At first, i had soo many questions.. but i think i have it now; after reading all the links!
and the update to the Developer Dashboard is soo welcomed! :D
~cheers!
At the moment there's no way to give an exclusive content tier to a download key, is that something you'd like to do? If so send an email here with more information support@itch.io and I can help get it set up.
"itch.io refinery is a customizable toolset made for developers to distribute their unfinished games, build a real community and gain useful feedback." All right, that sounds good. "We think early access is broken"...Wow, what? Did you just insult all the great games I've bought and enjoyed on Steam Early Access? Is it really that important to position yourselves as jerks?
We're not insulting a games. There are plenty of awesome games that have gone through early access, and there are plenty of great developers making really cool things. That doesn't automatically mean that how early access works is good for a games development lifecycle. I wrote more about the problem that many developers face here: https://itch.io/docs/creators/refinery#why_refiner...
Hey guys! We just showed Super Combat Jr 2 at Combo Breaker! It was pretty cool to do a public showing for videogame folks instead of at local festivals (which is also cool in another way).
We initially went into the tournament posting on twitter and forums we're on about 50 free keys we had to give to everyone. We gave away something like 20 or so keys to the game.
Initially we wanted to release the keys only to the current build; full access to the final finished game would be reserved for actual buyers. Later on we actually decided that anyone who supports us this early can just have copies of the game, but for future events I think that would be a cool way to promote the game.
Anyways, it would be cool to be able to release tiered keys for the game. I know I can just make another game on itch and have it exist as its own thing with its own limited keysets, and I think that's what we're going to do in the future, but it would be cool to have a tiny ecosystem for all the versions of CJr floating out there.
If you generate download keys in bulk using the download key groups feature then we can disable an entire group's access. This should work for the use case you're describing. In the future we'll likely add the ability for a developer to disable them all themselves, but for now you'll need to contact support about it.
I'm looking to do the whole 'only X number of buyers for early testing' thing. I'd like to see an example page if possible, if someone (or itch) has one setup? I'm unsure if I've set things up properly.
It just seems confusing right now as I have a 'Purchase/Buy Now' button for $XX, then under it, 'Exclusive Content' and another pay $XX button. I'd think it'd be much cleaner if there was just the one buy now button, which explained that there is only a limited quantity.
I think the Exclusive Reward thing itself is a little odd (in respect to offering limited keys). It doesn't really explain what people are getting. They aren't getting a reward for buying the game, they're getting the game itself, albeit one that's limited in quantity.
If possible, I'd have no 'Purchase'/buy button first, but only something like:
Limited Release First Access
Buy Now ($XX) Only N remaining.
Hello!
This might be a bit of a silly question and perhaps I've just glossed over something while reading the documentation but is there any way to allow users to download a specific "revision" of a file or is it limited to just the most recent release? Obviously most people will probably want the most recent version but it'd be nice to have those older builds just in case something breaks but also for archival purposes.
Thanks for any insight! -Jennifer
Refinery looked like the perfect toolset for doing our closed beta for Joggernauts! Thank you for providing such an amazing toolset for free!!!
Like everyone else here, we're a bit confused as to how we can use it.
We have a game in the works and would like to use itch.io to do a soft launch. Find enthusiasts who can help us with the polishing of the last 10%. I've been going all over the refinery landing page and I can't find any way to use it, add games to it. Is this still an active project?
Refinery is a set of tools that anyone is free to use. There's no program you have to join or any approval necessary. If you're using any of the things listed here then you're using refinery! https://itch.io/docs/creators/refinery
Tell me if you have any more questions.
I'm looking to host my very early builds of my current project on itch.io and want to set up a sign up sheet (probably through googleforms which would likely include a light NDA of some sort) as a way for folks who are interested to receive their keys. The plan would be to have a page on itch that provides information regarding the game, hosts dev logs, host community boards, and provides a link to the sign up form. Ideally only those who have signed up (or have a key) would be able to download the game and view/post in the community boards, but the game page and dev logs would be public.
However, reading through the documentation I'm not 100% certain on how to do that. Seems like I may have to make two game pages. One that is public and one that is restricted.
Thanks!