itch.io

For the most part I agree. It would be nice to have a status on each game page to get an idea if the game is still being indexed or not. I think that would also reduce the amount of people asking in their community why their game is not indexed.

Having said that, I’m not sure if this isn’t implemented on purpose. Not knowing how indexing works makes it harder to “game the system”, so maybe it’s not as easy as adding an extra status badge in the game pages?

I’ve noticed that too, there are games that have been part on a variety of events (especially gamejams with long names) and the buttons on the top-right eat a lot of space.

I tried Lutris recently, is there a way to connect the Itch.io library to it? I only get these options in the app, not sure if I have an older version:

Honestly, if you have a VR game ready and published on another platform, why not include Itch.io too? Nothing to lose, the platform makes it quite straightforward.

I like the new versions! Here’s a few things I noticed:

• The outline on Blueprint definitely helps separate the icon from the game, great addition!
• I really like the new Field guide icon, the green liquid looks much better.
• The little insect on the Field guide looks much more tidy on the new version.

Really good changes!

I like the idea, and it would definitely add value to the site!

However, I believe this was mentioned before. from what I remember the response was that Itch was not going to do that because it’s a lot of resources and effort to moderate. There is the Discord Server which offers similar functionality.

Honestly I’m on the fence on this.

At the end of the day, the users want to know if AI is involved in a project or not, especially in the indie scene. It’s hard to make everyone happy. Maybe if there was a separate flag for AI Art and AI code?

Either way, this is just my opinion, I have no say on what the platform plans to do.

I don’t really know how all this works behind the scenes, but I wonder if that is still a problem. I imagine if payment processors don’t want to support sales of certain content, they might also not want to support credits for a site that hosts such content.

Having said that, I like the idea of Itch credits in general. I don’t know how complex it is to implement, but I feel like it would make user’s experience much better.

Hey there,

You can report any malicious activity with the report button so an admin can have a look. You can also contact support with all the details, in case they provide any extra assistance.

Hope that helps

Hi there,

The individually priced files work in a tier system. That means is a person pays £10 to your project, they will have access to your base project plus all files with an individual price of £10 or less.

The system wasn’t designed to provide DLC, as you’ve discovered by the problem you’re having. A good idea is to have DLC on separate project pages and link them to the base game, but there’s no hard rule for it. I understand having each character in its own project page might be a bit too much work, it’s up to you to find a system that works for you.

Hope that helps, Cheers

Hello,

Is this about the project “United by Love’s Heart”? It seems to appear in searches just fine. You might need to enable adult content if you can’t see it when searching.

Cheers

Congrats on the release! It seems this is the first time you’re posting on Release Announcements, it would be great if you could include a summary of your game and either a screenshot or video of it. This will help users looking at this post visualise what your game is about!

In case it helps, these are the rules for posting on Release Announcements:

Each topic should include:

• A link to the page on itch.io
• A quick summary of the game
• At least one embedded image or video

Glad to hear it’s all good now. Congrats on the release and best of luck with your project!

I don’t think there’s a specific path for horror games. Similar to any other genres, you can pick up a game engine, and get a few assets from their asset stores, and get a head start.

However making a game can be a very big task, especially if you haven’t made one before. My advice is to start slow, make a tiny game, and slowly build up from there. Just like any other artistic activity, the more you do it, the better and faster you become.

Are you sure your project is not indexed? I just searched for “Death in a party” and your project was the first result I got.

Self-promotion with links outside of Itch.io is against the rules.

Self-promotion with links outside of Itch.io is against the rules.

Please don’t self promote on unrelated threads.

1. Indeed I did mean making a Devlog tagged as “Major Update or Launch”.

2. Adding a demo should satisfy the “Major Update or Launch”, feel free to give it a go and see what happens. Make sure to mark the relevant file with “This file is a demo and can be downloaded for free”.

3. Often new projects from new developers take longer to index. Sometimes admins need to review projects manually. I wouldn’t recommend having a file that’s not the game, as the algorithm might think your game is finished an available to users, even though it’s not, which might be poor user experience.

The general advice is, focus on making your game, and release it when it’s ready. The algorithm might help you, but most indie devs have to market themselves to get enough eyes on their project.

When you make a new post about the release of your game, you can tag it as Major Update or Launch, which will signal that this needs to re-appear in relevant places, I believe it includes the “Most Recent” category too.

This is meant for games that are having big updates, or in your case, the game already has a page but it’s now launching. It might take a few days for things to happen once you make a post.

I believe it is allowed, I seem to remember doing that in the past.

Make sure both accounts don’t interract with each other in any way, and you should be fine.

I believe this is because of the Itch.io Desktop app. When users view browser games from there, it counts as a download on the statistics.

I believe the reason for this is the app is trying to cache the game so it can be playing even if you lose internet connection, but I could be wrong.

My understanding is that bundles just give access to the project itself, but none of the individually priced files. This should includes discounts (either on bundles or the game itself).

Individually priced files can only be priced higher than the base project itself, so users can only gain access to them specifically by paying more for the project itself.

