How we got 50 000+ wishlists in one month without spending a dime
Hi there! It’s been a month since we announced our new game
Snow Town Geek Store.
In that time, we've received nearly 50,000 wishlists, countless congratulations on the announcement, and a flood of questions about how we achieved this success.
We thought we'd share a brief report detailing how we developed the game and the steps we took leading up to its announcement.
We hope our insights prove useful to fellow indie developers.
Snow Town Geek Store.
In that time, we've received nearly 50,000 wishlists, countless congratulations on the announcement, and a flood of questions about how we achieved this success.
We thought we'd share a brief report detailing how we developed the game and the steps we took leading up to its announcement.
We hope our insights prove useful to fellow indie developers.
1
Make more games
Let’s give some context for those who aren’t familiar with our studio: we started working on our debut game, Torn Away, back in 2019. Back then, our concept helped us secure funding, assemble a team of top-notch specialists, and even gain recognition at festivals.
Unfortunately, a challenging release process pushed Torn Away’s launch all the way to 2023. By that time, market trends had shifted, and the narrative indie adventure genre — with its blend of point-and-click, platforming, and puzzles — had become somewhat outdated and less commercially viable.
Some have suggested that our challenges were simply due to the lack of a professional publisher or an insufficient marketing budget—even though Torn Away is a quality game that garnered multiple awards at international festivals and received excellent reviews from both players and critics. However, it’s not that simple.
Thanks to our team’s marketing expertise, we knew how to promote our game effectively. Sure, publishers benefit from established relationships with influencers and the press, along with ample resources for creative campaigns and targeted advertising. But even these advantages can’t rescue a game that no longer aligns with current market trends.
Let’s recall some examples of games in a genre similar to Torn Away that came out in 2023 and had a publisher — meaning their budget and influence were way bigger than ours:
In reality, there are many more games in this niche; these are just the first that came to mind.
Promoting games in such complex genres and themes is akin to a Sisyphean task. Despite extensive efforts and reaching large audiences through successful posts on Reddit and TikTok, the payoff remains minimal. Our first piece of advice is to develop and release games more quickly.
A few imperfect, released projects can provide more momentum than one endlessly delayed project. If this approach doesn’t appeal to you, consider that early, imperfect games can serve as a springboard for both production and media exposure, paving the way for the game of your dreams. Always remember that your primary goal is to release a game and help it find its audience — after all, we create games for people.
Unfortunately, a challenging release process pushed Torn Away’s launch all the way to 2023. By that time, market trends had shifted, and the narrative indie adventure genre — with its blend of point-and-click, platforming, and puzzles — had become somewhat outdated and less commercially viable.
Some have suggested that our challenges were simply due to the lack of a professional publisher or an insufficient marketing budget—even though Torn Away is a quality game that garnered multiple awards at international festivals and received excellent reviews from both players and critics. However, it’s not that simple.
Thanks to our team’s marketing expertise, we knew how to promote our game effectively. Sure, publishers benefit from established relationships with influencers and the press, along with ample resources for creative campaigns and targeted advertising. But even these advantages can’t rescue a game that no longer aligns with current market trends.
Let’s recall some examples of games in a genre similar to Torn Away that came out in 2023 and had a publisher — meaning their budget and influence were way bigger than ours:
In reality, there are many more games in this niche; these are just the first that came to mind.
Promoting games in such complex genres and themes is akin to a Sisyphean task. Despite extensive efforts and reaching large audiences through successful posts on Reddit and TikTok, the payoff remains minimal. Our first piece of advice is to develop and release games more quickly.
A few imperfect, released projects can provide more momentum than one endlessly delayed project. If this approach doesn’t appeal to you, consider that early, imperfect games can serve as a springboard for both production and media exposure, paving the way for the game of your dreams. Always remember that your primary goal is to release a game and help it find its audience — after all, we create games for people.
2
Don’t cling to your first idea
The development of Snow Town Geek Store started long before we even opened Unity.
