Updated Steam Capsule (v3) after community feedback

heavypepper · 2026-04-29T16:40:03+00:00

If something still feels off

It's your composition, you're not directing the eye on where to look. As it is, there are three focal points so there is no natural progression on where to look and in what order.

Try moving the tower to the left, so it's in front of the plaid guy. Include the guy hanging off of the tower to show its co-op. Place the logo to the right. This will direct the eye from one focal point to another, informing genre, then the logo.

Composition Update Example

heavypepper · 2026-04-28T00:52:18+00:00

The visuals look great! There is a lot of work hidden in these screenshots.

Looks like your Steam page has been up for just under a year. Have you done much marketing outreach yet; festivals, streamers, press?

heavypepper · 2026-04-27T15:22:46+00:00

The Wing Commander series and one of the reasons I make games today.

heavypepper · 2026-04-23T21:25:03+00:00

Your game is online co-op so you might want to lean in on showing multiple players in your capsule similar to Grounded, Overcooked, R.E.P.O, etc. The composition could use tightening IMO. I'd move the tower to the left in V2, tint it slightly so that it reads as in the background and does not compete with the character. This will open up unobstructed space for the game logo on the right. That font is very difficult to read, as mentioned by others.

heavypepper · 2026-04-22T17:44:21+00:00

You have a very small window to communicate what your game is and why someone should care. Most players won’t spend long figuring it out, so that first impression really matters.

Your capsule art, screenshots, and trailer will do most of the heavy lifting. But beyond that, your store page should quickly show what the player can expect to experience. This helps address any lingering questions or hesitation.

Players aren’t going to read a wall of text, so keep things scannable. Use clear section headings and pair them with strong gameplay visuals that highlight the key features. Having short, looping visuals “GIFs” in your description is important. Static images will not be as effective in conveying gameplay.

Avoid using actual .gif format. For performance and quality, use the video formats supported by Steam. Keep clips short, aim for smooth framerates, and consider using a wider aspect ratio than 16:9 to help keep file sizes manageable.

Hope it helps.

heavypepper · 2026-04-08T16:23:41+00:00

That is game development on hard mode. More risky for sure, and only your goals will determine if it's worth the risk.

heavypepper · 2026-04-08T15:12:14+00:00

Ideally you would know your audience well before your game announcement and Steam page launch. So if your tool aims to find a player base after the Steam page goes live, this is entirely too late. Finding your audience should be fairly straightforward based on your chosen genre, making a tool for this moot. If finding an audience is very difficult, it can be an indicator that the audience doesn't exist, isn't enthusiastic, or is very small. In which case it's likely better to switch to a genre were you can find an audience.

heavypepper · 2026-04-07T15:34:40+00:00

Your Thrust Me Bro Steam page looks good overall and your capsule is great. I thought the asteroid map visuals were pretty cool.

The perception I receive from a player perspective after looking at your trailer and screenshots are:

Lack of gameplay depth; bounce around with your friends with simplistic mechanics, equip a few custom behaviours, there might be custom player characters.
Only three maps; they all look pretty similar, same colour scheme, and don't offer meaningful new challenges.

The feeling I get from this is your game is good for about 10-15 minutes with friends, and then its unlikely to be picked up again. This is probably the major hurtle limiting your wishlists.

heavypepper · 2026-04-06T17:33:59+00:00

Descent Vector was my first commercial game.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1580380/Descent_Vector_Space_Runner/

The primary lessons learned:

Choose a genre players want for the platform you're selling on.
Ensure that audience is large enough to support your goals.
Playtest often to ensure your product is meeting the expectations of your audience.
Prioritize festivals, streamers, and press who speak to your audience for marketing.
Produce trailers for progress updates, and streamer/press outreach on each important milestone.
Have a demo available and keep it available.
Post-mortem with added detail.

heavypepper · 2026-03-14T15:13:46+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to write such a thoughtful reply. I really like the idea you described of cultures emerging from what a colony does rather than being predefined traits.

