How to promote your game on itch
What This Guide Aims to Do
As one of the world’s leading no-code 3D game engine platforms, YAHAHA has empowered over 100,000 creators to turn their game ideas into playable games.
Start last year, we built the “horror hatch” brand on Itch, regularly hosting game jams (every week or every three weeks) to inspire creativity with the Yahaha Horror Game Kit.
See horror hatch here: YAHAHA Horror Hatch
See horror game kit here: YAHAHA Horror Game Kit
Through reviewing over 1,500 submissions on Itch, we’ve noticed that while most projects are creative and full of potential, many developers — just like on Steam — aren’t sure how to promote their games. This means valuable games can get lost without visibility, player feedback, or reviews.
In this post, we’ll explore the Itch.io ecosystem — why promotion matters, how to promote effectively, and provide a series of practical, actionable tips and data-backed strategies tailored to the platform’s unique features.
Itch.io isn’t a commercial game platform, and this article isn’t about spending money to buy exposure. Instead, based on over four years of our own observations, this article aims to share a few simple things that any developer can do to help their game reach a wider audience and be played by more people.
Why Is It Important to Promote Your Game on Itch.io?
Itch.io is the world’s largest indie game platform, known for its low barrier to entry and strong focus on creativity. Unlike Steam, which emphasizes commercial success and large-scale, polished products, indie developers often use Itch.io as a place to share prototypes and creative ideas, or to connect with a community of like-minded creators for collaboration, showcasing work, or even finding job opportunities. This means Itch platform places emphasis on creator freedom.
Notably, horror games make up more than 5.7% of all titles, and about 80% of the most popular daily games are in the horror genre. This is one of the main reasons why Yahaha regularly hosts horror game jams on Itch.io.
With over 1.2 million games already available on Itch and 500+ new games published every day, the platform is bursting with creativity. It’s easy for projects to get lost in the crowd. So, without a proper exposure strategy, even a high-quality game can quickly get buried deep in the listings.
Many popular games on Itch.io start out as simple prototypes. But once they climb the rankings and gain visibility, they often attract attention from streamers, publishers, and investors. This encourages developers to further polish their projects, turn them into commercial products, launch on Steam and achieve real success.
Itch.io Popular Game List tagged Horror
The Secret Behind Itch.io’s Exposure & Rankings: How to Get Noticed
When you open the Itch homepage, you’ll see four main tabs: Popular, New & Popular, Top Sellers, and Most Rated (plus a “Most Recent” list). For most players, streamers, and publishers, the first two tabs matter the most — that’s also the focus of this article. Top Sellers usually features commercial titles already on Steam, while Most Recent is simply sorted by upload date and offers little value. These are general leaderboards, meaning every user sees the same ranking. Placement on these lists is driven by a few numbers: ratings, written reviews, and video reviews within a recent time window. From our four years of observation, a newly released game typically has only a two-week window to climb the chart.
Itch Home Page — four main tabs
Beyond these, there are personalized lists like Recommended for You and Featured Games. These depend more on your game’s popularity and tags, which shape what kind of Itch players and streamers will see it. Once your game gains traction, rising in the rankings, Itch’s team also hand-picks titles daily for Twitter promotion. If selected, your game can get around 4k additional impressions — a big visibility boost.
Once a game gains traction, Itch’s curators may also select it for official promotion on social media and newsletters, giving it additional visibility. Itch.io uses a two-layer system:
- Algorithmic Support (Primary Ranking Logic): The platform surfaces games based on tags, ratings, player behavior, and community engagement.
- Official Picked (Additional Layer, Not Unique to Itch, Built on Algorithmic Pre-Selection): From the algorithmically surfaced pool, curators select games for diversity, creativity, and editorial value. Selected games are promoted via blogs, emails, and social media.
