How To Write Sales Copy For Your Steam Page In 5 Easy Steps: For Small Indie Game Devs
If you're a small indie dev, and you have NO idea what to write on your Steam Page so that it motivates customers to wishlist your game, or join your Discord, or buy your game, then here's a simple 5 step formula...
Steam Page Basics: The Five Fundamentals
After writing online sales pages and ads for 20 years, I learned there are 5 fundamental steps:
Step 1: Get a customer's attention with a headline (Short Description)
Step 2: Hold their interest by showing your game's advantage
Step 3: Show them the advantage in action
Step 4: Personalize your store page
Step 5: Ask for action
So pause right now. Go grab a pen and paper. Or open a Google document. I want you to follow along and take notes. And at the end of this video, you'll have your Steam Page marketing copy all done.
Ok, ready? Let's go through each one, and start building the sales copy on your Steam Page so that it helps you increase wishlists or discord follower or game sales...
Step 1: Get Attention With A Headline (I.E. Your Short Description)
Let's work on your Short Description first. This is your "elevator pitch". Its only job is to stop the player from scrolling Steam, and grab their attention. That's it.
But the biggest mistake I see with most Short Descriptions is that people try to add flair and drama when describing their game -- because it sounds persuasive.
Let me show you what I mean. I took an actual game's Short Description, and added my own flair and drama to make it sound exciting and persuasive:
"Alone, you are on a whimsical odyssey through shifting depths and surreal encounters. By day, drift through enigmatic currents; by night, surrender to a dreamlike ritual of taste and tradition. Follow our hero and his eccentric companions as they unravel echoes of a secret long forgotten world."
When you read that Short Description, can you tell me what this game is? what genre is it? and what do you do in this game? No, not at all.
Now let me read you the actual Short Description:
"A casual, singleplayer adventure RPG featuring deep-sea exploration and fishing during the day and sushi restaurant management at night. Join Dave and his quirky friends as they seek to uncover the secrets of the mysterious Blue Hole."
Even if you don't know this game, you know what the game is (a casual singleplayer adventure RPG), and what you do (fish during the day, run a restaurant at night).
Btw, that is the Short Description from Dave the Diver:
The secret to an attention-grabbing Short Description isn't flair, or drama, or trying to add excitement.
Yeah, if you're a studio of 50 people, and you got a big publisher funding you, making an epic AAA game... then yes, this drama, mystery, and curiosity-building tone works.
But if you're a small indie game studio working hard to make a quality game, with a limited budget, and no buzz, then the secret to grabbing attention is simplicity and specificity.
By using concrete words and tangible settings and themes, it makes it easier for your potential customer to IMAGINE themselves playing the game.
For example:
It's hard for a player to imagine: "Alone, you are on a whimsical odyssey through shifting depths and surreal encounters".
But when a player reads: "A casual, singleplayer adventure RPG featuring deep-sea exploration and fishing..." they know instantly what this game is, and who it's for.
Yes, it might sound dry and boring. But when a player reads concrete words like "fish during the day and run a sushi restaurant at night", there is no ambiguity. And in 3 seconds the player can imagine themselves doing that.
Same with the setting. In Dave the Diver you "seek to uncover the secrets of the mysterious Blue Hole". The phrase "Blue Hole" is concrete, simple, and tangible. A player can imagine a Blue Hole in the sea.
But if a player reads: "unravel echoes of a secret long forgotten world" -- that can mean anything. It's hard for a player to imagine that because "long forgotten worlds" can apply to a lot of games, and it basically means nothing.
So the secret to an attention-grabbing Short Description is specificity. By being specific, it forces you to come up with an "elevator pitch" that people can understand clearly in less than 5 seconds. It makes it easy for the player to IMAGINE themselves playing your game.
So how do you do this exactly? How do you write a Short Description so that it is attention-grabbing and makes it easy for the player to IMAGINE themselves doing all those things in your game, and in your setting?
Well, get your pen or keyboard ready... and write these four questions down:
1. What sub-genre is your game?
2. What action does the player get to do?
3. What's your game's setting or theme?
4. What's one unique appeal your game does that others don't in your genre?
Write a lot. Put down as many ideas as you can. Right now you're just getting all the "raw material" for your Short Description.
Once you have all your ideas down (i.e. your "raw material"), then start crafting your Short Description.
