10 Places to Find Beta Testers for Your Indie Game

By Ninichi | Contact | Follow

One of the challenges before launching your game is finding people who are willing to test it and offer you useful feedback on it.  Getting friends and family to check it out is certainly useful but isn’t always enough. Understanding your user and ensuring that the user experience is as good as it can be before releasing your game into the market, is a hugely important part of the process.

As a game music composer, I’m not really able to offer much advice on how to develop your game but from my experiences in working with many amazingly talented indie game developers (see my credit list), I know that one area which is often tricky, is in knowing where to source those beta testers.  So, I’ve had a go at compiling a list of places that could be useful to be aware of and to check out.

I know that the game development journey can be a long one and hope that this article helps you a little bit along the way…

1. Alpha Beta Gamer

Alphabetagamer is ‘the worlds biggest beta testing site’. They cover alpha and betas on all platforms and do so for free, however they will only play your game if it’s free or if you give them some keys to distribute and offer through their website. They aim to add new games to their website each day.

2. Indie Quality Assurance

IndieQA was created in 2015 by a group of playtesters wanting to support Indie developers with their games. They offer a free service to beta test games as long as you provide keys for your game for your preferred platform.

3. Beta Family

Beta Family has over 65,000 testers that you can invite to test your game and target based on demographics and device. They have an easy to use test builder and 3 different price plans (from free to $399/month) for you to choose from.

4. PreApps

PreApps is a site that helps people to discover and test new apps before they are released. They cover apps on both iOS and Android and offer various services to help with the launch and promotion of your mobile app. This includes submitting your app to over 150 sites for review.

5. UberTesting

UberTesting provides access to real users to test and offer feedback on apps, websites and more.  For mobile game developers it can be a great way to get feedback on your game. You don’t need to integrate SDK, you can target specific user segments, set up surveys, interviews, focus groups and more.

6. Betalist

Betalist is a place to discover and showcase new startups. It’s a community of creators and early adopters. If your mobile app or game offers something exciting for early adopters to get their teeth into then check it out.

7. Playtest Cloud

PlaytestCloud offers a one-stop solution for playtesting mobile and browser games during all key stages of game development cycle i.e. prototyping, development, soft launch and after release.  You can easily set up a playtest, specify your target audience and then watch and listen to videos of people playing your game. There are 4 different products and various prices associated with the kind of survey or test you’re looking to implement. Prices range from $9 per response right up to over $1000 for longer studies.

8. Roast My Game

Roastmygame is a site which encourages indie game developers to post their games so that they can gather ‘sugarfree’ feedback on it.  Anyone can post a game and anyone can offer feedback.

9. Reddit

There are various subreddits, which allow you to share your game and ask for feedback. Check the rules for each subreddit to make sure it’s ok to post something there before doing so. Here are a few to maybe take a look at:

• /r/gamedev
• /r/playtesters
• /r/playmygame
• /r/inat
• /r/gamedevclassifieds
• /r/gamedevscreens
• /r/testmyapp
• /r/alphaandbetausers
• /r/androidapptesters
• /r/startups
• /r/indiegaming
• /r/iosgaming

10. Twitter

There is a huge gaming and gamedev community on Twitter with many people very willing to take a look at and support your game. Find me there @ninichimusic! If you have a strong following on Twitter, then ask your followers if they want to beta test your game. As well as that, here are some hashtags that may be useful for you:

• #gamedev
• #indiedev
• #indiegame
• #indiegames
• #indiegaming
• #betatesting
• #betatesters
• #testmyapp
• #apptesting
• #mobileapptesting

Read next: How to Promote Your Game on Twitter

---

About the author: Ninichi is an experienced game music and film music composer. She creates music for games, film and other media, and would be delighted to help you create the music for your game or project. 

Contact Ninichi to explore working with her now and follow her @ninichimusic

Introducing Shakey’s Escape Original Game Music Soundtrack

By Ninichi | Contact | Follow

I ran a poll on through my Twitter account (@ninichimusic) asking what people might like to see more of on my blog.  The top votes went for ‘Updates on my music’ and ‘Game music tips’.  So, I’ve been thinking about what I can share about the music I’ve been working on and here is the first blog of hopefully a series of them, which offer a little bit more insight into the game music and other music projects I’ve had the privilege of working on, and how they’ve come together.