Official Picked from Itch.io
Itch.io’s curation model shows a simple truth about indie game exposure: algorithms can bring your game to the surface, but it’s the game itself that makes people click. Visual style, a fresh idea, or a clear gameplay hook often decide whether curators and players pay attention. Find more info — How we Curate
Practical Promotion Strategies and Tips
To make your game stand out on Itch.io, it’s not enough to simply upload and hope for the best. Here are actionable methods and techniques to help boost visibility and increase player engagement
Pre-Launch Preparation
1.1 Game Title — Make Your Game Name Stand Out
- Clarity and Readability: Keep your title easy to read at any size; avoid overly long or complicated fonts.
- Reflects Game Identity: Convey the game’s theme, genre, or mood to make it memorable and recognizable.
- Consistency Across Assets: Use the exact same title on your cover image, banner, trailer, and in any external promotion. This creates a unified identity and reduces confusion.
- Search-Friendly: Consider including relevant keywords that players might use to find your game. While not overloading it with SEO terms, subtle cues (e.g., “puzzle,” “horror,” “roguelike”) can help your game appear in search results.
Correct Case for Game title
Incorrect Case for Game title
1.2 Cover Image: This is the image Itch.io uses when users browse or search for games.
- It should clearly showcase your game’s visual style and include the game title. Avoid cluttered compositions that become blurry or messy when scaled.
- Recommended dimensions are 630x500 pixels or 315x250 pixels, with a maximum size of 3840x2160 pixels and a file size no larger than 3MB.
Correct Case for Cover image
Incorrect Case for Cover image
1.3 Screenshots: These should highlight the core gameplay mechanics, showcase unique visual elements or features, and, when relevant, present different environments or levels.
- Maintain a consistent aspect ratio (recommended: 4:3). Each uploaded screenshot will be displayed at a maximum sidebar width of 347 pixels.
1.4 GIF: A powerful tool for dynamically showcasing your gameplay. They help attract attention and boost click-through rates. The first frame must be eye-catching, as it displays before the animation starts.
- Tip: GIFs in game listings automatically play when hovered over, making them a powerful tool for increasing click-through rates.
AI Asylum GIF example
1.5 Video: If your game has dynamic elements, a trailer can make a huge difference in grabbing attention. Keep it short, 30 to 90 seconds is ideal, and focus on showing actual gameplay rather than long title sequences or menus. Itch.io supports embedding videos from YouTube, so upload your trailer there first, then paste the link into your game’s media settings.
- Hook in the first 3 seconds — Start with your most exciting moment to prevent drop-offs.
- Showcase key features — Highlight core mechanics, unique visuals, or special interactions.
- End with a clear call-to-action — Invite players to download, play, or follow your game.
- Subtitle: Include captions for accessibility and to keep viewers engaged even with sound off.
1.6 Itch banner image: Prominently displayed at the top of your game’s page. The maximum width is 960 pixels, and a height of around 300 pixels is recommended for optimal visibility.
High-quality visual Banner
- Make Your Game Page Easy to Navigate
2.1 Avoid large blocks of text that bury key information. Keep descriptions concise and focused on what matters most to players.
2.2 Make the download/Buy now button or browser play option highly visible and easy to locate, so users can jump into the game without hesitation.
Easy to Navigate for Play Game Case
2.3 Using custom CSS to style your Itch.io page can enhance its visual appeal and attract more users. However, be mindful of compatibility issues, as future site updates may affect how your custom styles display.
- If you’d like to customize both your pages beyond what the theme editor allows, you can simply Get in touch
- For some ideas on how you might use CSS, here’s a collection of interesting pages: CSS Showcase.
Excellent CSS Case
Unused CSS Case
- Use Tags Strategically to Maximize Visibility
In a marketplace with over 1.2 million games, broad and generic tags can easily get lost in the crowd.
3.1 Recommended tag strategies
- Use specific and relevant tags: Tags like “cozy horror” or “plant simulator” are far more effective than vague ones like “RPG” or “2D”. They help your game stand out in niche searches.
