Feel Confident marketing your game
Three years ago I wrote a post for first-time game devs on how to actually finish a game. I outlined what a “small” game was and how to actually accomplish it. The TL;DR of my advice was basically make a game that plays like one released pre-1981. Focus on simple Continue Reading
(Or really any sale but the winter sale is what is happening right now) We are about 1 week into the Steam Winter sale. You probably sent out the obligatory “My game is on sale for X% off” tweet right? Well you are not done yet. Here are 5 things Continue Reading
Today I wanted to share with you the inspiring story of how the developer of Kingdom Workshop methodically updated his Steam page’s tags and capsule art to improve from a meager 5-wishlists-a-day to a healthy 20-a-day. Look at this graph of his game’s wishlist history during 2020. Can you see Continue Reading
In October Steam hosted its second festival featuring unreleased games. You can still see the page here. I reached out to as many developers who appeared in the festival to see if they would share their numbers with me with the goal of understanding how the festival does in promoting Continue Reading
A good Steam page is not necessary to have a hit game. I look at hundreds of Steam pages and I have to tell you that AAA, or big studio games usually have the least optimized pages: wrong tags, boring short descriptions, long long long trailers and screenshots that are Continue Reading
Last week I talked about tagging procedures on Steam (See Steam 101: How to Tag Your Game). Tagging is hard. I have found cases where well meaning indie devs incorrectly tag their game and inadvertent opt their game into a very selective subculture like some clueless tourist committing a faux-pas Continue Reading
Today I want to cover something that people who are new to Steam often have a problem with: Tags. If you have a couple games on Steam this post might be a bit basic but stick around because there are always little tricks that are worth reviewing. Why bother? What Continue Reading
Elections are just giant, (thankfully) temporary marketing campaigns. When I was 22 I got my first exposure to marketing when I served a minor role on an insignificant state-wide campaign in Arizona. The position was minor but I learned a lot and I figure this year’s election would be a Continue Reading
Making a capsule that accurately captures the mood and feeling of your game and yet also attracts players is a very tricky thing. It is my belief that your capsule should be interesting but also should have subtle clues that signal players as to your game’s genre. If you look Continue Reading
NOTE: This article has been updated. This one is still important to read, but you can find even more details and more information in the 2022 version of this study: What Genres Are Popular on Steam in 2022. One of the findings from the Summer Festival (which I wrote up Continue Reading