Every game needs to build an audience - that's something we take as a given, and there's a mountain of information on how to grow that audience. Paid promotion, organic viral marketing, engagement via competitions, just sitting in Discord and chatting with players... There's so much there to consider that it's easy to lose track of some of the core fundamentals of running a community.

(For the record, a lot of what we talk about here is applicable outside of just gaming communities - it's also relevant to content creators, brands, etc.)

But first...

## Why should I care about having a strong community?

Like it or not, your community is going to be the face of your game. Your own presence is important, for sure, but at a certain point you're not able to be anywhere. A strong, well-managed community can do amazing things for your game:

* It creates a positive, encouraging first impression for new players (and people thinking of jumping in)
* It gives you a base of engaged players that you can lean on for feedback and ideas
* Really engaged players can and will go out of their way to talk about your game elsewhere online - they can effectively become a growth resource, based on the single most powerful form of marketing: word of mouth.

An engaged audience is an incredible resource, and it's worth nurturing and protecting.

## Why do I need to moderate my community?
    
Let's set the scene. 

> You've recently picked up a new game - it's an MMORPG, with a really cool premise that you think you'll enjoy sinking a lot of time into. After a few days, you decide to hop into the game's Discord server to find other players to chat with, maybe to play with. The first thing you see is an absolute deluge of really negative comments, attacking the development team for inaction on a range of requested features and known bugs. Players are arguing left and right, slinging insults at each other over some strategy or feature they disagree on. You leave the Discord server and never go back.
 
This is a pretty dramatic example, but it's a lot more common than you might think. And, worst of all, it can be easy to fall into the trap of letting your community turn into a version of that example.

A hostile, fractious community can very easily drive away players - and those players could be among your most engaged, most postiive, most valuable contributors if they stick around. Moderation is a tool that can help shape the tone and feel of your community spaces, making sure they're inviting for new players and members.

## Ok, but the title says "You should probably ban your early community members" - where does that come in?
    
Yeah, this is where we admit that the title is a little bit of clickbait... but not entirely.

Often when we come across communities like the ones we described above, we find that the issues ultimately come down to a few key members. These members were some of the first to join the community, becoming part of its foundation. But over time, they start to argue more and more aggressively, and make the atmosphere of the community less and less inviting.

In many of these cases, the devs running these communities feel like they can't - or shouldn't - intervene. These are some of their earliest community members, they've invested tons of time into the community, and they're well-known among the playerbase.

**Taking action against your most vocal community members can be scary - we get it.** This is especially true when your community is new. If your game is brand new and you only have 5 Discord members, it's terrifying to consider banning one of them.
    
But, ultimately, those members aren't actually making positive conitributions anymore - if they ever were. 

**Allowing them to ruin the atmosphere of your community is doing a disservice to everyone who wants to make a positive contribution, and it will drive away new members.**
    
## So how do we deal with the problem?
    
Most of the time the community members who we're talking about here are actually, at their core, people who really care, and they have real grievances. They've just let the frustration get the better of them - and they've been allowed to go too far.

Ideally, you should intervene as early as possible. If you see someone's behaviour starting to slip, a simple warning ("hey, that's a bit over the top, please keep it civil") can be enough to get them back on track.

The more you let the culture of your community become negative, the harder it is to pull it back. However, there are steps you can take to get moving in the right direction:

#### Create a set of rules for your community members. Clearly define what is acceptable and what isn't.

Usually this is based on common sense -  you don't want to outlaw negative feedback, but you also want to make sure people are civil. We usually draw the line at derogatory or insulting language, towards other members of the community or the development team. It's up to you to decide where you want to draw the line between reasonable discourse and unreasonable aggression.

#### Once you have your rules, enforce them.

You have to be consistent in enforcing your rules, especially with those members who've been around forever. You don't need to be draconian - give people chances to improve their behaviour. Tools like warnings, timeouts, mutes, etc. exist on most community platforms, and you can and should use them to nudge people in the right direction.

Ultimately though, if there are members of your community who can't or won't adjust their behaviour in line with your rules... ban them. **Remember, keeping them around is actively detracting from the experience of the most valuable members of your community, and you owe it to those members to remove bad actors.** And, most importantly, remember that new players will look to your most established community members as role models. You need to hold them to the standard you want to set for new players.
    