I’ve also done several interview style blogs, which have generally been received well and so although it may be a little strange interviewing myself – I’m going to use that kind of format to hopefully make these easy and fun to read!  So here’s goes my first one!

What’s Shakey’s Escape about?

Shakey’s Escape is an adventure game about a cat, Shakey whose owner kicks him out of the house and from there on, your journey begins! You wander the streets coming across various puzzles, villains and much much more.  

It’s a game developed by Smashing Pixels, also known as Doobly HQ. Earlier on last year I wrote an article taking a closer look at the game just as it was about to launch: Introducing the Game: Shakey’s Escape.  It’s now available on Android and i0S and is free to download.

What’s the soundtrack like?

The original game music soundtrack consists of 10 tracks, which I would probably separate out into 3 different styles and/or moods:

1. Dreamy and relaxed

For the main menu track I tried to create a dreamy feeling. It’s when Shakey the cat, is snuggled up by a lovely, warm fireplace. In the music I tried to make it feel cosy and relaxed, and I think that the harp helps greatly in achieving this.

2. Light and sneaky

A lot of the game music that I composed for this game fall into this category. This is because the bulk of the game is when Shakey is exploring different places. There’s sneaking, discovering, playing, jumping, getting into trouble in lots of different ways – and I tried to reflect this in the music.

Since Shakey has just been kicked out by his original owner, everything that he sees and discovers through the various levels of the game is a new experience. So, there are elements of danger, mystery, uncertainty and cautiousness in the music too.

A few things that you may notice when you listen to the game music, is that a lot of the soundtrack is in a minor key and I’ve chosen to use a lot of pizzicato strings.  To me, that was a way to create that sneaky, jumpy, cat-like feel.

3. Fights & Action

As one may expect, there are some fights in the game! Shakey’s adventures aren’t all just wandering around and discovering new things. There are villains that cross Shakey’s path and that must be dealt with!

So, for the levels and sections where there is more action taking place, the music becomes more intense to reflect this.

You may also notice that the music style changes as you get to the higher levels. It becomes more energetic, urgent sounding and retro. These are the tougher levels, which are much more difficult to get through and everything that Shakey is experience is really out of his comfort zone e.g. trying to fly a helicopter!  The music, therefore, is more intense and faster to reflect this.

What did I enjoy most about working on this soundtrack?

Shakey’s Escape is the first original soundtrack that I’ve released and so I’m really honoured to have worked on it with Rob, the developer of the game.

It has been such a fun and rewarding journey to see the game develop and the music develop alongside it. I saw lots of clips of the game as I worked on the music for each level of the game. That really helped to give me an idea of what I needed to make the music work well with, and it was also just really stimulating and fun to see how the game was coming along.

By the time we finished working together, I couldn’t wait to see the full game released!  It has been really well received so far and I just hope that the soundtrack does the game justice and gets just as well received as the game itself!

Is the soundtrack available and what’s next?

Yes indeed it is. Shakey’s Escape Original Game Music Soundtrack is available:

• To purchase via bandcamp

• To listen to on Spotify

• To get on Tidal

In terms of what’s next for me – well, I’d love to do more game music soundtracks as well as other music projects. So, if you need some help with your game music soundtrack, let me know (i.e. contact me here)! I’d also love to release more of the soundtracks I’ve done (check out my discography here) and sharing more blogs/information on them too, so watch this space!

---

About the author: Ninichi is a freelance composer and music enthusiast. She has composed the soundtracks and music to several indie games. Contact her: to explore working with her on your game, film or media project.

Check out examples of Ninichi's game music compositions and soundtracks & read more articles like this on the Ninichi music blog. 

Follow her @ninichimusic

Introducing the Gaming Channel: The Loading Crew

Interview By Ninichi | Contact | Follow

I'm delighted to be introducing everyone to The Loading Crew, this week. I was honoured to work on the intro music for this channel and to get to know the wonderful couple behind this channel. Here's my interview with them...

Who are you and where did The Loading Crew come from? 

'TheLoadingCrew is a husband and wife team made up of 2 independent artists. The husband Stuart is in charge of the YouTube channel and producing video content while the wife Alexandria produces the Web Comics Momma CQ, Jelly Realms Adventures, and the upcoming comic World View.'

What made you decide to set up this channel? 

'We actually had the channel open since 2009. We used to do competitive Yu-gi-oh! content but decided to rebrand as a tabletop channel in 2016 when we started uploading our Pathfinder/D&D videos he played with a few internet celebrity guest friends of ours.'

