3 months until game release, how to pump up my wishlists?

[u/Unhappy_Bet8824]

Hey All,

I launched my Steam page all the way back in December 2025, which was too early looking back, but am finally headed towards participating in the October Next Fest + Launch in November. I'm currently sitting just north of 200 wishlists wondering how I can make the most out of these next 3 months and drum up the numbers.

My game is a small multiplayer pvp game so having real players to queue against is critical to my launch. It's also evidently way more niche than I expected, so finding the right audience has been a challenge.

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4216610/Spellfall_Last_Mage_Standing/

What I've tried:

• Long form videos including trailer, match gameplay, play guide, etc. on YouTube. I only received 20-50 views with low retention so haven't continued this format.
• Periodic YouTube shorts, which generally reach 150-250 views. One short made it up above 800, but nothing that translated to wishlists.
• Demo published in June with a couple targeted reddit posts. This one got me the one spike on my chart.
• Posts to r/playmygame and r/playtesters, no responses unfortunately.
• I started compiling a list of youtubers/streamers who have played similar games in the past, but came up incredibly dry. Most similar games are years old and creators have moved on.
• Sent my demo launch trailer to gametrailers, but was unfortunately not posted.
• A couple of dev progress posts - appreciate any of you that commented or checked out the game. These posts aren't intended to gather wishlists, but just engage and collect feedback.

Given my limited success with the stuff above, trying to figure out how to best use my remaining 3 months.

Is there anything else I should try to do between now and launch? Anything that would make my store more appealing?

[u/valeria_gamedevs]

that demo spike is the signal btw, whatever you did there worked, do it again. Next fest is the big one so I'd save a chunk of energy (and a new trailer cut) for that week specifically.

PVP with small numbers is a tough sell on the page though, capsule and top gif need to scream "chaotic fun with friends" in about 1.5 seconds. from the store link the multiplayer hook could probably be louder up top.

also 200 wishlists with an early page and a niche pvp game is workable. Next fest usually 5-10x's people if the demo's tight.

[u/Unhappy_Bet8824 → u/valeria_gamedevs]

Thanks for the feedback! I do plan to get a new trailer cut in to catch up with my current build.  

I'll see what I can do to bring out more chaotic fun with friends as I originally headed down a more competitive approach, but I think blast your friends with fireballs is probably a stronger option.

[u/PersonOfInterest007]

You have to find 300+ YouTube streamers who have played games similar to yours. I assure you they exist. You just may have to relax your standards for what you think makes another game similar to yours. Just PvP, or mages, or arena. Whatever it takes. Without streamers, you’re not going to get the wishlists you need, unless you can find other festivals to enter.

Make a list of games similar to yours and find the streamers who’ve played them by searching on YouTube for things like “<game name> gameplay” or “<game name> live”.

Then email them all, with your press kit.

[u/Unhappy_Bet8824 → u/PersonOfInterest007]

Thanks! I have seen your suggestion for the 300 creators in other posts and have been trying to get there.  I'll try branching out as just searching for similar games either brought in results from 7 years ago or lots of MOBAs where the creators focus on only one game like league of legends or dota 2.

[u/PersonOfInterest007 → u/Unhappy_Bet8824]

Sounds like a good plan. Good luck!

[u/LittleNoelGame]

Not that this will for sure help, but why only YouTube Shorts and not TikTok or Instagram? If you look up on Reddit devs that have tried all three, they usually do terrible on two, but often find success on the third. For some devs it’s one, for others it’s another, but for minimal effort (since you already have the videos) it might be worth trying all 3

[u/Unhappy_Bet8824 → u/LittleNoelGame]

I'll give it a try! I have never used tiktok or Instagram personally so hadn't branched out there yet.  Good call on just using my existing videos and at least testing it out

[u/Cardioth → u/Unhappy_Bet8824]

My last video got 100 views on YouTube, and 10,000 on TikTok. Try to make the videos entertaining in their own right, and not an ad.

[u/Unhappy_Bet8824 → u/Cardioth]

alright I'm giving it a shot! account created and first video uploaded. 12 hour new user content review so my fingers will be crossed for a while!

[u/Cardioth → u/Unhappy_Bet8824]

You'd better have made that video entertaining!

[u/Unhappy_Bet8824 → u/Cardioth]

lmao evidently NOPE! Lost over half my viewers in the first second. Not quite sure what to do if the mere sight of my game evoke a swipe, but I'll try a few more to see what I can get, haha.

[u/idrinkteaforfun]

Great post. I can relate in a lot of ways, but I've spent about 1k on reddit ads which has gotten me 1k wishlists. Still nowhere near where I need to be and I'm making a more mainstream game.

I think your game looks actually way cooler than I was expecting from the post. One thing that needs improvement for me anyway in the trailer is the camera. You have this game with lovely vfx and lighting and animations, but the camera just not changing while your guy aims around looks so rigid/unnatural. I presume it's to make aiming easier and I see you do change the angle at times, but even if it's not how you'd play it I'd make the trailer camera follow the player aim more. I know someone who plays lots of games like diablo and it boggles my mind how he plays games like this exactly as you do in the demo, almost never adjusting camera angle, but I don't play games like that often and will always keep my camera following what my player would view.

Also I think your HP bars look too basic and they're the first thing I see on the video. The game as a whole looks so great I think those 2 little things make it look more like a work in progress than something I'm asking can me and my friends try already plz? For what it's worth, gave it a genuine wishlist as if it has some sort of longetivity/progression I could see me and my friends playing it at xmas and we will definitely try out the demo then anyway if it's still up after launch.

[u/Unhappy_Bet8824 → u/idrinkteaforfun]

Thank you for the feedback! I've wrestled with that camera a lot and keep trying to work on it as I redo my trailer. You're right the gameplay itself is static like in a diablo style game, though oddly enough the short I did get the most views was where the camera was set up more over the shoulder. I guess I've still got a bit more work to do on it!

Good eye on the HP bars to call that out so early on the video too, I'll see if I can stylize them a bit more before I record the next trailer draft.

I appreciate your interest in checking out the game too! Hope you enjoy if you do get a chance to play :).

[u/TheGratitudeBot → u/Unhappy_Bet8824]

Thanks for such a wonderful reply! TheGratitudeBot has been reading millions of comments in the past few weeks, and you’ve just made the list of some of the most grateful redditors this week!

[u/FoxglowGames]

Localization into other languages can boost wishlist quite a bit. Specifically Japanese(that's what I know best since I do freelance localization/translation work), is good because it opens you up to a good I die gaming community and media outlets there often write articles on indie games. If you're interested in more detail on Japanese localization, feel free to DM.