An itch.io page is a cover still plus a loop

itch listings want a cover and a short page GIF. That is still plus I2V, not Steam's 616×353 capsule spec (already its own post) and not a /for/indie-game-developers trailer.

A page that sells a jam build is a readable cover and a few seconds of motion that still looks like this game. It is not a store-capsule geometry Steam already documented, and it is not a cinematic story trailer the audience page already owns. Cover first. Loop second. Stop.

The cover is the listing

itch shoppers meet a thumbnail before they meet a GIF. Title lettering, one subject, a palette that survives a small tile. That file is the product on the shelf. A busy illustration that only reads at full width is a poster, not a cover.

Do not prompt "Steam-ready capsule, 616 by 353, library row." That geometry is Steam's. Steam capsule art to spec is that post: fixed store sizes, a 120×45 derived thumbnail, logotype that has to survive a downscale. This page is not that spec. itch wants a cover still that reads as a page hero and a tile. Different shelf. Different crop.

Keep one subject. A silhouette plus a short title beats a layered scene with three characters and a skybox. Fine linework dies in a grid. Contrast between figure and field is the job. If the title must live inside the art, the letters have to be letters, not invented glyphs that resemble a word.

Text-to-image is the door for the still. Iterate cheap. Approve the cover at the size the page actually shows, not at the size you designed in the prompt box.

Qwen letters the cover; it does not become a trailer

Qwen Image 3 Text to Image is the stills row when the title has to read. Catalog facts: Qwen's third-generation image model, strong prompt adherence, complex text rendering in Chinese and English, intelligent prompt rewriting on by default, 4 credits, 2K max. No audio. No duration. Aspects include 1:1, 16:9, and 9:16.

Write the game's real title in the prompt if the logotype is part of the generate. Proof the characters. A near-word is a miss. If the logotype is a vector you already own, generate the illustration without letters and composite the type yourself. Two components you can each verify beats one generation you hope does both jobs.

Do not ask Qwen for a ten-second cinematic. It is an image row. A cover is a still. The loop is a second spend on a video row, off the approved cover or off a gameplay still you actually captured.

Screenshots on the page are a different object. If the listing wants captures, capture the build. Do not generate a "gameplay still" that is concept art with a HUD the model invented. Cover art can be illustration. Fake captures are a different lie.

The loop is I2V of a locked still, not a trailer

Once the cover (or a page still) is signed off, that file is frame one. Image-to-video keeps the upload as the opening frame. Turn a photo into a video is the named one-still verb: photo in, short motion out. Prompt camera and physics only — a slow parallax, a torch flicker, idle on the hero. Do not re-describe the title in the video prompt. Re-describing is how the letters melt.

A page GIF is a loop. It is not a story trailer. It does not need a second act, a title card, or a voice. If the still would not pass as the cover, do not animate it. Fix the still. Then buy seconds.

Keep the loop short enough to inspect. A long miss of a melted logotype is still a miss. Pause the midpoint. If the title drifted, throw the file away. Do not "fix" the letters inside the video prompt.

Muted autoplay still needs the cover to do the naming. The GIF will not typeset a price or a jam tag. Those belong on the itch page fields, not in generated glyphs.

Indie /for is the trailer. This is the shelf.

Indie game developers is a creator page: raw devlogs, the bug, the fix, the breakthrough, then a cinematic story trailer when the build can carry one. 16:9. Two posts a week. X and YouTube. That audience is allowed to wait until the game looks trailer-ready — and the page tells them not to. This listing job is smaller. A cover plus a loop can ship before the trailer exists. Do not rewrite the audience page as an itch asset checklist, and do not import a trailer brief onto a cover still.

Do not:

• Generate a Steam 616×353 capsule and stretch it into the itch cover slot.
• Run a multi-shot Omni "story trailer" and cut a GIF from the wreckage.
• Ask a talking presenter to pitch the jam.

A photoreal host explaining your game is a mouth you did not hire. The page wants a picture and a loop. If you need a voice, record a real named developer on a different day. Generation can still loop the cover. It cannot be the pitch.

The test: cover the page chrome. Does the still still read as your game? Does the loop still look like that still, moving? If the answer is a Steam-shaped banner or a trailer that invented a second protagonist, you made the wrong shelf.

FAQ

Can I reuse a Steam 616×353 capsule as the itch cover?

You can stretch it. You will fight Steam's geometry on a shelf that did not ask for it. Make a cover for itch. Keep the Steam capsule on the Steam post.

Why Qwen instead of a cinematic video model for the title?

Because the title has to read as letters on a still. Qwen Image 3 is 4 credits, 2K, text-to-image. A video row will melt glyphs every frame. Letter the cover. Then I2V.

Is a page GIF the same as the indie-developer trailer?

No. A trailer is a story the /for page already owns. A page GIF is a short loop off a locked still. Different job, different spend.

Can I generate fake gameplay for the GIF?

No. Cover art can be illustration. "Gameplay" that never ran is a capture you did not make. Loop the cover, or loop a real capture. Do not invent a HUD.