- Steam’s primary function is to pitch the game and drive purchases, not to host full studio biographies, press materials, or detailed technical documentation.
- A simple press kit on your own site saves time by giving media and creators easy access to logos, assets, and contact info.
- Discord moves too fast for troubleshooting, so a permanent support page is better for listing known bugs and fixes.
Steam might be where players discover and buy indie games, but it should not have to answer every question about it. A store page can have a great trailer, clean screenshots and a convincing description, yet still leave a journalist looking for a proper press kit or a player wondering where to report a bug.
For me, that is the part some indie developers overlook. Steam is incredibly important, but it is still a storefront. The game needs somewhere else to exist when the question is not simply, “Should I buy this?”
Steam Has One Main Job
Valve gives developers plenty of reasons to take the Steam page seriously. A new game needs a public Coming Soon page for at least two weeks before release, and Valve recommends publishing it once the developer is ready to start talking publicly about the game. Players can then learn about the game and add it to their wishlists.
The Steam page needs to sell the idea of the game quickly. The capsule art has to stand out. The trailer needs to show actual gameplay. The description needs to explain what makes the game worth playing.
Screenshots and system requirements need to give players enough information to decide whether they want to spend their time and money on it. That is already a lot.
I would not turn the Steam description into a giant studio biography, technical support page or press release archive. A player who finds your game through Steam probably wants to know what it is, how it plays and whether it is worth adding to their library. But not everyone visiting your game is there to buy it.
Your Press Kit Should Not Be a Treasure Hunt
Imagine your indie game suddenly gets picked up by a YouTuber. Then a gaming website wants to cover it. Someone else asks for a clean logo. Another creator wants high-resolution screenshots. None of these people need another copy of your Steam description. They need files.
A small press section can solve most of this without becoming another huge project. Give people the current logo, key art, clean screenshots, trailer links, a short game description, basic studio information and a contact address.
This is hardly a new idea. Epic’s guide for indie developers has also recommended keeping a press pack with things such as game and studio details, key art, logos, screenshots, trailers and contact information.
The nice thing about doing this on your own website is that you control the files. If the logo changes or an old screenshot becomes misleading, you replace it once instead of sending the new version to every person who asks. It also saves everyone time.
A journalist shouldn’t have to pull a logo out of a social media post. A streamer shouldn’t have to message a developer at midnight asking whether they can use the trailer. If the answer can live on one page, put it there.
You Probably Don’t Need a Huge Website
This is where I think indie developers can easily overthink things. You don’t need a website that looks like it was built for a publisher with a dozen studios. You don’t need three-dimensional menus, autoplay backgrounds or an elaborate animated loading screen.
In fact, I would rather see a boring website that works than a beautiful one that takes forever to load.
There are plenty of practical website-building options available now, including no-code builders, WordPress and AI-assisted development tools. The right choice depends on what the team actually needs rather than what looks impressive in a portfolio.
If all you need is a home page, press kit, support information and studio contact details, keep it simple.
The home page can introduce the game and link directly to Steam. The press page can contain downloadable assets. The support page can deal with common problems. The studio page can explain who is behind the game. That’s enough.
If the team eventually releases on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Epic Games Store, GOG or itch.io, the site can grow with it. That becomes especially useful when release dates, platforms and demo availability start changing.
Steam will always tell players about the Steam version. Your own website can tell people about the game as a whole.
Discord Shouldn’t Be Your Only Support Desk
I like Discord. Most gamers do. It is great for hanging out with a community, sharing screenshots, talking about updates and getting instant feedback. The problem is that Discord moves fast.
A useful answer from three months ago can disappear beneath hundreds of new messages. That becomes annoying when the same problem keeps coming back.
If five players have the same controller issue after an update, it makes more sense to put the solution somewhere permanent than answer the same question five times in Discord.
A simple known-issues page can list the affected version, the problem and any temporary workaround. Once the problem is fixed, update the page.
The same idea works for other information that doesn’t really belong on Steam. Accessibility details, save-file locations, bug-report instructions, modding information, soundtrack credits and other support material can all have a home there.
There is also a bigger benefit: players don’t have to join a Discord server just to find basic information.
Build the Website Around Real Problems
This is probably the biggest thing I would take away from all of this. Don’t build a website because every indie studio is supposed to have one. Build it because people keep asking for things that Steam, Discord and social media aren’t handling well.
If journalists keep asking for screenshots, make a press page. If players repeatedly report the same crash, make a known-issues page. If creators keep asking about streaming or video usage, write down the policy.
If your game is coming to several platforms, give players one reliable place to see where and when they can play it.
The 2023 GDC presentation on no-budget indie marketing also treated the website, press kit, Steam page, Discord and demo as separate pieces of the wider marketing setup rather than trying to make one platform do everything. That still makes sense.
Steam Is the Storefront, Not the Entire Studio
The more games I see from small teams, the more I think developers should stop worrying about making every part of their online presence look huge.
Your Steam page does not need to tell your entire story. Your website does not need to replace Steam. Your Discord does not need to become your support database. Your social accounts do not need to contain every piece of information about the game. Each one can have a job.
Steam is where the player makes the purchase decision. Social media is where people discover what you’re working on. Discord is where the community talks. A website can be the stable place where information, assets and support material live.
That separation becomes even more useful as a game gets older. A social post from launch day can become difficult to find. A Discord message can disappear into the conversation. A Steam announcement can get buried under newer updates.
A simple website page can still be sitting there with the correct information. And honestly, that is all an indie game website needs to be. It doesn’t need to impress everyone. It just needs to be useful when somebody has a question that the Steam page was never designed to answer.
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[Senior News Reporter]
Avinash is currently pursuing a Business degree in Australia. For more than 5 years, he has been working as a gaming journalist, utilizing his writing skills and love for gaming to report on the latest updates in the industry. Avinash loves to play action games like Devil May Cry and has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as IGN, GamesRadar, GameRant, Dualshockers, CBR, and Gamespot.
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