Alright, here we go again - another week, another round-up. More articles happened, I got involved with some of the other stuff in DBolical, and I got a nice email too.
Noob Tube?
So, first things first, we shipped a new video last week - the Top 5 Mods That Make You Think on ModDB.
I think the video turned out pretty fine and I was happy with the variety in mods selected here, too. I've been steadily moving away from familiar territory for these lists and picking mods I either haven't heard of or at least haven't played so that I can be more objective and also get a wider appreciation for the creativity of the mod community. It means a bit more research but it also means, I think, more interesting content.
At least, that was the hope, but unfortunately this video seems to have bombed rather badly. I was expecting it, for two main reasons: 1, whilst I think the theme is unique, it was a gamble since puzzling mods aren't the most popular genre of mods. I still felt it was important to try and do something new, though, regardless of the outcome. 2, I deliberately chose mods with smaller or non-existent social media presences because I wanted to test the collective power of DBolical's socials. How many views can I dictate just by socials alone? How many people will watch videos we put out on YouTube from the Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube itself, without relying on shares from the mod creators involved? The answer is not a lot, and that could be for a few reasons, really. I won't go into great detail here, but I think the audience is still a lot larger than the video suggests. It's about engaging that audience now and figuring out how to pull them in more. This video, evidently, did not.
What is an Editorial? A smouldering pile of words...
Three editorials went live last week - Halo Infinite's Phase 2 Flight Part 2; 5 More Halo Mods To Play After Finishing This Flight, Do Feed The Polls - September 2021, and Top 5 Mods That Make You Think On ModDB. Firstly, I already miss Halo Infinite. The multiplayer was brilliant, and I enjoyed reporting on it. Neither of the two Infinite editorials broke records for viewership, but they didn't really need to, as there's one main reasons behind doing them - to show people we do have Halo mod content and are taking notice of it. Halo is one of those communities that doesn't make much of a home on ModDB, and thus, one of the communities I'm looking to tap into more. Providing this paper trail of editorials where Halo mods are featured is going to come in handy later for enticing people onto the site and ensuring they feel their work will get recognition.
All my images came out stretched though!
The second editorial, the poll analysis for September, is straight-forward enough. The polls were a little less groundbreaking but I love data and I think it's always handy to give thoughts on it. Ultimately I'm aware they appeal to a very small sub-section of ModDB and IndieDB's communities, but an editorial that drives engagement is worth writing, even if it doesn't do as well as a 40k editorial (which, speaking of, is still doing very well. The power of the Emperor of Mankind, ladies and gents.)
The third and final editorial from last week, then, was on the mods that make you think. As per usual, a video doing poorly usually doesn't affect the editorial, and this one comfortably surpassed 1000 views rather quickly and is already going up beyond that. I've been tracking analytics lately and engagement on the site is up by quite a bit. It could be an anomaly, but apparently there's roughly 500,000 more site visits going on each month than in 2020 and 2019 (at least when taking July, August, and September into account). This could be because of the improved engagement, or it could be simply the wind changing in a particular direction. In as vague terms as possible, another modding site was also in some hot water recently that saw some users of that site jumping ship over here, but many of them returned and simply started using both sites instead of one or the other, so really, it could be many different factors, and I think I'll be able to have a more confident theory as we approach the end of 2021.
This mod really did make me think
Playtop Tableground
You may or may not know this, but DBolical actually has a moddable indie game publishing label associated with the business called Modularity, which so far has two games published - Meeple Station, and Tabletop Playground. I've been getting more involved in Modularity in recent weeks and last week formalised my support role by setting up some revived socials for Tabletop Playground. I've never really been involved in publishing so far but I am familiar with marketing work (had to be done for my own mods, after all, on an independent basis with little help), and as a result I think I'll be able to apply many of the same lessons here. Tabletop Playground is a javascript-based boardgames simulator with native VR support, mod.io integration, and a very active developer. We've got a good bit planned for the socials going forwards and you can check out the game here:
Next on the Chopping Block
I'm starting out this week in a peculiar position as I don't have any immediate ideas for editorials. We've not got a lot of gaming news worth covering so we'll have to see how things go. As for the future, I'm beginning now to gear up to Indie of the Year and Mod of the Year, including beginning to work through logo concepts, setup some transitions, other work and planning how videos will work this year. We'll see how everything goes but, suffice to say, it's gonna be a lot of work given it's my first time running these events instead of just taking part with my own mods. I've also got a spooky video planned for the week before Halloween, so that'll hopefully be a good opportunity.
Closing Thoughts
As always, any thoughts, let me know; Any suggestions, let me know-er; and I'll be in touch next week for another review!
