Store pages
Write your game's public page, publish it as public or unlisted, and check that players can install from it.
Every game can have one public store page on Depot. You write it as a draft, preview it, and publish it. When you publish, you get a link you can share:
https://staging.depot.games/p/{studio}/{game}{studio} is your studio's slug and {game} is the game's slug. Neither can change, so the link stays the same for the life of the game.
The page describes the game and gives players a button to get it. It never authorizes a download on its own: players still need to own the game, through a free claim, a key or a grant. See Who can get it.
Write the page
Open the dashboard, pick your game and open the Store page tab.
Under Who can get it, choose Free game, Key only or Invite only. Set the Development status and the channel players install from.
Fill in What players read: tagline, short description, description, tags, content warnings, accessibility notes, support link and minimum requirements.
Add art, a trailer and a gallery. See Branding and media.
Select Save draft, then Preview to see the page exactly as players will.
Fields
| Field | What it is | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Tagline | One line under the game's name. | Up to 120 characters. |
| Short description | Shown in link previews in chat apps, social posts and search results. Also shown as the "About the game" text if you have no description. | Up to 200 characters. |
| Description | The main text of the page. | Up to 8000 characters. Plain text with the formatting below. |
| Tags | Short labels shown on the page. Display only. | Up to 10. Letters, numbers, spaces and dashes, up to 24 characters each. Stored in lowercase. |
| Content warnings | For example, violence or flashing lights. | Up to 10, up to 40 characters each. |
| Accessibility | For example, full controller support, subtitles, colour-blind modes. | Up to 10 notes, up to 60 characters each. |
| Development status | Alpha, Beta, Early access or Released. | Released by default. |
| Minimum requirements | Free text per platform: OS, CPU, memory, GPU, storage. | Up to 400 characters per platform. |
| Support link | Where players get help. | An https URL. |
| Install channel | The channel players install from. | stable by default. |
You need a tagline or a short description before you can publish.
In the dashboard, the minimum requirements fields appear for each platform the game supports. You set the game's platforms in its Settings tab.
Description formatting
The description is plain text. Depot never renders HTML from it. It understands four things:
- A blank line starts a new paragraph.
- Lines that start with
-(a dash and a space) make a list. **bold**makes text bold.- An
https://link becomes a clickable link. The page shows the link's real domain.
Lantern Keep is a quiet game about one long night on a lighthouse rock.
- About two hours, start to dawn
- Plays with a mouse or a controller
- **Saves every few minutes**
Devlog: https://example.com/devlogInstall channel
The page installs from one channel, stable unless you change it. Players who select Install get the build on that channel for their platform. The platforms and download size on the page also come from the builds on that channel.
The dashboard warns you if no build is on the channel yet and lists the channels that have builds. See Channels and releases.
Publish
Publishing copies your saved draft to the live page and applies the access setting. You choose how visible the page is:
| Visibility | Who can see it |
|---|---|
| Public | Anyone. It is on your studio page, in Depot's sitemap and can appear in search engines. |
| Unlisted | Anyone with the link. It is not on your studio page, not in the sitemap, and asks search engines not to index it. |
An unlisted link is not a password. Who can get the game is still decided by the access setting.
On the Store page tab, select Publish for a public page or Publish unlisted. Publish uses the saved draft, so save first.
Once the page is live, edits stay in the draft until you select Publish changes. The tab shows Unpublished changes while the draft and the live page differ. To switch visibility, use Make public or Make unlisted.
Changes reach every visitor within about a minute.
What "live" means
A page can be published while no player can install the game yet. The dashboard shows a green Live only when a player can actually get and install the game. Otherwise it shows Live · nobody can install yet in amber, with what is missing and how to fix it.
A game is installable when all of these are true:
- The game is not archived.
- A build is on the page's install channel. Push one with
depot push --channel stable, or choose a channel that has a build. See Push a build. - The game has a base package, and it is turned on. Depot creates one with every game. See Keys and access.
- The page is published, and Depot has not taken it down.
The API returns the same check on the game as readiness, with installable, channel and a list of blockers.
You can publish before your first build. This lets you share the page early. Until a build is on the channel, the page lists the platforms set in the game's Settings, or "Not out yet" if there are none, and nobody can install.
Unpublish
Unpublishing takes the page down and turns off new free claims. Players who already own the game keep it and keep getting updates. Nothing is revoked. To remove a player's access, use Keys and access.
On the Store page tab, select Unpublish and confirm.
The page disappears within about a minute. Your draft stays, so you can publish again later.
What players see
The public page shows:
- The hero art, your logo or the game's name, the tagline, and your studio's name with a link to your studio page.
- A button to get the game: Get it free, Redeem a key or Invite only. Once a player owns it, the button installs it with the Depot launcher.
- A row of facts taken from the real build on the install channel: platforms, the download size, that the game plays offline once installed, and the development status.
- The trailer, then your screenshots and clips.
- The description, under "About the game".
- What's new: the latest releases on the install channel with their release notes, newest first. Add a note when you move the channel, with
depot push --channel stable --note "..."ordepot channel set --note "...". Rollbacks are left out. See Channels and releases. - Accessibility notes, content warnings, tags, minimum requirements, and a details box with the studio, status and support link.
Link previews in chat apps and social posts use the cover or hero art and the short description.
The public page never shows release, build or key identifiers.
Reports and takedowns
Anyone can report a page with the Report this page link at the bottom. Depot can take down a page that breaks the rules. Players who own the game keep it. If Depot takes your page down, the Store page tab shows Taken down by Depot and the reason. Contact support to restore it.