What is Itch.io? A short history of one of the most unrestricted platforms for game developers

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  • Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
  • What is Itch.io? In this video, we take a closer look at the history of one of the most accessible platforms for game developers and digital producers, starting from the company's humble beginnings in 2013 to the growing pains it experiences today.
    Games from itch.io featured in this video:
    00:08 - October
    00:47 - Code, Eat, Debug
    00:55 - X-Moon
    01:20 - Voting Simulator
    01:26 - Gate
    01:31 - Gift Distribution
    02:38 - Uploaded
    02:49 - Coding Buggies
    03:03 - Money Money
    03:12 - Fee to Play
    03:21 - The New Hire
    04:01 - Community Companion
    04:12 - Launch
    04:18 - Control
    04:23 - Definitely No Game Development
    04:40 - Refinery Rush
    04:48 - Freelancer
    04:52 - Overland
    05:55 - A Good Snowman is Hard to Build
    06:24 - Completion Lawn Care
    06:34 - Bowuigi Zine
    07:22 - Growing Pains
    07:26 - Sorting Radioactive Trash
    07:40 - Bots
    07:49 - Office
    07:57 - Grow Crow
    08:35 - X-Moon
    #itchio #indiegamedev #indiegame

Комментарии • 238

  • @TheVoiceOfChaos
    @TheVoiceOfChaos 2 года назад +907

    Itch is the modern newgrounds for me.
    Like a place i can go to feel something new for once.
    No bots, no algorithms
    Just vibes

    • @mrtruman4339
      @mrtruman4339 2 года назад +76

      It's the Newergrounds.

    • @getrdygames1146
      @getrdygames1146 2 года назад +31

      newgrounds addictinggames miniclip armorgames kongregate ebaumsworld trackmill, as a kid all i needed were these sites, oh and warcraft 3 lol

    • @brunitoknolastname69420
      @brunitoknolastname69420 2 года назад +5

      the NEWESTgrounds

    • @jakefrenchflyman
      @jakefrenchflyman 2 года назад +2

      Itch and Gamejolt are the modern gamejolt

    • @jacobnicola5950
      @jacobnicola5950 2 года назад +2

      PristineFloor

  • @Scypek
    @Scypek 2 года назад +492

    What a wonderful corner of the internet that is. Like a glimpse of utopia! I'm well familiar with the pay what you want scheme, but I forgot about the revenue slider. When I put my own games on there, I think I'm gonna set it to 31%.

    • @vgexplain
      @vgexplain  2 года назад +68

      It's such a fun platform that really makes a lot of effort to let devs do what they do best!

    • @CHONK-Music
      @CHONK-Music 2 года назад +4

      Nice

    • @yektaagra741
      @yektaagra741 2 года назад +3

      Nice

    • @Aethelbeorn
      @Aethelbeorn 2 года назад

      Nice

    • @Aethelbeorn
      @Aethelbeorn 2 года назад +4

      @@RaisedWhiteMist Should have waited till March 31st

  • @particlesystem
    @particlesystem 2 года назад +105

    As the artist of freelancer and on behalf of the team , thank you for this video. It is a great honor to be one of the examples you've chosen to show.

    • @vgexplain
      @vgexplain  2 года назад +15

      Thanks for being apart of FreeLancer! I really enjoyed the game mechanics (particularly jumping around with the lance) and art style of the game. Keep up the good work!

  • @themore-you-know
    @themore-you-know 2 года назад +365

    A problem I see with Itch is the lack of tooling for better searches.
    Example: searching for assets in the assets store is done by "tag", and using the search bar will default back to searching games.

    • @vgexplain
      @vgexplain  2 года назад +61

      Yeah, I agree. I had trouble searching for developers on the app since it always defaults for searching games. I had better luck using Google to find developers on the site.

  • @MalicProductions
    @MalicProductions 2 года назад +101

    I wouldn't be half the game developer I am without Itch's open platform. This was a well done origin documentary, you have most assuredly earned a sub.

  • @nicknesses
    @nicknesses 2 года назад +254

    Wow! This is great on so many levels! And the whole story is short and sweet. What a wonderful little documentary. Good luck!
    Also i thought this was a channel with 600K+ subscribers. With that video quality you'll get it soon :)

    • @vgexplain
      @vgexplain  2 года назад +10

      I'm glad you enjoyed the video! And thank you for the compliments!

