All Creators: Itchio Upload Request!

[narutochats]

Hey everyone! So I'll keep this short and sweet, but I decided to create this as a sort of little request to encourage any and all creators to upload more to Itchio! (I hope making this type post isn't against the rules, I checked around for site rules!) For me--and I'm sure some others--having games itchio is a nice way to sort out the visual novels we play. For me, it's similar to the anime/drama list sites so that I can remember and keep track of things I played. There's been so many older games that I'm nostalgic about and dying to replay that takes me ages to find because I didn't think to save them back then. Now, with there being so many games out now, it's been so helpful when developers of older games in the earlier 2000s and 2010s post their games to itchio so I can remember and revisit them. And the same for newer works, it would really be helpful even if it's demos, incomplete, non-commercial or whatnot that people have played. It would really help to have that listing option!

So yeah, didn't mean to ramble on, just thought to do a PSA about this. I know a lot of people upload to itchio now but if you haven't you should consider it!

[KrunchyFriedGames]

Yeah, I like itch. It has a good community feel to it, but it's very difficult to get attention (compared to Kong or Newgrounds) if you're not an established dev.

[narutochats]

Yeah, I like itch. It has a good community feel to it, but it's very difficult to get attention (compared to Kong or Newgrounds) if you're not an established dev.

Ah, really? I actually was not aware of this! Thank you for letting me know.

[Imperf3kt]

I personally would ask people to refrain from uploading incomplete works.
The internet already has more than enough shovelware that it is difficult finding a decent game as it is.

[Zelan]

I personally would ask people to refrain from uploading incomplete works.
The internet already has more than enough shovelware that it is difficult finding a decent game as it is.

I get where you're coming from, but one of the ways to get people interested in an ongoing project, and to get feedback on it, is by posting a demo. Unfortunately these games don't always get completed (I have a game on itch myself that's been a "work in progress" for like 2 or 3 years yikes), but these games shouldn't stop others from being able to post their works in progress.

[felix]

Also, this assumes unfinished works have no value. I say they can provide inspiration and starting points. And many can still be enjoyed while they last. Do you always finish every game you play? Because for me that's a rare event. And if I don't finish a game anyway, what does it matter to me that the ending technically exists?

That said, I'm so happy to see people appreciate Itch as a source of games. Hear, hear!

[Uy27]

Problem with Itchio is that it almost requires you to get featured our your game will just be forgotten and hence many devs simply ops for other places to share their work.

For my own game itchio has only given; 60k views, 11k downloads 290 followers and 40 payments.
Those are incredibly low compared to other sites. In one other site, I get 3 million views and has made it so my Patreon is at 500 patrons.

So, the bottomline is; if you get feautred- great for you. The site will probably proves to be a good place for your game.
If not- best to find another place to promote your game. No need to waste time on a site that will not gain you anything (or marginal).

[Imperf3kt]

Problem with Itchio is that it almost requires you to get featured our your game will just be forgotten

You should not rely on a website to do your advertising.
Marketing is a massive part of selling a game, you can't be lazy and just upload it, thinking it sells itself.

[Uy27]

Problem with Itchio is that it almost requires you to get featured our your game will just be forgotten

You should not rely on a website to do your advertising.
Marketing is a massive part of selling a game, you can't be lazy and just upload it, thinking it sells itself.

I somewhat agree with that.

It's true that you should not only rely on uploading on a site and expect everything to be fine, but there is only so much a new dev can do for marketing (unless he got a big budget) and therefore a degree of expectation from the site you upload it should be there.

How can I increase my game sales/awareness? A good question to ask yourself.
What can this site do for me? Is it worth the time or should I find a better site? Also a good question to ask yourself.

[felix]

How can I increase my game sales/awareness? (...)
What can this site do for me? Is it worth the time or should I find a better site?

Itch.io does a LOT more than other marketplaces to give as many games as possible a place in the spotlight, but with over 200K of them hosted as of this writing, it can still only help a tiny fraction of them. That said, being featured isn't the only way to get attention. Make sure you have good tags and other metadata. Be active in the community. Post devlogs. People seek them out directly, and they'll also get indexed by search engines. If you happen to have a Twitter account, direct an @-mention at the official account when announcing a new release. Leaf will be happy to signal-boost, and it's very effective.

How much does the above help? Let's just say visual novels are so popular on Itch, it upsets creators whose games in other genres end up overshadowed. If that's not good enough, I don't know what is. There's no guarantee in this business. But it's about as good as it gets.

[Uy27]

How can I increase my game sales/awareness? (...)
What can this site do for me? Is it worth the time or should I find a better site?

Itch.io does a LOT more than other marketplaces to give as many games as possible a place in the spotlight, but with over 200K of them hosted as of this writing, it can still only help a tiny fraction of them. That said, being featured isn't the only way to get attention. Make sure you have good tags and other metadata. Be active in the community. Post devlogs. People seek them out directly, and they'll also get indexed by search engines. If you happen to have a Twitter account, direct an @-mention at the official account when announcing a new release. Leaf will be happy to signal-boost, and it's very effective.

How much does the above help? Let's just say visual novels are so popular on Itch, it upsets creators whose games in other genres end up overshadowed. If that's not good enough, I don't know what is. There's no guarantee in this business. But it's about as good as it gets.

Itchio does indeed do much for the dev and the game itself, and in no form or shape am I trying to say that itchio is lacking or being 'lazy' in that regard. However, what I am saying is that no matter what the site does, if your game does not gain attraction it will simply be overlooked among the 200k games on the site already.
This is where you have to be realistic and say- it didn't work, time to move on.
Or just less focus on that site, which is what I do. I go there once or twice a couple of months to check the posts etc or when an update is out for my game.

To use my own experience as an example again;
One site gave my game almost 3 million views, over several thousand comments, lots of reviews, fan-art threads.
The game itself has a decent sized playerbase that has been translated by the fanbase to several different languages and even got fan-fictions.

Far from the biggest indie vn games out there and my game can be considered a small fish in the sea, there but these numbers are still way higher than how the game on itchio is doing with only gotten 60k views, 11k downloads 290 followers and 40 payments. This is such a stark contrast and shows that itchio is not necessarily the best it gets. It can be for some, especially if they get a bit lucky.

Granted, my game is an adult based game (story-heavy) which means it probably is a bit harder to search for and can't say that my way of itchio has been flawless.
There are no doubts others factors (like the ones you mentioned with twitter and being active in the community) that play in why the game did badly on itchio. But this has been my experience so far.