Creating the Webpages for When Asteroids Attack!

Note: This article refers to the webpages found here: http://thecritterverse.com/whenasteroidsattack/index.php

This was the first time I ever made particular web pages for a single game, and as such it was quite an experience... I started off by searching for other indie games and the websites created for them. It's really awesome to browse through them! Just search for "top PC indie games" and you'll get a great feel for what an awesome indie game site looks like for trying to promote and sell a game. Then, I took what I liked about them and combined them!

One of the most important things to me was to keep it simple. Some games have half a dozen pages or so, which is great for games that have a lot going on, a big story, in-depth characters... But When Asteroids Attack is an arcade game! Arcade games are known for being able to fit all the important stuff on the side of the cabinet and around the buttons themselves...

Items on Every Page

Quotes!
I've always loved the idea of testimonials! To show a quote of someone saying something about the game is to show that other people actually like it. Since hardly anyone has played it yet, I took what I could get... One from my daughter and one from someone who had tested it for me on FGL. Just under the "When Asteroids Attack" banner is where you'll find them, and they're on every page - that portion is incredibly important to me, and it's actually Flash that loops through them every 10 seconds.

Getting Fans and Followers
Just below that are the "Like on Facebook" and "Follow on Twitter" buttons... Also incredibly important, and I'm realizing it more and more as I go, is having fans that will be interested in a game when it comes out, or a bit of news as it releases. Other than having enough money to continue, I think that it's the absolutely most important thing! I have to remember to make this an important part of everything I do, always, and so should you! The easier you make it for someone to follow, like or subscribe, the more likely people will be to do it!

Demo and Purchase
Also pretty important to the game's release are, you know, the ability to try the game out and purchase it! Trust me - if you ever make anything, you should always let people actually get it from every possible place!

Purchase Buttons at the Bottom
So what if you're on the demo's page, or the main page, instead of the purchase page? If you want to buy the game, do it! I went with Paypal because 30 cents + 3% isn't too bad for fees, and people are really familiar with Paypal as a whole, so I figure they'll be more confident entering their info through Paypal than more directly through my page.

The Main Page
Since I don't have a video, I made a slideshow in Flash that visitors can scroll through. Just like a video, focus on one or two ideas is key - I went with "hectic action" and "varied gameplay." Hopefully you gather that from the setup :)

I also love bullet lists! People don't like to read (and I am bad at considering that, which you'll gather if you look at this blog post or most any other of mine!), so bullet points let people see the important stuff without worrying about sentence flow or anything. But the bullet points themselves are dull! Any time you can spice something up with your theme, do it! I made little versions of the asteroids that spin and used them. Technically, the whole thing is a table, but it looks like a bullet list so whatever ;)

In Conclusion...
... Every web page is different, every project is different, every developer is different! Figure out what exactly you want and build accordingly. I wanted simple but stylized, so that's what I went for. I hope this helps you in the future!