Briefly about itch.Io

“Why do you need Steam for indie, if there is Steam itself?” – you might have thought. And I will answer: “It is not always the developer can lay out his game there”. And then? Go to itch.Io.

itch.IO – Platform of the distribution of games and not only. I am telling you about its features.

A little about the history of the site

The site began work on January 18, 2013. Site owner – Liv Corcoran. In 2015, there were more than 15,000 thousand games and programs on the site.

Features of distribution

Games are distributed according to the “Pay as much You want” scheme, though you can pay more precisely, the minimum amount set by the developer ”, that is, you can pay for a free game if you wish.

Features for developers

By default, the site takes 10% of the cost, you can set any cost of the game, from $ 1 (you can also be free). The game page can be very customized (color, background, fonts, etc.), unrefined rules of design.

What is JAM? It’s like a competition for https://gamblingdata.net/casinos/playamo-casino/ developers. The task is to develop a game in a limited time, sometimes on a certain topic. They are placed on itch.IO where you can register on them.

Tools and assets

You can buy instruments for the development of games – generators of cities maps, programs for drawing spent animations, drawing textures, game engines, etc., as well as different assets.

Features for users

There are games for platforms: Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS, Android. In addition to the multi-platform, there are also web games that basically use the Unity web version or “fictitious consoles”, which I have been telling earlier (you can find out more here). So the shutdown Flash is not so scary now.

You can buy the game on itch.Io without an account. In this case, the purchase will be tied to your email.

Board games?

Yes, you can buy a board game and download it to print.

Just books – art, technical literature, and fan fiction?.

You can subscribe to users, including developers, to monitor updates on their wall. So the site itself will throw interesting posts.

Client

Itch.Io launched its own desktop client. It is it that it is recommended (optional) to use for downloading and installing games. In my opinion, it is quite convenient. There is a Russian language in it, unlike the site. All you need to go to the page of the game of interest and press the bottom to buy or download.

For me, as a Linux user, the installation is noticeably more convenient than manually. You can also see the saved collections in the client (they can be shared with other users), and the pages of your creations.

Conclusion

Itch.IO is an actively developing platform for players and developers. On it you can find many interesting projects. Some Indie projects from Steam started here. So far, the popularity of the platform is low, but it has great potential.