At GDC 2026, Monetization & Player Engagement Stage, South Hall. Talk starts at 15:10.
Content Creation in Game Development
Presented by Juniper Dev, Nick Kaman, Jordan Ottesen, Emily Pitcher

Notes:

• Meant for developers who havent done any content creation before
• What is worth posting?
  • Post parts of the game that stands out from other games. Parts that are quirky or novel to the person watching it.
  • We want to be funny, be extremely online
  • Being more personal is an option
  • A strong tactic is to develop strong viewer empathy. Put yourself in the viewer's shoes and think about what they want. What do they want to see while at home?
  • Be educational or entertaining.
  • Game developers are also gamers, so don't discount them.
  • Be public about your journey, so people can root for you.
  • Make content about the hardships you face as a developer. Show your authenticity, but you can lie or embellish a little.
  • The fact that you are not AAA is a blessing, because you are more relatable.
  • Show the little things that AAA doesn't show.
• How do you get wishlists and conversion?
  • Game-centric content about the process translates more strongly into wishlists.
  • If someone is there because they want to know about your game, viewership is different than clickbait titles/thumbnails
  • Talking about hotter/more controversial topics has a less successful conversion rate, but way more people will watch it.
  • Sometimes we dont prioritize wishlists because people dont log into steam on phone. (but most in audience ARE logged into steam, so maybe they just dont have good conversion on phone)
  • PEAK was announced 4 days before launch. Wishlists are not everything.
  • You want to build recognition, so that people are more likely to check it out.
  • Most people who know about the game will see multiple videos instead of just one video, curate your voice.
  • Algorithms like to show you similar things, so having more content is good.
  • You can build familiarity even by just putting your face in thumbnails.
• What makes a good devlog?
  • The ones that do well are the ones that resonate with their viewership.
  • People who watch devlogs do not know exactly what you're doing, they might not have even started making videogames.
  • You want to broaden the appeal of your videos, dont make it overly technical. Make it approachable.
  • You want to inspire people
  • People who watch these videos also have a creative drive
  • The stuff an average person might find interesting or impressive is different from what you may find interesting, because they dont know how to make games.
  • Talk about the emotional journey of making games, share your story and sell it.
  • Show every part of the process, show the human process.
• How do you balance getting people excited without spoiling too much?
  • To make multiple videos, you will have to show spoilers to talk about more stuff.
  • Make your video hooks about interesting parts of the story.
  • Split content between demo and full game content.
  • Fake instagram accounts, fake reddit spaces, playing out in-game content in real life
  • Pick a point of the game up to which it okay to talk about stuff that happens.
  • Make videos about adding stuff to the game that you might not necessarily want to add just for the sake of content.
  • Not everyone will see every short form video you make.
  • Decide which spoilers you don't touch, remember that not everyone will see every single video.
  • Don't worry about oversharing, it will not affect sales or drum down excitement for the game.
  • Hiding good content is much more detrimental than showing it.
  • Err on the side of oversharing
• Any advice for making content you think is bad?
  • Numbers do not matter as much as you think. Numbers will come naturally if you make good content. Detatch from the numbers and make sure you make good content. Don't analyze the numbers too much
  • Any advice that is an absolute is generally bad. It is usually actually a "it depends", there is usually nuance
  • You don't need to post super often, multiple times a day anymore. it may have worked before, but it doesnt work as well as it may have becaue your quality will drop. it might be useful at the beginning though.
  • Watch one podcast where mr. beast talks about how his brain works, and learn from it. Big numbers help a lot.
  • (there seems to be a lot of disagreement here amongst the panel)
• What do you think will continue to be popular?
  • Most inspiration comes from non-game-dev videos. they also use hooks to grab people's attention, and you can learn from that.
  • Steal the hooks of your favorite content creators

Q&A:

• how do you balance content creation and game development?
  • Don't view them as separate things. Use videos to validate ideas, use them for marketing.
  • It depends on you and your interests. Pick the path you are most excited to do. Your passion will show through in your videos. You will burn out making content you dont want to make.
  • Content creation lets you control the narrative about your studio. You get to tell your side of the story.
• The more content you make, the more it feels like you have to do more of it. how do you manage that?
  • That sounds like burnout.
  • Remember that you are in control, you can always try new things. Find out how to reignite your spark.
  • Game development is joyful suffering and so is content creation.
  • Having followers help you in life. They can get you opportunities you might not otherwise have.
  • Take a break between projects. Consider making content at the end of the development cycle so you dont have to make so many videos.
• It feels like 90% of my job is just typing. How do you make typing more interesting?
  • Work with other people, that dynamic can be interesting.
  • You might think it is boring, but so many people dont know how to make a game. For example, you can show how to fix a bug or rate the bugs. Turn boring moments into humorous ones.
  • Write out the script, take a break, and then record the video. Record the gameplay to make it more interesting.
• How do you manage time?
  • You will not be able to balance everything equally; you will need to choose what to sacrifice.
  • Timebox, be present in the hour you are in. Look at the scope of what you need to do in the moment.
  • Consider hiring someone to do content/marketing
• What do you do to recover from burnout?
  • Age of Empires II, for some reason. Find what you look forward to.
  • Positive self-talk is a powerful tool. Tell yourself that you can do it.
• Is there any value in starting devlogs when you dont have anything solid for your game yet?
  • It can, views can tell you that you should make the game.
  • You can use content to validate or get good ideas from audience.
  • Remember to link it all to a steam page.
  • If you don't know what you want yet, that's content. ask your community what they like.
• Do you have any other resources?
  • Look at other people making devlogs
  • There is something to learn everywhere
  • Victoria Tran, the marketing/community person for Amongus
  • GDC Vault
• How did you find your own unique style?
  • Think about what you enjoy and how you want to be perceived.
  • It's hard to know how to swim until you jump into the water. Just get started and try. Watch it and get feedback. Be a mirror to yourself. Your first video is not going ti be as good as the one you post four years later.