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Case Study Example: Growing a Community & Brand from the Ground up
Community Sample:
Sky: Children of the Light
Community Example:
Community & Brand Marketing
When I joined thatgamecompany in early 2019 as Sky's sole Community Manager, the game was still in development and beta. With a CS manager and PR lead by my side—and no dedicated marketing budget or team—we launched Sky: Children of the Light first on iOS. Leveraging just Discord, social media, and a heavy focus on player relationships and community feedback, we found ourselves with an overnight success that quickly climbed into the multi-millions.
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As Sky grew, so did the community organization. What started with me as the sole CM quickly expanded into a team of three, then five, then more than ten. I had the privilege of leading an incredible group of community, creative services, and marketing professionals, building the systems, campaigns, and content engine that powered daily social media, weekly developer blogs, viral short-form video, and player communications. Together, we helped grow Sky beyond 150 million installs by 2021 while driving record participation across its live-service events.
The case studies below highlight some of the systems, campaigns, and creative frameworks I built to help shape Sky's player experience outside the game.
Community & Brand Marketing
When I joined thatgamecompany in early 2019 as Sky's sole Community Manager, the game was still in development and beta. With a CS manager and PR lead by my side—and no dedicated marketing budget or team—we launched Sky: Children of the Light first on iOS. Leveraging just Discord, social media, and a heavy focus on player relationships and community feedback, we found ourselves with an overnight success that quickly climbed into the multi-millions.
​
As Sky grew, so did the community organization. What started with me as the sole CM quickly expanded into a team of three, then five, then more than ten. I had the privilege of leading an incredible group of community, creative services, and marketing professionals, building the systems, campaigns, and content engine that powered daily social media, weekly developer blogs, viral short-form video, and player communications. Together, we helped grow Sky beyond 150 million installs by 2021 while driving record participation across its live-service events.
The case studies below highlight some of the systems, campaigns, and creative frameworks I built to help shape Sky's player experience outside the game.
Sky: Children of the Light
thatgamecompany (2019-2022)
When I joined thatgamecompany in early 2019 as Sky's sole Community Manager, the game was still in development and beta. With a CS manager and PR lead by my side -- and no dedicated marketing budget or team -- we launched Sky: Children of the Light first on iOS. Leveraging just Discord, social media, and a heavy focus on player relationships and community feedback, we found ourselves with an overnight success that quickly climbed into the multi-millions.
​
As Sky grew, so did the community organization. What started with me as the sole CM quickly expanded into a team of three, then five, then more than ten. I had the privilege of leading an incredible group of community, creative services, and marketing professionals, building the systems, campaigns, and content engine that powered daily social media, weekly developer blogs, viral short-form video, and player communications. Together, we helped grow Sky beyond 150 million installs by 2021 while driving record participation across its live-service events.
The case studies below highlight some of the systems, campaigns, and creative frameworks I built to help shape Sky's player experience outside the game.
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Community Example:
Sky: Children of the Light
When I joined thatgamecompany in early 2019 as the sole Community Manager for Sky, the game was still in development and Beta. With a CS manager and PR lead by my side, and no other budget or resources for marketing, we launched Sky: Children of the Light first on iOS. Leveraging just Discord, social media, and a heavy focus on player relations and community feedback, we found ourselves with an overnight success that quickly climbed into the multi-millions.
​
The community team of just myself rapidly turned into a team of three, then five, then 10+ members. I had the privilege of managing a world class team comprised of creative services, marketing, and community professionals—orchestrating a well-oiled machine that churned out a concert of daily social posts, weekly blogs, and viral video content that helped boost in-game event participation and game installs to over 100 million by 2021.
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Community
April 2019:
Beta Testing, Pre-Launch
When I Left in 2022:
150M+ Downloads
Social Following
April 2019:
Less than 5k Followers
When I Left in 2022:
2m+ Social Presence
Discord
April 2019:
0 Users / Launch
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When I left in 2022:
424,400 Users
Team
April 2019:
3 Members
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When I Left in 2022:
20+ Members, Including 7 Direct Reports
When I joined thatgamecompany in early 2019 as the sole Community Manager for Sky, the game was still in development and Beta. With a CS manager and PR lead by my side, and no other budget or resources for marketing, we launched Sky: Children of the Light first on iOS. Leveraging just Discord, social media, and a heavy focus on player relations and community feedback, we found ourselves with an overnight success that quickly climbed into the multi-millions.
​
The community team of just myself rapidly turned into a team of three, then five, then 10+ members. I had the privilege of managing a world class team comprised of creative services, marketing, and community professionals -- orchestrating a well-oiled machine that churned out a concert of daily social posts, weekly blogs, and viral video content that helped boost in-game event participation and game installs to over 100 million by 2021.
