How To Use Short-Form DevLogs In Game Marketing To Attract Players

Devlogs are the content you create to explain the technical aspects of your game. What makes devlog content unique is that it can be created and used as marketing material throughout the entire development process. This means that if your game takes two years to make, you could be marketing, gaining followers, and collecting wishlists for those entire two years.

It is very common to see the most successful games doing marketing activities a year or two ahead of their actual launch, often reflected in the wishlist charts and social engagement metrics.

By showing progress in small increments and keeping your audience updated, you build a loyal following well before your game’s release.

You do not need a store page (Steam, Itch, etc.) to start marketing your game. You can use Devlogs to build your audience early and later drive traffic to your store page once it’s live. At Glitch, we specialize in game marketing, and in this article, we are going to discuss the reception of devlogs in marketing, and explore the different types of devlogs you can create.

Devlogs Compared To Other Content

When creating content for your game, there are several types of materials you can produce. A short list of these could include:

1. Trailers: Action-packed trailers that show the best images or scenes from the game. While they can be highly engaging, they are expensive and time-consuming to produce on a consistent basis.
2. Devlogs: Not necessarily in-depth explanations of complicated developer insights. The most effective devlogs (for marketing) are often under one minute, showing quick snippets of game creation or “behind the scenes” looks.
3. Artwork: Showcase your game’s artwork or cool images that appeal to your audience.
4. Before and After: If you’ve updated old assets or mechanics, you can show the evolution from the original version to the final version. Again, these can be short videos (under a minute) or images.
5. Gameplay: Show highlight scenes or brief, exciting gameplay segments.
6. Team Interviews: Feature interviews with various team members talking about the game’s development, the vision behind it, or upcoming features.
7. Fan Videos: If you’ve allowed early access to fans or content creators, you can edit or “chop up” their footage to share with your own audience.
8. Positive Testimonials: If you have positive testimonials, you can screenshot or excerpt them to help promote your game.

What is interesting about all of this content is how it is received by users. We typically measure the reception of content by its engagement rate. This formula is expressed as: Engagement Rate = ((comments + shares + likes + etc.) / impressions) * 100

The higher the engagement rate, the better received your content is. In our social scheduler, we track engagement rates across several content types, and here is how our devlogs did in comparison. 

We found that devlogs perform very well, with engagement rates averaging up to 4.1%—higher than many other content types. However, the devlogs we refer to are unique in their approach, especially in being concise and visually engaging.

The graph above is also from Glitch Social Scheduler show how a Tweet for 'Before and After' Devlog content has organic reach of 17.65% percent, which is extremely high in comparison the 2.5% average. Devlogs can really engage audiences and build loyal followings early.

Short-Form Devlogs Attract Your Customers

When devlogs first became popular, they were typically long-form videos (often 5 minutes or more) explaining various technical aspects of game development. While these detailed videos can be highly insightful and engaging, they have one major drawback: the people watching these long, highly technical devlogs are often other developers, not your future players.

Long form highly technical devlogs do not attract your customers because:

1. They are too long: People generally enjoy short, “snackable” content between 15 and 60 seconds. There’s a reason why platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts are so popular.
2. They can be too complicated: Viewers may not understand complex concepts such as the algorithms behind procedural world generation or inter-system coordination unless they are also developers.

Instead, think of your audience as enjoying “behind the scenes” content similar to what you see in movies. It’s fun to watch:

• A quick, high-level demonstration of how a stunt was performed—delivered in 30 seconds and made easy to understand.
• Seeing 3D visual effects being created on the computer. 
• Watching the difference in an actor on the green screen vs the actual scene in the movie.

The same concept applies to game development: show quick, visually captivating snippets of an asset being created or a feature being implemented.

Types of Devlogs to Attract Players

Below are three main types of short-form devlogs that you can create to engage potential players—often years before your game is completed and even without a Steam or Itch page.

1. Before and After

“Before and After” devlogs showcase a graphical or functional improvement in the game. These can be extremely easy to produce. You can share:

• An image labeled “Before” and “After.”
• A short video clip showing how the game looked previously and how it looks now after an update or new asset.

This allows your audience to appreciate the progress you’re making and keeps them excited to see more.

2. Showing Off Improvements

Similar to “Before and After,” you might simply demonstrate a new feature without showing the old version. Examples include:

• Adding recoil to a gun and showing it in action.
• Demonstrating how plant life or water now reacts to character interactions.

This type of content shows your audience you’re actively developing the game and that it hasn’t fallen into “vaporware.”

3. The Making Of…

This form of devlog content quickly shows how a single element of the game was made. Because this is meant more for entertainment and conversion rather than deep technical insight, you often see time-lapse or fast-forward videos under 60 seconds. You can do a voiceover or simply set it to music. Bonus points if you end by showing the completed asset in the game.

Examples include:

• “Here is how I made the running motion for the main character.”
• “Watch how I designed the fauna for the forest animation.”
• “This is how we animate the car movements.”
• “Here is how we created the central building in the town.”

4. Images of New Features

You can also skip video altogether and post static images of items or features you’ve completed. The items might not be usable yet, but showing that they’re finished and hinting at their future purpose can be enough to keep fans engaged.

Examples:

• “Completed this new gun design.”
• “Finished working on this new town.”
• “The title screen is done—here it is!”

Tips for Creating Short-Form Devlogs

Short-form devlogs can be relatively easy to create due to their brevity and the fact that they don’t need to go into extreme depth. And remember, when trying to get consumers interested in your game, a lack of hyper-technical detail can actually work in your favor.

Here are some tips:

1. Record Your Development Work: Use any screen recording software (Glitch's Streaming Software, OBS or similar) while you work. This makes it easy to piece together short clips later.
2. Use Music if You Don’t Like Your Voice: If you prefer not to speak, simply add music to the background in your editing software. Sites like Envato are great for finding royalty-free tracks.
3. Save Your Clips in an Organized Way: After you’re done recording, store the clips in a folder on your computer. You might reuse them later or make mashups of older footage for fresh content.
4. Brand Your Content: Add your game’s logo or website so viewers can quickly identify your project. A clear call-to-action (e.g., “Wishlist on Steam” or “Sign up for our newsletter”) also helps.
5. Cut Up Long Devlogs: If you do produce long devlogs, consider editing them down into multiple short segments. You can then release them as separate pieces of short-form content across different platforms (e.g., TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels).

When to Post This Content

Finally, and most importantly, you need to consider the timing for sharing your short-form devlogs. A common mistake among game developers is waiting too long to start marketing: waiting for a Steam page, waiting for a completed product, waiting for funding, etc. This delay can be costly and makes your eventual launch much more difficult.

You can start posting these devlogs as soon as you begin development. Share them on your social media accounts to build an initial audience and gather feedback. Over time, as your audience grows, you can convert followers into wishlists and, eventually, sales once your store page is live.

Short-form devlogs offer a high-engagement, low-effort way to show off your game’s progress and attract the very people who will become your future customers. By taking advantage of these strategies, you’ll be able to generate excitement for your project throughout its entire development cycle.