Tell us a bit about your channel and what sorts of things you cover?

'TheLoadingCrew produces mid to high quality Tabletop RPG games framed as a web series. We live stream long form Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons style games. After the live streams, we will take the footage and cut them down into 10-60 minute easy to consume episodes.

We do several things like clean up audio, add animations, and special music to enhance the viewing experience. As of right now, our most popular series are our Sands of Horren Pathfinder Campaign and our Pokemon Tabletop: Utopus Region Campaign series.'

What are your plans for your Youtube channel? 

'Currently, our Pathfinder, Sands of Horren series is over, while Pokemon is still going strong. Currently we are working on creating a new Pathfinder/Dungeons and Dragons like show in the next few upcoming months. This series will have a much high production quality than the other shows on the channel without a set schedule. Currently the project is still largely secret and in the early production stages but we are confident our audience will enjoy.'

Why should we watch it?

'As of right now, there are very few approachable and understandable tabletop shows on the internet. There are a few that are quite excellent and entertaining, but there are many whose barrier to entry are still reserved for fans of TTRPs. Our shows are designed that most people can enjoy it without any need to understand the game that they are based in.' 

Why did you decide to work with me (Ninichi) on the music? 

'I remember reaching out to you, Ninichi, when we dabbled in the Indy Game Scene for a while and when we were looking to commission a cover of a song for our channel in the past. I had heard of Ninichi's work through a few indy game groups and understood she did professional quality work very quickly. We were eager to work with her and her talents. The tune is quite good, we look forward to using it and we hope to do more with her in the future!'

Thanks so much for finding me and trusting me with the intro music to your wonderful channel! It was a real pleasure working with you on this, and here's the track (see above) for everyone to check out.

(Check out my intros & jingles section if you want to hear some other jingles and/or get some help with your own)

Now, hopefully everyone is excited to learn more, so here are some links where you can find out more about The Loading Crew:

• Our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLoadingCrew
• Discord ► https://discord.gg/smDTvrv
• Twitch ► https://www.twitch.tv/theloadingcrew
• Our Twitter ► https://twitter.com/loadingcrew
• Our Website ► http://www.loadingcrewcrafts.com/
• Our Patreon ► https://www.patreon.com/TheLoadingCrew
• Alaina Prana's Tumblr: https://alainaprana.tumblr.com/

---

About the author: Ninichi is a jingles composer, game music composer and film music composer. She has worked on a number of games and is a great supporter of indie developers and indie games. If you're looking for music that will help your game to stand out contact her now to discuss your game music needs.

Follow her @ninichimusic

6 Ways to Pay a Game Music Composer

By Ninichi | Contact | Follow

If you’re working on an indie game, there will come a time when you need to start thinking about the music for it. If you want to explore commissioning a composer or collaborating with one on your project, then it’s useful to understand what your options are when it comes to paying them.

I’m a game music composer and have worked on a variety of indie games (see my credits). I’ve enjoyed each and every project and love working with the indie developers and indie studios that I’ve connected up with. Whenever I speak to a new potential client– the same question arises around how much I charge and how to pay for the music.

So, hopefully this article will help you give you some ideas of what the options are and how, from my own experience and understanding, game music composers get paid…

To summarise the main options – you can pay a game music composer:

• per hour

• per minute

• per track

• per project

• royalties / revenue share

Or some combination of the above.

1. Paying for time

Some composers have a price per hour. In some ways this is fair in that they are effectively billing you for the time they spend working on your music, however, different composers work at different speeds – as well as offering music of varying quality.  Therefore, if you decide to work with someone based on their ‘per hour’ fee, make sure that you have some kind of understanding of how long they tend to spend on a piece of music – otherwise you could be receiving a much larger bill than you expect.

Composing music has various complexities to it and different composers will use different methods / processes / tools and techniques.  You could be getting a bargain if their price per hour is low and they’re quick, but you’ll have to make a call on that.

2. Paying per minute

This is very common as an option and is often what tends to work well for game projects. This is usually because most music tracks in a game will be a minute, a minute and a half or two/three minutes long – on average. Some are longer – for example title tracks, or music in story-based games where the player might be stuck in an area or on a particular level for quite a long length of time and so a 4-5 minute track, could be an option but generally from my experience, most tracks have been between 1-3 minutes long, and by working based on this per minute rate, it seems quite fair for everyone.

