Clicks Aren't Players
A free early-alpha marketing field guide for indie developers.
What I spent, where people dropped off, and what produced useful feedback.
Free PDF · 8 pages · No account or email required
Field notes through October 11, 2026.
Inside the guide
• An honest spending scoreboard: reach boosts, traffic ads, engagement ads, and a compensated playtest.
• The obstacles between an ad and a playable build, including login screens, key forms, and slow-loading content.
• How to separate clicks, downloads, launches, and verified playtests without inventing a conversion rate.
• A practical checklist, feedback questions, and reusable playtester recruitment copy.
Where Altered Earth stands
I’m building Altered Earth as a solo developer. Steam hasn’t approved me as a developer yet, so these notes cover recruiting testers for the public itch.io alpha while that approval is pending.
This is an early field report with small samples and incomplete attribution. I’m sharing the mistakes and useful results so other indie developers can make better-informed tests.