Gates, and what done means
Every step on the plan now says what done means, as a short list from the research, and Mark done waits for it. The gates have names instead of months, and Next steps shows the one you're working toward. Recurring work comes back every day or week. Playtesters can answer a feedback dialog in your game. Content creators, the Steam page and the launch kit got the guidance and room they were missing.
New
What done means, for every step.
Each of the plan's steps has a short list to tick off, from the same research as its advice: five playtesters who never saw the game, a capsule with only art and the logo, 30 seconds of footage with play in the first 5. Mark done waits until every line is ticked, on Next steps and on the map. Steps whose work happens in the game no longer send you to an empty backlog.
Gates with names.
The four gates are Store page live, Demo in players' hands, Next Fest done and Launched, not a number of months. Next steps shows the gate you're working toward, what's still open before it, and the steps that wait behind it. Outside Build the game, steps after a gate wait for it.
Recurring work.
Daily replies, ten pitches a day, the clip test, weekly clips, page tests, dev logs and Steam events come back every day, week or month. Mark today's done and it returns tomorrow; missed days don't pile up. Binge it all at once with Mark all the work done, after a confirm.
Playtest feedback.
A feedback dialog in your game asks playtesters what they thought when they finish the demo or quit, and reminds them to press F9 for bugs. Ask Claude Code to add it, or follow the guide and the OpenAPI file. Build › Playtest feedback sums up fun, would-wishlist and median playtime, with every answer. A feedback form link covers builds without the dialog.
A content creator, in full.
Pick a creator and they open wide: who they are, the Steam key in their mail (put it back in the pool before you send), their answer with the date their video comes out or why they declined, the link to the video when they cover it, and your own notes. Preview a mail as they'll read it. A guide says how to write a pitch that gets read.
Changed
The Steam page, with guides.
Wishlists come first. Every asset has a “What makes a good one?” guide (Steam's sizes and rules), the tags and the traffic CSV have theirs, and uploads sit in a grid with their sizes.
Intake sorts left to right.
New reports sit on the left, centred against the priority lanes on the right; drag each one into its lane.
The welcome.
Its recordings sit small beside the text and play full screen with one click; Choose your steps lines up its cards in two columns.
Dev log, and demos.
Posts is called Dev log. You can write one without new demos or closed reports, and search any approved demo to drag into the text. Adding a demo suggests the reports being worked on.
Without AI.
Add game, Add community and Draft mail instead of “I'll do this one myself”. Communities says what it's for; without AI help it's your bookmark list, without daily threads.
The launch kit.
Keep your Discord invite link on the Discord page, upload your trailers and footage, and read what makes a good trailer. Discord for playtesters now comes before the Playtest.
Fixed
- Renaming a game right after changing its AI help no longer says someone else changed it. Saving AI help changes the game's version; the game is read again afterwards.
- A game's studio is the one you signed up with. The Studio field mixed up studio and publisher, so it's gone for now.