TikTok and short videos

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Swipe, swipe, stop!

Every day, millions of people scroll short videos on TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels.

A good 20-second clip of Garden Defense can reach people who have never heard of us, and it costs nothing but time.

A parent runs the account

Like Discord, these apps are 13+ (16 in Australia), for privacy-law reasons explained in the Discord lesson. So a parent creates the studio account, posts the videos and handles the comments, while the team thinks up ideas, records gameplay and edits the clips.

There is one more rule. YouTube asks every channel to mark each video made for kids or not, because of COPPA. Made-for-kids videos have comments and personalised ads switched off. A Garden Defense clip aimed at young players should be marked honestly, even if it means fewer comments.

Quick check

Because the account is for the studio, a 10-year-old can sign up for TikTok themselves.

Show the answer

False

The age rule is about who uses the app, whatever the account is for. A parent runs the studio account, and the team makes the content.

The 2-second hook

People decide to keep watching or swipe away in about 2 seconds. A hook is an opening that makes them stop.

Good hooks show tension or a question right away: Sprig about to be eaten by a giant beetle, or a boss exploding with the words "Can you beat this?" A weak hook: "Hi everyone, welcome to my video."

Hook pick

Kai filmed four openings for a Garden Defense clip. Which first 2 seconds will stop the most people from swiping?

  1. A giant beetle lunges at Sprig, with the caption "Only 1 seed left..."
  2. Kai's voice saying "Hi everyone, today I want to show you something"
  3. The title screen fading in slowly with soft music
  4. The settings menu while the volume gets adjusted
Show the answer

A giant beetle lunges at Sprig, with the caption "Only 1 seed left..."

The beetle shot creates danger and a question (will Sprig survive?) in the very first frame. Greetings, title screens and menus give people a reason to swipe away.

How the feed decides

Each app uses a recommendation algorithm: a program that picks the next video for each viewer. The apps keep their exact recipes secret, but they all pay attention to the same kinds of signals. Did people watch to the end? Watch again? Like, comment or share?

A new video is often shown to a small group first. If they keep watching, the app shows it to more people. That's why the first seconds matter so much.

Devlogs: show how it's made

A devlog (developer log) is a video diary about making the game. For example: "Day 12 of making a space shooter: today the ship got a shield!"

People love watching a game grow, and they come back to see what happens on day 13. Many small studios find their first fans this way. A devlog can also show mistakes and fixes, which makes the studio feel real and friendly.

Make it fit the app

Quick check

Why do we film short videos in a tall, vertical shape?

  1. It fills the whole phone screen
  2. Vertical videos are cheaper to upload
  3. Wide videos are not allowed on TikTok
Show the answer

It fills the whole phone screen

People hold their phones upright when they scroll. A 9:16 video fills the screen, so there is nothing else to look at.

Never buy followers

Some websites sell 10,000 followers for a few dollars. They are fake accounts and bots: they never watch, never play and never buy.

The apps can spot fake followers and may hide or remove the account. Fake followers also wreck our numbers. If 10,000 followers see a video and almost nobody watches, the feed decides the video is boring and shows it to fewer real people. We grow slowly, with real people who love our games.

Bolt says: Our own videos reach our own followers. Next: creators, who can show our games to their much bigger audiences.

Fact-checked 9 October 2026