Indie Game Branding for Beginners

In most scenarios its logo, promotional art, and marketing assets are the first things both players and media will come across when they discover your indie game. An attractive capsule can encourage people to visit your Steam page, for example, while flashy box art might get their attention as they scroll through social media.

At the same time, most indie developers don’t have a seasoned designer or brand manager to guide them through the creative process. In those cases, is there a way to make sure your branding gets the job done? And what should you keep in mind as you design your indie game’s unique identity?

1️⃣: Understand What Each Element Does

Before you even start working on your marketing assets, it’s important you understand what each element does and how they work together to present your indie game to the public.

Starting from the top of the pile, your logo is a visual element that both identifies and represents your game. It is usually the most memorable part of your marketing assets and the one people will immediately recognize online. In contrast, box art (sometimes called key art or promotional art) is a composition that should convey your game’s unique characteristics. Its main objective is to attract attention, turning heads and encouraging people to learn more.

When they come together, these two elements make up what’s usually known as capsule art. Capsule art is what you’ll likely use on storefronts, and it comes in a variety of shapes and sizes to fit each website’s requirements. It is, for many, the first point of contact with your game and should be designed to be attractive, easily recognizable and extremely memorable.

2️⃣: Get Familiar With Each Platform

Speaking of storefronts, each distribution platform will have a set of requirements when it comes to the size of your promotional assets. Steam, for example, requires over 8 different versions of your key art while also enforcing very specific resolution requirements for screenshots and logos.

As you work on designing your branding materials, keep in mind that both their form factor and the size at which they are displayed heavily impact their visibility. The smaller your capsule art is, the more challenging its content will be for people to make out. In practice, this means that you might need to resize, rearrange and sometimes even prioritize your elements to ensure the art remains legible.

Variations of capsule and box art for Ooblets on Steam

3️⃣: Look Around For Inspiration

Like anything else you’re working on, your promotional assets won’t exist in a vacuum. Moreso in recent years, people have grown to expect a certain degree of consistency from games logos, box art, and capsules.Take a closer look at these four capsules below and you’ll easily spot the same elements and structures recurring regardless of their genre.

As you go about establishing your game’s brand, don’t forget to take a look around to see what others are doing. Look at games that have done well, but also study emerging titles within your specific niche to learn more about what has allowed them to stand out from the rest! We just released our free Capsule Asset Browser to help you with that!

These four games all use a similar design regardless of their genre, with outside elements guiding the viewer’s eye toward the logo

4️⃣: Prioritize Impressiveness And Readability

Especially for more artistic indie games, a lot of first time developers tend to go with overdesigned, gilded logos that match the title’s aesthetics. While that isn’t automatically a bad thing, it can easily lead to readability problems when displayed on smaller screens or at smaller sizes.

To avoid this, try to ensure that your logo remains visible and easy to remember regardless of its size. While you should still aim for a memorable design, consider picking less elaborate fonts that won’t get squished or distorted as you resize them. You can also create different variations of your logo so that you always have the perfect one to choose from depending on the situation.

5️⃣: Let Your Art Style and Gameplay Seep Through

Even with the limitations we just saw, your capsule art should match and echo the art style of your game. This doesn’t only help it blend with the rest of your marketing assets, but also helps prospective players immediately get a better idea of what the game is about.

Fortunately, there are several ways to achieve your intended results. If you used a specific font in your game, for example, make sure a similar one is found in your logo. Using key art that represents your game’s unique aesthetics and gameplay and including genre-specific elements are also extremely helpful at conveying the essence of your title.

Four examples of capsule art immediately conveying what the game is about

6️⃣: Do Your Best To Look Professional

Sometimes, the difference between a professional and an amateur-looking capsule art is as subtle as a handful of details. While mastering the process can take years, getting familiar with the basics of composition and visual design will let you create much better looking marketing assets.

Among other things, pay attention to how your pieces are laid on the canvas. Establish a visual hierarchy and make sure that your elements guide the viewer’s eye throughout the picture. A consistent color scheme, a well-defined focal point, and using contrast to direct people’s attention will also make your promotional material look a lot more polished.

7️⃣: Don’t Be Afraid To Experiment

Finally, nobody gets it right on the first try. If you feel like your marketing material could be improved, don’t be afraid to experiment with it. Try new combinations of logos and art, design variations of your best-performing material or even go back to the drawing board and come up with a completely new idea.

Alongside the potential of yielding exciting results, this experimentation phase can also be a great way to interact with your fans. If you have an active following, share your creations with them and ask for feedback. Not only they’ll feel more involved, but they could always give you a new perspective on things. For a real world example, here is a great Reddit post showing the effects of player feedback on a game’s capsule art!

In Conclusion

Establishing an effective brand for your game comes down to both understanding your design choices as well as meeting people’s expectations. It is often a long process and something you’ll rarely be able to achieve without multiple tries.That, however, shouldn’t discourage you. Keep an eye on those around you, don’t be afraid to experiment, get your community involved and you’ll quickly be able to stand out!

Are you looking for more help marketing your games? Don’t forget to check out our suite of free tools for indie developers and join our Discord for more tips!