Itch.io
Embedded Files
(Indie Game Website: https://itch.io/)
As someone who has studied a Bachelor's in Game Design and Development, our tutors would instruct us to upload our games into Itch.io for them to play. Upon visiting the website during university, I couldn't quite notice the sheer visual load of small texts and icons. As a result, I took on a project to redesign the website as well as add some improvements that would help personalise the website in a more 'funner' way in a style I'd imagine a website specialising in games should be.
Home Page
My main issue with the home page is the overcrowding of everything. The filters/categories on the left felt unnecessary and could have been condensed into subparts in the navigation bar, impacting the user's focus with small, unhiddeable texts. Next, the individual games felt once again too small and way too cluttered against each other, making it hard to distinguish between its neighbours. I also felt the overall theme of the logo/website's white and red colours weren't strongly conveyed, having a lack of visual aesthetics in a very dull representation.
Current Design
First off, I went with a rounded rectangle style with my sections to give a personality of fun and freedom compared to the rigid lines of the original sections (game thumbnails). I believe this brings down the serious tone and nature of the home page, which emphasises the fun of the site and, as a result, the fun of the games presented here. I completely removed the left section, as they could have easily been in our subheading in the navigation options or unnecessary for a home screen.
For the games, I added a carousel for featured games and bundles where users can hover on them to view more information. This section can also be hidden. The individual games have been enlarged for clarity and outlined with a grey border to help the user focus and distinguish a game. As an indie gaming website, the importance of Game Jams (game-building competitions) felt important to me, so I added a small section of upcoming jams and developer logs to sell the community aspect on the home page.
I also added more red to sell the brand's style and colours, the top bar, and interactable buttons.
My Design
Games Page
Redesigned games page with slight filter/categorisation changes and visual change of individual games.
Current Design
My Design
Community Page
Itch.io's community page is very minimal, with very few options to view posts based on genres and filters. I was inspired by Reddit's system of categorising posts where hot, top, and recent posts can be filtered based on a time range. I also added a category to better find what a user would want to find.
Current Design
My Design
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse