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Any Tips for Building a Community?

A topic by DragonSkies created Jul 14, 2025 Views: 1,295 Replies: 11
Viewing posts 1 to 4

Hi everyone. I'm an extremely active game developer working on a new project. I'm by no means a professional, but I've advanced enough that I want to engage the indie community a little bit more and have my projects seen. This is a two-part question, but one that's been on my mind a lot lately. 

What can I do to start building a community around my games? Similarly, how can I engage more with the itch community in general? What has made a difference for you guys in these areas, and what mistakes should I avoid?

Thanks for taking a look! Any advice helps.

Hi!

I think my suggestions would be:

  • Simple way of engaging with the Itch community is participating in discussions

  • Also think about third-party audiences (ie, promoting your Itch creations beyond Itch, to reach additional audiences)

Makes sense. I've definitely enjoyed following discussions in the community page; talking with other devs is really nice. :D

Any suggestions for what third-party audiences to look for? I tried instagram, but that flopped pretty quick.

Great advice!

Scream into the void and hope it screams back at you.

real

when aren' we trying this chat ?

Good to know it's a shared feeling, lol.

I suggest participating in Itch.io's community and other social media communities. Make a trailer that is intriguing. I suggest showing some fun gameplay and some eye-catching story scenes, but not too much that you spoil a lot of the story. Contacting streamers to play your game would also be very helpful. I would avoid spamming the link of your game in comment sections, as that can be seen as annoying and desperate. Instead, I suggest doing what I had had stated above with contacting streamers, making intriguing trailers, and being active on social media. I am happy to try out and give feedback to your games!

(1 edit)

Wow, thanks Jamnade! :D

Contacting streamers occurred to me too, especially as I'm getting closer to completing my next jam game. Is there a specific site where you can find these streamers, or is it more a research project on the developer's end?

Feedback for my projects would be awesome, as I've just started working on itch. I'd love to do the same if you're an active developer.

Seriously, thanks for the reply! It was exactly what I deeded!

I think Twitch would be a great place. You can also DM (Direct Message) streamers and/or email them. Before you contact a streamer, see what content they post, if they post the content your game has, they are more likely to play your game. Email them individually, don't copy and paste an email to multiple streamers. Patience is needed, as streamers often get many emails and it could take a while for them to get yours. Also, make sure to proofread your email before you send it. If a streamer does not respond to your email, don't pester them, move on. Make to get to know the streamer first individually before you send them a thumbnail of your game. Make sure the thumbnail is intriguing, as it will be easier for a streamer to use an eye-catching thumbnail for the video they are doing about your game. Also, thank you for being willing to give feedback if I post a future game. Another thing, I would love to know some tips and tricks for Unity, as I see you use that engine as well. Thank you! One last thing, I have a post that for this question that I had been wondering https://itch.io/blog/988061/how-do-i-make-a-game-a-lot-of-people-will-appreciate

All great advice! I'd love to help you get on your feet with unity; I'm self taught as of about 3 years and a ton of YouTube, so I definitely would like to help out. I don't know if itch has a built in dm feature, but you can also find me on discord for some first steps.

Thanks for the time! See you probably on the other thread.