    • @rajder656
      @rajder656 2 года назад +3

      i actually started using it a bit when they had a great bundle for ukraine 10 bucks you got a bunch of games, apps even d&d stuff

  • @SebastianGraves
    @SebastianGraves 2 года назад +11

    Wasn't aware of the founders background. He seems like a really cool dude.

  • @Waspeil
    @Waspeil 2 года назад +47

    This is so professional I thought that this must be a massive channel. I hope you find the success you deserve.

  • @brandonlogan11
    @brandonlogan11 2 года назад +25

    It's friendly to adult content as well. Places for adult creators are shrinking every year an it's so nice to have a safe haven like itch.

    • @judeduval5724
      @judeduval5724 2 года назад +6

      Yeah you have a point. Game jolt use to be friendly to adult games into last year or the year before. They decide that they won't host adult games anymore.

  • @bloodraven2537
    @bloodraven2537 2 года назад +69

    What a nice documentary. Good job!

    • @vgexplain
      @vgexplain  2 года назад +8

      Thank you for watching! I'm glad you liked the video 😎

  • @hcam93
    @hcam93 2 года назад +25

    Way to go man, this was very well made video and was very interesting

    • @vgexplain
      @vgexplain  2 года назад +2

      Thank you so much! Very much appreciate the kind words!

  • @woutervanham8246
    @woutervanham8246 2 года назад +15

    2:29 I made the most rated game on a GMTK gamejam once! Still one of my proudest achievements, even though it wasn't the highest rated.

  • @kid6417
    @kid6417 2 года назад +12

    While watching, I noticed that he says "Itch tries not to be like other platforms" but in the subtitles, it adds "especially Steam" at 5:41 lol

  • @CosplayerReaper
    @CosplayerReaper 2 года назад +8

    Its nice to see people like this helping out and being community-friendly. We need more people like these guys.

  • @torahu4443
    @torahu4443 2 года назад +9

    Itch is where I get 90% of the games I play. And they are all free because I mostly play Visual Novels

  • @projectgorgonfan
    @projectgorgonfan 2 года назад +4

    6:50 It's Equality, not Equity. Actually an important distinction to make

  • @DesmodiumGames
    @DesmodiumGames 2 года назад +23

    Brilliant mini-documentary- I assumed you had 100k+ subs but when I went to subscribe I saw you didn’t and was very surprised! Keep up the great work 👍

  • @thefirehydrant
    @thefirehydrant 2 года назад +13

    This was a very well done video man, keep going with this quality and your channel will grow fast. (:

  • @coco_rthritis6462
    @coco_rthritis6462 2 года назад +4

    A platform that actually gives a single iota of a fuck about their creators? Based.

  • @UliTroyo
    @UliTroyo 2 года назад +17

    I never thought the Itch backstory could be interesting, even though I love the platform. Great video! Subbed :)

  • @colbyboucher6391
    @colbyboucher6391 2 года назад +5

    ...I'm really surprised at how many people don't know about Itch

  • @Cansyrian
    @Cansyrian 2 года назад +8

    Got your Channel recommended, I'm really glad it did! After finishing the video i looked at your channel and I legit thought that u had so many subscribers ! Your production quality is great and the video was really interesting and fun to watch ! I subbed keep up the great work you will grow big !

  • @islar7832
    @islar7832 2 года назад +5

    They are legends! I've uploaded my game there and didn't encounter any problems or gate keeping or stupid algorithms obscuring my game in favor of others. I really wish that itch would be our main store and not steam or others.

  • @NicTheThicc
    @NicTheThicc 2 года назад +3

    I've been on itch for quite some time now, but never really knew about its origins. Great, well researched video; keep it up! (:

  • @Zoek_Het_Uit
    @Zoek_Het_Uit 2 года назад +5

    Thought this was a way bigger channel, nice video quality keep it up!