We dedicated time to market research and brainstorming, aiming to create a game that resonated with us, met players’ needs, and captured the press’s attention. If your indie game doesn't stand out conceptually, you risk stumbling even before securing a publisher or investor.
We conceived this new project while remaining true to our studio’s identity. During Torn Away’s development, we grew weary of emphasizing social issues and decided our next game should be lighter and more fun. We believe that a post-Soviet setting offers a unique aesthetic and a relaxed, engaging vibe that can captivate players worldwide. This passion for our roots is why we continue to develop games inspired by the places we know best.
Moreover, creating visually appealing games is paramount for us. This time, we opted for a blend of two styles: pixel art, beloved by its dedicated community, and a popular PS1-era aesthetic. The game also merges first- and third-person perspectives — a technique we previously employed in Torn Away — to both highlight our character designs and allow players to truly step into the protagonist’s shoes.
We dedicated time to market research and brainstorming, aiming to create a game that resonated with us, met players’ needs, and captured the press’s attention. If your indie game doesn't stand out conceptually, you risk stumbling even before securing a publisher or investor.
We conceived this new project while remaining true to our studio’s identity. During Torn Away’s development, we grew weary of emphasizing social issues and decided our next game should be lighter and more fun. We believe that a post-Soviet setting offers a unique aesthetic and a relaxed, engaging vibe that can captivate players worldwide. This passion for our roots is why we continue to develop games inspired by the places we know best.
Moreover, creating visually appealing games is paramount for us. This time, we opted for a blend of two styles: pixel art, beloved by its dedicated community, and a popular PS1-era aesthetic. The game also merges first- and third-person perspectives — a technique we previously employed in Torn Away — to both highlight our character designs and allow players to truly step into the protagonist’s shoes.
3
Think (sometimes) of your game as future media content
Indie developers often overlook the announcement as a news hook, assuming they’ll handle marketing later. We saw it as a chance to test our idea’s virality early on and make tweaks before the release.
We created a demo version of Snow Town Geek Store so that its content could be used for the trailer and Steam page. Even in the early stages of development, we planned several triggers to boost the game’s virality—humor, atmosphere, style, references, memes, and partnered shoutouts all played a part.
Our audience is made up of people who, like us, want to escape life’s heaviness and relive the warm, lamp-lit days of the 2000s youth and childhood. Our team includes both 30-somethings and 20-year-olds, and everyone put a bit of themselves into the game. That sincerity really matters. When developers try to jump on a trend just for the hype, the audience can tell, and they react negatively.
Some examples of triggers we used:
1. Using nostalgic brends references. For example “Chipsos Krunchy” chips – a nod to Cheetos Сrunchy. This is a product often mentioned in snkd’s (popular russian geek YouTuber) videos. We love his content and feel it’s pretty close to our game, so we hoped he would notice our trailer and give it a repost. (spoiler: he did).
2. Popular voice actor and platinum meme. We got in touch with the legendary Andrey Gavrilov (his one voiced film dubbing was a huge thing in 90-s/00-s in post soviet countries) and invited him to do an authentic one-voice narration for our Russian trailer. Naturally, we couldn’t miss a shoutout to his signature meme phrase.
3. Licensed track by popular band Mumiy Troll. We used (and licensed) a track by the well-known Russian and CIS band Mumiy Troll. The track “Vladivostok 2000” is a real hit: it was used as the introductory song when the Russian version of MTV launched and is loved by people of all ages.
4. Cat. Somehow it's really important to have a cat (or any cute animal) to pet in a game. So we made that possible!
Some indie developers think such collaborations are too expensive and don’t even try to set them up. That’s a pity because if your game’s content doesn’t offer these media hooks, the trailer becomes your main marketing tool. With the trailer, you can take more risks — like using music from a genre that isn’t even featured in the game. Reach out to contacts, write, and ask around. You might find someone willing to support you for free, or the cost may turn out to be quite manageable.