There's an important balance you'll need to find, and where that line is varies between communities. You don't want to be too trigger happy - if you ban everyone that shows even a hint of frustration, you'll very quickly close off your most valuable lines of feedback. But if you let them go too far, you'll end up right back where you started. This balance is something you can only really learn with experience. You will make mistakes along the way - just make sure to learn from them and correct them. Apologise when you should, and crack down harder when you need to.
    
#### Engage with problems, build trust

This is often the hardest part, but it's absolutely vital. Enforcement of rules is one part of the equation - the stick, to use the old metaphor. The next part is the carrot, and it can be very hard to grow.

Remember when we said that most bad actors are actually people who really care, with real grievances? This is where you need to show that you want to engage with them, and with their issues - but only when they're willing to engage respectfully and constructively. If a player is lashing out and going overboard, you should absolutely use your moderation tools - but you should also try, where possible, to see through the unpleasant language and identify the core of their issue.

This is especially relevant for gaming communities, but it's a near universal truth. **People want to feel heard and valued.** If you can take the time to empathise with them, to show them that you understand why they're frustrated, and that you want to help... That goes a long way to getting players to come back on-side, even if that understanding is accompanied by a 20-minute timeout.

Once you've understood their concerns, it's also vital that you do your best to act on them. You can't fix every problem - some people will just disagree with some of your decisions - and you absolutely shouldn't make promises you can't keep. But where you can resolve an issue, or show that you're making a good faith attempt to do so, you'll gain a huge amount of trust with that member, and with the wider community as well.

With all of that said, it's also important not to dedicated too much of yourself to understanding every troublemaker. We said most of the bad actors really care - but not all of them do. Some of them are not acting in good faith, and you shouldn't lose any sleep over removing them from your community.

## What does all of that work get me?
    
Implementing the recommendations above is not easy. It's a lot of work, and in some cases it can be extremely mentally taxing. It can be hard to see the value in spending that time and mental energy. But, with the right approach (and a bit of luck), you can get some really amazing outcomes. Here's some of what we've seen when we've implemented this approach in existing communities:

#### Previously negative members become positive contributors.

You'll often see the troublemakers turn around and become valuable, contributing members of your community again.

The part that might surprise you is, when you show the proper empathy and act on their concerns... Those troublemakers will often become your strongest and most loyal advocates.

#### The more you moderate, the less you'll need to moderate

This one also sounds obvious, but the effect is more powerful than you'll expect. When a community has an understood, consistently enforced policy for acceptable behaviour, that behaviour becomes part of the culture of the community. Players will start holding themselves (and others) to those standards. When moderation is done right, a community starts to become self-correcting, and moderation becomes easier and less necessary.

There's also a bit of a more cut-throat benefit to all this work. If someone enters your community spaces with the intention of engaging in bad faith and they see a community with strong moderation and a positive culture, they're much more likely to just move on and find an easier target.


# Key takeaways

* Be vigilant early in your community's life. Letting bad actors create a negative environment is going to drive away positive contributors.
* The earlier you intervene the better. The longer you let a problem persist the more work it's going to be to persist. That said, it's never too late to start the process of turning things around - as long as you're prepared to put in the work.
* Moderation is one part of the toolbox that helps you foster an engaged and valuable community. Trust, empathy, and effort are the others. You need both in equal parts.

The last takeaway is the most important one - if you take nothing else from this article, please remember this and take it to heart.

**You owe it to your community not to accept bad behaviour. Allowing someone to ruin the atmosphere is going to hurt everyone more in the long-term.** No short-term gain in audience numbers is worth allowing someone to ruin the experience for everyone else. This is true for gaming communities, live streaming audiences, local craft groups... Where there's a community, there's a responsibility to make that community space welcoming, and allowing bad actors is a disservice to the entire community.

### Where RAID Studios can help

This is our shameless plug! If you're running a community for a game (or games studio) and you're unsure of how to tackle moderation, player relations, or anything else we spoke about here, you can [get in touch with us on our Website](https://raid.gg). We have a team of community experts who'll be happy to help you out.

Community Team Lead

Publishing Team Lead

Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash       

volodymyr-hryshchenko-V5vqWC9gyEU-unsplash.jpg

Online communities come in different shapes and sizes but are vital in connecting your studio, or game, to your players. This call of putting players first unites the smallest independent developer with the largest international studio.

Gamers are a passionate group, and no-one understands gamers like gamers. Thankfully, our dedicated community managers are some of the best! Supported by teammates with years of experience working in industry-leading companies such as Riot Games and Blizzard Entertainment, they’ve got you covered, whether you need support right from the strategy stage or want to level up and supercharge your in-house team.