  • @noeldev
    @noeldev 2 года назад +7

    itch is amazing, it is maybe not perfect, but due to how developer friendly it is, it's the best play for indie game developers

  • @EIement
    @EIement 2 года назад +6

    I started hearing about itch through some videos a few years ago I'm glad it's a thing that exists theres so many unique games that even have far better quality and hearing that some pages have custom designs sounds amazing

  • @uppyluna
    @uppyluna 2 года назад +2

    I sneaked around the site once in a while, but never did I expect it to be this amazing

  • @RobinTenTwo
    @RobinTenTwo 2 года назад +8

    great video! never knew all this about the platform

    • @vgexplain
      @vgexplain  2 года назад +2

      Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed it!

  • @sachizumi
    @sachizumi 2 года назад +3

    I honestly thought you had over a million subscribers, your editing and delivery is on par with the big guys, I'm honestly looking forward to your uploads

  • @decoy3641
    @decoy3641 2 года назад +4

    Nice to see this channel getting the recognition it deserves!

  • @SeanStClair-cr9jl
    @SeanStClair-cr9jl 2 года назад +7

    Love itch! Great video, hope to see your channel take off

    • @vgexplain
      @vgexplain  2 года назад +1

      Thank you for the kind words!

  • @DunhamLockhart
    @DunhamLockhart 2 года назад +2

    One thing I love about itch is how fantastic it is for Tabletop RPG developers! It's not just digital games!

  • @RenderingUser
    @RenderingUser 2 года назад +2

    ive been using itch since like 2018
    put up a few small games there. and participated in a couple gamejams
    ive always considered itch as the best game sharing platform for indie devs

  • @MarcelQT
    @MarcelQT 2 года назад +1

    As an aspiring video creator, I like your balance of B roll (game/web footage) and face/real shots. I’ve been trying to strike a good balance and I think you nail it!

  • @kxdsh
    @kxdsh 2 года назад +4

    I knew itch was awesome but I didn't know quite how awesome they are towards developers

  • @davidwusoftdev
    @davidwusoftdev 2 года назад +1

    That's a cool mini documentary! Good job!

  • @dvanko4062
    @dvanko4062 2 года назад +1

    that was a great watch .simple, informative and entertaining .Subbed ofc

  • @GameDevJourney
    @GameDevJourney 2 года назад +1

    Enjoyed your video very much, thank you and keep it up!

  • @bigthings1818
    @bigthings1818 2 года назад +1

    Been using it a lot lately, now I’ll be using it more

  • @oshit2874
    @oshit2874 2 года назад +1

    this video was great! that was lot of research

  • @justiceforjoggers2897
    @justiceforjoggers2897 2 года назад +5

    I get a few games from Itchio every month, it's nice to actually own what I buy

  • @Samuel-pt7rm
    @Samuel-pt7rm 2 года назад +3

    Great work never heard the full story before.

    • @vgexplain
      @vgexplain  2 года назад

      Thank you for watching! 😎

  • @seedmole
    @seedmole 2 года назад +7

    Hell yeah! I instantly thought of Bandcamp from the start of the video, cool to hear that the creator explicitly was trying to bring that openness to the indie gaming industry. Bandcamp has been an indispensible part of the independent musician ecosystem for as long as it has been around, awesome that itch takes it even further with the cut slider.

    • @polocatfan
      @polocatfan 2 года назад +2

      Bandcamp is owned by epic though

    • @nitro8416
      @nitro8416 2 года назад

      @@polocatfan It was not always

  • @nyuh
    @nyuh 2 года назад +1

    Finally! i remember looking around if theres a vid about this

  • @dackss3520
    @dackss3520 2 года назад +2

    Very nice video! The topic was interesting and also presented well.

  • @sylvia5925
    @sylvia5925 2 года назад +1

    yo this is so cool im so glad this showed up on my recs

  • @matthewvilla2920
    @matthewvilla2920 2 года назад +1

    thanks for the info!

  • @TimeWisely
    @TimeWisely 2 года назад +1

    GameJolt: *Copies homework and makes it worse*

  • @pollisgaming3168
    @pollisgaming3168 2 года назад +3

    Loved this. Great for beginners over steam

  • @nemo-is-real
    @nemo-is-real 2 года назад

    DAMN! You're not even at 1k yet? This has to change. Take my sub, good sir!

