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From award-winning prototype to market launch

Social Media Marketing & Management

SMM students develop branding, platform and social media strategies for the indie game Garden Ink

After winning the German Computer Games Award 2026 for Best Prototype, the indie game Garden Ink attracted early attention from the games industry. To support the next step towards its market launch, around 15 students from Stuttgart Media University collaborated with the development studio Kranich Games in an interdisciplinary project led by Prof. Dr. Stefan Rohrbach.

Working like in a real company

The students worked in three specialized teams with clearly defined responsibilities and one shared objective: increasing the visibility of Garden Ink and building a strong community around the game.

The first team developed the strategic foundation for the brand. Based on market analysis, competitor research and a target-group survey, the students created a brand strategy, a brand book and a media kit. A second team focused on the game’s presence on Steam. User interviews and analyses of successful indie games resulted in recommendations for the trailer, screenshots, game description and additional platform features. The third team developed a social media and community strategy for the months leading up to the release. This included 30 ready-to-use posts for Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, as well as a long-term content plan.

“It was like a company with three different departments,” said Arne Jürgens, founder and Managing Director of Kranich Games.

Results with a real impact

Many of the students’ ideas and materials are already being used by the studio. These include the brand book, social media content, improvements to the Steam page and recommendations for the further development of the game. The collaboration gave students the opportunity to work on the real challenges of a young development studio rather than a fictional case study. They combined strategic analysis with creative production, took responsibility within specialized teams and experienced how their work can have an immediate impact.

The project demonstrates how students, universities and start-ups can benefit from working together: companies gain new perspectives and practical solutions, while students develop valuable skills for future careers in marketing, social media and digital communication.

“We received enough content to manage our channels for the next ten weeks. The results do not disappear after the project has been graded, they are actually being used,” said Sven Mehlhorn, founder and Managing Director of Kranich Games.