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Itch.io – Marketplace for Indie Games

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Re: Itch.io – Marketplace for Indie Games

#11

Post by meditate »

Zhyl wrote: post #5
60654 wrote: post #2

Itch is very cool. Their tools are dev friendly, even the download client got released as open source ( https://github.com/itchio ). And on the publishing side, they allow anyone to publish on the site, for free, no hoops to jump through. And if it's a paid app, they charge much less than Steam / iTunes / etc. Too bad they're not as popular with players. But I'm idly curious why Itch popped up now, since it's been ar…

As a gamer, I haven't really dived into Itch even though I see it recommended all the time. This is despite being a Linux gamer, a fan of indie games, a supporter of open source and a believer in multiple marketplaces (although I feel like we need better aggregators and agnostic sync/update tools). I think the problem may be that I have absolutely no idea where to start. With Steam I started with games that came with…

I don't have any personal recommendations, but next time you are looking at purchasing an indie game, you might consider checking if it's available on Itch first. That's how I got into it anyway. The developers I've talked to prefer that I buy on there as well because they take much less of a cut than others stores.

Re: Itch.io – Marketplace for Indie Games

#12

Post by zrobotics »

Zhyl wrote: post #5
60654 wrote: post #2

Itch is very cool. Their tools are dev friendly, even the download client got released as open source ( https://github.com/itchio ). And on the publishing side, they allow anyone to publish on the site, for free, no hoops to jump through. And if it's a paid app, they charge much less than Steam / iTunes / etc. Too bad they're not as popular with players. But I'm idly curious why Itch popped up now, since it's been ar…

As a gamer, I haven't really dived into Itch even though I see it recommended all the time. This is despite being a Linux gamer, a fan of indie games, a supporter of open source and a believer in multiple marketplaces (although I feel like we need better aggregators and agnostic sync/update tools). I think the problem may be that I have absolutely no idea where to start. With Steam I started with games that came with…

For interesting short games, check out past game jam entrants from something like ludum dare (https://ldjam.com) or the game jam tag on itch. They're usually free, short, and interesting. It reminds me a lot of old newgrounds, where you could find an interesting new game to play for 1/2 hour.

Re: Itch.io – Marketplace for Indie Games

#13

Post by indigochill »

I was trying to explain Itch to a colleague recently and settled for "You know Bandcamp? It's that, for games." Two super-friendly platforms for independent creators.

On the other hand, I don't use either of them as a customer. Bandcamp because I prefer the way Spotify helps me discover music based on my listening history, and Itch because it feels like a bit too much visually when I'm browsing games there as opposed to Steam/GoG.

Re: Itch.io – Marketplace for Indie Games

#15

Post by jere »

philsnow wrote: post #7

This year's 7-day roguelike challenge had all the entrants put their games on itch.io [0]. In the episode of Roguelike Radio [1] that covered the 7drl, they lauded itch for requiring a working download, since entrants are allowed to use any platform at all (some write in c with raw escape codes written to the terminal, some write PICO-8 games, etc), and in years pay the hardest part of judging has been getting some o…

This year's 7DRL starts in just over a month, on March 2! :) https://itch.io/jam/7drl-challenge-2019

I can highly recommend the challenge. It's a great community, it's got an organized judging phase, and roguelikes are one of the easiest genres to get into, especially for programmers. You can do all systems and no graphics if you want.

Also, I think you meant to link to this episode (the one you linked came out the year before itch launched) http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2018/05/episode-145-7drls-2018...

I was on this one and we talked about itch quite a bit. My submission last year also ranked #1 and I bet HN might find it interesting as it's got a hacking theme: https://itch.io/jam/7drl-challenge-2018/rate/232187

Re: Itch.io – Marketplace for Indie Games

#17

Post by sofetch »

60654 wrote: post #2

Itch is very cool. Their tools are dev friendly, even the download client got released as open source ( https://github.com/itchio ). And on the publishing side, they allow anyone to publish on the site, for free, no hoops to jump through. And if it's a paid app, they charge much less than Steam / iTunes / etc. Too bad they're not as popular with players. But I'm idly curious why Itch popped up now, since it's been ar…

> I'm idly curious why Itch popped up now, since it's been around for years.

I expect this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19012083

Re: Itch.io – Marketplace for Indie Games

#18

Post by KaoruAoiShiho »

indigochill wrote: post #13

I was trying to explain Itch to a colleague recently and settled for "You know Bandcamp? It's that, for games." Two super-friendly platforms for independent creators. On the other hand, I don't use either of them as a customer. Bandcamp because I prefer the way Spotify helps me discover music based on my listening history, and Itch because it feels like a bit too much visually when I'm browsing games there as opposed…

Just had a look and it feels very "designed by engineers". Clearly the idea was to put as much content on the landing page as possible instead of thinking about what they want people to see.

Re: Itch.io – Marketplace for Indie Games

#19

Post by nindalf »

I'd love to support this service. They do everything right - they take 0% of the game and give the entire amount to the devs. In contrast Steam takes 25% (earlier 30%). The tools itch offers to devs to package/upload their game are considered to be best-in-class in the industry and they're all open source [0]. There's an excellent article that talks about the difficulties in creating a competitor to Steam, and the kicker is "the service you're thinking of already exists - it's called itch.io" [1].

And yet when I think of an indie game I want to buy, it's not there. Just today I saw an excellent review [2] for a game called Hollow Knight. I couldn't find it on itch, ended up buying it on Steam instead. FWIW, the game is also available on gog.com, the Humble store and all consoles, so it's not like the devs haven't taken the effort to make their game accessible.

[0] - https://github.com/itchio

[1] - https://www.fortressofdoors.com/so-you-want-to-compete-with-...

[2] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksexEs7FKf4

Re: Itch.io – Marketplace for Indie Games

#20

Post by TheRoccoB »

Itch is awesome, been up for years!

I run a semi-competitor called https://simmer.io. My focus is:

-WebGL Games (only, no downloads) -Youtube style presentation (and embedding) -Being the easiest place to upload a game, no rigamarole. Drag your webgl build onto the page and call it a day.

We have about 2500 games and developers signed up. It's currently mostly a place to show off your work, but working on more monetization options right now.

Feel free to reach out if you have any feedback or ideas for the site. rocco@simmer.io

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