Well, I've published my game (Hermit Night 2) and I'm having some issues. The itch.io website isn't indexing my game, which means it can't be found via search or in the ‘most recent’ tab, and the only way to see my game is to go to my profile and click on it. This is really sad because the first few days are the most important for a game, and they determine whether your game will get any downloads or views or not - but the admins or the algorithm decided that my game won’t even have a chance to get any views. I wrote to support, but I’ve been waiting for a response for two days now. What does this mean? It means the game will stop at these 20 views and 3 downloads, and essentially, after about two months of active solo work on the game, I won’t get any feedback from players.

I wouldn’t say that any of my interactions with the site’s administration have been positive. There was a time when they blocked all the payments that players had donated because “Your account is under investigation,” and about 90% of the funds that had been donated were seized by the site administrators, leaving me with just a few dollars in my account.

Important note: I don’t make games for profit; I don’t expect a single dollar when I release games, but the fact that my game was essentially “thrown in the trash” by this site leaves a bitter taste. I just wanted people to try my creation.

Thank you to the 3-4 people who read my post - you’re the best. I’m glad I got all my thoughts out. Take care, guys.