Newsletter · Issue #1 ·
Your Steam page's first 300 characters
This is the first WishlistForge note: one launch tip, one example, and what's new. Short on purpose.
The tip: write your short description for the person who has never heard of your game
Steam's short description field holds up to 300 characters, and it sits right next to your trailer and capsule. It's where a stranger decides whether to wishlist. Four things to get into it:
- A hook in the first sentence: what the player does, not what the game "is."
- The genre, said plainly, so the right players recognize it.
- The player fantasy: the feeling or role they get.
- A reason to act now, like a demo, a playtest, or "wishlist to follow development."
Cut words that could describe any game: "exciting," "unique," "lots of features," "beautiful world."
The example
A made-up game, so nobody's page gets picked on.
"Moss & Lantern is an exciting adventure game with lots of features and secrets to discover. Explore a beautiful world full of mystery!"
"You're a beetle carrying the forest's last lantern. Light the path to grow moss bridges, but every glow draws the night moths closer. A short, cozy-tense puzzle adventure about choosing what to light and what to leave dark. Wishlist to follow the demo."
The "after" says what you do, what's at stake, the genre and mood, and what to do next, all in under 300 characters.
Want a second opinion on yours? The free Steam short description scorer checks length, hook, genre clarity, player fantasy and call to action, and suggests a rewrite. No signup.
New on WishlistForge.com
- Guide: how to cut your Steam trailer into vertical clips for TikTok, Shorts and Reels (picking moments, reframing to 9:16, captions, safe zones, and tracking wishlists per platform).
- Free Steam page teardowns: reply to @wishlistforge on X with your Steam link and we'll do a public teardown of your capsule, short description, trailer, screenshots and tags, ending with the top 3 fixes.
- The Steam description scorer is now listed on magictools, the open-source list of game development resources.
If you'd rather not write it yourself
The Store Page Copy kit ($19) gives you a finished short description, long description and tag suggestions written for your game, with a full sample on the page so you can judge it first.
From a sister project
Using an AI chat to draft your Steam page? AgentCartridge has a free paste-in rules file that keeps it from sounding generic: agentcartridge.com/rules/steam-copy
Good luck with the build,
The WishlistForge team