And the formula I like to use when building a Short Description:
1. Your game's sub-genre
2. Action your player gets to do
3. Your setting
4. Unique appeal
For example, here's one I made up:
"Motocross Mayhem is a 2d rhythm-based action platformer where you race your dirtbike across 30 different obstacle courses -- each one getting harder and harder. Think Geometry Dash but instead you're a dude on a dirtbike."
Let me break that down...
1. Game's genre: 2d rhythm-based action platformer
2. Player actions: race dirtbike
3. Setting: dirt track, 30 different obstacle courses
4. Unique appeal: people who love Geometry Dash but instead of controlling a block, it's a character on a dirtbike
Again, the idea is to make it easy for the player to imagine themselves playing this game.
Ok, once your Short-Description has grabbed your potential customer's attention, let's now work on HOLDING that attention.
Step 2: Hold Their Interest by Describing Your Game's Advantages
Now, the job of your Long Description (the area below "About This Game") is to HOLD a player's interest. Because the more they learn about your game, and see its appeal, the more motivated they'll be to take action like wishlisting or buying your game.
This is why most game devs want YouTubers to talk about their game. YouTubers are great at holding an audience's attention. And the more time that audience spends learning about your game, the higher the chance they will want to wishlist it or buy it.
It's the same idea here. The longer a potential customer spends learning about your game, the more they will convince themselves that they need to play your game.
But how do you hold their attention?
Well, customers are always asking themselves...
"What will this game do for me?!"
If you can answer that, then you can hold their attention.
But what most game devs do in their Long Description, is they simply list a bunch of features. But simply listing a bunch of features isn't going to hold that much attention. That's because it's more about YOU and less about them.
To actually "sell" your features so that it excites a player to want to play and buy your game, you need to show them what your game will DO for them.
Let me show you exactly how to do that...
The secret is very simple. By simply changing the focus away from YOU and putting the focus on your PLAYER, the player will right away see "what this game can do for me".
For example, a feature in the game is to dig to find resources.
And say I describe this dig feature like so:
"Dig tunnels underground to search for resources and materials. And uncover powerful hidden artifacts."
This is where most game devs stop when describing their features. But the gamer is still left asking...
"Yeah, so what? what does this do for me?!"
Now let's look at an actual example...
In the game Dome Keeper, they have the same dig feature. But the way they describe it, they do so by putting the focus on the player.
Here's the actual description:
"Drill tunnels beneath your dome in search of precious materials or to uncover powerful hidden artifacts. Watch the time, you need to get back to the dome and be ready when the next wave of attack comes. How deep will you get this time? How much can you carry back?"
Notice how they added, "Watch the time, you need to get back...", and so on?
This subtle shift in tone is the secret. And the secret is to add the word YOU. And they talk about YOU have to watch time, and YOU have to get back in time before a wave comes.
This is how you show a player an ADVANTAGE.
Most game devs stop at just describing what the feature is. But to really "sell" those features you need to put the focus on the player.
So to help you do that, get your pen and keyboard ready... and answer these three simple questions:
First, pick a feature. Then ask...
1. How does the feature work?
2. What will happen if the player performs the task successfully?
3. What will happen if the player fails at the task?
So for example, in my Motocross Mayhem game idea. One feature in my game is platforming.
1. How does this feature work? The game starts automatically. And you gotta use your mouse click to jump, space bar to break and slow down, and avoid obstacles that come at you.
2. What will happen if the player performs the task successfully? If they avoid all the obstacles all the way to the finish line, they go onto the next course, which is more difficult than the last.
3. What will happen if the player fails at the task? If they hit an obstacle, they go right back to the very beginning and have to do the course all over again.
So write down all the ideas that come to mind. Write a lot. Again, this is your "raw material" you'll use to come up with a description for that feature.
What's most important here is to shift attention away from YOU and put the focus on the PLAYER. By asking yourself what will happen if the player pulls off a task... or what will happen if they fail at the task... you put the spotlight on the player, and make it easier for them to know "what your game will do for THEM".
And that's the secret to holding attention and interest.
But telling a player "what your game will do for them" isn't enough to motivate them. You still have to demonstrate that in action by SHOWING them what your game will do for them.
So let's do that next...
Step 3: Show Them The Advantage In Action
This is where you now use your screenshots and animated gifs / movies to show that advantage in action.
So for example, if you go to Dome Keeper's Steam Page, and jump to their Long Description, you'll see: Dig, Defend, Develop. And with each feature, they have an animation showing how that feature works.
