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Devlog without releasing?

A topic by Jesse Millar created Nov 12, 2018 Views: 1,537 Replies: 2

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It seems like the initial release of a game is pretty important for views and front page consideration. Is there any way to post devlogs during the development of a game without releasing the game?

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding itch.io game pages. If I mark a game's page with a release status of "in development" does that put it in a different SEO category than games with a release status of "released"? Is the answer to my question just to publicize my game page as "in development" and then add devlogs and that won't impact the initial visibility once I mark the game as "released"?

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leafoAdmin6 years ago(+1)

Games that aren't release yet won't show up on https://itch.io/games, they'll only be discoverable through your profile, collections, and https://itch.io/devlogs.

From an SEO perspective, it shouldn't matter. For the game's ranking on itch.io, the time you make files first available will count as when your game is launched. Future "major update" devlogs can update your game's freshness and help you stay higher up on itch.io's internal ranking.

So, I recommend creating pages early so you can get followers for your account so when you launch your game you can have an initial audience.

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Jesse Millar6 years ago

Very informative reply. Thank you!

To be clear, does "making files available" mean simply uploading files to a game? So if I want a page that's solely for a devlog (and not accidentally launching my game prematurely into https://itch.io/games), I would create a game page and not upload any files at all?

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