- Audience-focused tagging: Know your target audience and choose tags that reflect what they’re actively looking for. This increases the chances that your game will appear in searches or recommendations tailored to their interests.
Clear tag make it easily searchable
- Launch Your Game at the Right Time
4.1 Avoid uploading or releasing your game during off-peak times, such as weekend nights, as your game can quickly get pushed down the “Recent” page by newer releases.
4.2 Consider an iterative development approach: upload unfinished versions along with devlogs early to gather feedback and increase initial exposure.
Ongoing Promotion After Release
Increasing the following metrics can help your game gain more exposure on Itch.io:
- Track Key Metrics
1.1 Number of Collections
- Collections are an important but unofficial metric on Itch, especially influential in the “Hot” or “Popular” categories.
1.2 Average Rating
- While active comments have some impact, ratings greatly affect your game’s ranking. Higher scores make it easier to enter top charts and get officially recommended.
1.3 Downloads / Play Counts
- Downloads are a key hard metric used to measure a game’s popularity and heat.
1.4 Revenue & Supporter Count (if monetized)
- For paid games or “pay what you want” models, tracking revenue and supporter numbers shows both market validation and community willingness to back your work.
- Internal Method — Game iteration
2.1 Devlog Activity & Update Frequency
- Regularly posting development logs helps keep your game visible in Itch’s Devlog channel and maintains ongoing engagement.
- Share your development process, inspirations, bug fixes, and progress updates.
- Devlogs get dedicated exposure on the platform and help humanize your game to the audience.
2.2 Update Impact Metrics
- Track changes in downloads, page views, ratings, and comments after each update.
- Helps evaluate whether updates are positively affecting engagement and visibility.
2.3 Feedback Incorporation
- Track how many community suggestions or bug reports have been addressed in updates.
- Shows players that their input matters, which can improve retention and word-of-mouth promotion.
- External Method — User Acquisition
3.1 Comments & Video Coverage
- The number of text and video comments about your game is also important, especially from influential content creators.
- Try actively reaching out to YouTubers, Twitch streamers, or other creators in your niche. Providing them with a free copy or demo increases the chance they’ll review your game.
- A higher number of comments on such videos, especially when posted by influential creators, can boost your chances of appearing in “Popular” section, making your game visible to a wider audience.
Text & Video comments by Itch gamers/developers for AI Asylum
3.2 Social Media Promotion (Twitter, Reddit, Discord, etc)
- Share screenshots or GIFs with hashtags like #indiedev and #screenshotsaturday.
Trending Tags & Visual Reference Example
Follow or join popular community Example
- Participate in the Itch/Discord channels for developer feedback and mutual support.
- Pitching to Media: Offer a template for a simple, effective pitch email to send to streamers, YouTubers, and gaming journalists. Highlight the importance of being concise and providing easy access to all the necessary assets.
Afterword
Unlike professional game engines, Yahaha is designed as an easy-to-use creative tool. We want to help anyone — no matter their background in art, coding, or game design — take their first steps in game development, experience the joy of bringing ideas to life, and connect with players. With Yahaha, you can gain a sense of achievement and gradually understand the game creation process in a positive, welcoming environment.
As someone once said, your first ten games might not be perfect, but we believe that with Yahaha, you’ll not only learn to make simple games, but also how to share and promote them. This experience provides a strong foundation for future game projects and marketing, helping you grow as a creator.
That’s where YAHAHA comes in — not just as a tool to help you make games, but as a partner to help your work get noticed. We’ve seen horror games stand out among indie creators, which is why we encourage everyone to try making one. Our Horror Game Kit is here to remove technical barriers, so you can focus on creativity and get your ideas out there.
Publishing your game on Itch.io is only the beginning. The real challenge is getting people to play it. For indie developers, learning how to promote your game effectively can make all the difference — helping your projects reach more players and truly shine.
If you’d like to learn more about promoting your game, check out this article: How to Market a Game