Thanks for info. I actually been making games since 2009 totally not a newbie. And sometimes it is better just to cancel the project. And I have one game already here too, which is selling in my opinion not so bad. But at this time things are different, as the game need A LOT of graphics/animations and it 'burns' during the game very fast. Believe me, here, on this platform feedback is very possitive compared to another platforms. +game is very suitable for streamers. If I got no featuring (which I feel deserved at this time, especially with this game), not many wishlist will come, no attention from streamers - it is better to leave than put another 1+ year on it. And its not actually a playable demo, its more like a completed prequel. With the beginning and ending, you can feel what the full version would look like very well. Full version would be just with 'middle' game content x4-6 more compared to demo.
Viewing post in How to get featured?
Even if you get featured, how big and how long of a boost would that be? The games on page one change regularly. You can release an unfinished project and let it simmer here and collect followers and the much wanted feedback. You can also set the status to prototype or even canceled if you decide otherwise.
I had a quick look at your released game. You better be using a second account for publishing that new project here, if you decide to do so and want to get featured. Your account is marked as adult and thus is only searchable for logged in accounts that have this enabled. The only games from adult creators that get featured are some horror games. I do not know if they generally exclude the other kind of adult creators, but would guess so. If they link to a game from a non searchable creator, that creator and their adult games suddenly get revealed to people not looking for adult games, if they visit the creator's profile.
And if you think about doing another project instead and want to continue adult games, consider opening a patreon and starting the development process here as soon as you have a few minutes of gameplay, instead of trying to release an almost finished project without a demo version. I would like to direct you to the top on the list of adult+pixel art in the top rated browse category as an example of what I talk about. Of course that game is "in development" since 2018 and had a lot of time to simmer.
Strange, because I get featured suggested same games over and over. Seems they are not rotating too much, or it could be based on my prefered genres, not sure.
Very good point about the new account. I had that idea, and you just confirmed. I'm not planning to release new nsfw games in the near future, and I have 2 finshed and 1 in development (this one I'm trying to get featured, so yeah, looks like separate account will be a good solution for this.
Where do you get suggested featured games?
There is one featured list and that is the same for everyone. It is a tag like quality. And they include it on the homepage.
https://itch.io/games/new-and-popular/featured
That list should have the same ups and downs and instability like all the other browse lists.
Your game will appear on the suggestions after like 3 months, when the algorithm has analyzed the relevance of your tags in relation to peoples tastes. There is this button related games, that appears roughly after 3 months. Or so I assume.
The game, after being indexed, will appear in the most recent list (sadly with publishing date and not with indexing date) and again after some major updates are released (no guarantee). This might give a small boost, but ultimately, as itch has pointed out repeatedly, do not rely on itch for promotion.
I am not even sure how much the featured list is used, but that is based on my bias, since I do not use it at all. Mostly because I do not land on itch homepage, where the featured liste is ... featured. If you click browse, you start with popular list. And that are games that are popular. You do not need to get featured to be popular (might of course help).
To activate featured games on browse, you have to click a not easily reachable button.
Popular New & Popular Top sellers Top rated Most Recent
No "featured".
It is hidden here under Misc
With Steam keys
In game jams
Not in game jams
With demos
Featured