List of online services to publish your game

[Wuzzy]

I created a list where you can submit your free software game without much fuss.

List of websites where you can publish your game:

• https://itch.io/ — Indie games
• https://www.indiedb.com/ — Indie games
• https://www.gog.com/ — Indie games (yes, they allow free games, too)
• https://gamejolt.com/ — Indie games
• https://lgdb.org/ — GNU/Linux games
• https://downloadastro.com/ — Freeware games
• https://www.humblebundle.com/ — If you want to go commercial
• https://libregamewiki.org/ — Wiki for free software games only. More for documentation purposes than anything else

General software websites:

• https://f-droid.org/ — Free software Android apps. I'd say this one is obligatory if your game's for Android
• http://www.alternative.to/ — Alternatives to other software. Useful if your game is a clone
• https://directory.fsf.org — Free software directory. Fairly obscure

Loose criteria I use for the lists:

• They must allow games (duh!)
• They must not ask for a ransom to get your game listed
• The terms of service must not be abusive, like claiming the copyright to your game or other ugly things
• The process to submit your game should be straight-forward and not make you drown in bureaucracy (it's OK if they reject your game, however, just submitting it should not be a nightmare)

If you know a good website or other service to publish your game, please let me know! I have not tested most of these websites (as a developer), so don't trust me blindly. So it would be nice to know if you could write some experiences/opinions of the services from the developer perspective.
Maybe one day this could be added to the wiki (not sure).

[Julius]

Thanks for compiling this list. Maybe you should add that itch.io is also providing a client and developer tools to provide delta-updates. Both of which are much appreciated by users

Ah and you forgot the probably biggest one: Github *hust* All hail to Microsoft *hust* /s

For independent MobileVR game publishing there is: http://sideloadvr.com/ but for Daydream you can probably also use Fdroid.

Edit: Regarding the wiki... sure feel free to add it, but I personally think we will retire the wiki sooner or later, as it has been just gathering dust and most of the content is severely outdated.

[c_xong]

There's a big difference between the different sites. Cost, organic traffic, control, ease of use, community features, barriers of entry. You should pick the right option for your game. Also, it's best if you just have one "home" for your project - having more just splits your audience.

Initially I would just use an online repo with a nice readme, which also acts as the face of the project. GitHub or any of its alternatives work fine here.

Next, there are websites with no barriers of entry and where you retain control over the page. Pick just one: itch, gamejolt, indiedb, kongregate, even newgrounds. Personally I prefer itch because it's the easiest to use, but I know that sites like gamejolt and kongregate can give you more organic traffic. I would only bother with this step when there's already some interest in your game and you want to present a nicer face to the public, because it takes a bit of work to maintain these pages.

Then there are directories like lgdb and even wikipedia if your project has a notable history. These can give you some more organic traffic, but you don't have full control over their content, and so are not suitable as the main public face of the project.

Finally there are storefronts like steam and gog. Even though they allow free games, there is a barrier to entry, so you need a fairly polished game, not something completed during a jam.

[acme_pjz]

Ah and you forgot the probably biggest one: Github *hust* All hail to Microsoft *hust* /s

You can use Sourceforge instead

[GunChleoc]

Launchpad also allows file hosting. If you host your project's source code there, you can also set up a personal ppa for Ubuntu. I am rather fond of the Bazaar version control system, because it's easy to use. However, the project has fallen behind, so there is no continuous integration available.

[Wuzzy]

GitHub, Sourceforge and the like do not count, they are developer-centric. Their main purpose is to host repositories, not to distribute/promote your thing as such. I'm only looking for platforms aimed to distributing it to the actual players (who might—gasp!—not be developers).
GitHub is also sending you proprietary JavaScript code. I haven't checked other websites for that, however, nor have I deeply looked into of them, so take everything I said with a grain of salt (or two).

Also, it's best if you just have one "home" for your project - having more just splits your audience.

I consider most of the websites above as directories. So I disagree with you and think that having your game in as many directories as possible is benefitial as there will be automatically more eyeballs that see it. I do not consider any of these websites as a potential “home”.
The real “home” of a game would ideally an independent homepage to which you of course link to from everywhere. The other websites are just ways to make the game more known.

[SecureUvula]

it's best if you just have one "home" for your project - having more just splits your audience.

POSSE? https://indieweb.org/POSSE

[Wuzzy]

POSSE sounds like a reasonable strategy.

So this thread is about the “E” in POSSE then.