Pre-Launch Steam Capsule Checklist

Before you start

Two prerequisites. Not capsule design, Steamworks housekeeping that blocks the rest of the list if you skip it.

• The capsule is uploaded at all four store sizes

  WhySteam may auto-feature you on surfaces that need different aspect ratios. A missing main or vertical capsule means missing a free promotional surface.

  VerifySteamworks → Edit Store Page → confirm header (920×430), small (462×174), main (1232×706), and vertical (748×896) are all uploaded.

• No banned elements (review scores, awards, marketing copy, cross-promo)

  WhySteam's September 2022 + August 2024 rule updates banned these from base capsules. Non-compliant capsules can be removed from promotional surfaces.

  VerifyRe-read the asset rules and audit your capsule against each banned element. Use Artwork Overrides for time-limited promotional text.

1. Genre clarity

Genre clarity is the highest-leverage dimension on the page. A stranger has to be able to name your genre at thumbnail size. If they can't, the right player never considers clicking. Wrong player clicks, bounces, leaves a confused review. Worst of both worlds.

• The genre is unambiguous at 120 × 45

  WhySteam scales your small capsule down to 120 × 45 in the home page rails. If a player can't tell whether your game is a horror title, a roguelike, or a cozy farming sim at that size, the capsule fails the genre-clarity test.

  VerifyRender the capsule at 120 × 45 in your design tool, place it on a #1b2838 background, and ask three people who haven't seen the game to describe what kind of game it is in one word.

• The dominant genre signal is theme-specific, not generic

  WhySword silhouette = could be RPG, action, or strategy. A specific genre uses specific iconography: dungeon-crawler tile grids, deck-builder card fans, base-builder grid layouts, horror's negative space and isolated subject.

  VerifyList the three most genre-distinctive elements in your capsule. If your top three are 'character', 'background', 'logo', go hunt for sub-genre-specific cues to add: props, pose, environmental signal.

• The capsule does not signal the wrong genre

  WhyA horror capsule with a smiling protagonist on a sunny background sends a misleading signal that costs clicks from horror fans and brings clicks from cozy fans who bounce immediately.

  VerifyShow the capsule to two players who like games OUTSIDE your genre. Ask what they think the genre is. If their guess is closer to their genre than yours, your visual signal is mixed.

2. Title readability

Honestly, most capsules' titles fail here. A logo that looks beautiful at 920 × 430 collapses into shapeless noise at 120 × 45, and that's the size most players see most often. Design the title for the smallest rendered size first, then scale up. Do it the other way around and you'll redo the logo three times before launch.

• The title is legible at 120 × 45

  WhyIf the player can't read the title at thumbnail size, they can't search for it, can't recommend it, and can't remember it. The 120 × 45 readability test is non-negotiable.

  VerifyRender at 120 × 45 in greyscale on a #1b2838 background. Squint at it. Can you read every word of the title? If not, increase letter weight, contrast, or size of the title.

• The title sits on a controlled background zone

  WhyTitles placed over busy texture or active subject lose contrast. Strong capsules carve out a quieter zone behind the title: usually a vignette, a darker corner, or a deliberately calmer band of background.

  VerifyTrace the area immediately behind the title. Is it busy, with detail competing with the letterforms? If yes, darken or simplify it.

• Decorative type doesn't collapse at small size

  WhyOrnate fonts, gothic serifs, and excessive flourishes work at hero size and fall apart small. Players will see the small version more often than the hero version.

  VerifyCompare your title at full size and at 120 × 45 side-by-side. If half the letterforms turn into shapeless blobs at small size, simplify the typography.

3. Contrast and colour

Steam's home page renders capsules on a dark navy background (#1b2838). Your capsule sits in a sea of other capsules on that same background. A capsule that doesn't pop against #1b2838 gets scrolled past, regardless of how beautiful it is in isolation. Greyscale is the brutal test; if the capsule survives desaturation, the value contrast is doing its job.

• The capsule pops against #1b2838

  WhySteam's surrounding dark navy interface is itself low-contrast. A capsule with limited value range and similar dark tones blends into the background. Strong capsules use high value contrast: a clearly bright subject against clearly darker context.

  VerifyPlace the capsule on a solid #1b2838 background. Step five feet back from the screen. Does the capsule still read as a distinct image? If it disappears, increase value contrast.

• The subject reads in greyscale

  WhyGreyscale is the brutal test. Strong silhouettes and clear focal hierarchy survive desaturation; muddy mid-tone designs collapse.