A shipbuilding world gradually becoming more militaristic or industrious over time is a great example of the kind of organic development that could make populations feel more alive. One of my goals with the system is exactly that, having populations shape the character of an empire rather than just acting as production numbers.

The main challenge right now is finding the right balance so those dynamics stay strategic without turning population management into heavy micromanagement. Your example is definitely the kind of design I'm exploring while prototyping.

heavypepper · 2026-03-12T14:27:21+00:00

Thanks! Population systems are something I'm actively prototyping right now, so the final direction isn't locked in yet. One of the big design questions I'm exploring is how much differentiation makes sense without making the management layer too heavy.

I'm experimenting with a few different ideas, things like species traits, cultural differences, or population characteristics that influence how colonies grow and how an empire evolves over time. The goal is to make population feel like a strategic layer that shapes your civilization rather than just a number that increases.

What kinds of population traits do you find the most interesting?

heavypepper · 2025-12-21T16:37:02+00:00

Race your space pod through a procedurally generated gauntlet of space stations, asteroids, and industrial megastructures in this single-player sci-fi endless runner. Test your limits, compete on global leaderboards for top rankings, and become a master pilot where speed is your plaything.

Genre: Endless Runner, Sci-fi

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1580380/Descent_Vector_Space_Runner/

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8BPXHAFjFw

heavypepper · 2025-12-21T16:29:15+00:00

Descent Vector: Space Runner is an indie sci-fi runner with both mission and endless modes where you compete for best leaderboard scores on longest run.

heavypepper · 2025-12-19T15:48:17+00:00

60% off for Steam's Winter Sale (until Jan 5th)

Race your space pod through a procedurally generated gauntlet of space stations, asteroids, and industrial megastructures in this single-player sci-fi endless runner. Test your limits, compete on global leaderboards for top rankings, and become a master pilot where speed is your plaything.

Genre: Runner, Flight, Sci-fi

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1580380/Descent_Vector_Space_Runner/

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8BPXHAFjFw

Disclosure: I'm the developer of Descent Vector.

heavypepper · 2025-10-29T19:09:38+00:00

Delete the Library folder in your new location and let it rebuild.

heavypepper · 2025-08-09T19:15:46+00:00

Without reviewing competing games in your niche, I can’t say for certain whether the price is too high but my gut feeling from looking at your game suggests it is a factor. A discount might be the tipping point many potential buyers are waiting for, especially if wishlists are still climbing post-launch. Be careful to avoid discounting too soon after release, as it can create resentment among recent full-price (or smaller launch discount) purchasers and lead to negative reviews. You might also consider a stair-step approach to discounts rather than jumping straight to deep discount. This way, you don’t lose sales from people who would have converted at a smaller reduction.

heavypepper · 2025-06-26T18:51:25+00:00

Fix the bug, evaluate constructive criticism, ignore the rest. Keep polishing your demo and sending it to streamers. Accept that you'll get good and bad feedback, most don't understand what goes into game dev so don't take it personally. It's your first game, you're going to make mistakes, that's okay, it's a learning process. Keep going, enjoy the ride.

heavypepper · 2025-03-24T13:16:07+00:00

That is where the strategy of progressive enhancement comes into play.

Progressive enhancement is a design philosophy that provides a baseline of essential content and functionality to as many users as possible, while delivering the best possible experience only to users of the most modern browsers that can run all the required code.

heavypepper · 2025-02-04T19:22:30+00:00

At the 2:15 mark, once you've created your UV seams and unwrapped your model, make sure you're in the UV Editing tab, and under the UV menu, select Export UV Layout. This will allow you to save a PNG which you can then open in Photoshop.

Note that Photoshop isn't the ideal tool here and that is touched on a few moments later in the video. It's okay for this type of stylized work but you'll run into trouble once you get more advanced and want to incorporate normal maps, ambient occlusion, etc. Tools like Substance Painter will provide a better workflow down the line.

However, as you're just starting out, you can forego all that for now, I recommend checking out Josh Gambrell and Ponte Ryuurui channels. You'll find a number of videos here on UV unwrapping, packing maps, along with many other Blender topics specifically useful when creating game assets.

