Currently, when a developer uploads their project to itch.io, the initial uploading options are slimmed down from the full options package - and that makes sense. Since developers are going to spend a decent amount of time editing that page there is no need to overwhelm them right out the gate.
However, judging from my limited, personal experience it appears to me that many developers who are just starting out publishing on itch do not look into the “Metadata” tab, which is where a lot of very relevant information is hidden. Personally, I pay very close attention to the “More information” box on a project page, because those fields potentially save me a lot of time reading - if they were filled in.
For those who are not that familiar with that box, these include fields like:
- Languages
- Accessibility options
- Average session duration
- Input methods
- and my personal favorite: Engines & Tools (the engine the game runs on and the things that were used to build a project) (Because I’m a nerdy weirdo!)
While I’m absolutely certain that a lot of users don’t pay much attention to these, I feel like it is the absence to these pieces of information that buries some project.
My dream scenario would be if Languages was one of the default fields when first uploading a project - with a little “[+] Fill in Metadata now (or do it later)” box that extends to the aforementioned fields. But from a more realistic perspective that would seem a little over the top. So after boring all of you to bits, my suggestion would be this:
Have Languages as one of the default fields when first uploading a project and have a little line beneath, that reads something like “After you have saved it, you can also add more information about your project later under the Metadata tab. This will help people finding it in the search.”
(…And after that, maybe add more fields to the search, so the “missing” Metadata can be used in searches directly - rather than users having to dig those links out of pre-existing projects.)