which way to go etc. pull back quickly after peeking round a corner. I'd like to see a carefully arranged 'obstacle course' where a lot of things are compressed into a short section. So some intriguing climbing, clambering, mantling to show off the superiority of TDM verticality as better than any game out there (that I've seen anyway.) Then good use of ropes, swinging, water arrows, blackjacking, manipulating of objects, lockpicking, and retrieval of the prize, etc. Probably a video does more than anything else to attract people to a game. Wish I had more time and bandwidth.

[Tels]

There is a logo with Dark Mod on it. I think it has varied somewhat. For instance the version at the top of this page. Also you can see one in some of the gallery images on our main pages (also I think in at least one of the pictures at the link below.)

 

If you didn't see the link over at ttlg, Strider's done an excellent, professional write up over at http://www.establishingheadshot.com/

 

Wow. I am flattered - never have been called an anarchist before

[demagogue]

Yeah, we're the ideal of a post-capitalist anarchist utopia, lol.

A little over the top there, but at least it makes us sound really trendy.

[Tels]

Another area that we could improve in: search terms.

 

If you know the name The Dark Mod already, it is easy to find us. But what if you don't? I don't see any results if you google for "stealth game", "stealth game thief" or "stealth game medieval" at all.

 

Likewise, we are not mentioned here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stealth_game (maybe thats ok, tho, I only skimmed the article)

[Fidcal]

We could add a few lines there at 2009 but it needs some thought as to the wording.

 

"Thief-inspired Dark Mod (a doom 3 mod) took stealth to the next level.. etc."

[nbohr1more]

I regularly update threads at Quake3world (those guys are ROWDY if they aren't calling each other homo or telling each other to "fuck off" then it's a weird day there... One guy has an axe to grind about the window construction in Sotha's map because "the window intersects a support beam" he's holding his moddb vote till this is addressed )...

 

Also Rage3d and Beyond3d. I would really like to post at HardOCP but they are too good to accept my yahoo web-mail as proof of my humanity... (I've been fretting over the idea of finding my old Road Runner address and installing Thunderbird but I am having trouble getting over my fear of mass-mailer exploit infections).

 

Letting your communities know will definitely help though.

[ungoliant]

One guy has an axe to grind about the window construction in Sotha's map because "the window intersects a support beam" he's holding his moddb vote till this is addressed )...

 

I think that Koroshiya_Ichi's moddb review addressed this issue best:

 

The trouble with having all this freedom and depth is that it truly depends on the execution of the design itself as to whether or not it is successful. As the team are putting the creation of the actual levels in the hands of their fans, it's up to the community itself to define whether or not The Dark Mod lives up to its potential.

 

IMHO this statement and nb's story are the best possible examples of a real need for a unifying and official campaign created by the pro-elite of the TDM team and our star mappers. For TDM to shine for its own promotion and propagation, there needs to be a lot of flawless examples of the power and beauty of TDM characterized in [a series of missions with a plot continuity and character development]. Maybe the part in brackets could be cut out and replaced with a different solution, but I sure as hell can't think of a better one.

 

Will it take a long time? yup. Will it be difficult? yup. But TDM is 6 years young, still strong, and because we are a modding community and not a game development company, we have nothing but time, and it is on our side.

Edited November 26, 2010 by ungoliant

[Aprilsister]

IMHO this statement and nb's story are the best possible examples of a real need for a unifying and official campaign created by the pro-elite of the TDM team and our star mappers.

 

IMO, the "statement" and nb's story say nothing at all about TDM.

 

There is no "trouble" with TDM being an open toolset. It is a great thing not trouble at all. And as for the guy who thinks he is a wizard for noticing a window conflicting with a support beam he too can get over himself... or probably not come to think of it.

 

Pandering to ridiculousness is pandering to ridiculousness. If there are people at ttlg who insist on having an official character and an official campaign so they can feel comfortable in their Official UnderRoos they should not hesitate to get busy with it and take all the time they want.

 

I like the idea of having many campaigns and many FMs created piecemeal or episodically or individually, in teams or by one person... But I do not want to see all the TDM team and star mappers tied up in the creation of some grand campaign.

[ungoliant]

IMO, the "statement" and nb's story say nothing at all about TDM.

 

There is no "trouble" with TDM being an open toolset. It is a great thing not trouble at all. And as for the guy who thinks he is a wizard for noticing a window conflicting with a support beam he too can get over himself... or probably not come to think of it.

 

Pandering to ridiculousness is pandering to ridiculousness. If there are people at ttlg who insist on having an official character and an official campaign so they can feel comfortable in their Official UnderRoos they should not hesitate to get busy with it and take all the time they want.

 

I like the idea of having many campaigns and many FMs created piecemeal or episodically or individually, in teams or by one person... But I do not want to see all the TDM team and star mappers tied up in the creation of some grand campaign.

 

There is potential trouble, but I'm very grateful that TDM is set up as it is, its fantastic. I'd prefer it no other way. And yea, that other kid can stuff it somewhere unmentionable. knighton was a totally epic FM, and in no way, shape, or form am I labeling it as an inferior quality FM. My point is that 10000 people who know nothing about TDM could roll up, download a terrible FM by a 5 year old kid as their first TDM experience, and get the completely wrong impression about TDM and its capabilities, and just leave, or even tell people not to play it, or write scathing articles that would be read by lots of people. These types of first impressions are what we should want to avoid.

 

But typically, the game comes before the modding community. But I don't see D3 as the "game", it just provides us with the engine for our format. Where is the game? we don't have one. So the modding community is all there is to judge by. One poor experience as a first impression is all it takes. An official campaign could mitigate this potential damage, as well as showcase the finest points of TDM in one neat package.

Edited November 26, 2010 by ungoliant

[Aprilsister]

I don't believe 10,000 people could rool up and download a FM by a 5 year old and run away and write a scathing review that will read be read by lots of people.

 

But lets say there are. If there are 10,000 people who would do that and they all have lots of people (say 10 just each) who listen to them then we have found 100,000 supreme idiots and this is a good thing because now we have in one fell swoop eliminated all the very biggest idiots in the world from ever worrying their little heads again about TDM and not feeling comfortable until someone grabs ahold of their little hands and tells them what the character they are playing is called and why it isn't Gewhet!