Crafting Unique Gaming Brands

When a game is inherently engaging, it's easy to assume a compelling brand will emerge naturally. However, without focused effort, even the most entertaining game may fail to differentiate itself in a crowded marketplace. This article explores a potential roadmap for creating distinctive gaming IP. A clear, consistent brand identity significantly enhances the chances of success, providing clarity amidst the noise. This clarity is crucial when pitching to publishers, gaining in-house support, launching, or maintaining a live game. To connect with players, a clear, uncomplicated offer is essential, focusing on the core aspects that resonate with them. In a highly competitive market, distinctiveness and adherence to best practices improve the likelihood of creating and maintaining a share of voice, mind, and sales, applicable to both major publishers and indie developers. While being 'different' might seem preferable, it's nearly impossible; most successful brands are built on incremental improvements within their category. Being distinctive, however, is achievable for all games, whether in a crowded category or innovating. A three-part approach suggests a best practice roadmap: assessing your current position, determining where you're going, and finalizing your route map. The first stage involves a reality check through an internal brand audit, competitor analysis, and reviewing market opportunities. This stage helps identify your game's personality, critique your current position, and understand how distinctive your game is. The second stage involves workshopping as a group to build a shared vision, using findings from the first stage to determine where you can win, what approaches will beat the competition, and what elements to keep, ditch, or develop. It's also crucial to define your ideal player, focusing on their motivations and what might make them fall in love with your game. Plotting your game's personality on various scales and describing it through sensory experiences can help create a distinct brand representation. Using these workings to describe your game in few keywords helps focus on what matters and aids in writing a value proposition. Creating a master mood board and writing a value proposition are key steps, summarizing what makes your game distinct in a sentence or short paragraph. This proposition should follow a structured guide, highlighting what the game does, for whom, and why it's unique. The final stage involves creating a brand bible with key findings, background, thought process, and value proposition, to be used in game development, marketing plans, and as a reference for new team members. Consistently communicating the few things that make your game stand out, optimizing distinctiveness, and scaling it across all channels is crucial. Key takeaways include doing thorough background work, defining a clear value proposition, being consistent, identifying signature actions, owning your proposition, being engaging, and regularly reviewing alignment with your value proposition. This process is designed to support creativity, not replace it, and can help elevate a 'gut feeling' about a game into actionable activities. Being distinctive is the first step to making your game memorable and successful.