https://itch.io/jam/failjam - this is the one that made my head hurt lol.
Viewing post in How long for Game Jams to be Approved?
TBH, I like the presentation of that one. It was a really cool concept too, I'd have joined it if it hadn't been so close to the end. It reminded me of Bit.trip FLUX, where you have to give in and "die" to win at the end, the concept of death philosophically present throughout. Yours looked good too, I'm sure they didn't reject it due to presentation.
Honestly, I just think I'm invisible sometimes. It was probably rejected because they didn't know about it. It's like my YouTube videos. Totally invisible and no views. It's like when I talk to girls. Totally invisible. Or when I try to start a business. Totally invisible. No customers. I'm pretty sure I'm just invisible or I died and think I'm still alive. lo
I cannot say much about your interaction with photons, since I never saw you (pun intended), but your marketing could be better. Existing is not enough to be "visible". For example, you say you have yt videos. Why is there no link to your yt channel on your creator's page. That is zero effort marketing you are missing out on.
There are close to 900k games on here. If we assume a generous 10 games per dev, that makes about 100k developers publishing here.
How many of those do you know of? How many did you notice? 100? 1000? 10? You think you are invisble, but in truth we all are invisble. Getting noticed is the exception and doing so outside your closest peer group is impossible for the majority. Maybe impossible is too harsh a word, but for 99% it will not happen, no matter the reason.
One can wonder what the 1% did different to get known. Was it merit? Luck? Hard work? Quality? Marketing? Advertisement? For some you could say in hindsight. Having good content of course helps. Having a thing people will seek, helps. Self advertisment, or existing on a platform, is a bootstrapping problem. If there were a proven formula to get noticed (the easy way), everyone would do it and we would be at square 1 again, with almost all being obscure.
Well, I can add my YouTube link, but I guarantee you, that if 1,000 people saw it, only one might click on it. However, it would take 6 months just to get 1,000 people to see it since itch.io doesn't rank games from unknown people very well. All my games show up at least 500 videos down, maybe even further. I once did a filter search and narrowed down as far as I could. I was number 7 of 10 results. That's because I'm not well known/popular. I even paid $50 to promote a video. I got about 60 views and 18 subscribers. It cost FIFTY BUCKS. I highly doubt it's worth $50 to get 18 subscribers, most of which don't watch any of your other videos.
But linking to your stuff will at least not cost you.
You face the problem of getting popular in a "market" where there are literally hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people trying to do the same. But the average user will only ever know maybe a thousand games/devlopers. Give or take.
That is why I asked how many devs/games you did notice. And maybe ask yourself how they got noticed by you. Was it a popular ranking list. Did you stumbe upon it randomly in a feed. Did you search for a specific oddity or nieche. Was it recommended to you. etc.
You talk about his for example?
https://itch.io/games/tag-robots/tag-space-sim
Well, you could always peek and try to figure out what the games above your game do different. Also what the games below you do different. For only 16 games that will be highly inaccurate, but maybe you gain some insights. Try to see their marketing or try to assess if their game is really better/worse than your game. Hard to do, since you might be biased in judging your own stuff. (Some overestimate their qualities, some downplay their stuff. Could be either way)
That they are above you in the list, because they are above you in the list is too easy an answer. It might work for Kardashian fame of being famous for being famous. But you still need a little substance to kickstart fame. And as I said, many try that. Think about audition for singing contest in tv. The many thousands applying and only a few being featured in tv, and even even less in the actual contest. And not even "the best" singers winning or getting attention.
Well, just about ALL of the games or developers that I notice, are popular people with a lot of followers. It's no surprise that popularity is a huge ranking factor. Do any search on any website and the first 10 results are likely people you've heard of before. So, the question that remains for many people is, how did they get there if their videos weren't shown before they were popular. The only conclusion I came up with is a very huge marketing budget OR an already existing large circle of family and friends. I don't have either. I have like 3 friends on my Facebook. So, even if I shared there, it wouldn't do any good. For example, the number one suggestion of crowdfunding is to share with family and friends (to gain momentum). My family and friends don't give a sh*t what I do. If I share ANYTHING with them, they just ignore it. So, I have absolutely no one to share my stuff from the start. I have to rely on YouTube (and other sites) algorithm to rank me well, which is very rare for an unknown person. Back in the day, SEO meant something. Since they started ranking by popularity, the small guy can't get anywhere.
There is the concept of going viral. Unfortunately this cannot be planned. But here is a fitting joke about the situation
Also you would have to have something that people would want to see/play. Your stuff looks like amateur level. Which is not a bad thing, but hoping to get known for it, is a bit unrealistic. You should make games because making games is a fun hobby for you. Make games you would like to play. Games that you would like to recommend to someone else, not because they were made by you, but because they are good, or unique or whatever.
You seem to do 3d stuff that is playable in browser. That is not so common. You could build on that and "exploit" that there is less competition.
But the thing is, even if you make an excellent game, this does not translate to getting known or popularity, fame, success.
I have two examples for you. Also look at their presentation on their game description.
https://johngabrieluk.itch.io/amaya-maiden-of-the-storm
This game is excellent. I believe the game even won a jam. It has 6 ratings. Which is basically nothing. I do not know why the game is unknown.
And
https://dead-tale-studio.itch.io/luces-journey
It has 10 ratings, yet should have well over 1000 browser plays. It is a rather good game for its scope and a sweet and heartbreaking setting.
If those games are basically unknown, why should your games be known?
A successful example is Backpack Hero. They came up with a newish concept that was liked by people. That game now has 2000 ratings.
I'm a programmer. Not a graphics artist. Not an animator. etc. Although, I can do those things on a basic level, since it's not possible to find people to help on a game. All my games will ever look like is Amateur level, even though I use some pretty complex coding in some of them. Since I don't have an eye for art, I'm stuck at making games that don't "look" good.
Tough. You would have to score with engaging game play and or story. Baba is You is already invented, but that had quite non eye candy graphics. It can be done, but people will see the thumbnail of the game first and this should appeal to them somehow. Eye candy is easy. Horror is popular. But appealing to the puzzle-senses if you make a puzzle game or appealing to the adventure senses if you make an adventure and so on, might be achievable.
The most popular game ever, Minecraft, has horrible graphics.
So the theory is, that bad graphics are not a roadblock to success. But they might pose a hurdle in the beginning.
I do not really understand jams, but I suggest you should make a topic here, if you host another jam. See, if people are interested and why, or why not.
If you seek inspiration, make a jam about games that have no graphic artist on board ;-) Maybe with the twist, that it has to be a game where one normally would expect nice art. No AI allowed of course and no standard assets. Jams are among other things about learning as a game dev, are they not.