A few months ago I released a game demo called Rev for free, and it did pretty well. I'll soon be releasing the full version, and wondered if I should upload it as a new project or just update the old page. It features enough new/reworked content to not be considered a reskin, but I also don't want to be punished for exploiting itch's algorithms.
In my experience a large amount of a games views/downloads comes in the first few weeks from itch itself. I'm therefore afraid that uploading the full game to an old page would just kill it instantly. You can announce major updates to boost visibility, but I don't know how large the effect is.
However creating a new project for the full release could be a worse idea. It's confusing for customers and might be stifled for being to similar to our previous uploads. I've read through the rules and it doesn't seem to say it's forbidden anywhere, but better safe than sorry. a lot people just update the game page to paid, so I might be missing out on something.
Do any of ya'll have experience with this? Is there something I'm not getting? Do projects get a boost when releasing for money? I've seen games from 2017/2018 get featured on the front page after giving out full versions. but our game has ready been featured, and I don't think you can get featured twice, though I might be wrong.
Sorry if that was to much to read, thanks for your patience.
- TLDR:
- full release on old page: might not get worthwhile boost in views, could possibly halter game sales.
- full release on new page: might get marked as duplicate/braking rules/cheesing the system, could possibly halter game sales.
- what do you do?