This might seem obvious, but a lot of small indie game Steam Pages don't do this... they don't add any animations tied to their features.
Or if they do add animations, they're random. A game dev will pick out an animation because they think it looks cool or interesting. Then they'll plop in the Long Description section. And that's it.
But to the player, the animation needs context. A cool or interesting animation means nothing to them if they can't tie it back to "what will the game do for me".
So here's the structure I would use:
1. Animation
2. Title
3. Description
Or...
1. Title
2. Description
3. Animation
And use this structure for each of your features.
It's important to layout your Long Description like this because it makes it easy to read and scroll through. Walls of texts are intimidating, and hard to read.
Ok, next...
Step 4: Personalize Your Store Page
Your potential customer wants to feel good about you and your game. Is your game fun? Is your game worth the value? Do I trust your game isn't broken?
The more comfortable someone feels about buying from you, the more likely they will do so.
That's why I recommend that below your Features, you have a section talking about you.
Talk about games that inspired you to make this game. Talk about how you scrambled a small team to make this game. Talk about how long it took.
Most indie devs don't do this because I think they fear it makes them sound amateurish. On the contrary, it makes your studio feel personal.
Big businesses spend a lot of time looking personal. Look at Phil Spencer. I have no doubt he's a decent person, and his relatability is genuine. But he's also a corporate exec who thinks about the "bottom line" and will cut jobs if he has to.
My point is, being personal helps sell. That's because when you personalize your studio, you prevent turning your game into a commodity.
Step 5: Ask For Action
Let's say you come over. And I tell you that there's bread on the counter, meat and cheese in the fridge... go help yourself and make a sandwich. And there's coffee in the pot. Go pour some if you want. If I said that, you'd probably say you're not hungry. You probably won't go to my fridge and make yourself a sandwich.
But if you come over, and I have a plate of sandwiches, or cookies, and coffee setup for you, or drinks, and I tell you to grab what you want, then you're more likely to take action.
It's the same with your Steam Page. Don't assume that a potential customer will take action. Just because you have a button on your Steam Page, customers aren't going to push it.
So you have to make it very easy for them to push that button.
How?
Well, at the very bottom of your Long Description, you need to embed a Steam Wishlist Button, or Buy button. Or if you are going for Discord followers, embed your Discord invite code here.
Here's more info on how to embed Steam's Widgets on your Page:
Again, this is important because people are lazy. A player might get to the very bottom of your Long Description, love your game, but they might not scroll back up to click the wishlist button.
So remove any friction. And add this button at the very bottom of your Long Description.
All The Steps And Formulas In One Spot
Ok, to make it easy for you, here's everything you just learned:
Step 1: Get a customer's attention with a headline (Short Description)
The Short Description's job is to grab a player's attention.
Highlights:
• Be specific, simple
• Use concrete, tangible words
• Make it easy for the player to imagine what your game is
Formula:
1. Your game's sub-genre
2. Actions your player gets to do
3. Your setting
4. Unique appeal
Step 2: Hold their interest by showing your game's advantage
Your Long Description's job is to hold interest.
Highlights:
• Player is always asking, "What will the game do for me?!"
• Instead of listing all your features, also show an advantage
• To do that, simply change the focus from you onto the player
Formula:
1. How does the feature work?
2. What will happen if the player performs the task successfully?
3. What will happen if the player fails at the task?
Step 3: Show them the advantage in action
For each feature, make sure to have an animated gif / movie showing how that advantage works. And make it easy for your customer to scroll through your Long Description.
Formula for each feature:
1. Animation
2. Title
3. Description
Or...
1. Title
2. Description
3. Animation
Step 4: Personalize your store page
Personalize your studio by talking a bit about yourself. People want to buy from people, not from nameless faceless corporations.
Step 5: Ask for action
At the bottom of your Long Description, embed a Steam Widget (wishlist button or buy button). Or embed a link to your Discord invite.
And there, my friend, is how to write the sales copy for your Steam Page so that you increase wishlist, or discord followers or game sales.
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Thanks for reading! And good luck with writing the sales copy on your Steam Page. I hope it helps you find players, get wishlists, get game sales!
Later!
Dariusz Konrad
Email: dariusz at mainquestmarketing dot com
Discord Username: dariuszkonrad
LinkedIn: My entrepreneurial successes
Work: Game devs I've helped so far