SPB

STEAM PAGE BOOST

Indie game marketing

Case study portfolio · Prepared for OriginStudio

Documented indie game campaigns, reported exactly as they were measured.

Five small-budget campaigns across Steam-facing communities, creators and social platforms. Every wishlist figure below is a campaign-reported estimate, not independently verified Steam analytics this document is written to be checked, not to impress.

Review the campaigns Read the 5,000+ wishlist answer

Documented campaigns: 5
Total spend: US$900
Traffic generated: 17,450
Estimated wishlists: ~2,730

Blended cost per estimated wishlist across the portfolio: US$0.33 — derived from reported spend ÷ estimated wishlist additions.

Executive summary

What this document is, and what it deliberately is not

OriginStudio asked for detailed evidence before deciding on a marketing partner. This portfolio presents five small-budget campaigns in full, states the measurement basis for every figure, and answers the 5,000+ wishlist question directly rather than around it.

Across five campaigns and 60 campaign days, US$900 of documented spend produced 17,450 reported visits and an estimated ~2,730 wishlist additions, at an average reported conversion rate of 15.6%. These were launch-awareness, content-update, community-momentum, event and beta-interest campaigns across Discord, Reddit, Steam Groups, X, TikTok and YouTube creator outreach.

Every wishlist figure here is a campaign-reported estimate derived from comparing the campaign window against a preceding baseline. None of them are independently verified Steam analytics, and they are labelled as estimates everywhere they appear including inside the charts. No screenshots, dashboards, testimonials, campaign URLs or creator account references are included, because none can be presented as verified.

The promotional materials section contains full copy for Galactic Conquest, Eternal Kingdoms and Neon Rebellion. That copy is reconstructed from the strategy and messaging used at the time and is labelled as a representative example on every card — it is provided so you can judge the writing quality and audience targeting, not as archived evidence of a specific post.

Documented spend

US$900

Five campaigns, US$150–210 each.

Estimated wishlists

~2,730

Estimated

Baseline-comparison estimate, not attributed Steam data.

Verified 5,000+ campaign

None claimed

See the Scale section for the full answer.

Campaign metrics

Traffic, estimated wishlists, conversion and budget

Budget, duration and channel data are documented. Wishlist and conversion figures are campaign-reported estimates and are marked as such on every chart that uses them.

Campaign	Objective	Days	Budget	Traffic	Est. wishlists	Est. conv.	Cost / visit	Cost / est. wishlist
Galactic Conquest	Launch awareness and wishlist growth	14	US$180	3,480	~510	14.7%	US$0.052	US$0.35
Eternal Kingdoms	Promote a major game/content update	14	US$210	3,860	~620	16.1%	US$0.054	US$0.34
Neon Rebellion	Community engagement and wishlist momentum	12	US$170	3,120	~490	15.7%	US$0.054	US$0.35
Velocity Legends	Event promotion and visibility	10	US$190	4,050	~655	16.2%	US$0.047	US$0.29
Dragon's Dominion	Beta sign-ups / early-access interest	10	US$150	2,940	~455	15.5%	US$0.051	US$0.33

Wishlist columns are campaign-reported estimates

Budget, duration and channel data are documented. Wishlist and conversion figures are estimates derived from campaign reporting, not from independently verified Steam analytics.

Individual case studies

Five campaigns, reported in full

Each campaign below lists its objective, duration, spend, channels, strategy and the exact basis on which its numbers were measured.

Case study 01

Galactic Conquest

Launch awareness and wishlist growth

DiscordRedditSteam GroupsXYouTube creatorsTikTok

Duration: 14 days
Budget: US$180
Traffic: 3,480
Est. wishlists: ~510
Est. conversion: 14.7%

Strategy

Target sci-fi strategy players through relevant gaming communities and creator outreach. Consistent messaging, strong gameplay visuals, repeated exposure and direct Steam-page traffic.

Measurement basis

Traffic was tracked at campaign level from the channels listed. Wishlist movement was estimated by comparing the campaign window against the preceding baseline period — this is a campaign-reported estimate, not a directly attributed Steam figure. No screenshots, dashboards or third-party verification are presented for these numbers.

YouTube creator coverage and Discord discussions produced the strongest engagement.

Case study 02

Eternal Kingdoms

Promote a major game/content update

Steam GroupsRedditYouTube creators

Duration: 14 days
Budget: US$210
Traffic: 3,860
Est. wishlists: ~620
Est. conversion: 16.1%

Strategy

Use the major content update as the marketing hook. Promote new features, update trailers and patch notes, then bring previous visitors and interested players back to the Steam page.

