You may have seen some of the larger bundles that itch.io has hosted where we have an open submission period for participants. Utilizing our Jams functionality, you can create a public page to collect and curate submissions that can be converted into a bundle. Here’s a overview of how that works:
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Create a “jam” page for your bundle: Visit https://itch.io/jams/new to create a jam page dedicated to collecting submissions for your bundle. Please include as many details about the bundle as possible on this page so potential participants understand what they are submitting to. If you know the dates and price of your bundle, please include them in the description.
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Set up the submission period: Utilize the jam’s submission period to establish a specific time frame during which anyone can submit their game or project to be considered for the bundle.
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Utilize “Custom fields” for additional information: “Custom fields” will require submitters to include additional information in a structured way. For example, if you have price tiers, you can ask them to indicate their desired tier. (Note that if any of the custom fields are to be used to control how entries are added to the bundle, please mention that when contacting us in step 6)
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Curate submissions: As the host, it is your responsibility to curate the submissions. Use the “disqualify” tool provided to manage the eligibility of each submission for the bundle. Entries that are disqualified will not be included in the final bundle.
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Create an “empty” bundle page: Prepare an “empty” bundle page that will be populated with all the submissions once the jam is processed. You can create this page by visiting https://itch.io/bundle/new?allow_empty. You must include the dates and pricing up-front. Please leave some time for processing before the start of the bundle: itch.io will need time to populate the bundle, and all participants will need to approve their participation. Save the URL of the newly created bundle for the next step.
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Contact itch.io to synchronize the jam to the bundle: After you have hosted the jam and curated the submissions, reach out to the itch.io team and provide them with the link to the jam and the link to the bundle. The itch.io team will review both links, and after approval, will manually process the jam to populate the bundle with all the verified submissions. By default, we will apply an equal revenue split between every participant. If you need custom rules applied, please tell us.
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Use the jam’s “email” tool to contact submitters: All participants of the bundle must approve the final bundle from the bundle’s page. Use the “Email” tab on the Jam’s edit page to share the link of the bundle to every submitter. All participants must approve of the bundle before it can be set live
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Prune non-acceptees if necessary: In case there are participants who are unable to accept in time for the bundle, you can request the itch.io team to prune those participants. However, note that if a substantial portion of the bundle consists of non-acceptees, wee may request you to start the participant approval process over to avoid misleading the other paticipants who may have already approved of the bundle.
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Synchronizing submissions to the bundle after it has started: If you wish to include new participants in the bundle after it has already started, use the late-submit feature within the jam. After getting the participants added, contact the itch.io team to manually synchronize the new participants list to the bundle. By default, we will only add new entries to the bundle. In the rare circumstance that a submission needs to be removed, please tell us directly and explain the circumstances.
Please note that to collect earnings from a bundle on itch.io, the account must be eligible for itch.io’s payouts system. To learn more about co-op bundles and the eligibility requirements for itch.io’s payouts system, please visit the following link: itch.io Co-op Bundles Documentation