How to Make a Video Game Website: A Step-by-Step Guide 2024

This guide is for indie developers and small studios who want to create a website for their video game. It assumes you have a modest budget and some comfort with online tools. If you represent a large AAA studio, you should consider a dedicated web agency for your project.

We will walk through the entire process. You will learn how to determine your site's structure, handle design, set up hosting and a domain, and perform tests. We also cover the main tools to get the job done.

Step 1: Plan Your Site Structure and Gather Content

Before you open a single tool, you need a clear blueprint. This initial planning phase defines what your site must accomplish and what materials you need to build it. A little forethought here prevents major headaches later on in the process.

Define Your Site’s Purpose and Structure

First, identify your audience—players, press, or potential collaborators. Then, list the main actions you want them to take. This could be to wishlist your game, watch a trailer, or join your community. These priorities will shape your site's structure and page hierarchy.

Sketch out your navigation. Most game websites need a Homepage, Media, a Devlog or News section, and a Contact page. A common mistake is to forget a dedicated press kit. This forces journalists to hunt for assets, which means you lose out on media coverage. Instead, create an obvious "Press" page.

Assemble Your Assets

Organize all your materials in a central folder before you begin, using a service like Google Drive or Dropbox. This preparation prevents delays and ensures a cohesive final product. You will want to have everything ready before you start the build process.

Your asset library should include:

• Your game's logo files and official brand color codes.
• High-resolution visuals, such as gameplay screenshots, concept art, and video trailers.
• All written content, including your game's description, team bios, and FAQs.
• Credentials for any social media or storefronts you will integrate.

Step 2: Choose Your Design Approach

Your site's design determines visitor trust within seconds. You have several options based on budget and technical skill. Each path offers a different balance of cost, speed, and creative control, so choose the one that best fits your project's needs and resources.

Use Pre-built Templates

For most indie developers, a premium template from a marketplace like ThemeForest is the best choice. They are affordable and include layouts for media galleries and press kits. A common mistake is choosing a template with slow animations. Instead, pick a fast, clean design that highlights your game's visuals without distraction.

Assemble a Design System

For more control, use a UI kit from a source like Tailwind UI or Bootstrap themes. These provide pre-made components you assemble into pages. This path requires some code comfort but lets you build custom sections to showcase unique game mechanics or lore, helping your site stand out without a high budget.

Commission a Custom Design

If you have a larger budget, hire a designer to create mockups in a tool like Figma. This ensures the final website perfectly matches your game's artistic vision. It is the most expensive route but guarantees a polished, unique result for studios with a strong art style, though it adds weeks to your timeline.

Establish a Style Guide

Regardless of your approach, create a style guide to ensure a professional and consistent look across all pages. This document should define your core visual rules:

• Colors: Pick one primary brand color, a secondary accent, and a neutral gray. Document the exact hex codes for each.
• Typography: Choose two fonts maximum. A library like Google Fonts offers many free, web-optimized options.
• Spacing: Use a consistent system for margins and padding, such as multiples of 8px, to create visual rhythm.
• Image Standards: Define dimensions for key visuals like hero images (1920x1080px) and thumbnails (800x600px).
• Button Styles: Define styles for primary actions (solid background) and secondary actions (outlined or lighter color).

Step 3: Set Up Hosting and Your Domain

Your domain is your website's address, and hosting is the digital space where it lives. Both require careful selection to ensure your site is reliable and easy for players to find. This step secures your online presence.

Choose Your Domain Name

Select a short, memorable domain, like your game's title with a .com extension for global reach. Avoid hyphens or numbers. Register it through a service like Namecheap or Cloudflare Registrar, then enable auto-renewal and WHOIS privacy to protect your asset.

Select Your Hosting Plan

Your hosting choice depends on traffic expectations. For most indie games, a shared plan from a provider like Hostinger is a fine start. These plans are affordable and handle low traffic, but they have limits.

A common mistake is using cheap hosting for a game you expect to go viral. This can cause your site to crash during a launch or when a streamer features you, costing you wishlists. Instead, use scalable cloud hosting from Vercel or Netlify to handle traffic spikes.

