Hey, I'm building a Twine game for the first time and already have Two chapters done but am not quite sure how to find my audience! Do you think you might be able to help me or give me some advice? I'd greatly appreciate it 😀
Ooh! Congrats on getting started on your game!!
I have to say first of all that I've had most experience growing an audience through choicescript and the associated forums, but since then I've also branched out to explore other coding languages like ren'py and from there, gathered a bit more knowledge of itch.io. So this advice is from that angle, though if anyone else has more suggestions and more experience with twine and itch.io or other forums, do chime in!
Itch.io
I think first of all, if you haven't already, putting your game on itch.io is an essential first step! From there, you can start being discovered by people, and can also start following others/building up a network of other creators you like. Be sure to tag your game with the tags that'll help show your game to relevant players, e.g. romance, amare, otome, fantasy etc.
Next, there are often game jams and events on itch.io itself that you can enter, often the requirements are that you add a new chapter or have a new update during the jam period, and your game will be added to a collection of games that players can check out. Often this might be under a theme (so you'll have to check if your game fits the theme).
Other non itch.io tips
I think first of all, playing lots of other games and organically cross-promoting and talking to other creators is probably the main thing I'd advise!
Another thing I'd add is that there are websites/databases for interactive fiction, like ifdb and vndb that you should definitely list your game on. We also try to help reblog and share chapter updates and intro posts at @interact-if, but there also other similar blogs @amaregames or @interactive-fiction-recs-for-you etc that you could reach out to!
An additional step that you could try especially if your game has slightly more visual elements would be to reach out to content creators and/or streamers to see if they'd like to check out your game on stream, or include your game in compilations or rec lists. I've had a lot more success here for my visual novel, merry crisis, as fully text based games still seem like they're too niche/maybe less exciting to stream.
Finally, I don't have too much experience or success at this, but I'm sure you could try your hand at social media -- besides Tumblr, which is an excellent place to slowly build a community around your IF, there's also Instagram, Reddit (there are threads like r/interactivefiction) or even tik tok. Regular progress updates, little snippets of your game, or even teaser art/bonus scenes are some ideas for content!
Hope this helps. All the best with your journey -- and don't worry if it takes a while to grow an audience, it takes time and I've noticed that it honestly works to just keep plugging away and eventually, the longer your game gets the more people might just think, "well, maybe I'll give this a try!" :)
