Case Study: Endeavor GTM

Endeavor is a game built for Ergatta's wooden rowing machines. In the game, your avatar, a fractal-looking bird, travels through stunning worlds and battles different alien-like opponents. When I was brought on to the project, we had a beautiful and functional game, but no name. That was step one.

The Namestorm

I started by making a list of 50 options. I took suggestions from the team, the gaming industry, LLMs, and my own concept mapping. Then, I narrowed that list to 10. I created mocks where I showed the top contenders in different real-world contexts: in-app, in press headlines, in branded copy, etc. From there, key stakeholders voted. The winner was unanimous.

The Messaging Strategy

After the name came the messaging strategy. Who is the game for? What's the central promise? What pain points does it solve, and how is it different from our other games? And finally, what are the reasons to believe?

The Press Release

Next up: the press release. Here's one area I'm comfortable using AI to free up my bandwidth. I'd already done lots of thinking and writing myself, plus press releases are pretty formulaic. So I fed ChatGPT the messaging strategy and a few of our press releases so it'd get the tone right. It got us 80% of the way, then I came in to polish.

A Slew of Emails

I drafted versions for leads, active users, and inactive/dormant users. They varied in tone, emphasis, level of detail, and call-to-action.

Blog Posts

Next, I wrote blog posts introducing and explaining the game. This was an important step: implicitly "getting" the rules and mechanics of a game is very different from being able to write it all out long-form.

The Workouts

I've been in charge of writing workout names and descriptions at Ergatta since 2024, so I was tapped to help with the first batch of Endeavor workouts. I worked with a team of product managers and game designers to create copy that honored the game's unique personality, while balancing clear description and branded language.

In-App Tutorial

Endeavor isn't for everyone, but we didn't want someone to brush it aside just because they didn't get it. So, we needed a simple in-app tutorial. I contributed the storyboard, script, and voiceover; my graphic design counterpart built the video.

Game Trailer

Finally, the game trailer. I contributed the storyboard and on-screen text; my graphic design counterpart built the video.