Website builders like Squarespace bundle hosting, which simplifies billing but locks you into their system. For WordPress sites, managed hosting from a service like Kinsta is a strong option that handles security and updates for you.

Your plan must include a free SSL certificate to avoid browser security warnings. Also confirm it has automatic daily backups and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. After purchase, point your domain to your host by updating the nameservers at your registrar.

Step 4: Build Your Site With Replit

Instead of a traditional website builder, you can use an AI-powered tool like Replit to construct your site. This platform uses an AI agent to turn plain language into a functional website, which gives you more creative freedom than template-based systems without you needing to code.

How the AI Agent Builds for You

You direct the build process with simple instructions. For example, tell the Replit Agent to "build a website for my indie game with a media page for trailers, a devlog, and a contact form." The agent generates the code, design, and backend infrastructure automatically.

This approach lets you focus on what the site should do, not how to implement it. You can refine the result with more feedback, like "make the wishlist button bigger" or "add a section for character bios." The agent interprets your request and updates the site accordingly.

From Prompt to Live Site

A common mistake is to manually code features the AI can handle. This wastes time and introduces bugs. Instead, leverage the agent for complex tasks like a mailing list signup or a password-protected page for beta testers. This keeps your focus on the game itself.

To start, create a Replit account and describe the website you want. The agent generates the site, which goes live immediately on a Replit subdomain. You can then refine it with plain-language feedback until it matches your vision and connect a custom domain later for a professional touch.

This process allows you to build a dynamic site with features that support your launch. Ask the agent to integrate Stripe for merchandise sales or import a design directly from Figma to match your game's art style perfectly.

Step 5: Connect Your Site to Key Services

Your website rarely stands alone. It connects to specialized services that handle functions like email lists or analytics. Set up these accounts early, then connect them to your site to expand its capabilities and gather valuable player data before your launch.

Collect Player Feedback and Emails

Use forms to gather beta test applications, collect feedback, or build a mailing list. A common mistake is linking out to a separate form page. This forces players to leave your site and hurts engagement. Instead, embed the form directly on your contact page or in the footer to capture signups without friction.

Some popular options for forms include:

• Tally: Offers a generous free plan and embeds cleanly into any page.
• Typeform: Creates beautiful, conversational forms that feel polished to the user.
• Google Forms: A free and reliable choice for simple surveys or contact forms.

For email marketing, a platform like ConvertKit is built for creators and helps you manage your player community. Add its signup form to your devlog and footer to grow your audience and announce major updates.

Track Your Website Traffic

Install analytics on day one to understand your audience. Google Analytics 4 is a free, comprehensive option. It shows how players find your site, which pages they visit most, and whether they click your wishlist buttons. This data is vital for marketing. For privacy-focused alternatives, consider Plausible or Fathom.

Set Up Payments and Sales

If you plan to sell merchandise or digital copies directly, integrate a payment processor. Stripe is a developer-friendly choice with excellent documentation. For selling digital goods like art books or soundtracks, platforms like Gumroad or Lemon Squeezy handle the entire sales process for you.

Step 6: Build and Populate Core Pages

With your foundation in place, you can now construct your site's core pages. Work through them one by one, and start with the pages that will receive the most traffic. Each page must have a clear purpose that guides visitors toward a single, important action.

Your Homepage and Wishlist Funnel

Your homepage is the first impression. It needs to grab a visitor's attention immediately with your game's key art, a strong headline, and a clear call-to-action. The main goal is to funnel players toward your most important conversion, like a "Wishlist on Steam" or "Watch Trailer" button.

A common mistake is to bury the wishlist button. This forces interested players to hunt for the link and costs you valuable launch-day notifications. Instead, place a prominent wishlist button in your header and hero section so it is always visible to visitors on any page.

Media Galleries and Devlogs

Your Media page is a portfolio for your game. Populate it with high-resolution screenshots, concept art, and video trailers that showcase your best work. This page gives press and players a quick way to see the game in action, which removes the need to send assets manually.

