u/kinterosgaming

Hi everyone,

We’re trying to release the demo for our point-and-click adventure game, A Lost Man.

Steam has approved the demo build itself, but we’re currently stuck because Steam is asking us to fix / provide some demo store assets.

Here is the exact issue Steam gives us:

• Failure: Your store page has failed review because the capsule images contain additional text. We ask that you don't include descriptive text, marketing copy, URL/QR Code or similar text in your capsule images. Capsules on Steam can only include game artwork, the game name, and any official subtitle. Please update the following capsule images: - Header Capsule - Small Capsule - Main Capsule For more information about capsule images, please see: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/assets/rules#1
• Failure: Your store page has failed review because library assets contain some additional text or logos. The Library Capsule, Header, and Logo should only include the game's title, and the Library Hero shouldn't have any extra text or logo overlays. Please update the following assets: - Library Capsule - Library Logo

What we don’t really understand is that we don’t want to create or promote a separate store page for the demo. We only want the demo button to appear on the main Steam page of the game, which is already approved.

So we’re a bit confused about why these extra demo images are required if players are not supposed to see a separate demo page.

A few questions:

• Does this error mean we need to add a “Demo” label directly on the capsule / image?
• Are these assets still required even if the demo is only accessible from the main game page?
• Is there supposed to be different text / branding for the demo page, even if our main store page is already approved?
• For those who released a Steam demo this way, did you have to make separate demo capsules anyway?

Maybe we’re misunderstanding how Steam handles demos, but we’d rather not create misleading or redundant store assets if they won’t actually be visible anywhere.

We’ve also contacted Steam Support about it, of course, but in the meantime we’d really appreciate hearing from devs who might have an idea, or who have already dealt with this kind of issue.

Any help from devs who went through this would be appreciated.

Hi everyone, I’m preparing to take part in my first Steam Next Fest, and my first festival in general. Our game is called A Lost Man. It’s a hand-drawn p&c adventure, and we’re a small indie team working on our first commercial game.

The demo is almost ready and should go live around mid-May, before the June Next Fest.

Since this is new territory for us, I’d love to hear from devs who have already been through it.

What are your best practices? What worked for you? What would you avoid doing again? I’m especially curious about:

• When to release the demo before the festival
• How to promote it without being annoying Steam page / trailer / capsule / community hub tips
• Whether livestreams actually helped
• Whether ads were worth it
• How to handle feedback and updates during the event

Since this is also our first real indie dev marketing push, I’d also be interested in hearing how other small teams handled it when starting from zero, with little to no existing audience.

Any practical advice, lessons learned, or “don’t do what I did” stories would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to share their experience.

Hi everyone,

I’m getting ready to contact some streamers, content creators and press about my indie game, and I’m wondering what the best approach is.

When reaching out by email, is it better to include a Steam key directly in the first message, so they can try the game right away?

Or is it safer / more professional to first send a short pitch, ask if they’re interested, and only send a key after they reply positively?

I’m a bit concerned about keys being ignored, wasted, or potentially resold, but I also don’t want to add unnecessary friction for people who are already busy.

For those of you who have contacted creators or press before, what worked best for you?

Did you send keys upfront, use a curator/press platform, or wait for confirmation first?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Hey everyone,

I’m currently wrapping up the first chapter of a point & click game built in Unity 2022 with Adventure Creator. Release is getting close, and I’m starting to think about the next chapters.

This raises a question: would it make sense to move the project to Unity 6.x going forward, or is it safer to stick with 2022 for consistency?

A few specific concerns:

• How stable is Unity 6.x in production for existing projects (not fresh starts)?

• Any known issues or friction when using Adventure Creator with newer Unity versions?

• From your experience, is the upgrade effort usually worth it mid-project, or does it tend to slow things down more than it helps?

For context, the game is fairly classic point & click (Adventure Creator handles most of the logic), not something heavily dependent on cutting-edge Unity features.

I’m trying to avoid unnecessary risk this late in development, but also don’t want to lock myself into an older version if upgrading early for future chapters is the smarter move.

Would appreciate any feedback or experiences before I make a call on this.

Thx!

EDIT: Thanks to all the answers, I took note and this will help me a lot :)