Measurement basis

Case study 03

Neon Rebellion

Community engagement and wishlist momentum

DiscordSteamTikTokX

Duration: 12 days
Budget: US$170
Traffic: 3,120
Est. wishlists: ~490
Est. conversion: 15.7%

Strategy

Regular development updates, gameplay clips, social content, Discord discussions and traffic directed toward the Steam page.

Measurement basis

Case study 04

Velocity Legends

Event promotion and visibility

TikTokDiscordXSteam communities

Duration: 10 days
Budget: US$190
Traffic: 4,050
Est. wishlists: ~655
Est. conversion: 16.2%

Strategy

Event-based urgency, countdown content, creator promotion and community outreach to drive attention and Steam-page visits.

Measurement basis

Case study 05

Dragon's Dominion

Beta sign-ups / early-access interest

DiscordRedditXYouTube

Duration: 10 days
Budget: US$150
Traffic: 2,940
Est. wishlists: ~455
Est. conversion: 15.5%

Strategy

Limited-access beta messaging, scarcity framing and active community discussions.

Measurement basis

Promotional materials

Campaign copy, channel by channel

Galactic Conquest, Eternal Kingdoms and Neon Rebellion in detail including the Neon Rebellion community-engagement scope and exactly what the US$170 covered.

No archived original posts, screenshots or live campaign URLs are included in this document. Everything in this section is written copy reconstructed from the campaign strategy and messaging that was used, so OriginStudio can judge the writing and targeting rather than a picture of a dashboard.

Galactic Conquest promotional materials

Campaign overview

14-day launch-awareness push on a US$180 budget, aimed at building a wishlist base before release across sci-fi strategy communities.

Audience

PC players of 4X, grand strategy and space-sim titles; Steam users following sci-fi strategy tags; strategy-focused YouTube and TikTok viewers.

Channels

Discord servers, subreddit discussions, Steam Groups, X, YouTube creator outreach, TikTok short-form.

Strategy

Consistent core message across every channel, gameplay-first visuals, repeated exposure over the 14-day window and a single clear destination: the Steam page.

Discord

Server self-promo / #indie-showcase channel post

Representative promotional example — reconstructed from campaign strategy

Been following the 4X space niche for a while and this one's scratching the itch Galactic Conquest is a sci-fi strategy game where fleet logistics matter as much as firepower. Short version: you don't just build ships, you keep them fuelled, crewed and supplied across a contested star map. Skirmishes are won before the shooting starts. Devs are active and taking feedback ahead of launch. If turn-based empire building is your thing, the Steam page has the trailer and a feature breakdown — happy to answer questions in-thread.

Text post for a strategy/4X subreddit, written to survive self-promo rules

Representative promotional example — reconstructed from campaign strategy

Title: Sci-fi 4X where supply lines can lose you the war what would you want from the logistics layer? Body: We've been working on Galactic Conquest, a turn-based space 4X. The design bet is that supply, fuel and crew fatigue should be first-class systems, not spreadsheet noise you automate away in hour two. Right now a fleet parked too far from a depot loses combat effectiveness turn over turn, so map control is really depot control. Genuinely curious what this sub thinks: which logistics systems in 4X games felt meaningful to you, and which ones felt like busywork? Steam page is linked in my profile per sub rules if you want the trailer.

Short-form ad copy, gameplay clip attached

Representative promotional example — reconstructed from campaign strategy

Your fleet is only as strong as the depot behind it. Galactic Conquest turn-based sci-fi 4X where supply lines decide the map. Wishlist on Steam.

Steam-focused copy

Steam Group announcement / capsule-adjacent short description

Representative promotional example — reconstructed from campaign strategy

GALACTIC CONQUEST Command the logistics of war. • Turn-based 4X across a contested star map • Fuel, crew and supply modelled as real constraints • Fleet doctrines you set before the battle, not during it • Emergent border conflicts driven by depot control Follow and wishlist to be notified at launch.

Creator outreach

Cold email / DM template sent to strategy YouTube channels

Representative promotional example — reconstructed from campaign strategy

Subject: Sci-fi 4X build coverage key + no content restrictions Hi [Creator], I handle marketing for Galactic Conquest, a turn-based sci-fi 4X. Your [specific video] on supply-line design is close to what the game is built around, which is why I'm reaching out rather than mass-mailing. Happy to send a build key now, no embargo, no content restrictions, and no requirement to be positive critical coverage is fine and useful to us. If it's a fit for your schedule, I can also provide b-roll, a feature list and the update timeline. If it isn't, no follow-up from me. Thanks for your time, [Name]

Eternal Kingdoms promotional materials

Campaign overview

14-day, US$210 campaign built around a major content update used as the news hook to re-engage previous visitors.