A Devlog or News section demonstrates that your project is active. Post regular updates to build a community and show progress. Always include dates on your posts, as undated content can make a project look abandoned. This also provides fresh content for social media.

Press Kits and Legal Pages

Create a dedicated Press page that contains your press kit, logos, and contact information for journalists. For legal compliance, you need a Privacy Policy if you collect any user data through analytics or email forms. You can generate a baseline policy with services like Termly or Iubenda.

Step 7: Test Across Devices and Get Real User Feedback

Testing uncovers problems you might miss during development. You must budget time for this phase. A launch with broken features damages your game's reputation, a setback that is difficult to overcome.

Test on All Major Devices

Your site must work flawlessly for every potential player. A common mistake is to test only with emulators, which miss real-world performance issues. Instead, test on at least one physical phone to ensure your site feels responsive to a real player.

• Mobile: Check on both iOS and Android. Ensure trailers play smoothly and wishlist buttons are easy to tap.
• Tablets: Test in portrait and landscape modes, as layouts often break at these widths.
• Desktop: Review on Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge to catch rendering differences.

Validate Site Functionality and Performance

Click every link, especially connections to your Steam page or social media. Submit all forms, like your newsletter signup, to confirm they work. Test interactive elements like media galleries to ensure they showcase your game's art without glitches.

Run your site through tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix. These services score your site's speed and offer fixes. A slow site can frustrate players and hurt your search rankings, so this is a vital check.

Conduct User and Accessibility Audits

Your site must be usable by people with disabilities. Use a tool like the WebAIM Contrast Checker for text readability. Also, confirm all images have descriptive alt text and that the site is navigable with only a keyboard.

Finally, ask three to five people to test your site. Give them tasks like "Find the press kit" or "Wishlist the game." Watch them without help. Their confusion reveals design flaws you need to fix before you launch your website to the public.

Step 8: Launch and Maintain Your Site

The launch of your website is not the finish line. It is the start of its life as a marketing and community hub. A proper launch maximizes visibility, while a consistent maintenance plan ensures your site remains an effective, long-term asset for your game.

Final Pre-Launch Checklist

Before you announce the site, perform one last walkthrough to catch any issues. This final check ensures a professional first impression for players, press, and potential partners. A broken link or missing image at launch can undermine the credibility you have worked hard to build.

• Confirm all placeholder text is replaced with final content.
• Verify all external links, especially to your Steam page, work correctly.
• Test your contact and newsletter forms to ensure submissions are received.
• Check that social sharing tags are configured so links look good on Twitter and Discord.
• Ensure your SSL certificate is active and the site loads with HTTPS.

Establish an Ongoing Maintenance Routine

A common mistake is to launch the site and immediately return to game development. This causes your site to become outdated, making the project look abandoned and hurting community trust. Instead, schedule regular maintenance to keep your content fresh and functional for visitors.

Create a simple schedule to keep your site in top shape. This prevents small issues from becoming major problems and shows your community that the project is active. A well-maintained site is a powerful tool to build and retain your audience before and after launch.

• Weekly: Post devlog updates to show progress and check that forms work.
• Monthly: Review analytics to see where your traffic comes from. Use a tool like Dr. Link Check to find and fix broken links.
• Quarterly: Refresh screenshots and trailers with new assets. Audit all pages for outdated information.

Set up a free service like UptimeRobot to get an alert if your site goes down, which is vital during a traffic spike from a popular streamer. Also, submit your sitemap file to Google Search Console to help search engines index your site faster, making it easier for new players to find you.

Want a shortcut?

If the previous steps feel like too much manual work, Replit offers a faster path. Its AI agent builds your site from plain language. Describe your needs, like a media gallery and a password-protected page for beta testers, and the agent generates the code. This approach gives you more freedom than a template without the need to code yourself.

The platform handles backend tasks, provides instant hosting, and can import designs from Figma to match your game’s art style. This lets you focus on your game, not web development. You can build a site with features that support your launch. Sign up for free to start your project.