itch.io

Thanks to this post (https://itch.io/t/5408218/game-jam-api-to-fetch-basic-jam-info) from about a year ago asking about APIs for game jams, I found a way to get a JSON output of the game jam entries which should suffice for what I need.

Structure is: https://itch.io/jam/[Jam_Id]/entries.json

You can get the [Jam_Id] from the browser URL while editing a jam that you are a host of. It appears you can also get the id from a jam's public view by searching for "id" in the inspector: 

  Here is an example from the Business Card Jam I co-hosted several years back: https://itch.io/jam/12002/entries.json

From what I can tell, you can embed an individual game widget on an external site, but I haven't seen a way to do the same with Game Jam submissions or a Collection. I'm wondering if there's a way to do it whether that be a UI feature I missed, the API, or the XML feeds documented here: https://itch.io/docs/api/overview) 

My use case: I'm looking to host a Game Jam for an online con and would like to include a widget displaying the Game Jam entries on the con website. 

Appending .xml appears to only work for /browse pages and doesn't work for the game jam submissions pages (i.e. https://itch.io/jam/business-card-jam/entries.xml doesn't work) nor for collections (even public ones.)

The Oauth API seems to let you get a list of a user's collections, but not the games within a specific collection. https://itch.io/docs/api/oauth

I've seen some folks pull it off with bundles (e.g.https://randombundlegame.com/) but I am unclear on what they did to pull it off.

I have a bunch of updates I need to make to the guide. I'll add the formats at the same time.

At the time I originally wrote the guide .webp stable and .avif were still relatively new, and I kind of just assumed (although I shouldn't have) that most folks would stick to PNG, GIF, and JPG (since TIFF generally does poorly for web stuff.)

Itch, generally is pretty slow t make changes/improvements. It's frankly kind of stunning how few updates I've had to make to this thing since 2020.

You're welcome! Glad it was helpful!

Hey! Iʻm glad you found the template useful! Added Tiny Tables to the list of examples.

Thanks for the heads up re: the 7.7:10 Portrait, I'll take a look at it when I get the chance...I have a few other tweaks I need to make as well.

I appreciate you combining them all . If you want to send it my way, my email is thecaffeinatedhedgehog@gmail.com. I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to make the updates...there's a lot going on at the moment, but hopefully sometime soon!

(I'll make sure to credit you for the update.)

I'm glad you've found it so helpful!

Hey there, please email me at thecaffeinatedhedgehog@gmail.com, thanks.

Hey. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you on this. What page is that screenshot from? Is it a ranking page for a game jam?

This is the cover I'm currently seeing for your game when viewing it ion your creator page:

I believe if you add a gif to your description field it SHOULD play automatically. As for the screenshots (the images in the right-hand column of the game page,) I'm not seeing those play automatically in the example you linked to when I use Firefox, Chrome, or Edge. For me, the screenshots only play when I click on them and view them at their original size. What browser are you using that is showing them as playing even when you haven't clicked on them.

Based on this forum post from a couple months ago (https://itch.io/t/5369196/gifs-suddenly-not-animating?after=40#post-15034429) it's likely there was a change in how the Screenshots are handled.

Looking at the example you shared, it looks like itch may now be using a CDN to dynamically re-scale and compress the screenshots on upload. While this helps with the page load performance, it may be having the unintended side effect of  removing the gif animation because it's just taking the first frame of the gif when it cuts the scaled down version.

For example, the first screenshot (the one with the stairs) is using this version of the image when viewing the game page, and despite having the filename ending in .gif it's actually detected as being a PNG: https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvNzk2Njc3LzQ3MzYzNTYuZ2lm/347x500/JG2P1K.gif

But it's using a different file flagged as "original" when you click on it: https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvNzk2Njc3LzQ3MzYzNTYuZ2lm/original/Bx6UEF.gif

This IS different behavior from how itch handled screenshots back when I first wrote my guide. Originally, itch just reduced the screenshot's height and width, but still loaded the original image.

It's possible itch only has the CDN step in if the image exceeds a certain size, which would explain why you might see animated gifs showing up as screenshots on some game pages. I'll have to do more digging to confirm that though.

Sure thing! Sorry I wasn't able to give you a more definitive answer.

I don't know for certain how it's used. There's nothing directly stated in Itch's documentation about it, and I've never seen anywhere it's clearly put to use.

There are random comments (reddit, the forums, github, etc.) that suggest it is supposed to be used for featuring the game on the homepage (https://github.com/itchio/itch.io/issues/614) and Lemon Cosmos's guide (https://lemoncosmos.itch.io/easy-releasy) says that it's the blurred out background image the video and screenshots are displayed over, but I haven't seen anything confirm that.

If you inspect the background image on the homepage it does indeed look like there is sometimes a separate image used for that background.  If it's true that the Wide Cover image you upload is for that blurry background image, I suspect there's some kind of fallback where it'll use the Wide Cover if you upload one, but it'll use one of your screenshots if you don't. Note that it is possible for a game featured on the homepage to not have a background image on the homepage banner; there's a game called dasOS_ that's been featured recently that has no images uploaded to it, and the homepage featured banner for it doesn't include a background image.

Hey Hugh! Awesome! I've added Story Journey to the list of Example Zines. Also, I appreciate you putting the template to use in Canva (I have several friends that use Canva for a bunch of things.)

I added a section with the Canva links to the page description. If I get some time in the next couple weeks I'll add them into the readme of the template pack and do a bit of styling to make it stand out on the page more!

Hey there! "Edit theme" is accessed from viewing your game's page while signed into your account (rather than by editing your game from the Dashboard.)

Sure thing! Hope you found the guide useful. I do need to go through and give it a refresh sometime soon.

Hey there! Good question!

No, that has not changed; the title you are seeing on this page is text I have entered directly into the Description field.

Hey there! There should be a file in the .zip that explains how to assemble it, but if it isn't clear enough, here is a site that has a video walking through the steps and may explain it better than me.😅 https://www.42ndstreet.org.uk/support/read/how-to-make-your-own-zine/

I'm glad you liked them, but I don't get any credit for those! Kona from Darling Bat Games (https://darlingbat.itch.io/) made the Affinity templates for this project.

It's been a while since I've messed with it.

The class you're looking for is .inner_column. 

The profile sections each have a div with the assigned class .inner_column. These sections are profile_header, profile_content, purchased_games, and collections. Collections is further divided into a separate row (class="collection_row") for each collection you display, and there is a child div with class .inner_column within each row.

I meant to do a styling guide at one point, but it ended up on the back-burner, and I just haven't had the time to get back to it.

Here's the custom CSS I'm using on my profile page at the moment:

.game_grid_widget {

text-align: left; !IMPORTANT!

}

.game_thumb {

border: solid #000 1px;

}

.inner_column {

background: #EDD5BE;

border: #271C14 solid;

padding: 50px 50px 30px 50px;

border-radius: 25px;

}

.footer {

background: #333;

border-top: #271C14 solid;

color: #fff;

}

.game_column::before {

content: "My Games";

font-size: 1.5em;

font-family: '04b_03',Lato,LatoExtended,sans-serif;

margin: 0 0 10px 0;

font-weight: bold;

display: block;

}

Thanks for the heads up, I haven't fiddled with itch styling for a while. I'll take a look!

Thank you for the kind words, and thanks for jamming with me! It was really cool to be a part of a jam that had some community collaboration behind it and wasn't just a bunch of folks posting random stuff to it.

There is a lot going on in this game mechanically, and it took me several read throughs to really make sure I understood how the components all work together. And, while there's nothing wrong with that, as a one-pager, I could see it giving folks pause when considering whether or not to play it, and I really think this game would shine in a slightly expanded format (like a little 4 page 1/2 letter zine) that really lets you lay things out and provide some examples.

• Using the cards to build a map is a neat idea (I've seen many other ways of generating maps on the fly, but I haven't seen it done where the cards make up the literal map before.)
• I also really like the call out regarding medications and the impact to healthcare you run into if our systems just stop working...I wish you'd leaned into that a bit more even as currently it's presented as an option rather than a required choice.
• You specify that Players should make decisions regarding stats to use collectively, but what happens when different Characters want to take opposing action? Is there any way the game can support that?
• I would suggest removing the "goes mad" bit. That has some strong implications you may not want to force on players; sometimes keeping it to the vague "loses all hope" and let the Players decide what that means.

When you get down to it, elaborate madlibs are basically the core mechanic of most trpgs (especially story games!) Your choice of prose and prompt does a good job of balancing the direction of the story forward while leaving the player with lots of options to insert their own ideas about what actually takes place in the mind's eye. And, while the distinction between prose and prompt is very clear with the switch to (parenthesis and italics text) I do think a bit of layout work could make that really clear and be used to strengthen what you're trying to accomplish here!

"Crew isn't important, the package is."

This line is my favorite bit from the entire game, because it totally changes how I interpreted the tone of the game and makes all the burning through HP mechanics make sense; you're supposed to burn through PCs, and I love it.

Firstly: Kudos on the text-only version. You may want to convert it to a single column as some screen readers struggle with multi-column formats.

