itch.io

Additionally, as developers, we should make it simple for me to observe the statistics advancements in my game; many accounts should be added, just like in Itch.io. Because I use my own account to browse rather than the studio's account.

Totally fair, appreciate you being straight about it rather than just being polite.

Your game appears the moment it’s approved. After submission I check it for quality (valid info, no offensive material) that kind of thing. Once approved, it goes into the library and the search index, and gets placed based on similarity to other games, moods, categories(free games) and etc so it’s discoverable that way too. Since its a newly added game also, it goes to the top of all games because the newly added first is the default filter in all games. There’s also a dedicated Dev Drops section on the Discover page for visibility. So the fact that it’s not showing up yet is expected. It appears once I’ve reviewed and approved it. Which I already did as we speak btw.

Another example of how discoverability works once it’s live is if you go to Mood → Cozy, your game is there right now it’s near the end of the list since I sort by rating. I noticed your game is free, and there’s also a free filter, so if someone goes to Cozy and filters to free games only, the list narrows down to just your game and one other. I’m still investigating better ways to handle filtering and ordering. It’s fairly simple right now because I wanted the core functionality out there for anyone who wants to use it, but it needs more thought and feedback to get it right. The goal also from gamers perspective is to help players (myself included) to find exactly what they want to play right now, and actually narrow the options down instead of scrolling forever. This way I believe as well helps indie devs for their game to be discovered and find its players.

I’m hoping to get more indie dev uploads so I can figure out how to give them more visibility on the homepage too, still thinking through the best way to do that you know looking at other platforms, taking feedback, iterating. The Dev Drops section, for what it’s worth, actually came from a suggestion by another indie dev, I liked the idea and built it.

Definitely need improvements on how search results are presented, and design more broadly, as you said. I keep a Jira board with tickets for all of this so I can actually track it rather than lose it in my head. I’m approaching this the way I used to approach things professionally and it just takes time and a lot of iteration to shape a platform into something genuinely good, and I’m constantly working on it because I like the development side of it and I like indie games.

Really appreciate what you’re doing here you know, feedback like this is exactly what I need. What I think makes the real difference for a platform like this is users and devs actually taking the time to give feedback, and that’s hard to come by, especially for indie devs. So it means a lot.

Looking forward to hearing what you and your friend notice once you’ve both spent some time with it. And happy to share analytics with you as things develop. I’ll be straightforward about where the numbers stand, good or not.

Hey Belle Thank you for taking the time to write this up. It was one of the most useful pieces of feedback I’ve had so far, and it led to real fixes.

You were right that the numbers didn’t add up. The upload form recommended 616×353 (16:9), but the “Preview Game Page” showed your cover in a portrait shape, and on the live site the shape changed again depending on the screen. When I traced it, I found two separate problems. The upload guidance was wrong for the shape the site actually uses, and the game cards were sizing covers by a fixed height and a flexible width. That’s why the same cover looked almost square on a laptop and stretched into a wide landscape on a phone.

Here’s what I changed:

One shape everywhere covers are now a fixed portrait 3:4 in the game cards, on the game page, and in the upload form preview, on every screen size. What you see in the preview is what you get on the live site.

Better upload guidance: the Cover Image field now says it’s your portrait box art, with a recommended size of 900×1200px (3:4), at least 800px wide.

A better mobile layout: on phones the cards took up almost a whole screen each. Games now show two side by side, and I trimmed the cards so the cover and title come first.

Responsiveness is trickier than it looks, because the same image has to work on a phone, a tablet and a big monitor. I’ll be honest. I already knew the mobile experience wasn’t where it should be, and I’d been struggling with how to make it properly responsive. Your report gave me a concrete case to trace, and that was the opportunity I needed to fix mobile and polish the game cards.

Since you adjusted your cover to what you saw in the preview, it should look right now, but if anything seems off, let me know and I’ll help.

Also, thank you for offering to post about the platform. It means a lot. I’ll be happy to return the favor and help promote your game as well however I can.

I will definitely make a LinkedIn page for the platform and I will aim for tomorrow and we will definitely connect there as well.

P.S. For any bugs or small issues you notice from now on, feel free to also post them in the #issues channel on my Discord, since that keeps them organized and I can follow up quickly. But if it’s easier to just message me here, that’s totally fine too. I’ll take feedback wherever it comes from.