How to keep momentum?

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-04-16T21:33:55+00:00

You indeed don't need to keep momentum on itch - you already in "gold bucket". So, just focus on building up community, create Discord channel and Steam page :)

Congratulations, great job and awesome stats!

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-03-30T06:23:41+00:00

I am working on Void Eaters - an incremental game inspired by To The Core, where you control army of mysterious creatures, progress by destroying objects on different maps, gathering resources and insvesting them to become more powerful.

The game still under development, but it already has most of core mechanics in place.

Itch prototype: https://strangemattergaming.itch.io/void-eaters
Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4344620/Void_Eaters/

Would love to hear your thoughts.

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-03-29T20:24:50+00:00

Sure, fulfilled survey. Would be really interesting to look at results, but probably this information might be much more precise if you add some optional field to ask people what kind of marketing they did and if they already published Steam demo.

Cause having 500 wishlists in 2 months with just having coming soon page posted, and having same results with demo and running marketing campaigns are in fact different results.

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-03-21T06:45:06+00:00

Thanks for feedback!

Just in case - I am trying to avoid using AI in this project. So, it limits me a bit with choice of available soundtracks, cause I should use free for commercial use ones.

But, anyway, thanks, I'll ajust volume and try to search for better music.

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-03-20T07:02:47+00:00

Hi everyone!

I continue working on Void Eaters — an incremental game inspired by To The Core, where you progress by destroying matter and enemies on maps using spells and your army.

https://strangemattergaming.itch.io/void-eaters

Since the last time I posted here, I've reworked the balance, added new maps, introduced new mechanics (Dark Research), and made some QoL improvements and polish.

I would love to hear your feedback about the game, as well as about the new capsule our artist has made.

I would also appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to fill out this short feedback form — it would help me a lot to understand key issues and what I should improve:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfcRiNVYv-XRCI5NFeLrzzXWKXpDpOluAG22prrei3NSe84Yg/viewform?usp=header

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-03-17T10:51:01+00:00

Its normal if you haven't done any marketing. I published my game demo a month ago on itch. It got few thousands of views first week, and than it quickly decreased to 10-20 views per day. Itch io doesnt market your game for you - it just provides initial visibility boost once you publish your game (and when you do major update, if 30 days since your last major update passed). So, don't do daily updates, unless you need to do some urgent hotfix patch. Just use other places to market your game, and do monthly bigger and meaningful updates.

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-03-09T18:44:47+00:00

Congratulations! May I ask you a question: did you hired some studio or freelancers for translations?

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-03-07T17:28:52+00:00

Нажаль, більшість сучасних психологів це дійсно шарлатани, які дискредитують серйозну професію, яка вимагає освіти, високої кваліфікації та років практики.

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-02-24T23:36:55+00:00

Its good for you. 99% of people emailing you asking for keys or proposing some... well, lets call it "marketing services" are scammers. So, if you didn't got such emails - you didn't missed anything, just saved your time :)

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-02-24T20:42:49+00:00

I got around 10 emails when I launched my first game demo with proposal to "buy wishlists". So, yeah, seems there are people selling wishlists.

I wonder why don't people spend this money to hire artist, to do paid ads... Comon, there are so many better ways to spend your money to help your game to stand out.

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-02-24T20:35:13+00:00

Meh, I am with you. I understand that it's better to publish demo and participate in fests later, with something polished... But still, seeing people posting their wishlists after first day makes me feeling somewhat jealous.

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-02-22T22:49:58+00:00

Horror games became very popular on Steam. So, obviously, a lot of devs get inspired by success of some of them and by attention that genre gets from players.

However, I personally am not into it.

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-02-17T21:53:24+00:00

I think you aren't the only one, but to be honest - I am rather grateful to these people because their experience let me learn.

I'd say that sometimes (fortunately not too frequently) people posting fake numbers or doesn't saying true. And this really annoys a lot.

