Week 8 | Course 4

Introduction

Every prior week in this course has fed toward this one: a devlog and social presence, a real Discord community, a strong trailer and polished store page, press outreach, and a public demo, all deliberately pointed at the number that matters most.

Lesson breakdown

Lesson 1: Treating Wishlists as an Ongoing Campaign - Recognize that sustained activity compounds and a single big push usually underperforms it.
Lesson 2: Milestone Posts as a Wishlist Tool - Celebrate genuine, concrete milestones as a natural, low-pressure reason for people to re-engage.
Lesson 3: Cross-Promotion With Other Indie Developers - Share audiences with complementary developers through honest, reciprocal exchanges.
Lesson 4: Reading Your Own Wishlist Data - Use Steamworks analytics to spot plausible correlations between activity and wishlist spikes.
Lesson 5: Avoiding Wishlist-Campaign Burnout - Pace activity sustainably so there's real energy left in reserve for Week 11's launch.

Try this now

Recognize that sustained activity compounds and a single big push usually underperforms it.
Share audiences with complementary developers through honest, reciprocal exchanges.
Pace activity sustainably so there's real energy left in reserve for Week 11's launch.

How this week works

Every prior week in this course has fed toward this one: a devlog and social presence, a real Discord community, a strong trailer and polished store page, press outreach, and a public demo, all deliberately pointed at the number that matters most.

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: Treating Wishlists as an Ongoing Campaign

Watch Build Check

6 min Part video

Video part 1: Treating Wishlists as an Ongoing Campaign

Complete the focused task for this part before moving on.

Recognize that sustained activity compounds and a single big push usually underperforms it.

Part 2: Milestone Posts as a Wishlist Tool

Watch Build Check

7 min Part video

Video part 2: Milestone Posts as a Wishlist Tool

Apply and validate this technique in your project artifact.

Celebrate genuine, concrete milestones as a natural, low-pressure reason for people to re-engage.

Part 3: Cross-Promotion With Other Indie Developers

Watch Build Check

7 min Part video

Video part 3: Cross-Promotion With Other Indie Developers

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

Share audiences with complementary developers through honest, reciprocal exchanges.

Part 4: Reading Your Own Wishlist Data

Watch Build Check

8 min Part video

Video part 4: Reading Your Own Wishlist Data

Draft or build the concrete piece this part asks for.

Use Steamworks analytics to spot plausible correlations between activity and wishlist spikes.

Part 5: Avoiding Wishlist-Campaign Burnout

Watch Build Check

9 min Part video

Video part 5: Avoiding Wishlist-Campaign Burnout

Finish with a validation step and one clear next action.

Pace activity sustainably so there's real energy left in reserve for Week 11's launch.

Hands-on milestone

A documented wishlist campaign plan and sustainable ongoing cadence
At least one published milestone post
At least one attempted, and ideally completed, cross-promotion collaboration
A before/after wishlist count with an honest attribution note

Weekly checkpoint

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

Checkpoint checklist Week 8

# Checkpoint for Week 8: The Wishlist Campaign
[ ] A documented wishlist campaign plan and sustainable ongoing cadence
[ ] At least one published milestone post
[ ] At least one attempted, and ideally completed, cross-promotion collaboration
[ ] A before/after wishlist count with an honest attribution note