The roll-under attribute mechanic here is an interesting choice, and something I'm always personally conflicted about: on one hand it's an easy way to have higher attributes = greater mastery without having to do any math, and on the other I find that folks can sometimes struggle with roll-under because it goes against the ingrained impulse that "higher is better." Regardless, it shouldn't take folks long to grok and get into the rhythm of it, and I think it's a great simple way to handle resolution.

The attributes (Swim, Song, and Solve) are great, and the GM support is solid and super appreciated. I'm still not convinced about having the Seen mechanic force folks to abandon the town as that can result in a Player having to sit out for a potentially long portion of the game; as a reference to Honey Heist it makes sense, but that's also one of the things that I personally dislike about Honey Heist.

The over-under approach to rolls based on size (where certain things get harder/easier as your size changes) is a clever approach to handling challenges, as are the split rules for mitigating damage (which can result in the creation of new potential challenges with your dopplegangers/split slimes.)

This game would definitely benefit from some additional guidance regarding facilitating challenges:

•  I didn't see anywhere that specifies whether it uses a GM or not (I could see play happening either way, but then there are some questions about how the story/challenges get structured and how the amount of damage dealt is decided.)
• Some advice on creating an adventure and what sort of challenges a slime could face would be beneficial (I think you originally had some on the draft) but that would be hard to fit in with the limitations of the one-pager space.

The resolution mechanic on this is cutting edge. 😜 The theme of this game is wonderfully weird with  novel mechanics to match. The physical challenge involved could definitely be frustrating for some, but I expect that would be offset by the fact that the game is clearly supposed to be goofy and absurd. I like that you went for a GM-less game, but outside of the "What are we doing" set-up there's very little direction about what to do when, which can result in folks struggling to know what to do next (this is one of the challenges I regularly see with No Dice/No Masters games;) I feel like you could use a final step after determining consequences that explicitly hands narrative control to another Player and drives the shenanigans forward.

Definitely my favorite theme of the jam! I love the use of an actual map to claim territory, using odd bits for tokens, and the suggestions for "calamitys" (e.g. farmer's market, concert.) The d6+stat resolution is tried-and-true solution pretty much anyone who's played a TRPG before will be able to pick up quick, and while I'm still unclear on what it means to have "Advantage," if I were to run this I'd be able figure something out.

Great! Glad to hear it works now!

I think I fixed the problem. The updated fixed booklet .pdf should be in the new Wanderlust (v2023-03-22) [Letter].zip file.

Thank you for letting me know! I will look into what's causing the issue and get an update out as soon as I can.

I'm glad you found it helpful!

I'm thinking I'll have all the mechanical bits finished by today, but the extra art and polish is still at least a week or two off. I'll probably submit what I've got as-is and then add the clean things up in a later update.

This is very cute! I love the use of physical tools that guide the play, and this is very tactile and well executed! I could easily see the same structure being used to create an Infinity Train inspired story too!

I assume image should be the same size your game res is or higher

Based on what I was seeing on other game pages, that's the answer I was starting to lean to. Every example I saw had the embed BG image resolution at the same resolution or a larger resolution than their game.

Without having an html embeded game to test for myself, I couldn't say with 100% certainty that was the answer.

Glad to hear that you got it resolved!

Here's an example of how it gets  applied in the code from Mingle (right click on the image and select Open in New Tab to see it clearly)

Mingle is using an image that is 1920x1080 for the embed BG, and the game_frame div is 640x360. So the image being used is bigger than the dimensions of the frame. There's a gap on either side because the game_frame is only 640px wide while the inner column is the default 960px.

Here is a handful of games using it:

• Mingle
•  this game about chickens
• Lookouts
• Wayfarer
• Assessment Examination
• Vampire Survivors
• Tenjutsu
• Dynacore
  

In every case I've looked at, the game creator has uploaded an image that is slightly bigger than the dimensions for the frame containing their game (i.e. the game_frame div).

It also looks like you can use a GIF if you want to use an animated image; the chicken game and Assessment Examination linked above both use gifs.

Can you send me a screenshot of the specific issue you're having? I'll can see if I can figure out the problem.

Hey there! I'm going to have to look into the Embed BG option, as I've never done an embedded html game before.

I couldn't find anything in the itch documentation on Embed BG...just this comment in the forums: https://itch.io/t/213380/whats-embed-bg-in-the-theme-editor

From some initial poking around, it looks like the image is being assigned to this div with the game_frame class on it. It appears on both the iframe and click to fullscreen embeded game variations.

This is a great collection of assets with the extra bonus of being released in the Public Domain. Thank you for putting this together.

This pack would also be great for little zines and things for folks interested in assembling physical games.

I received an email from a designer a few weeks ago that said that they were going to use a different platform for distribution of their game specifically because itch doesn't support revenue sharing.