We created a demo version of Snow Town Geek Store so that its content could be used for the trailer and Steam page. Even in the early stages of development, we planned several triggers to boost the game’s virality—humor, atmosphere, style, references, memes, and partnered shoutouts all played a part.
Our audience is made up of people who, like us, want to escape life’s heaviness and relive the warm, lamp-lit days of the 2000s youth and childhood. Our team includes both 30-somethings and 20-year-olds, and everyone put a bit of themselves into the game. That sincerity really matters. When developers try to jump on a trend just for the hype, the audience can tell, and they react negatively.
Some examples of triggers we used:
1. Using nostalgic brends references. For example “Chipsos Krunchy” chips – a nod to Cheetos Сrunchy. This is a product often mentioned in snkd’s (popular russian geek YouTuber) videos. We love his content and feel it’s pretty close to our game, so we hoped he would notice our trailer and give it a repost. (spoiler: he did).
2. Popular voice actor and platinum meme. We got in touch with the legendary Andrey Gavrilov (his one voiced film dubbing was a huge thing in 90-s/00-s in post soviet countries) and invited him to do an authentic one-voice narration for our Russian trailer. Naturally, we couldn’t miss a shoutout to his signature meme phrase.
3. Licensed track by popular band Mumiy Troll. We used (and licensed) a track by the well-known Russian and CIS band Mumiy Troll. The track “Vladivostok 2000” is a real hit: it was used as the introductory song when the Russian version of MTV launched and is loved by people of all ages.
4. Cat. Somehow it's really important to have a cat (or any cute animal) to pet in a game. So we made that possible!
Some indie developers think such collaborations are too expensive and don’t even try to set them up. That’s a pity because if your game’s content doesn’t offer these media hooks, the trailer becomes your main marketing tool. With the trailer, you can take more risks — like using music from a genre that isn’t even featured in the game. Reach out to contacts, write, and ask around. You might find someone willing to support you for free, or the cost may turn out to be quite manageable.
4
Don’t neglect social media
Everyone talks about it, everyone tries it, and many don’t succeed. But you can’t avoid the need to run your social channels. Here’s what our media prep looked like before the announcement:
1. The studio’s community and social media.
Our first game wasn’t really built to foster a strong gaming community, and we didn’t have the chance to invest much time in social media management after its release. Our following was small, and we struggled to grow accounts on promotion-friendly platforms like Twitter and TikTok. As a result, the studio’s social media played a minimal role in the announcement’s success.
2. The studio head’s personal social media.
Artem Koblov has built an influential network of game dev channels on Telegram. He keeps a balanced mix—80% useful content, 10% promoting other projects, and 10% self-promotion. This approach has created an active, supportive audience that enjoys behind-the-scenes content and is ready to help with likes and wishlists. Regularly posting useful and interesting content is one of the most reliable ways to promote a game—perhaps even more so than a dedicated game-specific account for a title set to release in a few years
3. The studio’s brand.
The second-to-last major news about perelesoq was the release of Torn Away, and the most recent was the story of our financial struggles. Together, these events created an engaging narrative for the press about overcoming challenges. We believe that without Torn Away having been released before Laryok, our announcement wouldn’t have attracted as much attention. This point ties back to Tip 1.
4. Another announcement. Another Russian game about a kiosk, but in a post-soviet doomer aesthetic, was announced two weeks before ours and went pretty viral. At first, we were stressed – it seemed important to be at least the first on the market, if not the only one – but in the end, their announcement actually helped us. The press and commentators compared the two kiosk games, which helped promote both. We eventually realized that our projects aren’t direct competitors: we offer different emotional and gameplay experiences, which is a more decisive factor for purchase than the setting. We even ended up with a joint chat for both kiosk games 🙂
1. The studio’s community and social media.
Our first game wasn’t really built to foster a strong gaming community, and we didn’t have the chance to invest much time in social media management after its release. Our following was small, and we struggled to grow accounts on promotion-friendly platforms like Twitter and TikTok. As a result, the studio’s social media played a minimal role in the announcement’s success.
