Hey all!
We recently read Simon Carless’ blog on shortform video and games and as a team with plenty of experience making short form content for video games, we of course had some immediate reactions. Producing viral short-form videos on behalf of our clients, we feel we’ve learned a lot about what makes - or breaks - a short video. This is the perfect opportunity for another guide on how to market your game if you’re an indie developer looking to utilise this emergent new channel to build an audience for your video game.
Right now, much of indie game marketing revolves around shortform platforms such as Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. Videos make it much easier for potential players to quickly understand what your game is about, but it’s important to remember that each platform has its own strengths and limitations. While shortform content is great for showcasing gameplay and grabbing attention, interacting with your community often feels more natural on platforms like Twitter or BlueSky. So, how should you actually make content to showcase your game?
Identify Your Target Platforms
First and foremost, you need to figure out which platforms you want to use to promote your game. As indie developers, you may not have the time or capacity to be active on every single platform, especially since each one often requires (slightly) different versions of the same content. Also, just because a certain game performs well on one platform doesn’t necessarily mean yours will, and vice versa.
For example, you’ll typically need 16:9 videos for platforms like Twitter or BlueSky, and content formatted vertically in 9:16 for Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. The exact same content will also perform drastically different across channels, owing to their demographics and typical content style. It’s not just about the video format, either; captions need to be adapted to fit each platform if you want to play nice with the algorithm gods!
While it’s generally a good idea to have accounts across multiple platforms, it’s even more important to take the time to figure out which ones actually work best for your game before fully committing, because social media management can take a lot of time. So, make sure that you work on it within your own capabilities and don’t overreach, hoping to make it big on all of them overnight.
Choosing the “Best” Platform For Your Game
It’s recommended to always cross-post your content across all shortform platforms, since each one has different audiences and algorithms. A lot of developers assume channels like TikTok or Instagram perform similarly, but that’s not always the case as each have different audiences and prioritise varying messages. Even when a video didn’t perform as well on TikTok, we saw strong results on Instagram Reels with one of our clients’ games, Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar.
In many cases, a video that flops on one platform can perform well on another, and there’s no reliable way to predict this upfront. Because of that, it’s worth posting across all platforms instead of trying to guess where it will land. You can make subtle changes to your videos in order to nudge them towards success on one channel or another, but the algorithm is capricious and making tiny variations for every platform, and for every video will drive you insane. Follow best practice, get the video out there, learn from it, and start working on the next one.
You don’t need to worry too much about content being “less native” or suppressed for being cross-posted. From our experience, there’s no clear evidence of that. We’ve seen secondary channels’ videos go viral regardless, if they did well on other channels first. These platforms want users to engage with content on their app, not worry about where it came from.
In short, there’s no single “correct” answer here. Our in-house content creator, Mathew, shared an interesting insight that really stuck with us: more and more people are engaging less publicly and shifting towards more private spaces. Because of this, the question isn’t just about which platform you should use, but which features within those platforms matter most. Things like Instagram Stories, Close Friends, and even direct messages are becoming increasingly important touchpoints between the devs and the players. It makes building more focused communities, like Discord servers, more valuable than ever.
So while choosing the right platform is important, it’s just as crucial to think about where and how your audience actually prefers to engage!
Do All Games Work Well on Shortform Platforms?
While shortform content can work for almost any game, some types will definitely be harder to showcase than others. For example:
Games that are slow or don’t have a lot of on-screen movement. People’s attention spans are (very) short, so fast-paced gameplay keeps people engaged. There are tricks you can employ to counter this, of course.
Games that rely heavily on UI to communicate their gameplay. At a glance, it can look messy and overwhelming, and people will usually skip.
Games without a stand-out art style. You need to capture attention immediately, and a unique art style that people haven’t encountered before is an automatic hook.
Games that don’t center the action well. Videos generally perform better when they are zoomed in to fill the entire vertical frame. If you can’t tell what is going on within that small frame (usually in the center), you will have difficulties with either panning the footage around or not communicating your game effectively.
Of course, this doesn’t mean games with these challenges can’t succeed on shortform platforms. It just means you’ll need to put more thought into how you present them and experiment to find what works best for your game!
Making Shortform Videos
You’ve probably seen all kinds of different videos across social media, from informative clips to memes, or even things that are so absurd they end up being weirdly hilarious. What works for your game will be unique, so if you’ve experimented with different formats and found something that resonates with your audience, it’s worth leaning into that for future content.
A big part of social media marketing (and where you’ll likely spend most of your time) is testing what works with your audience and building on that. You can do this by experimenting with different formats, such as voice-over explanations, on-cam devlogs, gameplay clips, or simply making a low effort community poll on art assets you’re considering to add to your game!
It’s also important to test different opening hooks. These can be anything from a quick elevator pitch, a strong gameplay moment, or even a specific piece of text paired with the right sound. If something works, don’t be afraid to reuse it. Remember, for many people, it will be their first time seeing your account, so it’s okay to reuse the same elements is completely fine.
When a video performs well, take the time to break it down. Try changing the format and the hook separately to figure out what actually made it stand out. On top of that, pay attention to the comments as well, since they often tell you exactly what people like about your game. You can even turn those comments into future videos to expand on your content and create a feedback loop, encouraging more comments in turn.
A Quick Breakdown of Examples
Listening to Community Request: Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar is a puzzle game about Mittens, a secret agent cat. Because you play as a cat, we asked the community what cat animations they’d like to see, and turned the most popular suggestion into a short video once it was implemented. This type of content works well because it shows that the developers are actively listening, while also giving players a reason to engage and feel involved!
Showcase Your Game Development Progress: Woodo, one of our client projects, has been in development for quite some time, making it a great example of this type of content. This is one of the most straightforward shortform formats you can create, as it usually only requires footage comparing earlier and newer versions of your game. Content like this tends to resonate well with players, since it clearly shows how the game is evolving over time. It also doesn’t require voice-overs, as the visuals alone are often enough to communicate the changes.
What is Quantum Physics? Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar revolves around a core mechanic where Mittens can split herself into two using quantum physics. Since this is a complex concept, we needed to research it carefully and condense it into a digestible video format. Content like this is important when your game has unique or unfamiliar mechanics, as it helps your audience quickly understand what makes your game stand out! It’s a strong angle to explore when you need to communicate the core idea behind your gameplay in a clear and engaging way.
We hope this guide gives you a clearer starting point for shortform content creation. Remember that video game social media marketing is all about experimenting and finding what works for you, so don’t feel discouraged if a piece of content doesn’t perform - it’s a learning experience nonetheless for the next video. Always give yourself credit for putting it out there!
If you’re ever feeling stuck and looking for advice on how to market your game, feel free to reach out to us to brainstorm some ideas together.