Week 7 | Course 4

Introduction

This week puts the game itself, playable, in front of strangers at scale, through a public demo run alongside Steam Next Fest, one of the highest-leverage discovery opportunities a small developer has access to.

Lesson breakdown

Lesson 1: What Steam Next Fest Is and Why It Matters - Understand the event's requirements and why it works in your favor regardless of existing reach.
Lesson 2: Scoping a Demo Deliberately - Package a bounded, self-contained slice of existing content rather than building anything new.
Lesson 3: What to Cut From a Demo - Protect later narrative beats and balance states, and design a clean, non-continuing stopping point.
Lesson 4: Packaging and Submitting the Demo - Build it as a linked Steamworks app and submit with real buffer time before your target window.
Lesson 5: Running the Demo Week Itself - Monitor for technical issues and engage with new players as a live event, not a passive upload.

Try this now

Understand the event's requirements and why it works in your favor regardless of existing reach.
Protect later narrative beats and balance states, and design a clean, non-continuing stopping point.
Monitor for technical issues and engage with new players as a live event, not a passive upload.

How this week works

This week puts the game itself, playable, in front of strangers at scale, through a public demo run alongside Steam Next Fest, one of the highest-leverage discovery opportunities a small developer has access to.

Video segment plan

Use one focused segment per part, then pause to implement and validate before continuing.

Implementation evidence

Keep short notes, screenshots, and links to what you published so this week's work is reusable in later polish passes.

Interactive lesson parts (6-10 min each)

Part 1: What Steam Next Fest Is and Why It Matters

Watch Build Check

6 min Part video

Video part 1: What Steam Next Fest Is and Why It Matters

Complete the focused task for this part before moving on.

Understand the event's requirements and why it works in your favor regardless of existing reach.

Part 2: Scoping a Demo Deliberately

Watch Build Check

7 min Part video

Video part 2: Scoping a Demo Deliberately

Apply and validate this technique in your project artifact.

Package a bounded, self-contained slice of existing content rather than building anything new.

Part 3: What to Cut From a Demo

Watch Build Check

7 min Part video

Video part 3: What to Cut From a Demo

Cross-check this part against your actual store page and channels.

Protect later narrative beats and balance states, and design a clean, non-continuing stopping point.

Part 4: Packaging and Submitting the Demo

Watch Build Check

8 min Part video

Video part 4: Packaging and Submitting the Demo

Draft or build the concrete piece this part asks for.

Build it as a linked Steamworks app and submit with real buffer time before your target window.

Part 5: Running the Demo Week Itself

Watch Build Check

9 min Part video

Video part 5: Running the Demo Week Itself

Finish with a validation step and one clear next action.

Monitor for technical issues and engage with new players as a live event, not a passive upload.

Hands-on milestone

A live, public demo linked to your Steam page
The demo submitted to (or independently run alongside) a Steam Next Fest window
A documented demo-week engagement and monitoring plan, executed during the event

Weekly checkpoint

Use this checkpoint marker to confirm this week's deliverables are actually done, not just planned.

Checkpoint checklist Week 7

# Checkpoint for Week 7: Steam Next Fest and Demo Building
[ ] A live, public demo linked to your Steam page
[ ] The demo submitted to (or independently run alongside) a Steam Next Fest window
[ ] A documented demo-week engagement and monitoring plan, executed during the event