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Differences when making game page at the start or end of development

A topic by Marron121 created Mar 31, 2024 Views: 366 Replies: 3

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Hello everyone!

Some other gamedevs and I were recently talking about how we usually just make our game page public for the first time when the game is already finished, and we were curious if making a page like on Steam, where you can create a page way before the game is finished, is something "viable".

Since Itch.io does not have (at least to our knowledge) any way to "follow" a game like you can on Steam, I believe it will make it worse at the long run (especially if you don't have any demo at the start), unless people follow you as the developer to keep seeing updates to the game, but this sounds a bit cumbersome.

I'm also aware you can create a newsletter and link people there but again, cumbersome imo; we were discussing following directly the game on itch.io like you can on Steam.

But I'm curious, what do you guys think? Have you tried it and it gave you good results? Is it worth it with/without a demo?

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redonihunter262 days ago(+1)

https://itch.io/games/prototypes

https://itch.io/games/in-development

Lot's of games are published without being finished. I can "follow" your game by putting it on a collection. But practically I would follow the developer in any case.

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Marron121261 days ago

Thanks for the answer! We're aware that games are published while still in development, but I was more curious if people find it something "worth it" compared to making the game/page public just when the game is finished. I apologize if my previous question wasn't clear enough.

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redonihunter260 days ago

I do not understand the question. You can sort the in development games for top-sellers, and you can look at the top-sellers regardless of publishing status. You will find non-finished games there.

You have to consider your audience. And who the developers are. Releasing early is most of the marketing a small or amateur dev does, because it costs nothing. Also, you might get a sounding board how your game will be received and get free alpha testers.

It also depends on the fact, if you have a publisher or not. Itch is self publishing and ~~low~~ no entry bar. So one could say, people do it, because they can do and the real question is, why not everyone does it so.

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