  • @TheDJLionman
    @TheDJLionman 2 года назад +3

    that says equality, thats a different word than "equity" which is the word you used

  • @casualcadaver
    @casualcadaver 2 месяца назад

    Nice video. Learned a lot.

  • @JayadevHaddadi
    @JayadevHaddadi 2 года назад +1

    Good stuff! Keep it up!:)

  • @veryupstandinguy
    @veryupstandinguy 2 года назад +1

    You deserve more subs and views bro

  • @thenonconformistt
    @thenonconformistt 6 месяцев назад

    Very interesting! Thank you :)

  • @robotplant5260
    @robotplant5260 2 года назад

    Great content 👍 subscribed!! Also love you’re hairstyle bro 😅

  • @terrancopeland6978
    @terrancopeland6978 2 года назад +3

    I still think bundle for Ukraine would have been cooler if it went towards arming their military. What are civilians even for anyway?

  • @WillJackDo
    @WillJackDo 2 года назад +2

    Amazing video!

  • @rithvik119am6
    @rithvik119am6 2 года назад +2

    SeeIng the video quality i felt you had atleast half a million subs

  • @RockyMulletGamedev
    @RockyMulletGamedev 2 года назад +4

    Interesting and informative 👍

  • @OfficiallyMaidenless
    @OfficiallyMaidenless 2 года назад +4

    I hope this doesn't come across rude or insulting, but it's actually extremely hard to discern what you're saying sometimes. I'm not expecting you to teach yourself a whole new way of speaking more clearly, but I do suggest maybe getting captions done. For the most part I can hear everything you're saying, but there are times where you quite literally seem to slur a whole sentence together into 1 word.
    An example would be at 0:26 I'm not exaggerating it actually took me at least 10 (but less than 15) passes to figure out I think what you said was
    "Creators can take home as much as 100 percent" (I'm pretty sure that's what you said)
    what I kept hearing was basically:
    "creditors ken tag home as Munchausen 100 percent" (fairly certain that's not correct lmao)
    I do hope this helps, because I found this super interesting but I also had to work way too hard to make out what you're saying. I'm not sure why I seem to be the only person who had this to say, no doubt someone's going to insult me and think I'm being rude but I truly do wish success for you :)

  • @andrewhonious7099
    @andrewhonious7099 2 года назад +2

    This is a very good video

  • @collinvisser7108
    @collinvisser7108 2 года назад +2

    Neat - Ludum Dare always brings down itch - Sumit your games early is not so easy in a jam. - Very good video - thx

  • @ifjNagyMiklos
    @ifjNagyMiklos 2 года назад +4

    On the other hand, complete freedom also means the lack of quality control...

    • @kalimacho1
      @kalimacho1 7 месяцев назад +1

      You can't have everything
      Everythings got trade off

    • @elsapopeta8741
      @elsapopeta8741 2 месяца назад

      The people have the liberty for choose

  • @SPACEGAMESstudio
    @SPACEGAMESstudio 2 года назад +2

    Nice video! Definitely deserves more views than it has

  • @ifandor1
    @ifandor1 2 года назад +1

    Great video!

  • @luucy025
    @luucy025 2 года назад +2

    Without itch I would not have become a programmer I started off just making games for fun publishing them and getting feedback I also joined s couple of gamejams where I met a lot of people I still talk to 3 years later if I didnt get feedback and didn't meet those people I would have probably quit a while ago and wouldn't even have attempted the transition from games in unity to software development

  • @Dudjdhdhdhdhdjddgsgsisidj
    @Dudjdhdhdhdhdjddgsgsisidj 2 года назад

    under rated, good content

  • @happykadyan4976
    @happykadyan4976 2 года назад +1

    That's a really amazing video.

  • @Tpbraut
    @Tpbraut 2 года назад

    Good job on this documentary!

  • @VoltitanDev
    @VoltitanDev 2 года назад +3

    Whenever I make my games itch would be the first place it would go to before I released it on steam since unlike Steam at least Itch is more consistent on their policies on adult games.

