What can we do to make this game more popular?

So long as this is the only thing visible on the store page, steam doesn't know that. And people that ain't playing the game don't know that too.

 

I'm playing the game and didnt know that.

 

Well nt sure if its been mentioned but I first came to this game as I was bored wth current strategy flash games so I searched something like "best strategy flash games 2014". And it was in a list there then I noticed it got favorable reviews by most reviewers.

I'm a intellectual and believe this game attracts intellectual types that might search hsing similar method, so perhaps a way to attract more is to get on more of these high-profile lists and get to the top of these lists!
Plus if asked by friends you can also brag how it is the "top ten strategy game of 2016 according to X list", etc. This will make them intrigued to try it, win-win!

 

Sounds good, but how do we get there?

 

Spend countless hours annoying the hell out of games journalists. Or get pewdiepie to play it once

I think this game has pretty good player retention though, as long as it maintains slow growth there will always be an active community

 

Maybe someone should message some famous Let's Players and ask them to give Cardhunter a look?The last time a youtuber played this game, I remember something like 12% of our playerbase was new players. It's an interesting concept for a game at the very least, which should grab their attention. I might try to ask one sometime; nothing ventured, nothing gained.

 

This is out of the blue. It is definitely not a direction that I would want to see taken for PvP in general. The prospect of prize money, no matter the format choosen, will just steer its participants toward dry, streamlined play a.k.a cheesing to the max. I cant see too much general acceptance either since its the nature of the game that you don't have every item at your disposal.
I feel guilds are an entirely different topic, their foothold ingame should be strenghtened before they can be utilized for any sort of push.
In regards of eSport, i would like to see CH bring out its capabilities more confidently and prominently, sure. I always recall that statement in my head that PvP just was an afterthought, but it is the captivating trait of the game for me where the depth of the mechanics reaches its full potential.

 

I've been wondering about possible ways to draw more attention on Steam and Kong.
I know a free game can't really be put on sale, but would limited time promotions be announced?
Things such as, "Register a new account during March, and get free bonus chests for 6 weeks!" Which might equate to one of each type of chest from the standard chest shop delivered at the weekly reset if the player completes one adventure or gets one MP or league win during the week. Something to that effect, anyway. Nothing to break game balance, but something to get people to try CH, and possibly incentive to come back for another try if they have a bad time the first day.

 

Is it possible to sell the bundles as DLC in the Steam store? What about a "Card Hunter Complete 2015 Edition" containing the current 3 bundles at a discount?

 

Have you considered mentorship? (I'm not sure this is the right term)
A new player may choose an existing player as their mentor, possibly the one who showed them into the game.
The mentor gets a few chests as the new player progresses through the campaign, and even a little pizza when his apprentice buys some.
As for the apprentice, he will have someone he can ask his questions to.
This may encourage players to promote the game by themselves.

Edit: As long as you need to play more with the new account, to bring it to the point where the reward is given, than with the first account, to get an equivalent loot, there should be no problems of players mentoring themself.

 

Similiar to rewards for someone who got another player to sign up, but yeah, its a good idea. Not easy to set up, probably.
But when to reward? New account reasonably progressed? If you offer an option to state another player when registering, who then will get a reward, guess what happens.

 

One slice of pizza for each achievement the new player earns?

 

The current pizza rewards for top guilds is causing players to form exclusive guilds of top players in order to be competitive. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but tends to be restrictive. I think individual pizza rewards to top players would be a good step, and help counterbalance the drive to form super guilds. Anyone who fits in this category is probably already hooked on the game, but it would provide incentive to play more often.

As noted in my previous post, I'd like to see some promotions to attract new players. Four different promotions running one month per quarter might work nicely. (Chests, club membership, skins, whatever.) Not everyone who plays CH will like it, but those who never play certainly won't.

And how about some random door prizes for non-top-tier people who just show up and play? A very small percentage chance of winning something if you actually log in and play (not just chat or sign up for a league without playing) awarded once per week. The prizes probably shouldn't be pizza, just chests. If there is a way to tell if adventures are played, I'd like to see campaign-only players included.

 

Individual reward for only the top players would likely discourage newcomers who don't have a buttload of legendaries. It's also fairly difficult for current players who want to go competitive to acquire the exact item they want since the loot system is so random.

Instead, it might be good to take a page out of Hearthstone's book and use some sort of tiered reward system that rewards treasure and/or chests for low ranking players and pizza for top level players. A legendary treasure or two per month would likely help a lot of players' collections.

 

Valid point. Prizes are traditional for winning, and I see nothing wrong with rewarding the effort, but it would be great if Farbs or Flax could come up with a tiered reward system. Even though I have no clue as to how it might actually work.

Afterthought: Prizes might be restricted to those with positive standing.

 

@Farbs I really love the idea of adding an esports element to CH. Unfortunately, I think the current system is too random and easily abused to transition straight to a paid reward model. Already, many top players I've spoken to feel a pressure to perform well for their guilds which sucks the fun out of it. Additionally, the temptation to form elite guilds undermines mentoring opportunities or experimental builds/playstyles in top level play. With cash prizes on the line, these issues would increase.

I'd like to see the current meta (which for the most part I love) turn into a qualification round for 'finals', qualifying guilds could nominate a team of 3 to play co-op MP in the finals. Each match would consist of a game on each map in the rotation. This would be a knockout tournament between the best players from the top guilds who would have spent a month perfecting their builds and play. I would watch every game, especially if @CH5 was commentating.

Running this tournament would be a lot of extra work but I think it would be the best way to focus the community's attention to a small number of games each month

 

Tournament 'Compliance' would be more likely with top players, but you cant expect that a coop-format would work.

 

I think co-op fits in better with the theme - 3 players better represent the guild than one. Additionally, it cuts down on the problems of one player not having enough items for a full team. Logistically it's more difficult but I think there are work-arounds for some of the problems it presents.