Originally Posted by
mala
thats not what toribash is about its not a moneymaking game
none of the tiktoks encompassed the entire scope of what the game is about either
if you look at the page its all replaymaking stuff with some mma mixed in which is because the guy who runs the page, matarika, has a heavy bias for just those two things
I'm of the opinion that Toribash marketing really should cover all aspects of the game. Simply posting replays is a problematic way to set people's expectations, for reasons that can be pulled from elsewhere in this thread. People need to get creative with what they show, mixing in gameplay, what it's like to engage with the community, different playstyles, and generally interesting things that aren't just replays.
Originally Posted by
sir
Discord is a good enough hub for most casual community talk and has been a great replacement to IRC, and we do have a quick access button for our server in game that's visible most of the time you're browsing menus.
The quote I chose isn't all that relevant, but I want to say that I think integration with the community is a really key part of retention. Like obviously it is, but especially in a game where there are so many commands that are only spread through word of mouth. Just today I spoke to a third dan who thought you can only download mods through joining rooms, and I had to tell them the command for it. I have no idea how else you would find the command to do this simple, core thing other than by doing /help and running through every single command. The hilarious part is that /dl doesn't even work for everybody as far as I know. My point here is that onboarding people into the community is kind of the only way for them to learn some really important features, so stuff like the discord should reallllyyy be pushed because it's where so much of that important knowledge and feedback is contained.
Originally Posted by
jsph
while Toribash's retention issues are complicated, this specific aspect of it is really simple - when you first start, it is difficult to earnestly frame what you engage with after the tutorial as a 'game'. the closest analogy off the top of my head is like handing a child a piece of blank paper and pen and asking them to try and have fun. it's of course possible, but asking the player immediately to make their own fun, figure out a way for them to gamify it themselves, especially with a task much more demanding than doodling - it's really no surprise people bounce off it so quickly. there are many, many issues with how the game is initially presented to new players, and many ways to rectify that, and i think the best way to get on track is more people actually looking at what that's like
I've bookmarked this page so I can link to this message whenever this subject comes up
Originally Posted by
Zorow
out of the thousands of players that visit this game semi regularly, is there not a single one that has a fairly large following, that could be drawing in attention.
Oh have you ever seen the minecraft youtuber Skip The Tutorial? He has a second channel where he posted a Toribash video last month. It actually resulted in a viewership spike on my own Toribash youtube channel, mostly from people simply searching "toribash". A few of my shorts went from <1000 views to 2k views because of this. Toribash 100% has a place in 2025 content, but content creators don't think to revisit this game usually. It's not a new trending thing so like... why would they? Honestly I think Toribash's best chance of a proper mainstream youtube video hit is a video essay on some interesting history about the game and its community. I see comments all the time that are like "woahh this game isn't a fever dream? I only had trace memories from it from middle school but could never find the name." I think that's the perfect audience for a video explaining where Toribash has been and how it's evolved. Someone clicking balls and struggling to move, or clicking balls and succeeding to move in a way that the viewer cannot comprehend, seems like a somewhat less engaging idea to me.
Truthfully, I think the power lies in the community itself. You all self-evidently have online presence, and many of you have social media presence. As Sir said, this is a very community-driven game. I think it would be a great first step for people to post about Toribash regularly in whatever way they want, just like how people post about whatever Roblox game they play or whatever escapades they go on in Minecraft. But right now I think the stigma is to not talk about Toribash outside of Toribash Discord circles because... it's too nerdy or something? Toribash discussion feels very much contained to Discord for me, and I think people should work to dissolve those barriers. Markiplier is not going to wake up one day and decide to save us by making a sequel video on Toribash. It would be best if Nabi had the resources for a proper ad campaign, but they barely have enough to make a sequel game that is playable. Marketing duty falls on this circle of dedicated players, I think. And I think these players have enough dedication to sustain interest in Toribash. The community just has to put the same effort that they put into whining about staff on the forums into making a video about... idk maybe whining about staff! Any content really! People just don't do it and that gap should really be filled. Results will come from our own action, our own expression of our genuine interest.