Nobody understands Gamers like Gamers

Create a dialogue with your core audience

Community Management

Good moderation is key for long-term audience growth

You should probably ban your early community members.

Placeholder content for this post. General overview of the content:

* Describe why outsourcing has a bad reputation, especially in games
* Describe a few situations where outsourcing simpler tasks can help
* Describe the style of outsourcing we provide
* Give a rundown of the key benefits and potential drawbacks
* Conclude with a CTA

tri-tile.png

The case for outsourcing in Games Publishing

Your team really can't handle it all by themselves

Placeholder content for this post. General overview of the content:

* Describe a community / social engagement plan without content
* Run through some potential campaigns that can be done with creative resources (with examples)
* Give reasons why a resource should be dedicated specicially for SOCCOM (reliable delivery, more options)
* Finish with a CTA

At RAID, we know the importance of engaging content. Our creative team produce art, designs, and products that surpass expectations while always maintaining a thorough understanding of our clients’ brand and values.

The creative team works closely with the community management and social teams to deliver meaningful content that resonates with your community to boost engagement. No matter the ask placed upon our team, they will always produce the highest quality products for with great assets comes great responsibility.

Show off your brand in the best light

Creative Services

Why a dedicated creative resource is a superpower for player engagement

Players love cool moving pictures. No, really.

Placeholder content for this post. General overview of the content:

* General intro - there are a lot of options, it can be easy to just say "do all of them" etc.
* Breakdown of various key social media channels (not all):
    * Short-form video (TikTok, Insta reels, YT Shorts)
    * Instagram
    * FaceBook
    * X / Twitter
    * BlueSky
    * Reddit
* Go into the factors that should determine where a game focuses its attention (demographics, style choices, brand association, reach needs etc.)
* Finish with a CTA

“If it’s not on social media, did it even really happen?”

It doesn’t matter if you’re a small independent developer or an international studio; social media is an essential piece of your business marketing strategy. Social platforms help you connect with your community, increase brand awareness, improve traffic, and boost engagement.

Building and maintaining a social media presence can be time-consuming so let us take the pressure off. Social trends can change from day to day, and our social team always stay on top of their game ready to pounce on the latest trends and make sure to reap the benefits for your business.

Get your game in front of the right eyes

Social Media

How to figure out where you game should be present (and where it shouldn't be)

We don't really need to be on every social media platform, do we?

Placeholder content for this post. General overview of the content:

* Describe situations where a production team might not care about their audience's opinions (adversarial relationship, general apathy, lack of understanding)
* Describe some of the benefits of a postitively engaged audience (marketing, playtesting etc.)
* Go into some of the risks of being more actively engaged, and some of the methods of mitigating them (team morale hits vs big boosts, etc)
* Describe the ideal feedback cycle / communication loop between a production team and audience
* Conclude with a CTA

Why your audience is your most valuable resource

The players will be upset... but why should we care?

Video games and their communities are constantly evolving. The way players engage with games, both through their communities and their development processes, is as unpredictable as it is powerful. In a field where consumer trust is so critical, it’s essential to have the tools to effectively communicate with your audience.. Balancing your communications with transparency and modesty can be a powerful tool to build empathy among your community for the content you’re creating. 

Developer diaries can be extremely effective at pulling back the curtains on a game’s development and giving credit to the people behind the product, not just the public figureheads. We’ve seen the power of video content time and again at RAID Studios. Our Creative Team has years of collective experience working on innovative and exciting projects, delivering new experiences in new formats. And yet, we’ve found ourselves time and again coming back to Developer Diaries as one of the most effective methods of communicating the passion, creativity, and drive of development teams.

Recently, we’ve worked with the team at Jagex to deliver a series of Developer Diaries for RuneScape. These video pieces have spanned multiple content releases, and relied on a close and effective collaboration with Jagex’s internal creative team. While their video team worked to record footage with designers, developers, writers, and artists on-site at Jagex HQ, our team was hard at work editing, refining, and packaging the content. Through all of this, both teams have worked together to maintain the standard and the creative direction of previous RuneScape video content.

## The Edit

Every organization has a slightly different content pipeline, which creates a unique fingerprint - or look and feel - for their content. That means familiarising ourselves with the various cameras and lighting environments we can expect from them. It means ensuring that we’re comfortable with the LUTs, Color Grades, and various audio processing techniques used by the video team. All of this is essential to ensuring a consistent aesthetic - once the footage is shot under the same conditions as previous content, we should be able to match it to the established style.

