> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://seeindie.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Devlogs: what they actually do for your game - URL: https://seeindie.com/blog/devlog/ - Published: 2026-09-10T11:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-10T10:59:59.000Z - Description: Seven documented places a Steam update appears, five front-page rounds per game for its entire life, and the honest answer on wishlists. - Author: Isabella-Viktoria Quilez - Tags: Devlog, steam, Indie Marketing Most devlog advice tells you to post consistently, be authentic, and film your screen. That's fine, and it's also the least useful part. Here's what nobody mentions: a devlog isn't only a video. On Steam it's an event, and Valve documents exactly where those events appear — seven places, including the front page of the store. One of those placements is limited to **five uses per game, ever.** If you're going to spend the time writing devlogs at all, knowing that changes when you write them. I'll go through what a devlog is, where it actually gets seen, the scarce resource nobody warns you about, and the honest answer to "will this get me wishlists." That last answer is less flattering than the guides suggest. The short version - **A Steam update post appears in seven documented places** — including the store front page, your library, and the News Hub. - **The front-page slot runs on Update Visibility Rounds, and you get five. Total.** Shared between Early Access and full release. - **Every one of those surfaces targets people who already know you.** A devlog is retention, not acquisition. - **A video devlog with no written version is invisible to anything that reads.** Search engines and AI crawlers index text, not footage. - **Nobody has a reliable number for devlog wishlists.** Anyone quoting one is estimating. On this page [What a devlog is](#what-it-is) [Where it shows up](#where-it-shows) [The five rounds](#five-rounds) [Wishlists, honestly](#wishlists) [Writing it down](#write-it-down) [FAQ](#faq) ## What a devlog is (and the naming confusion) A devlog is a development log: a recurring post about what you're building, what broke, and what changed. It's an old format — programmers have kept them for decades — that indie game devs adopted because it does two jobs at once. It documents the development process, and it gives fans a reason to keep watching. Small annoyance up front: searching "devlog" is a mess, because there's also a **game** called Devlog. If you're looking for advice and keep landing on a store page, that's why. The format runs in three main places, and they are not interchangeable: - **Video devlogs** — YouTube, usually 8–20 minutes, sometimes short clips. - **Written devlogs** — your own site, itch.io's devlog feature, or a blog. - **Platform update posts** — Steam events, which is the one that gets skipped. Most people pick one. The interesting move is that the same work feeds all three, and only one of them is actually yours. ## Where a devlog actually shows up on Steam This is the part I'd read twice, because it's documented and specific, and almost nobody writing about devlogs mentions it. Steam's event tools have three levels of update post: **Patch Notes**, **Regular Updates**, and **Major Updates**. A Major Update appears in seven places: 1 Library "What's New" Top of the Steam Library. Valve is explicit that visibility varies per player — which games they play, how recently, how much, and their personalisation settings. 2 Your game's library page In the event list, optionally featured. 3 Your store page As one of only two events shown there. 4 The Downloads view If you link the post to a build, it shows as a PATCH NOTES link in the Steam client. 5 Store homepage, "Recently Updated" Only via an Update Visibility Round. This is the important one — see below. 6 The News Hub For owners and followers of your game. 7 Your community hub Alongside community-generated content. There's also a smaller effect worth knowing: update events refresh the **"last updated" stamp** on your store page. That's a quiet signal to anyone evaluating whether your game is alive. To post a Major Update you need a title, a description with images, and an **800 × 450 cover image**. A 1920 × 622 header is optional. Formatting is BBCode. ### The easiest possible start If a devlog habit sounds like a lot: when you push a new build through SteamPipe, Steam prompts you to write patch notes right there. Most developers use it for a bullet list of changes. That's a devlog. A small one, but it's the same muscle, and it's the lowest-effort entry point that exists. Even a short list of fixed bugs, with a couple of screenshots, tells your customers you're still working on the game. ## The scarce resource: five visibility rounds Here's the thing I didn't know before researching this, and it changes how you should plan. That "Recently Updated" spot on the Steam front page isn't automatic. It runs on **Update Visibility Rounds**, and Valve's rules are strict. 5 visibility rounds per product — for the entire life of the game Steamworks documentation 30 days maximum per round, seasonal-sale days included Steamworks documentation 1M homepage impressions, whichever limit comes first Steamworks documentation - Those five are **shared between Early Access and full release**. Spend them all during Early Access and you have none left for post-launch updates. - It's shown to people who have your game **in their library or on their wishlist**. Not to strangers. - Starting one requires a **community announcement posted within the last 30 days**. Your devlog post is that announcement. - You can only start a round **after your launch visibility has ended**. - Additional rounds *may* be granted to products that are selling well. May. One trap: during the big seasonal sales — Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter — the front page switches to sale layout and the update section doesn't run. **Those days still count against your 30.** Starting a round the week before the Summer Sale burns part of it for nothing. If that structure feels familiar, it should. It's the same shape as the [one-Fest-per-game rule](https://seeindie.com/blog/steam-next-fest/): a scarce, non-renewable thing you have to make a decision about, rather than a tap you turn on. Five rounds across the entire life of your game is not many. Save them for updates that genuinely deserve the front page. ## Will a devlog get me wishlists? Now the honest part. I can't give you a number, and I'd be careful with anyone who does. When I went looking for data on devlog performance, the entire first page of results was marketing blogs quoting figures with no sample size, no time period, and no method — several of them published by companies selling marketing tools. I'm not repeating those here. What I can tell you is what the mechanics imply, and the mechanics are clear enough. **Look at who Steam shows your update to.