Audience

Medieval strategy and kingdom-management players; existing followers and lapsed Steam-page visitors; Reddit strategy communities and YouTube strategy creators.

Channels

Steam Groups, Reddit, YouTube creators.

Strategy

Lead with what is genuinely new features, update trailer and patch notes then route both new and returning attention back to the Steam page during the update window.

Update announcement

Steam news post / cross-posted announcement copy

Representative promotional example — reconstructed from campaign strategy

ETERNAL KINGDOMS The Succession Update is live. What's new: • Succession crises: heirs, claims and civil war when a ruler dies without a stable line • Reworked vassal loyalty opinion now decays with distance and taxation • 12 new court events and 3 diplomatic actions • Siege AI rework and performance pass on large maps Full patch notes below. If you bounced off the mid-game before, this update is aimed squarely at that stretch.

Steam Group

Group announcement to existing followers

Representative promotional example — reconstructed from campaign strategy

Members the Succession Update just shipped. The short pitch: your realm now has a future beyond your current ruler, and that future can be taken from you. New update trailer is on the store page, full notes are in the news post. If you're returning after a while, start a fresh realm the vassal loyalty rework changes early-game pacing a lot.

Update thread for medieval strategy communities

Representative promotional example — reconstructed from campaign strategy

Title: We rebuilt succession in our kingdom-management game so dying actually matters Body: Eternal Kingdoms just got its Succession Update. Previously a ruler's death was a stat swap. Now claims, heirs and vassal opinion interact, so a weak succession can hand half your realm to a rival branch. Also reworked vassal loyalty to decay with distance and tax pressure, which pushed players toward regional governance instead of one mega-blob. Patch notes and the update trailer are on the store page. Interested in how this sub handles succession systems do you prefer deterministic heirs or crisis-driven chaos?

YouTube creator pitch

Outreach email tied to the update news hook

Representative promotional example — reconstructed from campaign strategy

Subject: Eternal Kingdoms Succession Update key, timely hook Hi [Creator], Eternal Kingdoms shipped a major update today: succession crises, a vassal loyalty rework and a siege AI pass. It's a natural "is it worth returning to?" video if you covered the game before, and a clean entry point if you haven't. I can provide: a key, the full patch notes ahead of time, update trailer assets and a short call with the dev if you want design context. No content restrictions and no approval process on the video. [Name]

Neon Rebellion promotional materials

Campaign overview

12-day, US$170 campaign focused on keeping an existing audience engaged and maintaining wishlist momentum between milestones.

Audience

Cyberpunk action players, short-form gaming viewers on TikTok and X, and the game's existing Discord and Steam followers.

Channels

Discord, Steam, TikTok, X.

Strategy

Steady cadence of development updates and gameplay clips, participation in community discussion, and consistent routing of interested players toward the existing Steam page and community presence.

Discord interaction

Reply in an existing community channel during a dev-update discussion

Representative promotional example — reconstructed from campaign strategy

Good catch on the dash cancel that's intentional for now. The current window lets you cancel the recovery frames but not the startup, so it rewards reading the enemy rather than mashing. If it still feels stiff after this build, say so here; that feedback thread goes straight to the dev. New clip of the rooftop chase is in #media if you haven't seen it, and the Steam page has the latest build notes.

Development update

Written dev-update post shared to Discord, Steam and X

Representative promotional example — reconstructed from campaign strategy

DEV UPDATE #14 — Combat feel pass This build is mostly about weight: • Hit-stop tuned per weapon class instead of one global value • Dash recovery shortened by 4 frames, startup unchanged • Enemy stagger thresholds now visible in the damage numbers • Two new district ambience passes for the lower market Next up: the boss encounter rework. Clips as it comes together.

Gameplay clip caption

Caption used alongside a short gameplay capture

Representative promotional example — reconstructed from campaign strategy

No upgrades. No consumables. Just frame-perfect greed. Rooftop chase, current build Neon Rebellion.

TikTok

Short-form caption with on-screen hook

Representative promotional example — reconstructed from campaign strategy

On-screen hook: "the dash cancel changes everything" Caption: 4 frames faster and suddenly the whole fight reads differently. Indie cyberpunk action, dev build. Full clip + Steam page in bio. #indiegame #cyberpunk #gamedev #steam

Steam traffic strategy

Every piece of content in this campaign ended in the same place: a single, consistent route to the Steam page. Short-form clips carried the hook, dev updates carried the credibility, and community replies carried the invitation. Nothing was posted without a clear reason for a viewer to click through, and posting cadence was matched to the build progress so there was always something real to show.

