indie-game-discovery

name	indie-game-discovery
description	Research and recommend indie games from itch.io, especially short horror and PSX-N64 retro titles. Extract real user reviews and ratings from game pages. Present balanced recommendations with pros and cons backed by user data.

Indie Game Discovery (itch.io focus)

Trigger: user asks for indie game recommendations, especially horror/short/retro games they can play on itch.io. Also triggers when user wants to discover games similar to known titles or from specific YouTubers (Manlybadasshero, Alpha Beta Gamer, etc.).

Research Workflow

1. Search for the itch.io game page

Search engines (Brave Search, DuckDuckGo HTML) can index itch.io pages even when direct browsing is blocked:

site:itch.io "game name" horror

Access the game page URL directly (e.g., https://username.itch.io/game-name). itch.io renders server-side HTML that includes:

• Title, developer, description
• Rating (e.g., "Rated 4.1 out of 5 stars")
• Tags (PSX, Psychological Horror, Short, etc.)
• User comments/reviews (visible in the HTML)
• Download info, price, platform support

2. Extract key data

From the game page HTML, extract:

• Rating — the numerical score
• Tags — genre, style, platform support
• Description — what the game is about
• User reviews — actual comments from players (both positive and negative)
• Playtime — if listed (e.g., "Average 20 minutes")
• Languages — look for Spanish/Spanish Latin America support
• Price — free vs name your own price vs paid

3. Search for Reddit discussions via Composio

Use the Composio Reddit integration (the user has Reddit connected via Composio). Do NOT try to scrape Reddit via terminal/curl — it blocks OCI IPs.

Search Reddit using REDDIT_SEARCH_ACROSS_SUBREDDITS with the game name as search_query:

• Search both exact title and relevant subreddits (r/HorrorGaming, r/itchio, r/gaming)
• Use restrict_sr: false for broad search
• Sort by top or relevance
• Limit to 15-25 results

For posts with comments, use REDDIT_RETRIEVE_POST_COMMENTS with the post's base-36 article ID to read discussion.

Critical honesty rule: If Reddit returns only promotional gameplay videos (0 comments) or irrelevant results, DO NOT fabricate or force a narrative. State clearly: "Este juego no tiene tracción en Reddit. Es muy nicho." The itch.io page comments are a better signal for small games.

Note: The OCI VM IP cannot access Reddit directly via terminal — always use Composio Reddit tools.

Sources for Short Indie Horror Games

Source	URL Pattern	Notes
itch.io Horror + Short	itch.io/games/tag-horror/tag-short	Primary source. Filter by top-rated, newest, or free
itch.io Horror + PSX	itch.io/games/tag-horror/tag-psx	Retro PSX/N64 aesthetic games
itch.io Horror + PSX + Short	itch.io/games/tag-horror/tag-psx/tag-short	Narrowest filter
itch.io Horror + controller	itch.io/games/tag-horror/input-playstation	Games with controller support
itch.io collections	itch.io/c/COLLECTION_ID	User-curated collections (e.g., Manlybadasshero's played games)
Sidequest	sidequest.zone	Curated lists of short free horror games
Game Jolt	gamejolt.com	Alternative indie game platform
RPG Maker forums	rpgmaker.net	Freeware RPG Maker horror scene

How to Access itch.io Pages

itch.io requires JavaScript for its main app, but individual game pages render server-side HTML. Direct curl with a modern User-Agent works:

curl -sL "https://username.itch.io/game-name" \
  -H "User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux aarch64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/120.0.0.0 Safari/537.36" \
  -H "Accept: text/html"

Then strip scripts/styles and extract visible text with Python.

For itch.io search, use:

curl -sL "https://itch.io/search?q=game+name"

Then extract game URLs from developer.itch.io/game-name patterns using regex: https://[a-z0-9-]+\.itch\.io/[a-z0-9-]+

Language & Price Filtering

When user specifies filters, check game pages carefully:

Price

• "100% gratis" includes Name Your Own Price (NYOP / PWYC) where user can pay $0. itch.io lists these as "Name your own price" with no minimum.
• Paid games ($3.99+) are NOT gratis even if cheap.
• Check the page HTML for minimum_price or name your own price indicators.

