New rule proposal for Progressing Projects and Project Showcase

[catwithnojob]

Hi everyone!

We've received reports of project threads in Progressing Projects, Project Showcase, etc. with download links that aren't easily accessible. The goal of these forums is to have a community where you can easily find and support fan games, and I personally believe having your game download be difficult to find goes against that goal. In fact, being unable to find a download link is one way to lose out on a potential player for your game!

So, here is a proposal from us on the Relic Castle staff team, and if the community agrees, will go into place within one week:

Threads in the Progressing Projects, Project Showcase, and Other Games and Projects need to have a download link that is accessible by anyone, i.e. without signing up for an account on a website, including Discord.

Any threads that hide their download link behind a link to another site that requires signing up for an account on a website will receive a message from staff asking for the link to be publicly available. Asking players to sign up for another forum or to join your Discord server, for example, requires someone to create an account if they don't already have one, which makes it inaccessible to everyone.

I understand wanting to keep your game safe from unsavory characters like game thieves and ensuring everyone is downloading the most up-to-date version of your project, but there are other, better ways to do this, in my opinion.

This rule wouldn't apply to:

• Games or other works in progress that don't have a download link yet.
• Games that want to advertise a discord server. This will still be allowed but it isn't the only way to download the game.
• Games that use their personal website or other public site (like itch.io (without asking for donations)) to host the download link. While it's an extra click, it isn't against the rules.

Reminder that these are always against the rules per the Overview thread:

• URL Shorteners like bitly, adfly, tinyurl, etc. are not allowed.
• Asking for donations (i.e. ko-fi "$0 or more", itch.io "name your price") or charging money for Essentials projects is also not allowed per the Pokémon Essentials FAQ.

As mentioned, this rule proposal period will last a week, so please feel free to provide feedback and give your opinion! After that time, if there are no objections then this rule will be added to the Overview thread. Questions are appreciated, too, so there isn't any confusion. Thank you!

Edit: Changed the grammar on the proposed rule and rewrote the clarification that discord servers are still allowed.

 

[CelestialFearow]

Maybe a bit of clarification would be nice. For example: if we release a demo with a link to download a game, and then later remove the link because the demo was not cooked well enough in the oven, is this against the rules?

 

[catwithnojob]

Maybe a bit of clarification would be nice. For example: if we release a demo with a link to download a game, and then later remove the link because the demo was not cooked well enough in the oven, is this against the rules?

Removing a link is not against the rules, but I would change the prefix back to "Work in Progress" so readers don't get confused and go looking for a download link that isn't there. This rule change is only for those advertising they have a demo or completed project, they need to have a public link to the download.

 

[CelestialFearow]

Removing a link is not against the rules, but I would change the prefix back to "Work in Progress" so readers don't get confused and go looking for a download link that isn't there. This rule change is only for those advertising they have a demo or completed project, they need to have a public link to the download.

Alright

 

[lichen]

fully support this rule. having to join a discord to play a game sucks.

 

[catwithnojob]

Thank you to everyone who voted and provided feedback, both in the Discord server and on the forums! As the vote is an overwhelming majority, this rule will be implemented shortly.