** Library "What's New": people who own your game. News Hub: owners and followers. Recently Updated: library and wishlist. Store page: people already looking at your store page. > Every single one of those surfaces is aimed at people who already know you exist. So a devlog on Steam is a retention and reactivation tool. It keeps a wishlist warm, reminds a lapsed player that the game grew, gives a follower a reason to stay, and opens a channel for feedback from the people who care most. That's genuinely valuable — wishlists decay, and a game that looks abandoned converts badly. But it is not an acquisition channel, and treating it as one will make you feel like it's failing when it's actually doing its job. New people come from somewhere else: search, video, community, press, a Fest. The devlog is what you do with them once they've arrived. ## The version most people skip: writing it down Here's where I'd push back on the standard advice. The usual devlog recommendation is video-first, because video is what performs on the platforms people think of first. And video does work for reach. But a video devlog with no written version has a specific weakness: **it's invisible to anything that reads rather than watches.** Search engines index text. So do the crawlers behind AI answers. A twelve-minute video where you explain how you rebuilt your inventory system is genuinely useful information that, in that form, effectively doesn't exist to them. I've written about this at more length in [humans hate text, AI needs it](https://seeindie.com/blog/humans-hate-text-ai-needs-it/) — the short version is that the format that feels worst to make is often the one machines can actually use. The fix isn't to stop making videos. It's to stop making *only* videos. The same devlog, written up on your own site, does three things a video can't: - **It's yours.** Platform reach is rented. Your site is the [channel you own](https://seeindie.com/website/). - **It can rank.** A written devlog about a specific problem — pathfinding on hex grids, save systems in Godot — targets real long-tail searches that other developers make. - **It can be quoted.** By search results, by AI answers, by someone answering a question on Reddit, by other people learning the same thing you just learned. Practically: write the post, publish it on your site, and adapt it for Steam and for video. One piece of work, three surfaces, and only one of them can be taken away from you. ## A cadence that doesn't eat your project Some honest calibration, because "post consistently" is easy to say. Devlogs compete directly with development time, and for a solo developer that trade is real. A weekly video devlog is a part-time content job. That's a legitimate choice — some people build their whole audience that way — but it should be a choice, not something you drift into and then resent. What I'd suggest instead: tie your devlog to things that actually happened rather than to a calendar. A milestone, a system rebuilt, a genuinely interesting failure. That's the rhythm patch notes already give you for free, and it means you never sit down to write a devlog with nothing to say. Consistency matters less than not burning out — motivation is the resource that actually runs out. And keep the tiers separate. Small change: patch notes, two minutes. Real progress: a written post. Something you'd actually want a stranger to see: the full treatment, and maybe one of your five rounds. ## The short version A devlog is worth doing. Just be clear about what it's for. It keeps the people who already found you — followers, wishlisters, owners — from drifting away. It gives Steam something to show them, in seven documented places. It gives you material that, written down, can rank and be cited long after the video stops being recommended. What it won't do is find you an audience from nothing. Nothing does that on its own. ## FAQ What is a devlog? A devlog is a development log — a recurring post or video where a developer documents what they're building, what changed, and what went wrong. Indie game developers use them to document work and to give an audience a reason to follow a project before release. Do devlogs actually help sell games? They mainly help retain interest rather than create it. On Steam, update posts are shown to people who own, follow, or wishlist your game, so a devlog keeps existing interest warm rather than reaching new players. There is no reliable public figure for wishlists generated by devlogs; anyone quoting one is estimating. Where should I post my devlog? Ideally in three places: your own website, where it can rank and can't be taken away; Steam, as an event post; and video or social, for reach. The same work adapts to all three. How often should I post a devlog? Tie it to real milestones rather than a fixed schedule. A weekly video devlog is effectively a part-time content job and competes directly with development time. Patch notes after each build are a much lower-effort baseline. Where does a Steam update post appear? In seven places: the Library "What's New" section, your game's library page, your store page, the Downloads view (if linked to a build), the store homepage "Recently Updated" section (via a visibility round), the News Hub, and your community hub. What is a Steam Update Visibility Round? It's a slot on the Steam front page for a major update, shown to people who have your game in their library or on their wishlist. Each product gets five in total, shared between Early Access and full release. A round runs up to 30 days or 1 million impressions, whichever comes first, and requires a community announcement from the last 30 days. Can I use update visibility rounds during Early Access? Yes, but the five rounds are shared between Early Access and full release. If you use them all during Early Access, you won't have any left for major updates after launch. Should my devlog be video or written? Both, if you can. Video reaches people on platforms; written devlogs get indexed by search engines and can be cited by AI answers, which video alone cannot. A video devlog with no written version is effectively invisible to anything that reads rather than watches.