Press Kits and you!

So just in case you don’t already know, a press kit is a handy little guide that communicates to “the press” how to cover what you made. They exist far beyond games and can encompass all kinds of things such as coordinated events, corporate branding kits, movie debuts.

When it comes to press kits for video games, these kits can be extremely useful for the press to know how to cover your game, what details to focus on, if there are any things you want to leave out of coverage, and even suggestions to make the process of covering the game easier.

But who even is the press?

So you ever heard of this fancy little website like YouTube? Or Twitch? Maybe you don’t think of things that way but when a “content creator” (youtuber, streamer, blog author, formal reporter, etc…) covers your game, they become “the press” for as far as you need be concerned.

The important thing is that if you want your game to get covered (which let’s be honest, you’re reading this I bet you do), it’s a good idea to make coverage as easy as possible.

What goes in a press kit?

A press kit usually entails a zip archive easily acquired by the press

An informational document

You should include a document with some core details.

Simple description of the game

You want to include some details about the game so the press can understand quickly what kind of context they are going to be in. Is it a horror game? Maybe they wanna dim the lights and give it the right spooky presence. Is it a game of cozy bunnies frolicking in a field of peonys? They might wanna cozy it up for their stream!

Important content warnings (if applicable)

Does your game include jumpscares? Does the dog die? Are there triggering elements like rape and/or abuse? You need to let the press know that. A YouTuber whose target audience is 8-12 year old Catholic children isn’t going to want to cover the game about gritty blood and carnage.

Key areas to engage with

Are there specific parts of your game you really want to show off, make sure to note that in the press kit. Ideally these are things they would come across naturally, but if the system is somewhat esoteric you may need to do additional explaining.

Relevant notes (if applicable)

On an as needed basis, share what kinds of important things the press should know while reviewing. Is your game early access, note that and specifically what that means for your game. If there are sections that are incomplete in the game or systems that aren’t done yet, you should note that as well.

Additionally if you have esoteric features (anything slightly more complex than the average AAA game) it can be helpful to give more details on the systems. Ideally this is in a properly formatted PDF so readers can skip around to different headers as needed.

Let’s say as an example that you have a highly dynamic character AI built into one of the monsters. Some kind of Hierarchical Task Network Planner or extremely robust Hierarchical Finite State Machine or Behaviour Tree, you are going to want to call that out and potentially some ways to elicit the more interesting behaviours. If that monster has a system for planning an ambush, let the press know how to get that ambush to occur and how to recognize it. They are voluntarily reading this so spoilers are totally OK! It’s better for you to accidentally spoil something than for the press to think they bugged out your game!

Branding / Assets

Assets are typically images but not always. Maybe you want to include sound files, a particular font even!

At the bare minimum you should include some kind of logo. Otherwise press coverage will have to make their own, which discourages coverage. Make a simple logo, even if it’s just a particular font with the title of your game on a transparent background.

Preferred color palatte

Does your game follow a reduced color palette? Or do you know that a particular scheme looks best with your game? Instead of forcing the press to dig into the game and get the exact color values for your palette, give them that information!

Sample screenshots

Your game likely has visual components. You likely prepared some screenshots for the game’s store page anyway, so include full-resolution images in your press kit. Some websites will compress those images to save on storage so ensuring the press has access to high resolution images they can use. Whether for videos they want to make some kind of thumbnail using these (consider this when selecting thumbnails!) or if they are writing a blog which will likely want some kind of imagery in the page.

Any useful sound files

Maybe as a streamer they want to really immerse into your game. They could make a superchat notification use a sound from your game, if you provide a sound file in the press kit, they can do this fairly easily.

Great I made a press kit, now what?

Cool so your press kit is ready to go and you’re hopeful for some coverage! Let’s make it easy to find. First of all you want a hosting system that is easily recognized as safe. Most people will recognize Google Drive or DropBox, maybe Mega and a few other providers. If the option allows, include it as an optional download on your store page or as a download from your personal website. Now copy the download link and keep it safe.

You want that download link in your store page (assuming you can’t include it as an optional download, I know Itch.io has that functionality). You want to call out that you have a press kit and that it includes useful information for streamers and youtubers.

Now, to be pessimistic, typical content creators probably didn’t read a whole lot of that description. They might not have read any of it. But it’s still important to have it there for those that will. Especially the more professional press will at least skim through for a press kit.

Let’s make sure they actually find the press kit. There are several ways to do this. An easy way is to just add a button to your main menu that opens a web browser to the press kit download. You’ll want one extra click to prevent people from accidentally downloading the press kit if they don’t want to.

Another option is to include a popup when the game first starts to announce that this game does have a press kit. This should be just for the first time they open the game. This is a great way to catch the less aware one last time before they get into the game. After this point there’s not much more you can do. Hope for the best.