Architecting Infrastructure to Support a Rapidly Growing Global Community
The Challenge:
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During beta, nearly all of my time was spent manually collecting bug reports, answering questions, and relaying player feedback to the development team.
As the playerbase grew, I knew this approach wasn't sustainable -- and public social channels filled with bug reports risked becoming people's first impression of Sky.
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The Solution:
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Rather than continuing to rely on scattered conversations across multiple platforms, I wanted a centralized community hub where players could connect with one another and developers could receive better feedback. Once the infrastructure was in place, the next challenge was making Discord the place players actually wanted to be.
I built that foundation through:
Solution: Create a Discord Server
Rather than continuing to rely on scattered conversations across multiple platforms, I wanted a centralized community hub where players could connect with one another and developers could receive better feedback.
Building a Discord Infrastructure to Support a Rapidly Growing Global Community
The Challenge: We Were Stuck in React Mode
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During beta, nearly all of my time was spent manually collecting bug reports, answering questions, and relaying player feedback to the development team.
As the playerbase grew, I knew this approach wasn't sustainable -- and public social channels filled with bug reports risked becoming people's first impression of Sky.
The Solution: Make a Discord Server
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Rather than continuing to rely on scattered conversations across multiple platforms, I wanted a centralized community hub where players could connect with one another and developers could receive better feedback. Once the infrastructure was in place, the next challenge was making Discord the place players actually wanted to be.
I built that foundation through:
Discord Bug Reporting System
A custom Discord bot that standardized player bug report submissions and exported them into spreadsheets for the QA and production teams, significantly reducing manual triage while improving report quality.
The "Shepherd" Ambassador Program
A volunteer leadership program built around players who naturally embodied Sky's values, creating role models who welcomed newcomers, reinforced community culture, and gave the team a trusted pulse on player sentiment.
Discord Moderator Program
A moderation framework complete with onboarding, documentation, and support systems that empowered volunteers to confidently manage conflict, harassment, and sensitive situations.
Community Engagement
A mix of recurring giveaways, custom emojis, competitions, developer Q&As, and creative activities that transformed the server from a support forum into a thriving community players wanted to visit every day.
By investing in the right foundation early, we were able to support Sky's explosive growth without constantly reinventing our processes or feeling like we were in react mode.
The server grew from zero members to more than 424,000 in under two years, becoming the central hub for player feedback, community engagement, developer communication, and live-service updates.
Building Sky's Brand Voice & Social Following
The Challenge:
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thatgamecompany was formerly beloved for Journey, which launched on PlayStation, but Sky was launching as a free-to-play mobile game.
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Many of the studio's existing fans were openly console gamers who were skeptical of the platform choice, which meant we weren't able to count on existing fans to convert to fans of Sky and had to build its identity, following, and trust from scratch.
Building Sky's Brand Voice & Social Following
The Challenge:
thatgamecompany was formerly beloved for Journey, which launched on PlayStation, but Sky was launching as a free-to-play mobile game.
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Many of the studio's existing fans were openly console gamers who were skeptical of the platform choice, which meant we weren't able to count on existing fans to convert to fans of Sky and had to build its identity, following, and trust from scratch.
The Solution: Let the Community Lead Us
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Rather than deciding who our audience might be, I paid close attention to the people who were already showing up and which posts were performing with them. How did they talk about the game with each other? What did they celebrate? What themes and features in the game got them excited? What jokes and inside language did they use?
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Each post informed the next, and over time those patterns became the foundation of Sky's voice: a warm, playful brand that felt human and authentic.
Four principles in particular became central to how we showed up when talking to players:
The Solution: Let the Community Lead Us
​
Rather than deciding who our audience might be, I paid close attention to the people who were already showing up and which posts were performing with them. How did they talk about the game with each other? What did they celebrate? What themes and features in the game got them excited? What jokes and inside language did they use?
​
Each post informed the next, and over time those patterns became the foundation of Sky's voice: a warm, playful brand that felt human and authentic.
Four principles in particular became central to how we showed up when talking to players:
The Solution: Let the Community Lead Us
​
Rather than deciding who our audience might be, I paid close attention to the people who were already showing up and which posts were performing with them. How did they talk about the game with each other? What did they celebrate? What themes and features in the game got them excited? What jokes and inside language did they use?
​
Each post informed the next, and over time those patterns became the foundation of Sky's voice: a warm, playful brand that felt human and authentic.
Four principles in particular became central to how we showed up when talking to players:
Marketing the Feeling and Connection
We leaned into how the game made people feel, knowing that its visuals, music, and the experience of sharing its world with others resonated deeply with players.
Making Players Part of Sky's Story
Instead of putting the spotlight only on the game, we regularly celebrated player creativity and reinforced the sense that Sky belonged to its community.
