Basically, I am checking to see if I am missing something here. For instance, I want to add the ability for users to create custom themes (and eventually, addons) for my game. In Steam, those would be distributed via the steam workshop. Is there something similar here on itch? If not, for those of you who have tackled this problem.. how did you handle it?
The Itch client is not the same as the Steam client. Including the environment around it. Games are not managed by Itch. Many cannot even be installed by the Itch app.
There is no support for DLC or any kind of sub-projects.
Purchasing a project gives access to the files that are paid only on the project page. One can build a manifest file for the Itch app or hope that the magic of it will handle the installation. But basically Itch is a file hoster with attached store and a browsing cataglogue.
So, no, there is no such thing as modding support or whatever you can do with the Workshop.
However. If you do have a modding community, those mods can be released on Itch as projects by your modders. And you can link to them however you like. Be it a collection or links on your project page, or whatever.
Itch even has a separate category for game mods. https://itch.freezing.top/game-mods Maybe you can find examples there. There is bound to be mods for games that are hosted on Itch too.
Thanks for the info. I thought I hit reply the other day... but I guess I didn't.
It seems like itch erases everything on each new game update, so I need to store the game settings somewhere outside of the itch folder any how. :( So for Itch game installations, I may have to create a <mydocs>/<game>/Itch/Addons folder for stuff to be stored that won't get lost on each new game update. That would then require the users to use Curse or some such third party mod hosting/client for mods/themes/etc.
Thanks for the info! I definitely have some things to think about.
It's not necessary; you must have a problem with the file structure. But you can use a manifest to indicate what should and shouldn't be updated, thus preserving the players' saves:https://itch.freezing.top/docs/itch/integrating/manifest.html
Edit:
My mistake, what you really need is to ignore the files where you save the players' games:
https://itch.freezing.top/docs/butler/pushing.html#appendix-a-understanding-the-progress-b...
Hmm, I do not see a section on that page for excluding subfolders from getting overwritten. The closest I can guess is the following:
[[actions]] name = "Open mods folder" path = "mods/"
However, I couldn't find any action or keywords to mark what should and shouldn't be updated. Is the above what you are talking about?
(edit)
Ah, that 2nd link is only for ignoring files when pushing a build. Not on the receiving end, unfortunately. I may have to submit a github issue to see if there is a way for this. (or just use my workaround of the <mydocs>