2. The studio head’s personal social media.
Artem Koblov has built an influential network of game dev channels on Telegram. He keeps a balanced mix—80% useful content, 10% promoting other projects, and 10% self-promotion. This approach has created an active, supportive audience that enjoys behind-the-scenes content and is ready to help with likes and wishlists. Regularly posting useful and interesting content is one of the most reliable ways to promote a game—perhaps even more so than a dedicated game-specific account for a title set to release in a few years
3. The studio’s brand.
The second-to-last major news about perelesoq was the release of Torn Away, and the most recent was the story of our financial struggles. Together, these events created an engaging narrative for the press about overcoming challenges. We believe that without Torn Away having been released before Laryok, our announcement wouldn’t have attracted as much attention. This point ties back to Tip 1.
4. Another announcement. Another Russian game about a kiosk, but in a post-soviet doomer aesthetic, was announced two weeks before ours and went pretty viral. At first, we were stressed – it seemed important to be at least the first on the market, if not the only one – but in the end, their announcement actually helped us. The press and commentators compared the two kiosk games, which helped promote both. We eventually realized that our projects aren’t direct competitors: we offer different emotional and gameplay experiences, which is a more decisive factor for purchase than the setting. We even ended up with a joint chat for both kiosk games 🙂
5
Spend time on preparation
Below is everything we did to prepare for the announcement. Given the volume of tasks, it’s clear why even indie studios might need a dedicated media specialist.
- Demo: We created an early demo version of the game specifically for developing creatives and showcasing gameplay to potential publishers and investors.
- Trailer: We produced three versions of the trailer — in English, Russian, and Chinese — not just by adding subtitles, but by selecting unique 3D models of nostalgic items and translating textures for each language. Additionally, we prepared subtitles for YouTube and created trailer versions with embedded subtitles for the planned localized languages on the Steam page (Japanese, French, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and German).
- Steam Pages: We designed unique, fully translated creatives for the Russian, English, and Chinese versions of the Steam page. Our goal was to guide the player through the gameplay step by step, knowing that some players focus solely on screenshots and brief descriptions, while others read the full page and watch GIFs. We’ve found that a well-crafted page significantly boosts the conversion of social media views into wishlists.
- Press Kit: We assembled a comprehensive press kit in three languages, including a press release text (for those who preferred ready-made copy) and unique images in the screenshot folder that aren’t available on Steam. In the end, our announcement press kit was as thorough as the one we put together for Torn Away.
- Video Creatives and GIFs: Since our 2-minute trailer can be cut off on some social networks and may not capture attention on platforms like TikTok, we created shortened GIFs for Reddit and a condensed version of the trailer optimized for vertical videos.
- Reddit Activity: We joined Reddit well before the announcement. Artem continued using his personal account from Torn Away’s development to post in game dev subreddits under a strict no-self-promotion policy. We also set up a dedicated account for Snow Town Geek Store to share atmospheric, nostalgic content and engage with art and gaming subreddits. This strategy not only helped us gather every valuable click and wishlist but also allowed us to test the Western audience’s reaction to the game’s post-Soviet aesthetic, which received encouraging feedback.
- Collecting Press and Influencer Contacts: We started gathering press and influencer contacts, as well as targeted communities and channels, back in the summer. Although some contacts may now be outdated, our databases proved useful. We began outreach a week before the announcement using separate email accounts for the English press, Japanese and Chinese markets, and other languages. We even translated the emails ourselves with ChatGPT to add a personal touch. We clarified that the game would be professionally localized, ensuring that any translation imperfections wouldn’t be seen as a compromise on quality.
6
Plan the day of the announcement
This will help you not get overwhelmed. Here’s what we did:
1. Pre-launch
We published the page 12 hours before the official announcement. This didn’t affect algorithms, but it allowed us to avoid breaking embargoes and ensured that the wishlist button worked properly.
2. Coordinating with Media
A few days before the announcement, we coordinated publication times with press and influencers. On the day of the announcement, we sent reminders to all our email contacts.