Thanks for posting those links, I think they are very useful to this discussion. There’s this paragraph that describes individually priced files in detail:

Individually priced files come with an important distinction regarding ownership: The buyer will only continue to have access to these files if the price they paid satisfies the minimum price you set on the file. This means that if you change the individually priced file to be more expensive, you may lock out access to that purchase tier from existing buyers. We strongly recommend considering how you intend to price your project in the future before using an individually priced file. Use individually priced files for quick bonus content, not to set the price of your content. Use the minimum price on your project to set the price of your product, as this will allow you to change the price at a later time without affecting ownership.

It seems this has been answer already, but in case this helps future readers, I though I’d share how the price system is designed.

• If you set your project to paid, people can pay that amount to own your project. That means, no matter what happens to the price of that project, people will be able to gain access to its files. (Except individually priced files, see below)
• Individual priced files are intended to reward people that support you by paying more than the project’s price and they work in a tier system. For example your project is set at £5, extra soundtracks are individually priced at £10 and some behind the scenes files for £15. That means that if someone pays £15, they will have access to your project plus any files with an individual price of £15 or below.

Having the game set as free, but in reality the full version is behind an individually priced file is not the intended way to do this. On top of the issue you mentioned on this post, this also confuses the algorithm as it displays your game as free to play which might not be the best experience for users.

I see you mentioned DLC on some comments. As far as I’m aware there’s no official way to do DLCs, but some other people have created new project pages exactly for that reason, with a link on the base game for users to find. This should eliminate pretty much the issues you’ve been having, but it’s up to you to decide what works best for you.

The solution is different in each game, but here’s a couple of my thoughts:

• Have multiple solutions for each problem. Is there a giant ogre guarding the entrance? Maybe there’s also a hidden entrance. This way newbie players can still progress in the game, but more hardcore players might decide to take on the extra challenge of the ogre instead.
• Make harder challenges optional, but with rewards, so players will be more likely to at least give them a chance.

I can’t seem to access the link you’ve posted. I’m getting the following error:

This game is currently unavailable due to restrictions from the developer or copyright holder.

Would it be better to link the Itch.io page instead?

Playing a game in a browser requires less effort from users, so you are likely to have more people trying out the browser game.

As opposed to downloading a game, which requires downloading the files, extracting them, and find out where the executable is. Not to mention there’s more chances of something goes wrong, like the game not running properly on someone’s system.

I don’t think there’s anything you can do about this, it’s just how it works. The easier a game is to access the more people will give it a go.

Is this for a profile picture, or a screenshot for a project?

It’s possible sometimes when you export a gif image that it automatically removes transparency, is it a good idea to check if you can view the exported .gif file with an image viewer to confirm it still has transparency?

I don’t think any of your projects are in quarantine. If that was the case, you should get a relevant warning when you visit their pages.

Is this about your game “Vore Operator” ? From what I can see that project doesn’t have any downloadable files, which is probably why it’s not indexed. Apart from that, I can’t notice any other issues with your projects.

I assume from the original post that OP has a game that’s crashing when run and they wanted to see what the error is (if any). Running a game through the terminal is a great way to get some error/output in the terminal that might explain the crash.

That’s at least my assumption, there isn’t enough details in the post so it’s hard to say.

To run a game through a linux terminal, you’d have to follow a few steps.

First go to the game’s directory with this:

cd <game_directory>

Then you need to find the executable file, sometimes it’s a file ending in “.sh”, sometimes it’s a file without an extension. Once you find that file you can then do:

./filename.sh

Replacing “filename.sh” with the executable file. It’s hard to give any more information, as those files can be very different from project to project.

Developers can put a default price on “Name your own price”. If you are unsure of what to pay, you can select that amount.

This method can allow a project to be reached by a big number of people, but also get some funding from those who can afford it.

Making 3D games requires a deeper understanding of 3D math, at least to do it right, which can be a barrier for a lot of people.

On 2D games, it’s possible to figure out for yourself what’s happening on the screen and do custom solution to problems. When you start involving 4x4 matrices, different spaces, and shaders, it immediately becomes overwhelming, at least to someone who is not familiar with those concepts.

Hey there,

I don’t think that would be an issue. It wouldn’t surprise me if there are already plenty of accounts that are meant to represent a team of people, instead of individuals.

Cheers

Just having your game published on Itch.io is enough. The admins look at games published here and they post on other social media about games they find that they think could use more attention to it.

There’s no specific official criteria, and that’s by design, so that users focus on making their games better, rather than trying to game the system.

Hey there,

Will releasing two games at the same time lower the visibility of one or both of them?

I don’t think so. If they are your first games on this account, they might both go for admin review, so it might take a bit longer for things to appear in the search engine and such areas, but that’s about it.

Will In-game ads (promotions for my other games) cause issues?

I remember admins mentioning in the past that, putting ads in games is discouraged, but not against the rules. If you have to add ads, they should not provide a poor user experience.

Although from what I understand, you just mention one of your other games. I guess technically that’s an ad, but I’m pretty confident that shouldn’t cause any issues. I feel like it’s pretty normal to have a section in your game for who you are and what other projects you’ve made.

Cheers

Is this about your latest game The Evil Road ?

If so, at the time of this post, it was published 14 hours ago. Please give it some more time before your project is indexed.