In the interest of transparency, we’re going to do something a bit differently on the blog this week: we’re lifting the curtain a little bit and discussing how the site works. Specifically I want to talk about your game’s launch window and ways to make sure you have all of your ducks in a row to make sure you’re as successful as possible. 

Get your page built beforehand

If you want potential customers to know what your game is about, there’s no better place to educate them than your game’s page. You know this, I know this, customers know this. This isn’t a wild idea, but there are people every day to rush to build out their pages in the hours before launch. Building out your page in advance means you can take the time to put your best foot forward, but also lets your customers know where to find you which helps with the next point.

Being added to customers’ collections matters

Once you get a potential customer onto your page they may not be ready to purchase yet for a variety of reasons. Maybe your game isn’t out, maybe they’re just passing through. Whatever the reason, by encouraging customers to follow your developer account on itch.io or adding your project to one of their collections means that they’ll be notified when your project fully launches or when you make an update.

Tags! Tags! TAGS!

One of the strongest elements of organic discovery on itch.io (outside of the frontpage) is through our tag system. Large swathes of our community browses the site through tags, so make sure you’re using them! There’s no use adding things that are irrelevant to your game, but if you’re making a platformer, tag it! Does your game have a unique art style? Tag it! Take some of your lead themes and tag them too! 

Of course this is only a sampling of what you can do to make your launch successful, but the key thing we’ve noticed is simply that giving people a reason to come to your page and multiple opportunities to get there should be at the top of your list in whatever form that takes.