Welcome to week 10 of the module indie game startup.

By the end of this week, you will be able to:

• Identify key selling points.
• Choose appropriate screenshots.
• Write compelling copy.
• Evaluate the benefits of localising a store page.

Everything’s coming together

I made a fake Steam page for our fake game, and now you can too (I had to remove the link to the static site for the fake Steam page, because Google got their pants in a twist and reported me as being deceptive 🤷). Thanks again, Mr. Zukowski - your course was a great help here (Zukowski n.d.).

Gameplay is finally screenshottable/GIFable, so by the time you see the above Steam page, it might have the final screenshots in there. In any case, here’s a little sneak peek:

Prototyping

I currently live by Renaud Forestié’s prototyping tips (Unity 2018). You don’t always need to reach for your game engine first. In fact, the prototype you see above is a mod (not just a new level, as I made my own textures).

For me, the purpose of this module was the business side of gamedev. And if you’re going to whip something up quickly to convince your team or a publisher with, you don’t always have the luxury of time to reach for your game engine first.

And not all ideas fly everytime either. So, what’s the smallest amount of work you can do in the shortest amount of time that’s required to sell someone on your idea?

I’d argue that effective and efficient prototyping is one of the most important skills you can learn as a gamedev.

Bibliography

1. ZUKOWSKI, Chris. n.d. “How To Make A Steam Page.” Available at: https://www.progamemarketing.com/p/howtomakeasteampage [accessed 3 Dec 2021].
2. UNITY. 2018. “Best Practices for Fast Game Design in Unity - Unite LA.” Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU29QKag8a0 [accessed 6 Feb 2021].