What "community engagement" included here

• Publishing development updates and build notes on a regular cadence
• Producing and distributing gameplay clips and short-form social content
• Replying to player questions and feedback inside existing channels
• Participating in ongoing discussion threads around builds and features
• Directing interested players toward the existing Steam page and community

What it did not include

• Full-time or on-call Discord server management
• Steam forum moderation or community-manager ownership
• Running scheduled community events, tournaments or giveaways
• Administrative control of the studio's community infrastructure

Stated this way deliberately: only the activity supported by the campaign scope is claimed. If OriginStudio wants managed moderation or event operations, that is a separate, larger scope of work and should be priced as one.

What the US$170 covered: 12 days of content production and distribution across Discord, Steam, TikTok and X — dev-update writing, clip selection and captioning, scheduled posting, in-channel audience interaction, and traffic routing to the Steam page. It did not cover paid creator placements, paid ad spend, video production beyond capture and editing of existing build footage, or ongoing community management outside the 12-day window.

Marketing methodology

How a campaign is actually executed

A six-step process applied consistently across the campaigns in this portfolio.

Game & audience research

Play or review the build, read the store page as a stranger would, and identify the three or four specific reasons a player would click 'wishlist'. Map the comparable titles, tags and subgenres that actually share an audience not the ones the game aspires to.

Audience & community identification

Build a working list of the specific Discord servers, subreddits, Steam Groups, creators and hashtags where that audience already gathers. Each entry gets a note on its rules, tone and self-promotion policy before anything is posted.

Messaging & creative preparation

Write one core message and adapt it per platform rather than reposting identical copy. Prepare clips, stills and captions in advance so the campaign runs on a schedule instead of improvising daily.

Creator & community outreach

Contact creators individually with a reason tied to their existing content, offer keys and assets without content restrictions, and participate in communities as a contributor rather than dropping links and leaving.

Traffic & engagement monitoring

Track what each channel is producing during the campaign window — clicks, replies, saves, comment sentiment — and reallocate effort toward whatever is actually moving, usually by day three or four.

Optimisation & reporting

Cut underperforming channels, double down on the ones working, and report at the end with the measurement basis stated plainly: what was counted directly, what was inferred, and what remains an estimate.

Tracking & measurement

How future campaigns should be measured more rigorously

The weakest part of the work shown here is attribution. This is how that would be fixed before a single post goes out for OriginStudio.

Estimated wishlist growth

A figure inferred by comparing wishlist movement during the campaign window against a preceding baseline, without per-source attribution. It is directional. It can be inflated by unrelated activity a sale, a festival, an algorithmic spike and it can equally understate a campaign whose effect lands after the window closes. Every wishlist number in this portfolio is of this type.

Directly verified wishlist attribution

A figure where tracked traffic from a named source can be reconciled against Steam-side wishlist reporting for the same window, with the tracking infrastructure in place before the campaign starts. This requires partner-level Steam access and UTM discipline from day one. No campaign in this portfolio is presented at this standard.

Steam traffic sources
Use the Steam partner traffic breakdown to see which external referrers actually delivered visits during the window.
UTM links
Every outbound link carries source, medium and campaign parameters so channel performance is separable after the fact.
Unique campaign links
One distinct link per campaign so overlapping activity doesn't contaminate a single reporting bucket.
Creator-specific tracking links
Each creator gets their own link, which makes paid placements measurable and renewal decisions defensible.
Discord / Reddit referral tracking
Where platform rules allow, per-server and per-thread links; where they don't, that limitation is reported rather than guessed around.
Click-through rate
Impressions or reach against clicks, to separate a creative problem from a targeting problem.

Conversion rate
Visits against wishlist additions, reported with the attribution method stated.
Wishlist additions
Taken from Steam's own wishlist reporting for the window, compared against a pre-campaign baseline.
Cost per visitor
Spend ÷ tracked visits the cleanest efficiency number available at small budgets.
Cost per wishlist
Spend ÷ attributed wishlist additions, reported separately from spend ÷ estimated additions.
Campaign-level attribution
A single reconciled view that combines Steam-side data with UTM/referral data instead of relying on either alone.

Steam attribution varies with the tracking setup: UTM parameters can be stripped by some apps and browsers, referral data from Discord and Reddit is often partial, and Steam's own traffic reporting groups sources differently from the platforms sending them. Because of that, the most reliable future reporting combines Steam-side data with UTM and referral data and states where the two disagree — rather than presenting a single confident number.

