Unlocking Steam Wishlists: A Case Study

As the co-founder of Black Tabby Games, I'm excited to share our experience with Slay the Princess, which earned an impressive 25,000 wishlists on Steam in just two weeks. Our journey began with the development of Scarlet Hollow, an episodic horror visual novel that we started working on in March 2020. We launched the first episode for free in September of the same year, followed by a successful Kickstarter campaign the next month. Initially, we planned to release the remaining episodes as DLC for the free-to-play page on Steam. However, we decided to pivot to an Early Access model to simplify our workflow and increase visibility during sale events. This decision proved to be beneficial, as Scarlet Hollow has been performing well. At the time of writing, we have released three episodes out of the planned seven, with the fourth episode scheduled for release in the fall. This raises the question of why we are working on a second game simultaneously. The answer lies in the design of Slay the Princess, which was intentionally created to fit seamlessly into Scarlet Hollow's workflow, minimizing demands on my time and Abby's. The premise of Slay the Princess features a single character in a single location, reducing the complexity of the art required without compromising quality. We also simplified the art style developed for Scarlet Hollow, using pencil sketches instead of ink and adopting a monotone color scheme. Additionally, we reduced the paper size for the project, from 18"x24" for Scarlet Hollow to 11"x17" for Slay the Princess. The smaller scope of the project allowed me to write the game quickly and in parallel with Abby's work on Scarlet Hollow. This made it easier to discuss Slay the Princess, as its core premise can be conveyed in a single sentence. Our strategy has been successful in terms of time commitment, with me completing my work on the Slay the Princess launch and demo in under three weeks, and Abby creating 200 illustrations for the demo in just six days. The development of Slay the Princess had an unintended benefit, as it acted as a training exercise that improved our skills and sped up development on Scarlet Hollow. There was no single factor that contributed to Slay the Princess' success; rather, it was the result of several factors coming together, built on years of dedicated audience building. Our overall strategy was straightforward: we announced the page and released the trailer on the same day, providing limited access to the demo for select press and influencers. We chose a week with minimal major industry announcements, aiming to dominate social media conversations for at least a day. We avoided Summer Game Fest to ensure Slay the Princess' announcement was the main topic of discussion. We announced Slay the Princess on July 25th, which gave us a week's lead-up to Tiny Teams, Yogscast's week-long festival for indie games. This allowed for a week-long exclusivity period, where patrons and select influencers could access the demo early. Our key assets at launch included our mailing list, the Scarlet Hollow community, Abby's Twitter presence, and relationships with influencers. We were fortunate to have YouTubers Gab Smolders and Alpha Beta Gamer record playthroughs before the trailer reveal. On the day of the announcement, we had pre-pitched to media and streamers, released two major videos, sent a high-engagement email blast, and primed our Discord and Twitter communities to amplify the announcement. We achieved 1,000 wishlists on the first day of Scarlet Hollow's paid Steam page launch and 2,500 in the first week. Given our track record and community growth, we aimed to double these numbers. We ended up with over 2,600 wishlists on the first day and nearly 14,000 by the end of the first week. The trailer was a significant contributor to the announcement's success, with social media engagement exceeding that of Scarlet Hollow's launch trailer by four times. The trailer received 28,000 views on YouTube and 50,000 views on TikTok. We provided early access to the demo for a limited number of streamers and patrons, growing our Patreon by 25% over the course of the week. The limited access helped sustain the hype, leading to requests from big YouTubers like ManlyBadassHero, whose playthrough gave the game a second wind and resulted in more coverage from streamers and YouTubers. We released the demo the following Monday, exceeding our expectations, with approximately 13,000 downloads and 8,000 players. The median player spent 45 minutes playing, enough time to uncover at least half of the demo's endings. We strive to make efficient use of our menus to help players connect with the community. In Scarlet Hollow Episode 1, we prompt players to wishlist the full game on Steam, and in all our games, we offer the opportunity to join our Discord server. With the Slay the Princess demo, we also promoted Scarlet Hollow, placing the call to action at the end of the demo. This cross-promotion has been incredibly successful, with Scarlet Hollow's sales and wishlist numbers increasing by a factor of five, and our Discord server growing by 50% to nearly 2,300 members. When creating demos for narrative games, it's essential to approach them with hooks in mind, especially in terms of the ending. Assuming the demo is the only chance to capture a player's interest, a strong cliffhanger and active community can leave players excited for more.