Horses & Beyond Niche Communities

Building community and consolidating an audience around a very specific topic has worked out splendidly for Alice Ruppert of The Mane Quest, the horse game website. The successes of The Ranch of Rivershine, The Legend of Khiimori and Horses of Hoofprint Bay prove as much.

But (oddly enough, this is surprising to some people) horses are not the only topic in gaming that passionate communities can be built around: Applying knowledge from your own hobby or niche interest can give you the edge you need in an increasingly competitive indie game landscape. Committing to a niche can end up making it easier to find your specific audience than sticking only to well-trodden paths and popular tropes.

This session provides a blueprint for how topical niche communities can be built, so that your audience is ready and waiting by the time you actually have a game to sell them.

I fully believe that what I’ve achieved with The Mane Quest can be reproduced for any number of subjects and interests, and I am gladly sharing a thorough look at the strategies that served me well in this over the years.