You’re right, that’s a different one - I am not sure on that. I was planning to ask down the line when HB is getting towards being released.
What I will say on this is that it isn’t something that can come from top-down (99.9% of the time, CoG staff aren’t involved with WIPs until they’re submitted for publication) or from moderators either (although @Eiwynn is doing a fantastic job with the writer support threads which are a lovely more centralised space for discussion, and I’ve been trying out the monthly list of updates which seems to be going well). In all honesty there isn’t really a single reliable way to push readers to try something they wouldn’t already have an interest in.
Most of the small handful of extraordinarily active WIP threads on here are almost entirely:
a) from extremely popular years-long series with existing enthusiastic fanbases
b) went viral elsewhere which boosts discussion here from new users
c) have been through a years-long development, steadily building discussion (which can then turn into a) if another game comes out in the series)
d) have high amounts of drama/arguments or otherwise generally aren’t really about giving feedback
a) and c) can be attempted by working very hard over a long period of time: focusing on writing the game, putting up regular updates or regular progress reports, perhaps providing discussion prompts to readers, creating supplementary material (though I’d argue that there’s a danger there of distraction from the main project so beware!) and so on.
b) is gold for professional marketing teams but it’s not really sensible for people here to aim for those heights because luck is such a big part of it.
d) isn’t, for me, really desirable as an author because while of course it’s exciting to see post numbers going up and people getting excited about a game, there are downsides that come with it too.
So, none of these things are easy to replicate quickly (and like I say some may not be desirable anyway) as a new or even an established author and I wouldn’t really advise trying to aim for that because it likely won’t reach such high levels of activity anyway.
A more reliable way to get eyeballs on a game is for an author to write something to the best of their ability, play it themself at least a few times, do a spellcheck, make sure it passes QuickTest and RandomTest, and write their initial WIP post in a way that’s easy to understand at a glance. When I collate my monthly lists, I sometimes see games that could well be very good, but the posts at the top of their WIP thread have a lot of errors or aren’t easy to grasp. Which is a shame because I imagine that’s part of how those games get overlooked.
Putting up a substantial chunk of the game - not an exact science, but there needs to be enough for players to get a sense of what the game’s going to be like to play - is very helpful. It is also immensely useful to play lots of games, popular and unpopular, whether you enjoy them or not, to get a sense of what might gain interest but also crucially what you find interesting to create.
And to paraphrase @Jacic, who I’ve seen say something like this many times: a really good way for authors to encourage people to look more at their WIPs is to connect with other WIP authors, give comments and support, and show that you have interesting things to say about writing. Which isn’t to say be mercenary about it, but playing a variety of games and talking about them has a positive effect for everyone involved.
Recommendations are also great: there are a couple of megathreads for them:
People should absolutely feel free to post recommendations in those with details of why they liked a game.