The first step once we receive content is always the rough cut. Our creatives tend to find that this is the most fun part of every project - breaking down the raw videos delivered into their component parts, and assembling them into a narrative that establishes the essence of the piece. While we usually work to a script, finding the best takes, balancing the airtime for the guests, and blocking out the framing of each shot to match body language helps direct the narrative. All of these facets are essential to constructing the video’s core - even down to decisions as simple as whether to keep a shot wide, or cut to a closer shot of the speaker. Once we’ve found the core of the video, everything else comes down to fine tuning.

Contextualisation becomes essential at this stage, and this is where we usually begin to employ gameplay capture, and elements such as key art and sketches. Not only this it help support the script, it’s also a great way to retain the attention of the viewer. Our team typically handles all gameplay capture in-house, and we enjoy the flexibility of being able to capture on the fly, but we have also worked with internal teams at Jagex when content isn’t yet at a stage where we can be given access to it.

Finally, we tend to add a light touch of B-Roll - this can help to humanise the speakers and foster a connection with the viewer. It also adds a subtle bit of visual flair that helps to break up the patterns of interview footage and gameplay. It’s a subtle addition, but minor differentiation is a great tool to help keep an edit from feeling stale.

### The Music

No video is complete without appropriate music - it sets pacing, and audibly guides the viewer through the various chapters of the video. It’s also a tool to subtly elicit whatever emotions we want the viewer to associate with the content and themes of the video. Where possible, we use bespoke music to reinforce key themes, match video pacing, and enhance the overall experience of the video.

### Animation

Key art is a powerful tool for visual storytelling - it’s present across the entire promotional campaign for a content beat, and it tends to captivate the audience more than most other types of content. We like to tie this key-art in with our videos by adding animation to key art pieces where possible. This can be as simple as adding particle effects, panning to reveal a character, animating in the text title - adding a bit of flair to the key art is the final touch that caps off a great promotional video.

![Requiem for a Dragon Animated Key Art](https://ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/raid-cdn/Requiem_For_A_Dragon_1920x1080_Anim_01_optimized_cf9e6b34cb.gif)


* * *

 

At RAID, we understand that developer diaries are a key tool for communication with players. Humanising a product team and celebrating their incredible work, all while building excitement for an upcoming release - it’s a dream combo for any studio. 

Supporting clients like Jagex to facilitate the creation of these video pieces is a key part of our strategy to unlock their teams - allowing them to focus on what they do best, while helping them put their best foot forward with their community. Whether we’re freeing up bandwidth for an existing creative team, or creating these video pieces entirely from scratch, they’re one of the most important parts of our creative toolkit.

### Examples of our Developer Diaries
                                         
Requiem for a Dragon:
                                         
https://youtu.be/VSzBZVJwxwI

The Blooming Burrow:
                                             
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AGnl71AY1M

Christmas Village 
                                        
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y1m83vVOuo
 

Graphic Designer

Creative Team Lead

Community Manager

RS3_Devdiary_1920_Banner.jpg

Empowering teams to communicate with their players through video

Developer Diaries: A RuneScape 3 Study

### Overview
Every year, one of our clients BITKRAFT has an annual conference, known as the BITKRAFT Summit, for their portfolio companies, investors, and team. In 2022, it was BITKRAFT’s first conference in a long time, and RAID was in charge of providing the social coverage for the two-day event in NYC.

![BITKRAFT Summit 2022 in NYC 1](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/BITKRAFT_Summit_2022_in_NYC_1_56ea135ed5.jpg)

### Purpose 
The purpose of the social coverage was to drive excitement for the Summit and to highlight the thought leadership from BITKRAFT’s portfolio companies, through pre-hype, live event, and post-event messaging.

The trick was: this is a closed, invite-only event. The purpose was not to market the event in order to sell tickets. Rather, our goal was to spotlight all the various technologies and thought-provoking conversations brought forward by BITKRAFT’s portfolio companies and their panel presentations.
### Execution 
![BITKRAFT Summit 2022 in NYC 2](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/BITKRAFT_Summit_2022_in_NYC_2_20fb56e1d8.jpg)


The BITKRAFT Summit spanned two days in sunny NYC, featuring panels including topics such as The Metaverse, Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI), and Digital Identity in a Synthetic Reality. At the same time, there was a secondary stage where portfolio companies were presenting their latest news, releases, and fielded questions from the audience. 