3. Content:
We scheduled the trailer to go live on YouTube at a set time so that we wouldn’t have to worry about it on a busy day. We also pre-wrote and saved a draft article for DTF and responded quickly to comments. Additionally, we uploaded vertical videos to various social networks and made several Reddit posts in the evening.
4. Media Coverage:
Throughout the day, we tracked mentions of Snow Town Geek Store to see how far the news was spreading and where the wishlists were coming from. Due to time zone differences, Russian outlets were the first to cover the news, followed by international publications, with Telegram channels significantly expanding our reach.
That's it! I hope these tips help you out, and good luck with your projects!
1. Pre-launch
We published the page 12 hours before the official announcement. This didn’t affect algorithms, but it allowed us to avoid breaking embargoes and ensured that the wishlist button worked properly.
2. Coordinating with Media
A few days before the announcement, we coordinated publication times with press and influencers. On the day of the announcement, we sent reminders to all our email contacts.
3. Content:
We scheduled the trailer to go live on YouTube at a set time so that we wouldn’t have to worry about it on a busy day. We also pre-wrote and saved a draft article for DTF and responded quickly to comments. Additionally, we uploaded vertical videos to various social networks and made several Reddit posts in the evening.
4. Media Coverage:
Throughout the day, we tracked mentions of Snow Town Geek Store to see how far the news was spreading and where the wishlists were coming from. Due to time zone differences, Russian outlets were the first to cover the news, followed by international publications, with Telegram channels significantly expanding our reach.
That's it! I hope these tips help you out, and good luck with your projects!
Our results
Here are a few of the most viewed posts. We’re sure we didn’t catch all of them, but the reach is still massive!
TikTok
Telegram
Reddit
Chinese YouTube
YouTube
The Russian trailer made its way into the recommendation system and has become a great source of wishlists. It currently has over 120,000 views and is still growing.
We estimate that our global web reach has exceeded 2,000,000 impressions.
Below are some screenshots from the Steam analytics tool.
TikTok
Telegram
- Step into the past as a kiosk seller
- Nostalgic geek store simulator
- Post on PC Master Race
- Art for a game about working in a geek store
- Modern gaming discussion
Chinese YouTube
YouTube
The Russian trailer made its way into the recommendation system and has become a great source of wishlists. It currently has over 120,000 views and is still growing.
We estimate that our global web reach has exceeded 2,000,000 impressions.
Below are some screenshots from the Steam analytics tool.
You can see that nearly one-third of users who discovered our page added the game to their wishlists. This high conversion rate shows that our page is well-designed and aligns with our audience’s expectations.
Additionally, because of the large volume of external traffic, Steam now actively recommends our page on other game pages.
What delivered the most results? We believe the initial boost came from Telegram, while the steady performance throughout the week was driven by the YouTube trailer, which now has 120,000 views.
Thanks for reading — I hope you find this useful!
Feel free to collaborate with us — write to perelesoq@gmail.com or contact our founder Artem directly on X or LinkedIn. We assist with announcements and other marketing activities, offer consultations, and welcome various collaborations. We have a deep understanding of the post-Soviet market, and our own success in this region has shown that strong performance here can generate substantial global interest.
Check out the channel of our studio head perelesoq about game marketing on Telegram: https://t.me/marketagame
Additionally, because of the large volume of external traffic, Steam now actively recommends our page on other game pages.
What delivered the most results? We believe the initial boost came from Telegram, while the steady performance throughout the week was driven by the YouTube trailer, which now has 120,000 views.
Thanks for reading — I hope you find this useful!
Feel free to collaborate with us — write to perelesoq@gmail.com or contact our founder Artem directly on X or LinkedIn. We assist with announcements and other marketing activities, offer consultations, and welcome various collaborations. We have a deep understanding of the post-Soviet market, and our own success in this region has shown that strong performance here can generate substantial global interest.
Check out the channel of our studio head perelesoq about game marketing on Telegram: https://t.me/marketagame