‘YouTubers want games that are fun to watch, and let them make dick jokes’

It’s no secret that YouTube is one of the most effective ways to raise awareness for your game, particularly if popular video makers are the ones talking about it.

Tim Wicksteed, the developer behind medical strategy title Big Pharma, believes a large part of his games success comes down to the influence of YouTubers and, in a recent blog post, suggested ways in which developers can improve their chances of video streamers spending time with their titles.

The key, he says, is not just to make a game that is fun but also fun to watch.

“They want opportunities to show their own creativity and personality via the gameplay,” he writes. “Ideally they want to be able make the odd dick joke.

“All these things are possible in Big Pharma. It’s a sandbox game so there’s plenty of scope for creative play. There are opportunities for audience interaction via the naming of drugs and the endless potential for optimisation. And yes, there’s ample room for body humour with cures for warts and erectile dysfunction and side-effects such as ‘can cause anal leakage’.

“I have to be honest, none of these features were designed specifically with YouTubers in mind. They occurred out of happy coincidence because I thought they’d be fun. However, in retrospect, I think they have an awful lot to do with Big Pharma’s overall success.

“In conclusion, what I’ve learned for future games, is to specifically think about features I could include which would be attractive to YouTubers and Twitch streamers; to design a game not only to be fun, but fun to watch.”