Promotional art

Promotional art is art created for the purpose of promoting your game that is not also used as an in-game asset. Examples: “countdown to release” images, merch art (ex: posters/prints, t-shirts, dakimakura, keychains; etc), “celebration” images (“Thanks for 1,000 followers!”).

Key Visuals

A key visual (sometimes also referred to as key art or abbreviated as KV) is piece of art meant to depict the general tone/mood of the project. Key visuals are meant to attract attention and curiosity from a viewer to check out your project, so they are recommended to have even more thought put into them than even event CGs. Usually, the art is unique (not recycled game assets) and the different elements of the key art may be saved separately so that they can be used for different purposes. This art is usually used for promotional purposes (especially posters or box art) and/or in-game as the title screen/start screen. Though many additional pieces of promotional art may be produced, a key visual is distinctly intended to be the image that a person calls to mind when they think about the game.

Sprite Sheets

Sprite sheets showcase sprites' expressions and poses. While they are often created as part of the development process, they can be reused as promotional art. Some developers will create sprite sheets specifically to use as promotional art, even if they're not required for their design workflow.

Character Cards

A character card is a graphic used to display an image of a character along with a short introduction to their personality and/or backstory to get a reader interested in them. These are usually posted to places such as social media, a crowdfunding campaign, or the sales website.

Promotional Videos

A promotional video (also known as a promo video or a PV) is a video used to promote or advertise your game. In general, a promotional video for a visual novel will include a short overview of your game’s plot/premise, introduce characters, or show gameplay. Bigger projects may find it worth their time to do separate videos for each element and smaller projects may decide to just create an opening video and use that instead.