Language

• Look for language tags on itch.io page: Spanish (Castilian) or Spanish (Latin America).
• Keywords in HTML: Spanish; Castilian, Spanish; Latin America, español, latino.
• Many PSX horror games are English-only. Late Pizza Delivery is a notable exception with full Spanish support.

Filter priority

When user gives multiple filters (e.g., "itch.io + gratis + español + PSX + corto"):

1. Check if the game is on itch.io ✓
2. Check price: free or NYOP ($0) ✓
3. Check language tags for Spanish ✓
4. Check tags for PSX/N64 retro aesthetic ✓
5. Check playtime or tags for "Short" ✓

Situation-First Approach

When user says "quiero jugar algo esta noche" (or similar), do NOT jump to recommendations. Instead:

1. Ask about: solo/en pareja, tiempo disponible, plataforma (PC/tele con mando), estado de ánimo, gustos/referencias
2. Search itch.io tags that match (PSX, horror, short, controller support)
3. Check game pages directly — rating, user reviews, price, language, playtime
4. Search Reddit via Composio for community opinions
5. Present 3-6 options max with specific pros/cons backed by user data and ratings

This pattern was validated 4-Jul-2026 with Late Pizza Delivery vs Last Kid on the Bus for a couple (21+25) wanting a PSX horror game on TV with controller, 30-60 min, gratis, en español.

User Preference: Balanced Recommendations

NEVER hype every option equally. This user explicitly complained about "descripciones de mierda" and "puras flores" — being too positive about everything makes recommendations useless.

Do:

• Present a shortlist (3-6 games max, ideally)
• For each game, give specific pros AND cons backed by data
• Include real user reviews (copy actual quotes when possible)
• Mention technical issues (broken AI, bugs, compatibility problems)
• Include the actual rating and what it means
• Make a clear recommendation with reasoning

Don't:

• Say everything is "great" or "fantastic"
• Describe every game positively without differentiation
• Give only your own opinion without user data
• Overwhelm with too many options and no verdict

Gaming History & Preferences (Chat Profile)

This section logs gaming sessions and emerging preferences discovered through conversation. New data gets appended here and retained to the chat-profile bank.

Session: 2026-07-05

Con amigos. Jugaron en secuencia:

1. Late Pizza Delivery (itch.io, PSX horror, pizza delivery). Entretenido pero historia floja. Confirmación práctica de que el rating 4.1/5 es razonable — no esconder las debilidades de un juego.
2. Open House / Virtual Open House — juego de terror de inmobiliaria, casa 3D interactiva, imágenes con anomalías, twist demoníaco. Les gustó más que Late Pizza Delivery por sistema de gameplay innovador.
3. Se aburrieron del terror. Buscaron juegos basados en Chile.
4. Encontraron uno de gestión de recursos: construir hospitales, colegios, hidroeléctricas, etc. Contexto chileno. Les gustó.

Emerging Patterns

• Grupo: juega en compañía (amigos/pareja), no solo.
• Tolerancia al terror: alta pero con saturación rápida. Alternar géneros en una misma sesión.
• Qué pesa más: innovación en gameplay > historia. Una mecánica novedosa puede salvar un juego con historia regular.
• Interés local: juegos ambientados en Chile o con contexto chileno tienen alta prioridad. No solo terror — el de gestión de recursos chileno les gustó.
• Formato: sesiones exploratorias, no planeadas. Saltan de juego en juego según interés del momento.

How to Use This Data

When recommending games in future sessions:

1. Prioritize games with unique mechanics over narrative-heavy experiences
2. Include Chile-themed/location games as a category even if user didn't ask
3. Offer genre variety — don't double down on horror if they just played 2 horror games
4. Consider co-op/same-screen multiplayer or games that work well watching together

Pitfalls

• Search engines (Brave, DuckDuckGo, Google) and Reddit may rate-limit OCI VM IPs quickly. Spread searches across engines, and prioritize direct page access when URLs are known.
• Itch.io pages with JS-required features won't render via curl. Stick to game pages (server-rendered) and avoid the main feed which needs JS.
• Not all games list playtime. Infer from tags (Short) or user comments.
• "PSX-style" games often have controller support but verify via tags (input-playstation, input-xbox, input-generic).
• Many itch.io games are Windows-only. Check before recommending if the user is on another OS.
• Some games made in 1 week or for game jams may have broken mechanics — always check user reviews for this.