Speaking the Player Language
By embracing player terminology, inside jokes, and shared experiences, we built a voice that reflected the community back to itself and reinforced its sense of belonging.
Making Social Its Own Experience
We treated every piece of content around Sky as its own experience, not an echo of what players found in-game. It was another place to discover, speculate, and feel connected.
From barely a social presence with little existing momentum pre-launch, we grew Sky to a combined 2M+ followers in under two years, with sustained 20%+ average engagement across channels.
That growth also extended beyond just English-speaking social. We established dedicated social media for Japan and South Korea, working with native subject-matter experts to adapt content to each market rather than simply translating our existing strategy.
Using TikTok to Turn Sky Into a Discovery Engine
TikTok was a new opportunity for Sky to reach people who had never heard of the game, but we had no established presence on the platform and no paid media budget to accelerate growth.
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By using trending sounds to showcase the joy, self-expression, and connection at the heart of Sky, I was able to introduce our game to millions of new people, garnering 19.4M views, over 1M combined likes and 123,000 followers in half a year with only evergreen content produced by myself and no ad spend.
Themes driving the viral video content:
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Self-expression & exploring yourself
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Making new friends & having fun
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Helping or being helped
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Uplifting each other & sharing your light
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Sky has a special community
Ultimate take-away: “Sky is a safe space for me!”
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Check out some examples of the TikToks I used to grow the channel below:
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What Is Sky?
A TikTok-native introduction to Sky created for the Nintendo Switch launch.
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My role:
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Identified & Sourced Trending Audio
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Developed Concept & Creative Brief
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Supported Game Capture
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Directed Production
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Wrote Script
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Recorded Voiceover
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Edited Video
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Published & Wrote Social Copy
What Is Sky?
A TikTok-native introduction to Sky created to catch all of the new viewers checking us out with the Nintendo Switch launch.
MY ROLE: Identified & Sourced Trending Audio • Developed Creative Brief & Direction • Supported Game Capture • Wrote Script • Recorded Voiceover • Edited Video • Wrote Copy & Published on Social
Shaping the Emotional Lead-Up to New Seasons
Sky's seasons were recurring content releases that gave players new worlds to explore, characters to meet, and stories to experience.
Before I took over marketing, most of that storytelling lived inside the game itself, with only a launch trailer, blog, and single piece of custom art carrying it beyond the game. I saw an opportunity to build on those existing stories through new formats on social media, giving players a reason to start talking, speculating, and getting excited before launch.
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The approach paid off, driving major player reactivation within the first two days of launch and strong engagement across social platforms and regions.
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Below are some of the pieces that helped build that excitement before launch:
Season of Flight: Pre-Launch Teaser
Wanting to generate buzz and excitement well ahead of the season launch, but not wanting to spoil anything, we started the season's storytelling with a brief video that showed off the new level players would be getting with the Season of Flight.
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MY ROLE: Storyboarding • Creative Direction • Production Oversight • Social and YouTube Copy • Social Publishing
Season of Flight: Launch Trailer
The full launch trailer built on that first glimpse shown in the teaser, introducing the new Wind Paths (a crossroads connecting different areas of Sky) and giving players a taste of the world, characters, and adventures waiting for them.
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MY ROLE: Creative Direction • Shot Planning • Production Oversight • Social and YouTube Copy • Social Publishing
Season of Flight: Pre-Launch Teaser
Wanting to generate buzz and excitement well ahead of the season launch, but not wanting to spoil anything, we started the season's storytelling with a brief video that showed off the new level players would be getting with the Season of Flight.
​
MY ROLE: Storyboarding • Creative Direction • Production Oversight • Social and YouTube Copy • Social Publishing
Season of Flight: Launch Trailer
The full launch trailer built on that first glimpse shown in the teaser, introducing the new Wind Paths (a crossroads connecting different areas of Sky) and giving players a taste of the world, characters, and adventures waiting for them.
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MY ROLE: Creative Direction • Shot Planning • Production Oversight • Social and YouTube Copy • Social Publishing
Sky Portfolio:
App Store Publishing
Use this space to promote the business, its products or its services. Help people become familiar with the business and its offerings, creating a sense of connection and trust. Focus on what makes the business unique and how users can benefit from choosing it.
Meet the Characters
Players loved Sky's characters, but their personalities were mostly left for players to interpret through their in-game encounters.
Seeing an appetite for more character lore, I worked with the designers and artists behind each character to bring those personalities to life through bespoke art and social storytelling.
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MY ROLE: Concept Development • Creative Briefs & Direction • Dev Interviews • Production Oversight • Social Copy • Social Publishing
Engage with the tabs to check out the different characters and their intro bios!