Blended cost per visit

US$0.052

Documented spend ÷ reported visits

Blended cost per est. wishlist

US$0.33

Uses estimated wishlist figures

Total campaign days

Across five documented campaigns

Scale

Scale & 5,000+ Wishlist Campaign Experience

The direct answer to the campaign-scale question in OriginStudio's brief.

Direct answer to the request

The campaigns presented here represent smaller documented campaign examples. The available portfolio does not contain independently verified evidence of a single 5,000+ wishlist campaign, so no 5,000+ figure is being presented as verified.

Fabricating one would be easy and would be worthless to you the first time it was checked. What follows instead is an honest account of what separates the documented work below from a campaign operating at that scale.

Current documented campaign scale

Hundreds of estimated wishlist additions

Budgets of US$150–210, windows of 10–14 days, three to six channels per campaign, and estimated rather than attributed wishlist reporting. This is real, small, well-documented work presented as exactly that.

Potential larger campaign

Requires more volume, coverage, duration and tracking

Reaching a materially larger result depends on increased audience volume, broader creator coverage, a longer campaign window and real attribution infrastructure — each of which has to be built, not assumed.

What larger-scale campaigns would require

Larger creator outreach across more channels and tiers
A wider set of relevant communities, researched individually
Longer campaign duration with sustained cadence
Paid creator placements where the audience fit justifies them
PR outreach to press and curators
Community activation around real milestones
A consistent social content pipeline, not one-off posts
Steam-focused traffic generation tied to festivals and events
Attribution and UTM tracking configured before launch
A dedicated testing budget for creative and targeting

One caveat stated plainly: increasing budget does not automatically produce proportional wishlist growth. Larger spend buys more reach and more testing capacity, but results depend on the game's appeal, the store page, timing, genre demand and creator fit. Anyone quoting you a wishlist number from a budget number alone is guessing.

Client application

What this means for Creator Chronicles

How the lessons from these campaigns would be adapted to an RPG / simulation title with a guild-management core.

Creator Chronicles sits at the intersection of RPG, simulation and guild management an audience that is smaller than "RPG players" in general, but far easier to reach precisely because it is specific. The lesson that transfers most directly from the campaigns above is that narrow, genuinely relevant communities and a small number of well-matched creators outperformed broad social reach at every budget level tested.

The second lesson is about measurement. Every number in this document is an estimate because the tracking was retrofitted rather than designed in. For OriginStudio, attribution would be configured before the first post goes out, so the reporting you receive can be checked against your own Steam data rather than taken on trust.

English-speaking markets

Primary focus for launch messaging, creator outreach and community participation.

RPG players

Reached through character-progression and systems-depth framing rather than generic fantasy positioning.

Simulation players

Respond to systems transparency show the mechanics working, not a cinematic.

Strategy players

Respond to decision consequence; lead with the trade-offs the game asks them to make.

Guild-management audiences

A specific, underserved niche worth its own messaging track and its own community list.

Steam communities

Groups, curators and adjacent-title discussion, all routed to a store page built to convert.

YouTube creators

Long-form systems breakdowns; the strongest performer in the Galactic Conquest campaign.

TikTok gaming audiences

Short-form hooks around single mechanics, used for reach rather than direct conversion.

Reddit communities

Discussion-first participation inside rules, using genuine design questions as the entry point.

Discord communities

Sustained presence in servers where the audience already talks, not drive-by link drops.

HOW THE ENGAGEMENT SHOULD START

No wishlist number is being promised, because no honest one can be promised before a single test has run. The recommended approach is to begin with a measurable test phase: a limited budget across three or four channels, full UTM and creator-link tracking from day one, and a short reporting window that separates what worked from what merely looked busy. Whatever the test shows is then scaled and whatever it disproves is dropped, in writing.

Next step

Build the campaign around measurable player acquisition, not vanity metrics.

If this document reads the way you want your own reporting to read, the next step is a short scoping conversation: the Creator Chronicles store page, the target launch window, the budget you're willing to test with, and the tracking access needed to report honestly.

Re-read the campaign evidence Review the tracking plan

Disclosure — This portfolio contains no analytics screenshots, Steam dashboards, UTM verification reports, client testimonials, creator or community account references, campaign URLs or payment records, because none can be presented as independently verified. All wishlist figures are campaign-reported estimates. All promotional copy shown is reconstructed from campaign strategy and labelled as a representative example, not an archived original post. Budgets, durations and channel lists reflect the campaigns as run.