It’s time for another edition of Jestr Recap 🎉
The Triple-i Initiative was just a few days ago and I know everyone’s been busy, so this is our way of keeping you up to date on all the cool things going on in the community without having you scrape through the discord to find it.
So lets dive in to what’s new in the community 🫡
Triple I Initiative ✨
This week launched the Triple I initiative event on Jestr with some very exciting campaigns that went live on the site!
From well known games like Windrose and Dandelion Void to world premieres like The Escapists 3 and Volatiles. There were a lot of really cool games for everyone to cover!
We watched the showcase live in the Jestr Discord and seeing the reactions from everyone was extremely fun and we loved seeing what games everyone was excited for.
There are still campaigns from the event that are live so feel free to look at the event on Jestr to see which ones are still available!
Steam’s Next Fest Is Almost Here!
It’s almost that time again for Steam’s Next Fest 👀
If this is you’re first Next Fest at Jestr, you’re in for a WILD ride. Historically, this is one of our busiest events with a lot of campaigns dropping and more trickling in at the last minute.
Steam Next Fest is a week-long festival Steam runs a few times a year where hundreds of upcoming games put out playable demos for players to try out. Devs use it to build wishlists ahead of launch which means there’s a lot of opportunities for Jestr Creators.
Because of the influx of campaigns, here are some tips to stay organized and make the most out of Jestr during the event.
Pick games you’re truly interested in. With a ton of campaigns to choose from, choose the ones that you really want to cover instead of trying to cover as many as possible. The process of creating content becomes easier when it’s something you truly want to cover.
Use the calendar view. If you need a way to track when campaigns lift, or organize your videos for the week, use the Jestr Calendar to keep track of everything.
Play games for enjoyment. One of the easiest traps to fall into is getting burnt out. Most of the time it’s because this passion of yours turns into feeling like a job. Play games to enjoy them, take moments to yourself and keep that passion alive!
Jestr’s Indie Choice Winner & New Poll 🏆
We presented 35 games for creators to vote on, and after tallying the votes, we had a definitive winner!
The cool thing about this specific poll, was that it was aimed at the Mobidictum Conference 2026 in Istanbul, which Mahdeen was actually attending in person. So we were able to present the very first winner of the Jestr’s Indie Choice, LIVE and the reaction was great.
The winner of that specific poll was The Facility, a psychological horror game about paranoia, identity, and the fear of trusting the wrong person.
You can view the results here if you want to see who the top 5 were!
We also launched the Jestr’s Indie Choice: October Edition last week with the theme of “Horror Games” and the reception was better than we expected!
If you don’t know what this is, Jestr’s Indie Choice is our way of supporting indie games who may not necessarily have the budget for marketing. So every month we’ll gather a list of games we think could use the extra love, and present them to our creators to vote on, and the winning game gets a campaign funded entirely by Jestr!
The next poll should be opening up soon 👀Keep an eye on it at www.jestr.gg/polls and place your vote on what game you want to see on Jestr when it goes live!
Creator Roundtable
First off, huge shoutout to Alex for hosting this week’s Jestr Roundtable!
One of the interest things talked about in this weeks session was CTA’s, or “Call to Actions”. If you don’t know what this is, it’s the moment where you as the creator get a chance to convince the viewer that you’re worth following.
Simple lines like, “I find unique games for you to check out” or “I find hidden gems everyday”, gives the viewer a reason to follow you.
One of the creators reviewed this week came back after receiving feedback a couple months ago. His CTA used to be 5 seconds long which in shortform, feels like an eternity and is usually the exact moment viewers scroll past your video. However, after getting advice to cut his CTA down to 3 seconds MAX, his retention skyrocketed which in turn improved the video’s performance.
If you take a look at some of the top creators, you might see a super short CTA.
“I’m [Name], [CTA], This game is [Game]”
That’s usually all the information the viewer needs to be convinced. Who you are, why they should follow you, and what the name of the game is. How you present it, is completely up to you.
You might see creators put the game name earlier in the video and end off with “follow me for x-y-z” and that works too!
Experiment with your CTA and look at your analytics afterwards. If there’s a steep drop-off during that exact moment, experiment with different ways to present it.
If you’ve never been to a roundtable session before, this is an event where creators submit their content to be reviewed by the community, and get actionable feedback on what they can do to improve. If you want to be a part of the next creator roundtable, simply submit to this form and show up to the event on discord, Mondays 2pm EST!
However, everyone is welcome to join and listen in. The advice given to other creators are things you can apply to your own content.
The Darkside of Content Creation
There’s something in content creation that no one talks about.
And it’s how lonely content creation can be. Not “sad” lonely, just structurally lonely. You’re in a room by yourself, recording by yourself, editing by yourself, posting by yourself. The win happens alone. The flop happens alone. Sometimes it feels like the entire job is just you and a timeline.
So if you’ve been feeling burnt out lately, or weirdly demotivated even when things are going well, that isn’t a sign you’re failing. It’s usually a sign you’ve been doing the same thing, in the same room, for too long.
A few things that actually help:
Surround yourself with people who are fun to be around. Not just people who make content. People you’d want to hang out with regardless. Think about the difference between going to the gym with someone versus going and actually working out together. One is two people doing their own thing in the same building. The other is a shared effort. Most creator spaces are together alone. What you want is alone together: everybody doing their own work, but genuinely in it with each other.
Change how you work, not just what you make. New editing style, new filming order, new day of the week, do things standing up for once. Keeping the process interesting is half the fight. Boredom disguises itself as burnout constantly.
Have something to work toward that isn’t a number. Views and follower counts are terrible motivators because you don’t control them. Swap the question. Instead of “what do I want to do next,” ask “what do I want to learn next” or “what do I want to experiment with next.” Those you control, and they compound.
If you’re in that spot right now, reach out. Drop into the working channel and meet new creators, DM a creator you vibe with, hop into some of the events. Reach out when you need to, and find friends who genuinely want to see you succeed.
Quickly, I just want to shoutout all the new Jestrs that joined recently, and to the ones who attended this weeks Onboarding Session, it was a pleasure getting to meet you all! If you have any questions regarding how things work, the next Onboarding Session will be on October 21st at 2pm in the Jestr Discord! Feel free to join up and ask your questions live!
That’s it for this weeks Jestr Recap! We’ll see you again next week 🫡