The composer can judge or estimate roughly how long they would need to spend to create a minute worth of music – and they will base their price per minute on that, and you can decide how long you want your tracks to be based on your budget as well as what fits the game.

Feel free to browse through some of my game music tracks to see what they sound like, what their average length is and just to get some ideas!

3. Paying per track

This is best to do when you need quite long tracks otherwise working with a per minute rate could get quite costly for you. Having said that longer tracks do take more time and so when offering you a price, the composer is likely to take this into account. 

If your game soundtrack requires many different tracks, then the composer is more likely to be happy to work with a per track rate. They will know that the project as a whole has multiple tracks that they can get their teeth into and you may find it easier to manage your budget and payments if you’re paying the same amount for each piece of work.

4. Agreeing a price for the whole project

If you have a large project and a large budget then this is a great method to use. You can agree upfront how much you want to spend on the music elements for your game (or project) and you can hire your composer there and then, to do all of it.  That way everything is agreed and you’re sorted. You can have the peace of mind that you’ve hired a professional to deliver the game music and that you’ve agreed the pricing – so the budget for that is all sorted.

5. Royalties & 6. Revenue Share

Many indie game developers decide to build their teams and to work on this basis. If I’m honest, I’ve been invited on several occasions to work with this type of deal, but I have mostly turned them down.

Although some of these projects look really interesting, unfortunately – the reality of it is that working based on a payment model, which has no guarantees is just not appealing, especially when I have other paid projects to get on with. Also, I have a greater belief in the success and potential of a game or project when the person I’m working with (i.e. the indie developer / indie games studio or filmmaker), is willing to invest in it. To me that shows that they really believe in what they are developing and that they’re willing and keen to do what it takes to make it the best that it can be.

So there you have it! There are lots of options and opportunities for you to explore in terms of how you can work with a composer. It’s definitely worth asking them how they usually work, what they prefer and telling them what your own preferences are.  By having that conversation you will also probably get a sense of what they’re like to work with and that should help you to decide if they’re someone you actually want to work with at all – or not!

If you want to explore working with me on your game or any other project, please contact me now and we can get talking! 

---

About the author: Ninichi is a freelance composer and music enthusiast. She has composed the soundtracks and music to several indie games. Contact her: to explore working with her on your game, film or media project.

Check out examples of Ninichi's game music compositions and soundtracks & read more articles like this on the Ninichi music blog. 

Follow her @ninichimusic

Introducing the Game: Cat Quest

Interview By Ninichi | Contact | Follow

This week, I'm happy to be exploring Cat Quest, which is the latest game created by the award winning games studio responsible for bringing the popular game Slashy Hero to Android & iOS! Let's see what they have to tell us about the game.

Tell me about your team and your game... 

'The team behind Cat Quest is none other than The Gentlebros. We're a team made up of veterans of the games industry. Having worked on console (PS3, PS4) titles in Koei Tecmo, we're all very experienced developers and we're looking to bring that knowledge to our own games.

Cat Quest is a 2d Open World RPG set in the fantastic and wonderful world of cats! Play as a catventurer as you explore a massive continent crafted in the unique style of tapestry! Relive the good old days of exploring an overworld map as you raid dungeons for epic loot, complete quests and meet the many furry denizens of this world!'

How long have you been working on your game for? How have you gone about developing it?

'We've been working on Cat Quest close to a year(including pre-production). We decided to use the Unity engine to make it as it is the most user friendly engine out in the market now, and there's a huge community working on the engine as well.'

What's different about it & why should we check it out?

'A streamlined open world action RPG set in the unique world of cats! Imagine a world where cats are the main inhabitants. How would things change?

Go to places like the Catpital where the Lion King rules, or experience delicacies like the catnip pie! Talk to the locals, some already on their 7th or 8th lives (what? not all cats have nine lives y'know), and go on a catventure through a world you've never seen before!'

What part does music play in your game?

'Music is an important part as it sets the mood and tone of the areas in the game. Its bright and cheerful when exploring the overworld, and dark and creepy when deep inside dungeons.

Music helps to separate these different areas from each other, and heighten the feeling we want players to have. Indeed, without music, the game would feel dead and flat.'

---

About the author: Ninichi is a game music composer and film music composer. She has worked on a number of games and is a great supporter of indie developers and indie games. If you're looking for music that will help your game to stand out contact her now to discuss your game music needs.

Follow her @ninichimusic