GamesCity builders and colony sims playbook
This genre sells through long sessions: a demo that lets systems compound, creators who stream a city from village to metropolis, and Steam's genre events. Outpost plans your fests and demo, finds the creators who play your kind of game, and logs every action with a receipt.
01 · DISCOVERY
Players find new city builders and colony sims on Steam through genre tags, recommendations and themed events such as the City Builder & Colony Sim Fest (the 2025 edition ran 24 to 31 March). Outside Steam they watch long-form YouTube and Twitch playthroughs by creators who specialise in management games, and they ask in genre communities for 'games like Banished' or 'something like RimWorld'.
Wishlist from a screenshot or trailer that clearly shows the core loop, play the demo for hours rather than minutes, watch a creator's long playthrough, then buy at launch or in a sale. These players care about depth and longevity, so reviews mentioning 'hours played' and update history weigh heavily.
02 · CHANNELS
Ranked 5 (essential) to 1 (optional) by the research for this industry.
Tag accurately (City Builder, Colony Sim, Resource Management, Base Building) so Steam shows you to the right players. Screenshots must read at a glance: a busy, zoomed-in district beats a tiny full-map view.
Genre events put you in front of exactly the players you want. The City Builder & Colony Sim Fest is the obvious one, and Next Fest is the big demo moment. A game can only appear in Next Fest once, so choose the edition carefully.
This audience watches long playthroughs and series. A creator who plays your demo over several episodes shows the systems far better than a trailer.
Colony sim and city builder players want to see their settlement grow and break. A demo on a short timer can't show that; one that runs until a meaningful milestone can.
Communities like r/CityBuilders, r/RimWorld and genre Discords enjoy devlogs about systems: traffic, needs, economies. Write about how a system works and why, with GIFs.
BUSINESS MODEL · LIVE
The same channel can be a strong fit for a paid game and a poor one for a free one. Each line below is a rule or rating from Outpost's knowledge base, with its source; your own plan is built from your answers.
Steam Curator Connect sends up to 5 copies to each of up to 100 curators as licences, which is a lever for paid games; how it applies to free-to-play titles was not verified.
Premium games are Steam's core model: discounts of 20% or more can trigger wishlist emails, discounts run 10-95% (launch discount max 40%) with 30-day cooldowns, and seasonal sales are exempt from the between-discount cooldown.
Steam's four seasonal sales are discount events that all games are invited to join with a discount, so they reward priced games; free-to-play titles have no base price to discount and are generally excluded from curated deal spotlights.
Free-to-play and Early Access games may enter Steam Next Fest if unreleased, with a public demo, a public store page, and only one Next Fest per title ever.
Steam does not accept applications with advertising-based business models, so an ads-funded game must remove ads or monetize differently for its Steam build.
Steam does not accept blockchain games that issue or allow exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs.
Free-to-play games on Steam are generally not eligible for curated discount spotlights (Daily Deals, Midweek and Weekend deals), and in-game content discounts are run from the developer's own backend.
Steamworks' onboarding rules, microtransaction, free-to-play and Inventory docs set no specific odds-disclosure rule for paid random items, so Steam loot boxes are governed by regional law, rating boards and the Steam Inventory drop system.
In-game purchases in Steam games must go through Steam's microtransaction API and Steam Wallet, including both purchase paths in free-to-play games.
Steam enforces a 30-day waiting period between paying the Steam Direct fee and being able to release, and identity, tax and bank paperwork takes 15-30 days.
Steam games are limited to 100 achievements at first (more once the app reaches the Profile Features threshold), and achievements require Steamworks API integration (ISteamUserStats SetAchievement/StoreStats).
Steam build review requires the product to launch on every operating system listed on the store page and to implement every supported feature listed there; SteamPipe needs at least one launch option.
Steam Cloud only works after the developer sets a per-user byte quota and file count; Valve lists 100MB as the current maximum size for one ISteamRemoteStorage::FileWrite or FileWriteStreamWriteChunk call, and says these limits may change over time.
Read from Outpost's knowledge base on Nov 8, 2026; every line links its source.
03 · YOUR FIRST MONTH
A sample month. Your own plan is built from your audit, stage and goal, and paid options only ever appear as optional boosts.
Week 1 · days 1–7
Week 2 · days 8–14
Week 3 · days 15–21
Week 4 · days 22–30
DEADLINES · LIVE
Read from Outpost's knowledge base when this page loads. Expected dates follow the organiser's usual pattern and are labelled until the organiser confirms them.
