Write the three text fields a stranger reads before they decide to look closer at your game, using only what your current build can actually show.
This is the store-page-words slice: the short description, the long description, and the tags, with no capsule art, screenshots, trailers, release steps, or business numbers. If you need the image checklist, that lives in a separate article. Here you only write.
Steamworks updates its editor and its documentation. When I checked the official Steamworks documentation this session, its page on store page written descriptions called the two text areas the Short Description and the About This Game section, and its Steam Tags page placed tags under a Tag Wizard in the Basic Info part of the store page editor. Labels and locations can move. Before you paste anything, open the current Steamworks documentation for the store page description and for Steam Tags and match what you see there.
Before you write a word
Open your latest build and play it for ten minutes. Not the design document. Not the version in your head. The build.
Keep a notepad next to you and write down only what happened on screen. Write verbs: you pushed, you hid, you stacked, you rewound. Write nouns you actually touched: a lantern, a locked drawer, a clock. Write one feeling, if you had one.
That list is your raw material. Every claim in the three fields should trace back to a line on it. If a feature is planned but not playable, it does not go on the page yet. You can add it when it ships.
Field one: the short description
The short description has one job. It tells a skimming stranger what they do in your game and why it is worth a second look. The Steamworks documentation describes it as a brief synopsis shown where space is limited, including near the top of your store page, and limited to a few hundred characters. Check the current limit in the editor rather than trusting a number from a blog.
Write it in this order:
- The genre, in plain words a newcomer would use.
- The core action, as a verb.
- The one thing that makes your version different.
Then cut it until it is one sentence, or two short ones.
The documentation also asks for plain text, so no bullet points or extra line breaks. It warns against time-based phrases such as “now available,” because they go stale. Leave out dates, launch talk, and anything about price.
Test it on a friend who has not played the game. Read the sentence aloud once and ask them what they would do in the first minute. If their answer matches your build, keep it. If they describe a different game, rewrite.
Field two: the long description
The long description sits lower on the page. By the time someone reaches it, they have probably looked at your screenshots or trailer. They are interested. Your job now is to answer the questions that interest raises.
The Steamworks guidance pushes in one direction: less can be more, make it skimmable, avoid walls of text, and skip insider jargon. Treat that as your structure.
A simple layout that works for a small game:
- An opening paragraph of two or three sentences. Restate the premise in slightly more detail than the short description.
- Three to five short sections, each with a bold header and a paragraph or two under it. One section per thing a player does or sees.
- A closing paragraph that tells the reader what the game is not, if that helps them decide. “There is no combat” saves everyone time.
Write each section header as a promise you can keep. Then write the paragraph under it as proof. If the paragraph cannot point to something in the build, delete the header.
Watch for these habits as you edit:
- Words that judge instead of describe. “Beautiful,” “unique,” and “addictive” tell the reader nothing they can check. Describe the thing and let them judge.
- Feature lists copied from your design document. Players do not care that you built a system. They care what it lets them do.
- Acronyms. Spell out anything a newcomer to your genre might not know.
- Links or website names. The documentation says the description cannot link or point to other sites, and that the editor has separate fields for those.
The About This Game area accepts formatting and embedded images. Keep any images free of text if you can, because the documentation notes that text inside images has to be redone for every language you support.
Field three: tags you can defend
Tags help Steam decide where your game shows up and which games it sits next to. According to the current Steam Tags documentation, you set them through the Tag Wizard, the top tags carry the most weight, and players can add tags too. Read the current page for the exact minimum and maximum counts before you start.
The rule for this page is simple. Every tag needs a sentence of proof.
Make a two-column list. On the left, the tag. On the right, one sentence that starts with “In the build, you…” If you cannot finish that sentence, drop the tag.
Order matters. Put the most specific accurate tags at the top: a sub-genre beats a broad genre, and a broad genre beats a catch-all. The documentation points out that very common tags carry little information. Low-information words belong near the bottom, if they appear at all.
Cover the categories the documentation lists: genre, visual properties such as 2D or top-down, themes and moods, and features. If your game has no theme, do not invent one to fill a slot.
Then check the other direction. Look at the tags on games you think are similar. If one of them describes your game too and passes the proof test, add it. If a tag would attract players who will feel misled, leave it out even if it is popular.
A blank worked example
This is a fill-in template, not a real game. Picture a one-room game you have not named yet.
Short description draft:
“A [genre] game set in a single [room] where you [core verb] to [goal], and [the one thing that changes as you play].”
Long description skeleton:
- Opening: Two sentences on who you are in the room and what you want.
- [Verb] the [object]: What happens when you interact with the main object, in plain words.
- [What changes]: How the room responds over time.
- [What it is not]: One sentence on what the game leaves out.
Tag proof list:
| Tag | Proof sentence |
|---|---|
| [sub-genre] | In the build, you… |
| [camera or view] | In the build, you… |
| [mood] | In the build, you… |
Fill each bracket from your ten-minute notepad. If a bracket stays empty, that is information. Either the game needs that piece, or the page should not mention it.
A final pass before you paste
Read all three fields together, out loud. They should describe the same game at three zoom levels: one sentence, a few paragraphs, a ranked list.
Check each claim against the build one more time. Remove anything planned, anything you would hedge on if a player asked, and any word that judges instead of describes.
Then open the current Steamworks documentation for store page descriptions and tags, confirm the field names and limits, and paste.