Hey there!

I'm following itch.io since its creation and it's super exciting to see it grow and grow. Big congratulations! :)

I've got a little question regarding itch.io and itch.io refinery. My current project Orcish Inn is available for free during development. I distribute the game as a Steam demo and through an own launcher application as well as standalone releases available on the game's website. I want to have a look at the tools you provide, but I don't want to sell the game yet. If I would use itch.io and submit Orcish Inn's pre-alpha and set the price to zero (but pay if you want), people obviously would also get the final game for free, which is not what I want.

I could (similar to the "demo" release on Steam), publish Orcish Inn as a "pre-alpha" here on itch.io, with info stating that getting the pre-alpha doesn't include the final game and when the game is finally out, I would publish Orcish Inn (the release version) as a new entry here on itch.io, with a proper price set. If possible, I would remove/hide the pre-alpha version of Orcish Inn on itch.io then.

The "pay-what-you-want" bit would be another way to get help with the funding, because I often get requests from people who stumble across my Patreon, but don't want to use the Patreon service and instead want to send me money directly, which I refuse because of tax-related stuff.

Basically:

• "Orcish Inn Pre-Alpha-Only" for 0$+ without including the full game
• On release, "Orcish Inn" with a proper price

So my question is: would this approach violate any rules or go against the "spirit" of itch.io?

Cheers and thanks in advance,
Steven

You could publish them as the same item, but change the pre-alpha version's price from 0.00 to the full price when you're about to release the full game, then keep the alpha file as a demo (checkmarking the "this file is a demo and can be downloaded for free" box). Not really structurally different, but the game's ratings and such would carry over, which could be advantageous.

Oh, you mean on release adding the full game as a new file and giving it a different minimum price? Customers who added the pre-alpha to their library wouldn't have access to the full game (as intended) but if they voluntarily payed something, it would (as far as I know) count towards the full game's price.

Sounds like a good idea!

Thanks :)