04 · WHERE TO BE LISTED
Costs are as published by each destination when the research was reviewed; check before you pay for anything.
partner.steamgames.com
Your store page is where wishlists collect. It must be public for at least two weeks before release, so put it up early.
$100 per app, recouped after $1,000 adjusted gross revenue
partner.steamgames.com
Valve's demo festival. The February 2027 edition runs 22 February to 1 March, with registration closing 10 January 2027. A game can appear only once.
Free (needs an existing Steam app)
partner.steamgames.com
Opt-in genre events. Coming Soon, free and demo titles can take part, with discounted games prioritised.
partner.steamgames.com
Send keys to up to 100 genre curators through Steam itself; their reviews appear on your store page.
partner.steamgames.com
A free, separate test app with a signup button on your store page. Good for stress-testing systems before a demo.
yogscast.games
A Steam festival for teams of five or fewer, with exposure through Yogscast streams.
Free to enter
howtomarketagame.com
Chris Zukowski's newsletter and festival directory with deadline alerts. Use it to find genre showcases you'd otherwise miss.
Free (paid courses optional)
newsletter.gamediscover.co
Simon Carless's newsletter on how games get discovered on Steam, useful for checking how comparable titles performed.
Free (paid tier optional)
PC STORES · LIVE
For PC games already on Steam: what Epic offers and asks, from Epic's own pages where they could be read.
Epic Games Store developers keep 100% of the first US$1M net revenue per product per calendar year (resetting each 1 January from 2026, applied automatically), then 88/12.
Epic First Run is an opt-in 6-month Epic-exclusive window paying 100% net revenue; it is open only to new games not previously released on another third-party PC store, and afterwards the standard 100%-of-first-US$1M then 88/12 terms apply.
Epic lets games use their own or a third-party payment solution for in-app purchases, keeping up to 100% of that revenue.
Epic requires multiplayer games sold on other PC stores to support crossplay with them, and products added to its publishing tools after 9 March 2023 to enable Epic achievements if they offer achievements on other PC stores.
Listing on Epic Games Store is paid. $100 per product plus local taxes; not refundable but recouped after $1,000 on EGS. Developer keeps 100% of the first $1M net revenue per product per year (resets every Jan 1 from 2026), then 88/12, applied automatically to Epic-processed payments. A separate opt-in 'Epic First Run' gives 100% for a 6-month exclusive. Free alternative: itch.io or the Microsoft Store PC path (free)
05 · SEARCH DEMAND
Primary search
city builder game marketing
Below the provider’s reporting threshold: real demand, too small to report.
DataForSEO Google Ads, US/en, Oct 2026 (primary keyword below reporting threshold; related 'city builder games' 8,100/mo, 'indie city builder' 10/mo)
Comparing: show why you
Comparing: show why you
Comparing: show why you
Learning: answer with guides
06 · AVOID
A zoomed-out full-map view looks like noise in a Steam capsule or a social feed. Show close-ups of people, buildings and problems so the loop is obvious in a second.
This genre's appeal is watching systems compound. A short timer ends the demo just as it gets good. Let players reach a milestone and keep their save.
Themed fests have their own registration pages and dates. Missing the City Builder & Colony Sim Fest means waiting for the next edition, which may be many months away.
Valve's guidance is not to make specific promises about the future and to price on the game's current state. Show what's in the game now and update regularly.
Mid-sized management-game creators with loyal audiences often do longer, more thoughtful series. Pitch the people who already play your genre every week.
07 · WHAT OUTPOST DOES
Builds your Steam calendar (Next Fest, the City Builder & Colony Sim Fest, adjacent genre fests and seasonal sales) and tracks every registration deadline
Finds management-game creators on YouTube whose audience matches your setting and logs every key you send and reply you mark
Rewrites your store page copy and suggests tags and screenshot changes so the loop reads at a glance, for you to paste into Steamworks
Publishes devlogs and 'games like' pages on your site aimed at searches that build over months
Lines the wishlist numbers you export from Steamworks up against tracked clicks, and shows which actions moved them
Every action Outpost takes gets a receipt: the live URL, a timestamp and what it drove, or “nothing yet”.See how receipts work
08 · QUESTIONS
The 2025 edition ran 24 to 31 March. At the time of writing, Valve's published calendar through mid-2027 didn't list the next one, so watch the Steamworks upcoming events page and register as soon as it appears.
