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Make it possible for HTML5 versions to be secondary to downloadable executables?

A topic by John D. Moore created Feb 26, 2019 Views: 413
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Hi! I'll put the TL;DR up front: I'd love it if there was a way to offer HTML5 versions of games as equal alternatives to downloadable distrubtions on game pages while still displaying the traditional downloadble game-style itch page.


I really like the way that itch displays pages for non-HTML5 games. I like the text right up top and screenshots on the sidebar. That's the presentation I would want for my games whether they're available as downloads or in-browser HTML5 distributions. For example, my game Temple of the Wumpus is available as a download, and  I also have an HTML5 version that I've uploaded as well, but itch doesn't seem to offer a convenient way to present the game as available both ways without changing the parts of the presentation I like and making the downloadable package seem secondary to the browser version.

If I want the game to be available as an HTML5 game, the presentation changes completely. The screenshots disappear. All the page content is pushed down off the top of the page to underneath the embedded game. I like this presentation a lot less.

What I'd love is a way to make it so that when you get to the section of the page where the game is available for download, threre's also a section with a button that allows you to play the game in a browser, on a dedicated page that might look a lot like itch's current pages for HTML5 games.

I've come up with a sort of workaround where I link to the HTML5 files through an "/embed-upload/" path on itch's site, but that is not quite my ideal. An alternative, of course, would be to create separate HTML5 and downloadable pages (J. Kyle Pittman did that for You Have to Win the Game), but I'd rather not clutter up both my profile page and itch's search results with duplicate entries for my games.

Thanks for reading this! I understand this is asking a lot and would hardly take precedence over some more pressing features I know the itch team is working on. I'm also not sure how widespread support would be for this idea. Itch is a great platform and I love it and I appreciate how much work goes into making it run as wonderfully and cleanly as it does.

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