I think I have a good game under my belt (Street RPG, you can find its thread in forums), and I want it to be more known and more played. I already write every single update I do to the game in its thread, it has a short description and no cover arts (yet). The game is currently in WIP situation.

What can I do to get more people play my game?

I've thought of looking into how itch.io works. It seems like a more popular indie game site, and many types of games can be uploaded.

I never play WIPs. It may be great but would never play an incomplete game. Best chance for lots of plays is:

1. Make sure it’s complete
2. Make sure it’s good
3. Have it tested a lot by asking for testers on forum
4. Trust some of the experienced old-schoolers
5. Once tested, edit, refine, and polish it up
6. Then submit for public play

OR….
…
…

Put something in the title about vore, porn, shrinking, fuzzies, or cats.

Put something in the title about vore, porn, shrinking, fuzzies, or cats.

That's not an alternative to effort. Most of those games are popular because they spent months hyping their upcoming games on niche forums, brainstorming with their communities, and getting a sizeable group of initial players excited about the game before it was even out. And because their primary audience is a community of people who haven't played many text adventures before, they're less likely to notice or care about technical issues.

(I'm aware of one game where the main hub for discussion is a forum thread with more than 100 pages of discussion. It's a disordered mess where the link to the latest version (by any of the 4 people who started doing their own, separate continuations when the original developer finished) are mixed in with people asking for help, suggestions for future versions, and fanart of the characters. But having an active discussion means that it's extremely visible to people with that particular kink)

As far as making a game more popular, I suspect the most effective way is to get people talking about it. Discussing ideas with your fans, and answering people's criticism in a way that leads to conversation, is probably the best thing you can do. Of course, that needs you to have fans to start with, and people who are willing to engage… so it's like most of the internet, about who you know. If you have a couple of popular friends discussing the game where a lot of people will see it, getting new players shouldn't be hard, and then if it's actually good they'll join in the conversation too.

I found that using this base as a platform to support your game but promoting it elsewhere works. If you are writing a game about fly fishing, it would be better to promote it on a fly fishing site, giving the link to the game itself. There just aren't enough people here to really make games click up in numbers, and if you promote here, you end up alienating people with your constant advertisements.

I did this for a game under another account name, promoting it on other bases for people of that interest, and got amazingly good numbers, much better than "StoreyMinus" and "Pathfinder" got (there's a plug!).

Also, all my games are replayable. That helps. If someone enjoys it and there is some randomness because you've broken away from the gamebook idea and allow players to truly chart their own path, then people who like it will play and play and play. Example - Sid Meyer's Pirates - just a simple sail and battle game, but you could go anywhere and choose to fight or not. Amazingly fun, and I played it many, many times.

I've never played WIPs, but I often see requests on reddit, active question threads. Goodness likewise at school I sued help of is essayroo legit to finish my paper task with fantastic imprint. Perhaps for promotion it is worth posting information about the game there as well