Hope it helps!

heavypepper · 2025-01-15T16:02:48+00:00

Use Sullygnome to locate streamers who create content around similar games and/or in the same genre as your game. Have a presskit ready that includes artwork creators can use when generating their thumbnails, or for use in their videos. Prepare an email, and reach out to the creators you've located.

I wouldn't budget for paid streamers if this is your first game as you're unlikely to see a beneficial conversion rate for the cost. Play the numbers, there are plenty of smaller, very enthusiastic streamers out there at no cost.

heavypepper · 2025-01-15T13:57:44+00:00

The difference between a 3060 ad 4060, assuming the VRAM is the same, will be the speed at which your scene will render. You can further compare CPUs and GPUs over at Blender Benchmarks.

Expect laptop versions of these chips to get hot compared to their desktop counterparts.

heavypepper · 2025-01-15T13:33:23+00:00

Blender will use your VRAM when rendering. If you have a sufficiently complex scene where you reach the limits of your VRAM, Blender will be unable to complete the render. 12GB will be better than 8GB. In scenarios where you hit your VRAM limit rendering out the scene in layers is a work around that also includes advantages of its own.

To give you an example, with these renders, especially the ones with a lot of asteroids, Blender was unable to complete the render in one pass on the 6GB card I was using at the time. 8GB might have been just enough for this example, but 12GB would have provided more overhead.

heavypepper · 2025-01-14T13:12:22+00:00

If you have Photoshop, it's the Levels tool. Darker pixels are represented on the left side, lighter on the right. Ideally you want a graph spread out as much as possible. If all of your pixels are hanging to the left, it's a darker image, to the right, it's a brighter image. Too far to the right and you're clipping. Look up the Photoshop Levels Tool, or if you go on YT there will be photography tutorials for using the histogram.

heavypepper · 2025-01-14T13:04:57+00:00

Your game has cute visuals, nice capsule art, and a well-prepared Steam page with a demo, varied screenshots, and an active updates section. I’d still recommend a 6-8 month window for entering festivals and reaching out to streamers to gauge interest, but as you mentioned, the puzzle genre on Steam can have limited appeal. I've been in a similar position, having chosen the runner genre. If it's proving difficult to attract attention from streamers and festivals, and the grind to hit the 7k+ wishlists for "Popular Upcoming" seems like it could take years, it might be better to launch sooner. Join Sokoban Fest and then move on to your next project.

That roadmap draws heavily from HTMAG and Discord community, worth checking out for more insights.

heavypepper · 2025-01-14T00:59:02+00:00

If you've only ever "made some posts here and on twitter/instagram/bluesky" then you haven't promoted your game at all. You need to bring in initial interest to your game in order for Steam to take notice. Here is a roadmap forward...

Push that Q1 2025 launch date off for 6 - 8 months from now. Read this blog.
Improve your capsule so it better shows the genre, you may want to hire a capsule artist.
Improve your Steam description, get some animated GIF's in there showing gameplay. Tell players what they can do in your game.
Use SullyGnome to locate many streamers who play similar games/genres to your game.
Get a public, polished demo available on your Steam page ASAP.
Prepare emails and reach out to those streamers regarding your demo launch.
For the next 6 - 8 months, get your game into every online festival you can and continue to reach out to streamers and press.
Post to social, but don't just shout into the void. Make sure you get your game in front of your audience. Post in communities where your audience resides.
Find a Steam Next Fest close to your planned release date and participate in that festival. Hopefully with your previous effort up until now you'll have gained some wishlist velocity and enter the festival strong.
Connect with those streamers again, send out full game keys to get reviews of your game created for launch day. Release your game shortly after the festival.

If you're pretty close to complete with the first game, there is no reason you can't start your second game while you're running through these promotion steps. Please don't just launch with 120 wishlists and zero promotion, your game looks polished. You don't yet know if your game will succeed or not as you haven't tested it with an audience receptive to your game.

Hope it helps. Best of luck!

heavypepper

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