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Discover-feed showcasing screenshots, gifs, trailers, etc.

A topic by Ex Makina created May 14, 2016 Views: 654 Replies: 5

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Hi

There is a site called 500px.com (for showcasing photographs) that I feel you can draw a lot of inspiration from in how it draws you in and help promote an engaging community. Here are a few crucial features that I feel will elevate itch.io as a platform.

1. I propose a Discover-feed on a subsection of the webpage similar to how it works on 500px. It will show a feed of content - screenshots, gifs, videos that can be liked, favorited and commented on. And also a quick button to follow the project to which the screenshot belongs to. This encourages indie developers to put up more content and link to said content in their twitter feeds, homepages, etc. If indie developers catch on you suddenly have an enourmous stream of content continously added that draws people towards itch.io. Discover feed would look like:

Why would indie developers want to link to itch.io? For the simple reason that people can:

2. Follow - this is HUGE. There often is no way to follow the developments of indie projects and if itch.io can fill that gap I think both consumers and content creators will be very drawn to it. When you follow a project you either gets updates for milestones or every piece of content put out - depending on your options. And you can also choose to be emailed e.g. on milestones so you get notified on important things like releases.

3. Inbox feed that shows people who likes and favorites. In the top menu it should show when somone likes or favorites a content you've put up: "User X liked picture Y" with a quick link to go to that user's page and like their content if they have any - this creates this nice engagement where people support and help promote each others content. Also everyone likes that kind of feedback and encourages putting content out there for other to like and favorite.

With a discovery feed I will be encouraged to keep coming back to itch.io to check out the awesome content people put up and be inspired. This is a win-win for both content creators and consumers.

Oh and one thing I almost forgot:

4. Following-feed, a feed of content from the projects that I'm following.

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Lantana Games8 years ago(+1)

I can definitely get behind this, and all it would take is a quick change. At the moment, the Browse page just shows the Top games, and that's barely changed in the last year. I feel like this should default to Recently Added, as itch.io's strength is showcasing new works. You can leave Top and Top Selling, but that little menu on the left, far away from the dropdown on the right, makes switching between these categories almost a hidden feature.
Love the follow feature, but I feel like the developer's branding could be more prominent. Maybe instead of just the tiny link at the bottom, their icon can float with the rest of the menu on the right, and clicking that icon brings you to their profile?
Addendum: maybe allow for comments on screenshots and trailers too?
The feed is great. Does it take comments and/or forum posts for specific projects into account?

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Ex Makina8 years ago

1. I feel the same, it's not enough activity to keep coming back to it. Being greeted by a grid of screenshots / gifs / trailers, with new ones frequently added, is going to keep me checking back in.

2. Yes. Easily being able to follow projects is key I think. Often when I see a screenshot of a game I find interesting e.g. on twitter, I want a way to be notified when that game is released - currently there is no way except go into the developer homepage and hope they have a mailing list (not a very smooth process and often they don't have one).

3. Absolutely.

4. I'm not sure. The way I imagine it, is that it can be configured on a project to project basis, because for some projects I'm only interested in the milestones (releases etc) other projects I want to see every content being put up.. comments might be too granular for me personally but it could be an option if people want to follow every little things said.

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Lantana Games8 years ago

We have a newsletter! http://eepurl.com/6T0PL Heck, we even put buttons IN OUR GAMES to sign up for it, we put a 20% discount on our merch at events if you're signed up, and we try to do giveaways and other contests every few months.

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slimefriend8 years ago

a lot of the stuff suggested already exists? you can follow developers, there is a feed (top bar, on the left) where you get updates from the projects of the developers you follow. there's no way to follow projects right now which i agree would be cool, but everything else already kind of exists on the site

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Ex Makina8 years ago

I did overlook the global feed, but it's kinda hidden away to be honest. The way I imagine it is rather than a grid of projects on the main page there is a grid of project content - or just one click away through a menu item like "Discover". I'd also like to be able to choose categories, so if I'm interested in RPGs the grid should only show project content from RPG projects.

I also think it's important how the content is presented. I want it to be a grid because now only two posts fits on the screen and the screenshots are too small. 500px does it like this:

6 screenshots fits on the page (and 3 more are hinted at), and as the screenshots are the main focus you're more drawn to click on them. You can also make the sizes of the images smaller to fit more. If you hover over the image you get option to follow, like and favorite.

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