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How do players follow a game from Devlog to Release?

A topic by Krunchy Fried Games created Oct 16, 2021 Views: 417 Replies: 3

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So, let's say you put out a devlog with a playable demo- some people really enjoy it, but it won't be be released for ages. What's the best way to notify them when the game's ready?

On Steam, the players can wishlist it, on GJ, they can follow the game itself, and I'm just wondering if there's an equivalent on itchio? As far as I'm aware, the players' only options are to the follow the dev or add it to a collection (but this still won't notify them about changes). I don't think email notifications are an option for a devlog either.

I've never been very good with devlogs (mainly due to laziness!), so any help would be appreciated :)

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quou3 years ago(+1)

Utilizing social media (Twitter is popular amongst game developers these days) is a pretty good way to keep people updated about your game. Making a few posts every couple of months is enough to prevent people from forgetting that you exist, but not so much they become annoyed and unfollow you. The content of the posts doesn't have to be particularly much, either - a short gif showcasing a few interesting things that you have added since the last post seems to be the standard. Making such a gif won't take you longer than ten minutes, so it isn't going to eat up as much time as some other forms of promotion, such as creating a YouTube video.

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Krunchy Fried Games3 years ago

That's certainly good advice :) I'm more wondering where the people who've seen the devlog and then want to play the game will be on release day, and how they'll know when the game comes out.

People will be notified if they follow the developer but I find the number of people who do this to be quite low. I'll use Newgrounds as an example here because I can make a direct comparison- more people have added our game to their favourites than have followed us. Far more people have given our games a good rating than have followed us.

Social media's a good point too, although the number of people who follow us there from the games is even lower. Also, the number of people who visit our games from Twitter- according to itchio analytics- is negligible. Admittedly, this could well be because I suck at social media XD

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40wattstudio3 years ago(+1)

Following the developer here on Itch should be sufficient -- I see game updates all the time in my Feed. But like veridis said, social media outside of Itch is important too. Instagram is good if you have good screenshots, gifs or video to share.

If you're a first time developer, I think it's important to have frequent devlog updates -- you have yet to prove that you can actually finish a game. But once you've made a couple, then you can have month-long gaps between updates because your player base will trust that you'll bring the game to completion.

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