    • @theshadows1416
      @theshadows1416 Месяц назад

      I feel steam is better than itch if you want more market visibility and growing your revenue plus it’s the most consumer and user friendly platform rivaling itch in some aspects
      workshops, anti-aaa bs policies, thousands if not millions of users using the platform, a logical, consistent and reasonable refund policy, they’re developers themselves, their stocks are private which means they can’t be influenced by stock holders
      some people claim it’s a monopoly… but really… the competition is just shit like they don’t even try to make them rival steam they only exist because they hold games ransom with their « this game is only on our platform » or « our games is only in out platform »

  • @darknetworld
    @darknetworld 2 года назад +1

    It good stuff to learn how this company think outside the box. But there should be some bad apples of users use assets copy or reused brought content from brought sites that are not license free or permissions to resale example audios.

  • @leowesterburgburr4734
    @leowesterburgburr4734 2 года назад

    Great video man, make more!

  • @Artenesama
    @Artenesama 2 года назад

    Great vídeo!

  • @_GhostMiner
    @_GhostMiner 2 года назад +1

    Itch would be a lot better if they made a better text editor. The current one is quite limited and a little janky.
    At less from my experience.

  • @foreducation408
    @foreducation408 2 года назад

    Really good video keep up the good work.

  • @SkillterASMR
    @SkillterASMR 2 года назад +4

    Great video, it's underrated. the only thing I could say is you're talking and giving information too quickly, I think it may be overwhelming. Also there's a small echo to your voice, you could speak more directly to the mic or change the room. Good luck with your channel, you're doing an amazing job ❤

  • @minidavid-devdave
    @minidavid-devdave 2 года назад +1

    well done. It's a great vid. I enjoyed it.
    I'm now a bit curious other websites like indiedb, coolmathgames, poki, crazygames and more

  • @redthered279
    @redthered279 2 года назад +2

    potential channel

  • @sughost
    @sughost 2 года назад +1

    Good video keep it up

  • @petrblue
    @petrblue 2 года назад

    Nice one!

  • @carlaohmm
    @carlaohmm 2 года назад

    Great video! Love it

  • @liameberhardt4462
    @liameberhardt4462 2 года назад +2

    Im an Indie developer and would love to collaborate!

  • @ignis2638
    @ignis2638 2 года назад +1

    I like the platform, though be careful, the games on there can be...interesting

  • @JmKrokY
    @JmKrokY 2 года назад +1

    Facts bro

  • @jo3ble664
    @jo3ble664 2 года назад

    That's where I put "the psychedelic quest"

  • @holdthetruthhostage
    @holdthetruthhostage 2 года назад +6

    You need to make a video about Steam Sheep devs who will literally do anything to be on oversaturated Steam that complain about Steam yet still want to be published by Steam

  • @elijahjflowers
    @elijahjflowers 2 года назад

    thank you

  • @LORDSofCHAOS333
    @LORDSofCHAOS333 2 года назад +3

    ichio its batter then steam because you don't need to wait on a green light approval + you don't need to pay 100 dollars just to publish you game .
    the same goes to epic they don't tax you 100 bugs to publish you game but it can still be removed if you don't get green light

  • @TsjuunTze
    @TsjuunTze 2 года назад +2

    Its Indie and its open and its the future! And there is alot of Linux games! Love it

  • @UpArrowMate
    @UpArrowMate 2 года назад +2

    i use itch

  • @Matthew_MBG
    @Matthew_MBG 2 года назад

    subbed, thought was a 200k channel

  • @ashton360
    @ashton360 2 года назад

    cool video, but why is your microphone facing away from you

  • @paulkanja
    @paulkanja 2 года назад

    The enormous spikes in the amount of games uploaded just because Mark Brown lol

  • @musikSkool
    @musikSkool 2 года назад +1

    What's the game @3 seconds in?

    • @vgexplain
      @vgexplain  2 года назад +2

      I think the game is called Strange Island, but sadly it is not offered on Itch anymore.

    • @musikSkool
      @musikSkool 2 года назад +1

      @@vgexplain Awww

  • @avfxz
    @avfxz 2 года назад

    Nice vid

  • @IsaacOfTheSaints
    @IsaacOfTheSaints 2 года назад

    Play Faxdoc and NostalgiaTree's games, specially Treetris, Ecila and Rev

  • @raandomplayer8589
    @raandomplayer8589 2 года назад

    commenting cuz i like the video

  • @synthoelectro
    @synthoelectro 2 года назад +2

    it was the internet's little secret....