Hi there, I have my game Blackshift on Itch and I'd like to update it  to work with the Itch app. Right now it uses a custom installer but I'd be happy to start uploading .zip files using Butler as well.

But, the docs seem to suggest that this would mean people downloading my game without the app would just be given the .zip file and some instructions and have to fend for themselves? Am I interpreting the docs correctly here?

What I'd ideally like is for app users to get all the nice features the app provides, but for non-app users to get my installer like they do now. I hope this is possible and that someone can tell me how to do it.

Thanks for any help

Robin

Hello,

If you haven't seen it already, here's our guide about packaging & installers: https://itch.io/docs/itch/integrating/compatibility-policy.html

Generally, we believe that if you think your users are going to have issues installing your game from a zip file then we recommend you point them to install through the app. There are a lot of benefits, it does a lot more than just extract a zip file for you. Writing your own installer comes with a lot of pitfalls (described in the guide above0.

We do understand though that this isn't ideal, since some people aren't going to read and will end up grabbing a zip file and not know what to do with it. In the future we'd like to explore having our patching backend that handles patches build self-extracting installers.

We don't have a way to mark files for app only/for web only right now. One option might be having a way for developers to make downloaders confirm they want to download a zip instead of making the download button so easy to click.

OK, thanks for confirming!

I think I'll hold off on adding app support until the situation improves a little.

If I could just keep my download page on the itch.io site exactly as it is now, with no zip files appearing, and also add app support via Butler, that would be great — and you guys wouldn't need to implement self-extracting installers or anything.