I got a advice, in the discord channel, to do some marketing before i launch my game (which i haven't done, because i got the advice when i already was online) This way, you could get more out of the first pike, like we see it in your statistics . Did you have a reasonable userbase, followers, etc. when you launched Holey Suit?
Viewing post in My first week on itch.io with LandR
Nope, no following. I posted on Release Announcement and the post got picked up by leafo - I guess I lucked out!
Itch.io guidelines advise to give that all important announcement post some love. Back then I made a point of showcasing the game by having a cool looking GIF - something with a bang, must have been catchy enough!
I wrote a few devblogs on my website that cover the journey of Holey Suit on both itch.io and Gamejolt from a marketing perspective, if you fancy a longer read!
https://hotchpotch.games/holey-suit-dev-blog-5
Mhm, this is really a good example for a catchy gif.
Itch sent me an email with some instructions how to best announce my game. Following these instructions can give you a good kick start. It seems you did a good job. In my case, tweeting my announcement to @itchio and them picking it up, helped a lot .
I also used a gif for showcasing the game, although not as cool as yours.