Throughout the day, our team took pictures, wrote down quotes, and approved the tweets with the necessary stakeholders. We operated in the background so our client could focus on running the event. 
### Outcome
Through extensive planning beforehand and a well-made spreadsheet, almost 40+ threads went live throughout the Summit, sharing key takeaways from the panels and linking to similar thought leadership. 

![A twitter thread about a panel called Crypto and Constructive Skepticism](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/BITKRAFT_blog_2_faaaf269dc.PNG)


Our panel threads, such as this one conversation entitled ‘Crypto and Constructive Criticism,’ (which earned an 11.2% ER.)

![A twitter thread about a portfolio company called 555 comics](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/BITKRAFT_blog_1_e4499217f2.PNG)


Our other threads highlighted portfolio companies, like this one on 555 Comics (which earned an 8.3% ER). 

![A crowd shot from the BITKRAFT Summit](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/BITKRAFT_Summit_2022_in_NYC_3_faa359ae52.jpg)


One of BITKRAFT’s social goals included to pass 10,000 followers on Twitter. 

Through the organic pre-hype and live-posting during the event alone (12 Sept. - 22. Sept, BITKRAFT’s Twitter:
* Passed 10,000 followers 
* Increased impressions by 1,900% 
* Increased engagements by 2,400% 
* Increased post link clicks by 1,100% 




Social Media Manager

BITKRAFT Summit 2022 in NYC 1.png

RAID provided social coverage for this two-day event in NYC

BITKRAFT Summit 2022 Social Coverage

A lot of  my job consists of making reports. These reports are usually based on gathering player feedback regarding changes to the game and are written in a way that can be used for future use. To make these reports more practical and less about putting generic information on a page, I helped to revamp how this information is gathered and displayed.

While the older reports were helpful to an extent, we wanted them to be as valuable as possible and make them less cluttered and repetitive. To do this, I needed to change the layout of the reports. By changing them, I could convey the feedback gathered from players in more detail, allowing others to find the specific information they wanted rather than going through the entire report.

By liaising with the client, I got more information on precisely what the report was used for and what kind of information they wanted to gain from it. By working with them, I gained access to Player XP, a system that gathers sentiment from across different social media platforms and turns them into helpful information. This meant that I could include this information in the report, which showed a base level of sentiment.

Using Player XP, I could convey in the report how players were reacting across social media and let the client know if the changes made to the game were being received in a positive or negative light. It also picked up on the most frequent words, giving insight into what of these changes players were most focused on and how they felt about it.

![Sample PlayerXP graph showing sentiment comparison of two games](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/playerxpgraph_2d346e6b37.jpg)

As well as using Player XP, I worked to change how the information was displayed in the report. Using Confluence for the report document, on top of using tables to gather feedback specific to either certain platforms or the feedback topic, I created sections, such as the “Content Overview”, that summarise the whole reason for the report. Another area, “Key Takeaways”, - is why specific topics gained more attention than others and what we could learn from them.

![List of sections in the Feedback report](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/lornaosrs_630ae1acc2.png)

This would work in conjunction with other sections that summarise what’s written in greater detail further down in the report, meaning those who don’t have enough time to go over the entire piece and want information on a tiny detail can find it much easier.

These changes have been a massive help to our information-gathering and overall reporting abilities, giving much more detail than we had been able to provide before. It has saved the client and us a lot of time in the long run. Because of this, we can assist with more in-depth information gathering and provide a range of levels regarding our reports, from game update feedback to gleaning what players anticipate or would like in future.

reporting_revamp.jpg

Working on a New Sentiment Reporting System

Revamping a Reporting System to quantify impact

Here at RAID, we always aim to encourage our partners to level up what they can do for their community. We want to enable them to provide the best possible product, whether creative, social, community etc.

![Evercore Heroes Character Art](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/Vela_Thankyou_01_0009_Layer_1_780220c298.png)

Nothing brings us more joy than to help our clients deliver fantastic news to their community, like when our friends over at Vela Games wanted to thank the community for their continued support and simultaneously welcome them to the next chapter of their journey. Sending this message was a great way to engage and relay information.