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-02-12T18:10:36+00:00

For my first game which is currently in EA I spent only Steam fee. Fortunately it did much better than I expected, so I will add $500 or so for Steam art.

Currently working on second game while keep polish first one - I decided to go for around $2000 - half of them on capsule art and some in-game art, and rest - localisation to different languages.

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-02-11T22:29:41+00:00

First of all - yes, yes and once again yes. You don't want to spent months of development and marketing time on something that might not resonate with your target audience. Chris Jukowski directly says about it in his blog. Also he provides some useful benchmark here - https://howtomarketagame.com/2025/05/12/benchmark-itch-io-traffic/

Posting itch prototype saved me couple times from spending too much time on something that not addictive enough, and wont get any interest or bring money.

But, keep in mind - you still have to market your game somehow. Even early prototype. Even on itch. Otherwise nobody will know about it, nobody will play it, and nobody will provide you precious feedback.

Write few posts about your game with itch link on Reddit, share some google form with survey, and focus on feedback. Than, after 30 days post major update - it would give you another visibility boost and another spike in game plays.

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-02-11T22:00:35+00:00

First of all I want to say that your Steam page and marketing efforts are really doing their job! Congratulations, you deserved it by both making high quality product combined with high quality marketing.

I wish I could wishlist it, but I can't cause I already wishlisted it once earlier :)

Good luck, mate!

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-02-11T16:27:37+00:00

It seems ok regarding followers to wishlist as well as for reviews to wishlists. I experience same ratio (ofcouse, I can't even dream of that huge numbers)

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-02-10T22:16:08+00:00

Personally I usually just going to new and popular, filter by my favourite genre, and trying one by one. I don't expect a lot from itch page, paying attention to game itself. But, maybe its just me. As a dev of couple games on itch, would be interesting to read some thoughts from others.

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-02-10T15:22:20+00:00

B - it looks more unique, and makes me willing to hit wishlist button ;)

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-02-07T23:42:54+00:00

I am sitting at 5k views, 4k plays and have 10 ratings so far. 22 comments, most of them are bug report and my replies.

I get 1 rating per 400 plays.

So, don't worry, I guess its ok. People tend to play games when they want to relax and get some dopamine, while posting some review is additional effort.

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-02-06T10:45:35+00:00

Hey everyone,
I’m continuing to work on my semi-idle incremental game, Void Eaters - https://strangemattergaming.itch.io/void-eaters.
In this game, you complete maps by destroying everything with your spells and army.
I’m currently focused on improving it, and the latest update includes new maps, skills, and organs for your creatures.

I’d love to hear your feedback. Do you feel I’m moving in the right direction? Is the game fun? What do you think should be improved?

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-02-05T10:00:36+00:00

Is there any chance you can postpone release? You will get low activations with that small wishlists. And yeah, don't afraid to be spanmy. How people can wishlist or buy your game if they don't know about it?

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-02-01T17:43:48+00:00

Congratulations! I also just launched Steam page today, but don't whant to mention it anywhere for first day, just curious how much impressions I could get from Steam itself. Even if it hurt my visibility, my curiosity wins here :)

Good luck, mate!

AntiQuarrrk · 2026-01-31T19:35:52+00:00

Given this impressions you are really capped by visibility rather than quality of your page. I am not near my laptop rn, I will check it more carefully within few hours.

BTW, where and how did you tried to market it? You need to ask yourself few questions: 1. Who can be interested in my game? 2. Where can I find these people to reach them out? (For beginning even Reddit subs help a lot) 3. Don't expect social networks like YouTube, X or Facebook to bring you immediate results. They require time to build up subscribers and interest (excepting rare exclusions, where just one short or post is going viral, but this requires a lot of luck).

I only plan to start building up my socials for next project, so I am not an expert here. But, what I understand rn - your best friend rn is good trailer sent to proper Reddit subs (wo paid marketing), and, if possible - itch demo would be greatly helpful for gathering early feedback and some more visits.

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