The technology stack of the site is pretty interesting. I wrote a little about it here:<p><a href="http://leafo.net/posts/introducing_itchio.html#technology" rel="nofollow">http://leafo.net/posts/introducing_itchio.html#technology</a><p>Essentially the web app runs directly inside of nginx (but a special build of nginx from the project OpenResty[0]). The entire site is coded in MoonScript[1], which is my language that compiles to Lua.<p>I developed a web framework called Lapis while making this site, it doesn't have documentation yet but you can find the source here: <a href="https://github.com/leafo/lapis" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/leafo/lapis</a><p>I you want to see another sample Lapis webapp you can check out my MoonRocks project. The source is here: <a href="https://github.com/leafo/moonrocks-site" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/leafo/moonrocks-site</a><p>[0]: <a href="http://openresty.org/" rel="nofollow">http://openresty.org/</a><p>[1]: <a href="http://moonscript.org" rel="nofollow">http://moonscript.org</a>
Why no directory? I uploaded a game to this when it was advertised on gamedev.net
Only subsequently did I realised this site does no marketing, or even a directory on the front page. So you take 10% just to filehost and not even put up a link?
10% for 1 type of payment processing is not all that competitive without some game discovery. I could just put my game on my own random webpage for much the same effect.
(<a href="http://t_larkworthy.itch.io/runesketch" rel="nofollow">http://t_larkworthy.itch.io/runesketch</a>)
OK my game is a free to play so I have no idea how you are supposed to charge me. You can gladly have 10% of subsequent revenue for any conversion originating at itch.io but there is not gonna be any unless you actually market the games on your site
Nice looking site!<p>I'm a professional programmer just getting started with indie game development (it's so much fun!). The biggest thing I want out of a game hosting site apart from actual sales is insight into the potential players/customers. I want to know which categories are popular, whether free demos are increasing paid sales, which platforms are selling, where are viewers coming from. I want to see what people are saying about my game, what they are rating it and why. It's not hard for me to put up a quick page with a paypal link to a file download, but you can add lots of value with good analytics and things like comments and ratings.
Just for fun, I tried to pay $0.00 for X-Moon. I got a fun message that said:<p>"Name your own price to get download access to X-Moon. There is no minimum price, pay what you want.<p>Due to processing fees the minimum amount is 50 cents."<p>I realize it can still be downloaded for free, but it's not really "no minimum, pay what you want".
I'm an indie game dev who has used Indievania for a previous release -- it's same kind of PayPal-powered setup, only they ask customers to tip them at time of purchase instead of taking a cut of every sale. Could you explain why I should consider using you instead of Indievania?
I'd change the default displayed price, even on a free game, to be something other than $0.00 (and for those people who type 0.00, it should directly take you to the link).
I and a small team at my university are a month or two away from shipping our game. I think that we will highly consider using this site! The minimum price payment scheme is exactly what we wanted to do. Thanks a lot for posting. Bookmarked.
I like it, and went to create a page for one of my games (free, but I'd like a nice landing page), however you only support downloadable games. I guess it makes sense to begin with, however if you add support for browser games, let me know!
I really like this. I do want to see a directory though.<p>Just a little detail I really like the way you show how much money will go to each party involved in the sale:<p><a href="http://itch.io/about/faq#someone-buys-my-game-for-10-how-much-do-i-get" rel="nofollow">http://itch.io/about/faq#someone-buys-my-game-for-10-how-muc...</a><p>I know it's just a sum, but I like the way you formatted it :)
This is pretty cool.<p>It might just reduce the friction enough for me to post my unfinished 2D Counter-Strike -like game that I worked on for 5+ years, that otherwise the world would likely never see (I have a lot more important things to complete before I can afford to get back to working on it).
The video actually threw me off. My cursor was right there, very confused for a sec - imo it's not separated enough from the rest of the experience for it to be entirely helpful, felt like more of a distraction. Just my $.02, cool site outside of that one small thing!
what are tags? Are there plans for in-itch discovery? As a buyer, the front page doesn't really help me at all.<p>as a seller, I can see the use case. Maybe integration with online arcades? kongregate, for example.
Why confine this to games?<p>I think the layout and format of the site is great, but I dont see anything about it that necessitates that particular vertical. Why can't I use this to sell my OSX app?