Gold-Plated Games

October has ended, and with it goes the mad rush that is my SPOOKY G4MES series. Normally this would be a good time for me to kick back and unwind for a bit, but I’ve got something else in mind. The site and the curation group got a lot of momentum from my smorgasbord of horror reviews, and I don’t want to lose that steam now. I can’t do daily reviews forever but I think I can provide regular content to keep you interested, interested enough to check the site regularly.

I should mention now that the big goal I’m working towards is regular readership. I can see how many people read my reviews and articles on the site now, and while the numbers are decent they can always be better. Folks mainly drop by when I link content from other sites, and when they show up they read that and leave. I’m looking to build an audience that (A) visits this website without needing to be linked first and (B) does it on a regular basis. If we can make that happen, it could make a big difference in who I can reach.

If people are going to visit more often, though, they need more stuff to look at. That’s why I’m going to start working from a weekly schedule, so that people have an idea when new stuff they care about is going to drop. Branching out into game jams and articles was the first step, providing new content that some might like more than reviews. Now I’m going to publish on a regular basis so there’s a reason to come looking for it.

Starting today, here’s what the tentative schedule looks like.

• Mondays – Weeklong Deal Roundup
• Wednesdays – Non-Steam Features
• Fridays – New Steam Reviews

It’s not a huge difference from what I’ve been doing before, just an assurance that these things will appear at the same time every week. If you’re looking for cheap games, stop by Monday mornings. If you like game jams or weird stuff on itch.io, Wednesday’s your day. And if you just like my reviews, look for them on Fridays. Once I get into the groove of cranking out good stuff to read, I’m hoping folks will come to check it out more often.

Originally, I had planned a more aggressive schedule. Namely, I wanted to continue doing revised reviews (re-writes of my 2014-2015 reviews) on Tuesdays/Thursdays, and start doing weekly articles like my Doki Doki Psychology one on Sundays. Once I get adjusted to the MWF schedule I still intend to get up to this fuller one eventually. The thing is, I got roped into doing National Novel Writing Month again with my co-workers this year. That means in addition to reviews and roundups, I’m going to try to bang out a half-baked novel for November. Ah ha ha ha ha.

So this is the plan, and I’m going to ease into as best I can this month. Later today I’m putting up my first non-Steam review on a little free indie horror title called FAITH. I’ll probably skip the Friday review since I juuuuuuuust finished Spooktober and the current Weeklongs have nothing for me. But from next week it’ll be the full treatment, all the way up to the Steam Thanksgiving sale. Just like last year I’ll do a little cluster of high-profile reviews for that, and then in December we’ve got the third Roguemas to look forward to.

I’ve made a lot of work for myself out of this hobby, but it’s something I enjoy more with every milestone. If you’re enjoying all of this, I’d really appreciate it if you could help get more eyes on it. More than anything I’d like new readers, so if I’ve ever talked up your favorite game or written a review you love, share it with people. If you think your friends would like my recommendations, link them my site. If you’re trying to convince someone to try a game, link them my review. The more people that read my work, the more possibilities that opens up in the future. There’s a lot I’d like to be able to offer you for your support, and hopefully we’ll see some of that happen.

Okay, that went a bit longer than I was planning. Keep an eye out for that new review today, and look for more new stuff every few days from now on. And as always, thanks for reading.