Microprose

[SirAndrewD]

Like anything else, there is an art to it. That's why people in PR, marketing and advertising make a lot of money.

I'd wager it's this. 

As a CSO my job every day is partly to find a way to make my company more visible.  The barrier on that is typically money.  Marketing is not cheap and the last thing you want to do is misspend.  We dumped $10k into a hole one year that got us two leads that were a professional Santa Claus and a octogenarian in a nursing home.

Microprose is just starting back, they're probably banking on the idea that their past reputation is going to give them a lot of runway. 

[IICptMillerII]

Microprose is just starting back, they're probably banking on the idea that their past reputation is going to give them a lot of runway.

I think this is likely the case as well, even if I do personally wish they would talk a bit more about their new upcoming titles. It is definitely a delicate balance all around. I'm really hoping some of these titles come out sooner rather than later. That will definitely help all around. Specifically, I think Sea Power is going to be fantastic, and its my most anticipated Microprose published title on the horizon.

[The_Admiral]

There might be a bit of a misunderstanding at play here.

Microprose as a publisher does a lot of things - regular media updates is just one of its functions, but certainly not the core one - at least as far as Task Force Admiral is concerned. They are providing us with larger media outlet access for big announcements (this is what happens when a new partnership is announced), access to some of their dev teams too (the improvement of the graphics in Regiments is precisely just that), extra financing, QA, a Discord channel with a sizeable community, etc...

Apart from that, us indies kept on using our usual channels to communicate about the games. Jo & myself are mostly the only ones communicating outside of the main interface that is our Steam page community hub news, through our own media accounts. We were like that before the deal, and we don't plan on going back on our habits, as we have built our community this way (of course we did so with the expectation of getting that very deal, but it's part of our DNA now too).

Others are still there, and do as much as they can/wish using the methods they were using before.

Here's for Sea Power
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1286220/allnews/

Here's for Regiments
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1109680/allnews/

Microprose had plans for weekly updates & all, but some of us were less willing than others to provide regular content due to the "armchair dev" syndrome described by Rayfer - one I am fortunately safe from considering I am the sole producer in the whole line up not to have any sort of creative talents, and as such might have some extra time others don't. We're working together on ways to make it more interesting for everybody, but so far those who are much into the games di have a ready access to the Publisher's discord, where each game & dev team has its own private space. Is that different from how games used to be advertised? It sure is, it's not 1994 anymore, and we're not the next Cyberpunk either. But I'd rather have MPS focus on stuff is knows about well rather than, for instance, manage my community in my stand. Publisher dev posts about technical games like ours do not amount to much in my opinion - they sometimes are even counter-productive, considering nobody out there can be expected to be an expert at WW2 carrier history, WW2 hex-based ground war, Cold War naval & land tech all at the same time. 

All the while, other teams are being approached or groomed yet still unannounced (some of them following our own recommendations) while the MPS internal dev teams are working on their own projects, not the least of the lot being obviously the B-17 game. I know in that regard that not everybody was happy with the silence following the B-17 sequel, but then again, would you all be happier not knowing it existed at all?  :P

And I can tell you, they do have a number of other things brewing right now. I saw them. They look great. They're totally the dope. And still, they won't announce - because that would just amounts to more frustration, eventually. Good things take time. But know this: we - the four indie games announced till now - are but a fraction of what is currently being processed in the pipeline.

All of this prompts the main question - what do you guys expect in 2020 in terms of media coverage for that sort of games? Back in the Microprose glory days you'd buy your monthly mag and get some news, developing your own hype based on a few thumbnails and some good writing, or a nice full page ad. Now that communication is everywhere except in places where it used to matter (especially surviving community websites, which don't have the reach they used to have, and of which Grogheads is one of the very few relevant ones), aside from the way company like i.e. Slitherine would communicate for instance, have you anything else in mind? True interrogation of mine, and I'll be happy to forward these recommendations to our publisher.

Cheers!

[The_Admiral]

At any rate, some news for the label (although not the ones you might be waiting for, but still it's some Jagged Alliance action after all  )

https://www.pcgamer.com/urban-strife-sounds-like-jagged-alliance-2-but-its-infested-with-zombies/

[KyzBP]

At any rate, some news for the label (although not the ones you might be waiting for, but still it's some Jagged Alliance action after all  )

https://www.pcgamer.com/urban-strife-sounds-like-jagged-alliance-2-but-its-infested-with-zombies/

I thought I was burned out on Zombies.  I was wrong.  This looks pretty cool!

[The_Admiral]

It is!
Here's very early alpha footage from the Summer. Solid prod values & references