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Game is public, played, ranked — yet invisible on itch.io

A topic by Flingeris created Apr 11, 2025 Views: 472 Replies: 15
Viewing posts 1 to 11
(1 edit) (+24)

Hi itch.io team and community,

I’m posting here because my LD57 game Cave Escape has been public for several days now — fully set up, marked public, and correctly tagged — but it’s still completely missing from search results and tag listings, even when searching by exact name.

This is despite the fact that:

  • It’s browser-playable and downloadable
  • Has over 260 views140+ browser plays, and 2 ratings
  • Is currently in the Top 6 JAM entries and Top 11 overall by number of ratings
  • Has a proper cover imagescreenshots, full description, and tags
  •  Visibility settings: publicnot unlisted, not flagged NSFW


Despite all of that, it still doesn’t appear in search results, can’t be found by title, and doesn’t show up under any of the tags it uses (platformer, pixel-art, ludum-dare-57, etc.).

                 

As you can see from the analytics, nearly all the traffic is coming from a single external source (LDJam) — there's barely any organic discovery through itch.io itself.

Why this matters:
The majority of traffic for jam games comes in the first 3–5 days. I’ve already had over 260 visits and 144 browser plays, and players are actively leaving feedback — but without organic discoverability on itch.io, growth hits a wall. People are really enjoying it — I'd love for more players to be able to discover and experience the game too.

I’ve already contacted support, but figured I’d also post here in case others have faced something similar or if any mods are around and could take a look.

Link:  Cave Escape. LD57 by Flingeris

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.  Really hoping to get this resolved while the jam is still fresh!


                                       

(+4)

I hope admins will see it, and fix your issue.

Thank you. I hope so too

(+2)

I like the cool implementation of a simple idea, the music is gorgeous, it will be cool if the game gets noticed

Thanks!

(+1)

That's a really cool game on a physical, tactile level — plus it has the vibe of Metroid and the Atari 2600.

Thanks!

(+2)

Strange. Looks like an itch problem, hope they fix it for you quickly. 

If you don't get a response here, you can also try to email them. I once emailed itch support about transferring a game's ownership between 2 accounts and they did it for me.  

(+1)

Yeah, seems like an itch issue. I’ve already emailed them twice — it’s been two days and still no response... fingers crossed.

(+1)

I often see people have this problem when the game doesn't show up on itch

Glad to hear that i am not alone with this one

Moderator moved this topic to Questions & Support
Moderator(+1)

Please read this: https://itch.io/t/4120453/game-quarantined-search-or-indexing-problem-read-this

(+1)

Hi, thanks for pointing to the FAQ and rules — I’ve read them carefully.

I totally understand that indexing can take time and that outside traffic is important — that’s why I made sure to promote the game externally. It already has over 260 views, 140+ browser plays, and feedback from real players. It also appears on the Ludum Dare 57 jam page, and even ranked top 6 in the JAM category, which shows it’s being noticed. 

The issue here is different:

The game is fully public, properly set up, tagged, and active — yet it still doesn’t show up even when searching by exact name. That seems like a bug or a flag that didn’t get cleared, rather than just “waiting for indexing”.  I’m not asking to be featured — I just want the game to be searchable, like any other public project.  If there’s anything I might’ve missed that’s preventing it from being indexed correctly, I’d appreciate a more specific direction.

Thanks again for your time 

Moderator(+1)

...And you published it three days ago. Please wait.

(+1)

I hope the admins see this and get your game sorted soon, your game looks awesome, so I hope it gets the visibility it deserves while the jam’s still active. Good luck!

(+1)

маркетинг))

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