  VerifyConvert the capsule to greyscale. Can you still identify the primary subject? Is there a clear bright-to-dark progression? If everything sits in the middle grey range, increase value contrast.

4. Composition

Composition decides where the eye lands. One clear focal point. Supporting elements that guide. Crop resilience across all four capsule aspect ratios (which differ enough that a single 'master' artwork rarely survives all four).

• There is one clear primary subject at 120 × 45

  WhyAt small size, two or three competing focal points all collapse into noise. The eye needs a single anchor to lock onto in the half-second before the player decides whether to keep scrolling.

  VerifyAt 120 × 45, ask: what is the first element my eye lands on? If you have to think about it for more than a second, the composition has too many competing focal points.

• Title and subject don't fight each other

  WhyStrong capsules treat title and subject as a unified composition. Weak capsules feel like a sticker has been placed over a screenshot.

  VerifyCover the title with your hand. Does the subject still read? Cover the subject. Does the title still feel anchored to the composition? Both should still feel intentional.

• Important elements are inside the safe crop area

  WhySteam crops capsules differently across sizes: the small capsule (462 × 174) is much wider than tall, the vertical capsule (748 × 896) is portrait. Critical elements that sit too close to a hero edge get cropped on a different size.

  VerifyMock up the capsule at all four store sizes (header 920 × 430, small 462 × 174, main 1232 × 706, vertical 748 × 896). Verify the title and subject are inside the visible area in each.

5. Uniqueness and polish

Your capsule competes against an entire genre's worth of capsules in the player's feed. Generic plus competent loses to distinct plus clean, every time. This is the dimension that decides whether your capsule is memorable an hour after the player has stopped looking at it.

• The capsule has a clear visual hook

  WhyA signature character, a distinctive prop, an unusual colour combination: something the player will remember three weeks later when they're trying to find your game again. Generic capsules vanish from memory the moment the player stops looking at them.

  VerifyShow the capsule to a friend, then 10 minutes later show them five other capsules in your genre and ask which one was yours. If they can't pick yours out, the capsule lacks a memorable hook.

• Craft is clean, no compression artefacts, no template feel

  WhyPlayers read 'cheap' from the same visual cues a designer reads them: blurry edges, overdrawn typography, cliché stock-photo composition, default-feeling effects. Even strong genre signal loses to cheap craft.

  VerifyDisplay the capsule at 100% zoom. Are there visible compression artefacts? Aliased edges? Bevelled gradients that look from a stock pack? Fix or replace the offending elements.

6. Brand consistency

Internal cohesion only. The capsule should feel like one coherent piece, not a collage of assets pulled from three art directions. The brain catches the mismatch before the brand even registers.

• Style, palette, and rendering are internally consistent

  WhyA photoreal character standing on a flat-shaded environment under a hand-painted sky reads as inconsistent. The brain catches the visual mismatch before the brand even registers. Strong capsules pick a rendering register and hold it across the whole image.

  VerifySquint at the capsule. Does every element feel like it belongs to the same image? If any element jumps out as 'pasted in', re-render or replace it.

• The capsule matches the in-game art tone

  WhyPlayers who click the capsule expecting one tonal register and arrive at gameplay with a different one feel a trust break. The capsule can be a polished crop of the in-game art, not a different art.

  VerifyCompare the capsule against your trailer's first 5 seconds and your screenshots' first 3. Do they share palette, tonal range, and rendering style? If the capsule is materially more saturated or more stylised than the gameplay, dial it back.

Before you ship

Two final checks. Not about the capsule itself, just about whether you actually validated it. Most of the bad capsules we've scored had no third-party validation step. The designer was happy. The dev was happy. The capsule shipped. Then the wishlists didn't come, and nobody could say why.

• The capsule was scored against the rubric and passed every dimension

  WhyThe six dimensions are interdependent, a 9 on five and a 3 on one is a failed capsule. Every dimension needs at least a 6 (competent baseline).

  VerifyRun the capsule through Steam Analyser. If any dimension scores below 6, fix that dimension before launch.

• The capsule was tested against three real players, not just designers

  WhyDesigners are biased. They read intent. Players read what's actually there. Three quick checks with real players catch things a designer's eye misses.

  VerifyShow the capsule (at 120 × 45) to three players and ask: what kind of game is this, can you read the title, would you click. Three yes-no-yes is the bar.

FAQ