![Vela Games Travis/Volibar](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/Vela_Thankyou_01_0006_Layer_4_6be692ffa8.png)

Our creative team got to work on this project from the ground up with the team over at Vela. We initially reviewed the brief and devised an action plan for the shoot day. Once everything was set in place, our group landed at the Vela offices in Dublin with their Blackmagic Ursa camera and plenty of lights and audio equipment for an entire shoot day.

![Vela Games Erwin](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/Vela_Thankyou_01_0008_Layer_2_146ca8800d.png)

Getting to work on a project from the ground up is where Raid flourishes. We get a sense of what our clients (friends) want from the project so that we can take everything we shoot and learn on the day away and bring it together in the most cohesive video we can.

![Evercore Heroes Character: Beko](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/Vela_Thankyou_01_0002_Layer_8_8cd27a5624.png)

Our team then brings all that footage together in our top-of-the-range editing suite, where we cut, grade and master the video to a level that enthrals our client's communities and has the most positive impact.

[Vela Games Welcome Video](https://ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/raid-cdn/Vela_ECH_Welcome_HD_ca48fe94de.mp4)

Our team also has prolific experience animating across different genres, so they bring that expertise to bear when the art is needed.

![Evercore Heroes Character Art](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/Vela_Thankyou_01_0003_Layer_7_adf5aaf82a.png)

Do you want to be in front of a camera? Do you want your community to put a face to the name? Why don’t you get in touch, and we can work together on your next video project?

[Vela Games Welcome Video](https://ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/raid-cdn/Vela_Projevt_V_Thankyou_FINAL_HD_small_4ff55d5c7d.mp4)

Vela_Thankyou_Travis.png

Creating a Video to Welcome and Thank the Evercore Heroes Community

Helping Vela Games welcome (and thank) their Community!

One of the best ways to keep your community up to date with the latest developments of your production is through a developer diary. Here at Raid, we are more than capable of helping you bring that extra flare to your videos to have the optimum impact on your community.

![Simon Laserna Lead Game Designer](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/Raven_Bound_examples_0002_Layer_5_c0fbc6b336.png)

When our friends over at Systemic Reaction tasked us to create a developer diary, we jumped at the opportunity to flex our creative muscles. Another team organised capturing the footage, audio, and game capture, which was packaged and delivered to us. Our creative team then went through the captured footage, and we could then take this collection and assemble the video you see before you.

![What we learned from the last beta](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/Raven_Bound_examples_0004_Layer_3_3784b49a68.png)

Our creative team takes their craft very seriously but is not afraid to have fun with the edit and grade, pushing the envelope to different scopes to allow the client to have different perspectives until they’re happy with the product.

[Example of grading](https://ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/raid-cdn/Grade_example_01_dbc4b1f147.mp4)

Accentuating the video with graphics, in keeping with your brand, is the final visual cherry on top to help communicate key points to the community. At RAID, we want to help our partners level up what they can do for their community.

![Ravenbound hanges we have made](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/Raven_Bound_examples_0003_Layer_4_4ce7ef053e.png)

Last but certainly not least, the team collated and balanced all the audio elements of the video. They cleaned up the dialogue, mixed in sound fx and layered in the background music to tie it together.

![Improved combat ](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/Raven_Bound_examples_0000_Layer_7_4086a7c180.png)

And here we have it, one Developer Diary to help engage with their community, each stage carefully tailored to the feedback received from Systemic Reaction, before the final master and delivery for their platform on Youtube.

[Ravenbound developer diary video](https://ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/raid-cdn/Ravenbound_Dev_Diary_v03_HD_small_5b5281110c.mp4)

We’re always excited to work on projects like these. If you have one in mind, why don’t you get in touch? It could be the best thing you do today.

RavenBound-examples_0002_Layer-5.png

Creating a Developer Diary Video for Ravenbound

Ravenbound Developer Diary Video

One of the best ways to interact with your community is through social media. Here at RAID we help our partners provide engaging and suitable creative content to populate their social platforms. Working on creative content for RAID can range from different projects to different games each day.

### OSRS and This Means Warp meme content

Our creative team takes their craft very seriously, but it is important to always understand your target audience when creating social media content. With many of our partners, humour is an excellent way to engage the community.

![Old School RuneScape Meme Tweet](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/osrs1_9562a6c67b.png)

Part of our job involves keeping up with current social trends and funny content that has shareability. The RAID team regularly has ideation sessions to encourage creative ideas and content that can be useful for our clients’ socials.