Ideally both, but you can only do Next Fest once. Use the genre fest for a focused audience, and save Next Fest for when your demo is at its best and your launch is a few months away.
Long enough to show systems compounding: a first town tier, a first crisis or a first winter. Players in this genre will happily play a demo for hours, which also gives creators enough to make a series.
Many management games do, because the genre suits long-term updates. Follow Valve's guidance: be playable and worth the price now, avoid specific promises, and keep updating. Steam warns players if a game hasn't been updated for over 12 months.
Often. Mods extend a game's life, give creators new things to show and keep communities active between your own updates. Even simple data-driven modding can help.
Wishlists build slowly through the year with spikes at each fest. Plan on months of steady work before launch, not a single big moment.
Often yes, as a second store once your Steam page is working, if your game meets Epic's rules: Epic Games Store developers keep 100% of the first US$1M net revenue per product per calendar year (resetting each 1 January from 2026, applied automatically), then 88/12. Epic First Run is an opt-in 6-month Epic-exclusive window paying 100% net revenue; it is open only to new games not previously released on another third-party PC store, and afterwards the standard 100%-of-first-US$1M then 88/12 terms apply. Epic lets games use their own or a third-party payment solution for in-app purchases, keeping up to 100% of that revenue. Epic requires multiplayer games sold on other PC stores to support crossplay with them, and products added to its publishing tools after 9 March 2023 to enable Epic achievements if they offer achievements on other PC stores. Listing on Epic Games Store is paid. $100 per product plus local taxes; not refundable but recouped after $1,000 on EGS. Developer keeps 100% of the first $1M net revenue per product per year (resets every Jan 1 from 2026), then 88/12, applied automatically to Epic-processed payments. A separate opt-in 'Epic First Run' gives 100% for a 6-month exclusive. Free alternative: itch.io or the Microsoft Store PC path (free) Epic First Run is irreversible for its six months, so Outpost asks you to confirm it before planning it.
10 · EVIDENCE
Every fact on this page comes from one of these sources.
The 2025 City Builder & Colony Sim Fest ran 24 to 31 March 2025
Next Fest February 2027 (22 Feb to 1 Mar), Shop Keeper Fest (25 Jan to 1 Feb 2027), Real-Time Strategy Fest (10 to 17 May 2027), Winter Sale (17 Dec 2026 to 4 Jan 2027); themed fests have their own registration and welcome Coming Soon and demo titles; dates listed on the page: Next Fest Oct 19-26, 2026; Steam Scream V Fest Oct 26 - Nov 2, 2026; Auto-Battler RPG Fest Nov 16-23, 2026; Winter Sale Dec 17, 2026 - Jan 4, 2027; Desktop Companion Fest Jan 14-18, 2027; Shop Keeper Fest Jan 25 - Feb 1, 2027; Couch Co-Op Fest Feb 8-15, 2027; Next Fest Feb 22 - Mar 1, 2027; Real-Time Strategy Fest May 10-17, 2027; Next Fest Jun 14-21, 2027; Summer Sale Jun 24 - Jul 8, 2027 (checked Oct 20, 2026)
Next Fest registration closes 10 January 2027; a game may only appear once; dates listed on the page: Next Fest Oct 19-26, 2026; Steam Scream V Fest Oct 26 - Nov 2, 2026; Auto-Battler RPG Fest Nov 16-23, 2026; Winter Sale Dec 17, 2026 - Jan 4, 2027; Desktop Companion Fest Jan 14-18, 2027; Shop Keeper Fest Jan 25 - Feb 1, 2027; Couch Co-Op Fest Feb 8-15, 2027; Next Fest Feb 22 - Mar 1, 2027; Real-Time Strategy Fest May 10-17, 2027; Next Fest Jun 14-21, 2027; Summer Sale Jun 24 - Jul 8, 2027 (checked Oct 20, 2026)
Valve's guidance against specific promises and the store notice after 12 months without updates
Coming Soon page must be up at least two weeks before release; publish as soon as you're ready to talk publicly
$100 per app, recoupable after $1,000 adjusted gross revenue
Last reviewed . Search volume: DataForSEO Google Ads, US/en, Oct 2026 (primary keyword below reporting threshold; related 'city builder games' 8,100/mo, 'indie city builder' 10/mo).
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