Armor Games Studios
From 2021 to 2023, I was the Communications Manager (functionally Marketing Lead) at game publisher Armor Games Studios, where I helped independent developers from across the globe promote their games. Like in my previous roles, I ran community and social channels like Discord and Twitter, developed original marketing copy for our upcoming titles on major gaming storefronts like Steam and Nintendo eShop, and other marketing-related tasks.
I’m thankful to have had a lot of ownership over the marketing pipeline in this role. I established and documented everything from social media content calendar templates to portfolio-wide Discord community guidelines. I wrote an entire guide to teach junior team members how social media management works and best practices for creating and posting content. When we discussed adding volunteer moderators to the Bear and Breakfast Discord, I established our onboarding process and all related documentation for it. Plus, for each of our games, I developed comprehensive social media plans for several of our titles so our developers knew their accounts were in good hands.
Of all the titles I worked on at Armor, Bear and Breakfast was easily the biggest. I was onboarded to work on this game back when I started at the company in 2021 and supported the game with the team at Gummy Cat all the way through to its successful July 2022 launch. During this time, I ran the game’s Twitter account, reimagined and managed its official Discord, wrote newsletters, and even got to showcase the game to press and influencers at the first-ever Summer Games Fest Play Days event in June 2021 thanks to the wonderful folks who run Day of the Devs. I also got the opportunity to discuss our approach to the Bear and Breakfast Twitter account at length in my talk “Play With Your Audience: Enhancing Your Social Strategy Through Theater” at GDC 2023, which is currently available to watch for free on the GDC Vault.
Hilariously, I am also the one responsible for conceiving our Hot Bear Summer launch catchphrase, which originally started as a joke I’d make on the publisher side until everyone else started using it. Don’t let your memes be dreams, folks.
My skills are strongest in writing compelling short descriptions that say a lot about the game in just a few words in order to pique the interest of curious prospective players. The images below feature some of the many games I’m proud to have worked on in this role along with some of the many tweets I wrote for the games in our portfolio.
Digital Continue
At indie studio Digital Continue, I effectively functioned as a one-woman marketing team on the studio’s most recent release SuperMash, which was a game-generating game for PC and console. In this role, I established a consistent social media posting cadence and Discord community, wrote copy for digital storefronts like the Epic Games Store and Nintendo eShop, created video and image content for YouTube and social, revised press releases, and established connections with influencers. It was a unique experience which allowed me to wear many hats and gain valuable marketing skills. One of my many projects included the “Getting Started with SuperMash” tutorial series for new players, which was entirely written, produced, and directed by me.
The above screenshot is SuperMash’s store copy as seen on the Nintendo eShop.
Play NYC
The past two years, I’ve worked as a contractor in various capacities for the annual Play NYC convention in New York City. In 2019, I functioned as one of two Stream Coordinators, where we had a month to organize a two-day livestream of gaming-related content. Featured talent included game developers, streamers, and members of the local gaming community. Additionally, I appeared on the stream to run two stream segments: one where I game mastered a short Goat Crashers roleplaying game, and another where I hosted games-themed Pictionary. Ultimately, our efforts resulted in an increase in viewership by over 100% compared to the previous year.
The VOD’s for the 2019 Play NYC stream can be found on Playcrafting’s YouTube channel.
In 2020, I was contracted to moderate the event’s Twitch and Discord channels in order to uphold Playcrafting’s code of conduct. My duties required me to be online for about 21 hours across seven days during the stream’s peak hours. Additionally, outside of this contract, I appeared on a community management panel for the stream called “It Takes a Village: How to Build a Following for Your Game.”
Tilting Point
I originally joined Tilting Point as a community and social media intern on the Marketing team but was soon promoted to junior level three months into my time at the company. While at Tilting Point, I oversaw a wide range of tasks across several mobile game titles across the SLG, Simulation, and Match-3 genres. Some of these tasks included community moderation and sentiment reporting, responding to comments on social media ads, presenting research on social media and community strategies employed by our competitors, writing patch notes, and developing and executing upon social media content calendars.
Paradox Interactive
One of my first contracts in the games industry was as a Community Ambassador for Paradox Interactive on Harebrained Schemes’ BATTLETECH. I was onboarded just before launch in 2018 and worked on the game for several months after its release. Initially, my role focused on moderating the game’s official Steam forum according to Paradox’s community guidelines, compiling community sentiment reports, and reporting common bugs to the development team. However, my responsibilities soon expanded into creating content for and responding to players on the game’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
My approach was focused on catering to community interests and in-jokes, providing helpful gameplay advice, and sharing user-generated content.
Lonely Egg Studio
From March 2018 to the end of October 2019, I functioned as the Marketing Manager for small indie team Lonely Egg Studio on a part-time contract basis. In this role, I developed the early community, social, and marketing framework for the studio early into development on their first game, In the Keeper’s Shadow. My duties included writing newsletters and blog posts, drafting social media content, developing branding for the studio and game, and running art and gameplay livestreams.