![This Means Warp Meme Tweet](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/tmw1_5b2ac7a1e1.png)

We aim to utilise game content while making memes for our clients, this ensures that the community on social media will see in-game content shown in funny trends.
![This Means Warp Christmas Meme Tweet](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/tmw2_7a04edf727.png)

### OSRS livestream vod clips and thumbnails

We work with our friends over at Old School RuneScape to help create their Livestream thumbnails and clips. This creative project involves watching the livestream and selecting a short clip based on the topic the stream is about. Once the clip is selected it is brought into the editing software: Adobe Premiere Pro. Using the masking tool the person speaking in the clip and the work they are discussing is masked out and fitted to the video size. Additional assets are added around the clips such as the logo, characters, a moving background etc. The clip is then rendered and exported. Once the clip is complete we send it over to the team at OSRS to post on their social channels.

![Old School RuneScape Livestream Clip Tweet](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/osrs2_4483c51331.png)

Once the OSRS livestream ends, the creative team at RAID makes a thumbnail for the video and it is then posted on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/OldSchoolRuneScape/videos). The process of creating an OSRS thumbnail starts with selecting images of the speakers in the livestream. These images are then brought into the editing software: Adobe Photoshop. Each person is masked out of the image and placed on a background. Titles and additional assets are added to the image.
                                                                                                                            
![Old School RuneScape YouTube Thumbnails](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/osrs3_8abaeea1c8.png)

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The Social Media Content Creation Process

TikToks, Memes, and Livestreams

In August, we were tasked with coming up with ways to hype up the latest raid that was being released into the game. One idea that we came up with was a “Choose Your Own Adventure”, which would be posted on social media to get players inspired and excited for the raid. To achieve this, we had to develop a themed story connected to the raid and make it short enough to meet Twitter’s character limit while still being a compelling story.

The intention behind this was to engage players, who would be allowed to vote on what path they wanted to take in the story while also getting them in the mood for content centred around the same theme. Players were already excited about this raid, which had been on the horizon for several months, but we wanted to raise that excitement and draw in those who might not have been as invested in the lore and plot behind the raid. In writing a short story like this, we would do precisely that and hopefully reach even more players to encourage them to participate in the content.

After discussing the basics with my colleagues, I took over this project myself. For this, I worked out a plot that wasn’t too long and could be written in a condensed form to fit on Twitter without taking multiple threads and posts while not being so long that it risked losing attention or boring players. For me, this was a fascinating project to have the opportunity to do, as I am an avid writer and enjoy any chance to utilise those abilities.

This took several hours to plan out, and I went through various versions. Originally I had wanted to include imagery related to each section to make it even more enticing and eye-catching, but to maintain some surprise for the raid, we decided against this. I also wanted to expand and make branching paths to several different storylines, but in the end, I decided to have a somewhat linear plot with a few branching sections. This was so that I could focus on the quality of the writing since we had a limited time to get it ready and enough time to post it on social media.

Once I had a basic idea of what I wanted, it was time to start writing. This involved a lot of planning, and I used both Miro and Confluence to work through all of this. Using Miro’s sticky notes and arrows, I devised a clear and concise way of showing what each choice would lead to, with a few different paths that would make sense with the options. Each choice got its unique continuation; for example, when the readers were prompted to vote on what weapon they wanted, the winning choice would be addressed in the next post before carrying on with the story.

![Miro Board showing plan for OSRS Choose your own Adventure](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/OSRSMIRO_8c3261063f.png)

As I mentioned, the Twitter character limit was a big concern for us, as we didn’t want to make a large thread each day, which risked losing the players’ attention. To avoid this, I utilised Twitter, writing each section of the story in the text box on the website and deleting and altering what I was writing to fit.

After the story was created, we posted one part every day, including a poll for the viewers to vote on. Once the survey ended, we would post the next part following their choice.

![Old School RuneScape Tweets ](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/ssosrs_e38e3475c3.png)

This lasted for eight days, finishing two days before the raid was officially released, and gained a lot of positive attention from the player base who followed the account. While the numbers slightly declined as time passed, we saw votes on the initial posts reaching over 5.7k. It was received well, with players enjoying the story and the ability to vote on what they wanted to do.

![Melisma reaction tweet saying these lil posts have been my favorite part of the ToA hype](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/tweetss_5ec7904e34.png)

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Creating a Scripted Adventure using Twitter Threads and Polls

Old School RuneScape: Choose Your Own Adventure

Working with our partner Vela Games, RAID was tasked with producing a short gameplay tutorial video to introduce players to the various concepts and gameplay elements involved in a round of their new title, Evercore Heroes.

Evercore Heroes is a brand new competitive PVE experience, with four teams of four players using a wide roster of heroes to compete for victory. As such, Evercore Heroes may be a complex game for new players, especially those without previous MOBA experience. Keeping this in mind, I set out to create a short, succinct gameplay trailer featuring all the main elements of Evercore Heroes necessary for a new player to pick up the game and immediately start having fun.

A few key considerations were decided on from the outset for this gameplay guide: The video should be roughly 2-3 minutes long, long enough to cover all the key points related to the gameplay while not being overwhelming for a new player; In-game footage should be used as much as possible to showcase gameplay elements such as sabotaging your opponents, completing objectives, and tackling the final boss; We can't ensure the video will be watched with audio, so it must be viewable and easily understood with no sound.

Once all the deliverables and timelines were discussed and agreed upon, I set out to plan my exploration of the Evercore Heroes style guide. This is vital to any creative project to ensure a consistent look and feel across all media. Vela Games were a pleasure to work alongside, as always, as we were provided with game access and information on how best to capture clean gameplay feeds in their development build of the game (A surprisingly tricky task!)

With internal game capture sessions organized alongside my colleagues, the main bulk of the work would be completed by myself in Adobe After Effects. A plethora of bespoke motion graphics was made to complement the Evercore Heroes style guide, from UI elements to transition effects to help a viewer navigate through the gameplay tutorial. Throughout the project, maintaining clarity of information was of utmost importance, as the video should be ultimately informative. Coupled with a short runtime and fast-paced gameplay, it was a challenge to present all the necessary information clearly yet concisely.

The video flow consisted of moving from the Evercore Heroes client to the in-game lobby and finally to live gameplay and action. This mirrors the process a player will follow as they log in and start playing their first matches in the game. More complex elements such as hero selection, itemization, and the metagame were briefly touched upon to spark the player's interest while not being a focus of the video to keep runtime short.

After iterating and working closely alongside Vela Games throughout the whole creative process, I'm pleased to say that the gameplay tutorial was a resounding success and helped immensely with Vela's closed alpha testing sessions.

We're all really excited to see where Evercore Heroes heads in the future!
![Evercore Heroes Animated Logo](https://raid-cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/ECHLOGO_2de8034a56.gif)

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Creating a Gameplay Guide Video for Vela Games

Introducing Players to Evercore Heroes

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Community Development Strategy

Competitor Analysis & Industry Trends

Live Q&A Streams

Tone & Culture Development

Influencer Management & Identification

Frontline Support & Escalation

Feedback & Sentiment Analysis Reporting

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Art Direction & Branding Services

Visual & Graphic Design

2D/3D Cinematics & Trailers

Social Content

Full-Service Video Production

Live Broadcast & On-Screen Talent

Design Innovation & Emerging Trends

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Social media profile setup

Content creation

Customised social media strategy

Content management across various social media platforms

Social Support & Engagement

Social media ad campaigns

Social media audits

Reporting & Insights

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Focus groups are among the most influential and popular market research methods available and, in recent years, have become increasingly popular with developers and publishers. Gamers know what they want out of the games they play. This type of focused testing provides the opportunity to test your games on knowledgeable and discerning users representing your core target demographic.

Not only does this provide critical feedback in advance of release; it gives you a first-hand opportunity to determine how the audience will respond to your game’s various elements. It is an invaluable insight into your players’ thought processes and how they react to your game not just as a creative endeavour but as an interactive, dynamic product.

Our testing team brings a fresh outlook to each game they test, their years of experience, allowing them to focus on the key factors they know to be most important to gamers. Their attention to detail ensures your game receives the valued feedback it needs to hone it to perfection.

Keep your development on the right track

Online focus groups

In-person play testing

Event management for in person sessions

Demographic and cohort analysis

Playtesting & Feedback

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Sometimes you need a solution and nothing on the market quite fits the bill, but you can’t spare the development time from your own team to create it. Our expert Fullstack Web Developers and Systems Architects can help create the solutions you need to equip your team with the perfect tools, all while allowing your internal development teams to stay focused on the task at hand.

Our experts have years of experience in web technology, spanning from the old reliables like WordPress and PHP to the newest tools like Jamstack. We’ve deployed and managed large-scale web and infrastructure projects, and created advanced custom Discord bots to help streamline player support and feedback.

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