GAME AND REVIEW SUBMISSION RULES

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Game and Review Submission Rules
The Game Section is designed to release and advertise your projects. Game projects should be of your own creation and should show some sort of general progress. The Game Section is limited to games that are produced by indie developers, that is, your non-commercial, 100% free game.

Any submission advertising a commercial game is NOT allowed.

The Two Types of Game Submissions Allowed:
Advertising submissions require at least 2 paragraphs, 4-5 sentences each, of information. You are also required to have at least 3 screenshots showing some form of in-game play.

Demo/Full Game submissions require at least 1 paragraph, 4-5 sentences long, explaining your project as well as at least 3 screenshots showing some form of in-game play.

Your game won't even go into the submission queue until 3 screens are loaded.

When writing the description, please try to be descriptive as possible about the game itself. Imagine that you were running your own website where you were SELLING the game, what would you put? It does not have to be an essay, but in general the description should be the best information available on the game.

You are allowed to use standard BBCode tags in textboxes.

Also consider using gamepages to split up your game information into categories.


Screenshots
The screenshots need to have variety - three screenshots of one location isn't counted as three screenshots. Title screens, splash screens, map art, or character art do not count toward your screenshot total (but are certainly allowed).

Your game has a screenshot gallery built into it. All you need to do is add the screenshots!
  • Accepted screenshots will be placed inside your game's gallery.
  • You can later remove screenshots, but you will be unable to edit them.
  • We only support JPEG and PNG screenshots. GIFs, BMPs and others are not allowed.
  • Pornographic material is NOT allowed.


Downloads
Game downloads below 20 MB are accepted so long as it follows the Terms of Service. Games greater than that are up to RMN staff discretion (most are accepted).

Please submit the entire game, and not just the rpg_rt.exe or game.exe. That is not the game. For example, in RM2k3, ZIP the entire game folder and submit that zip file. In RMXP, try using the gamedisc/installer.

Submissions consisting solely the aforementioned .exe files will be denied.

Game Download submissions are for games. They are not your personal filespace on the internet. Use your Locker for that.

You cannot abuse the game download update feature to artificially anchor your game on the front page.

Gaming the system so that your game is constantly on the frontpage is against the rules. (a.k.a. The Davenport Rule - named after the first egregious offender). People caught abusing this system with their game download will have their game forcibly removed from the frontpage. Repeat offenses will lead to the game being removed from RMN.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism is not allowed and any member caught plagiarizing without the permission of the original author will be subject to discipline from the site staff. Members caught plagiarising will be given the opportunity to defend their actions to the staff, but if plagiarism is evident beyond a doubt, that member will be banned.

As far as graphics go, there is some leeway. Using rips are common practice. So long as you do not claim someone elses graphics are your own, it is not considered plagiarism at this site.


Reviews
You have the ability to submit reviews for games featured on RMN. A one-liner does not constitute a review. One-liners are for the comments section.

You can only review games that have an available download.

It is required that you have played the game you are reviewing. If possible you should play the game to completion. If you are unable or unwilling to complete a game but feel compelled to review it you must state how long you played and the reason you stopped playing.

You may rate the game and give it a score ranging between 0.5 and 5.0 stars. You may also choose not to give a score. Be prepared to justify your rating with the content of your review. If you give an exceedingly low score you are expected to describe the game's flaws in detail. Similarly if you feel the game deserves a high score you must adequately justify this viewpoint.

You must write at least two paragraphs, 4-5 sentences long. Be prepared to discuss gameplay, graphics, sound, or anything else relevant to the game you are reviewing.

You are expected to maintain a certain level of professionalism and maturity in writing a review. Personal insults, name-calling, or other nonsense will not be tolerated. As always, proper spelling and grammar are expected.

If you feel you do not have enough content to make a solid review you should consider simply posting your thoughts on the gamepage comments or sending a message directly to the creator.

All reviews are evaluated by staff before they are accepted and appear on the site. The staff may deny your review if we feel it does not meet the site's standards. Typically when this is done you will be informed of what changes need to be made before the review can be accepted.


Disclaimer
Even should you meet the minimum requirements as outlined above, the staff reserves the right to deny any submission to the site.


Questions
If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, please PM one of the following site staff:
  • Magi
  • kentona
  • WIP
Addendum 4.1 (a) ii.
Anyone who submits a new game without the associated required screenshots will be PM'd and asked to provide the missing media. The game submission will remain waiting in the queue. Should no reply or submission of screenshots take place within 7 days of original submission, the game will subsequently be denied.
Reminder!

New game submissions require:
3 screenshots
...to be approved!

Adding a screenshot:

Go to your game's page by clicking Account > Manage Games in the upper left corner of the site.

Go to the Images page and click on the Add Image button.

Choose the file from your hard drive.

Edit it afterwords to give it a title.


Also, "demo" and "to be added later..." are NOT game descriptions. You require:
8 lines of pertinent description!


Sincerely,

Junior Executive Vice President kentona
Executive Decision 19.1.6 (c) iii - BCB

November 8th, 2007

To our netizens,

This decision/signing statement may also be known as BCB - Bad Content Ban. It is an addition to kentona's game and review submission rules, found at http://www.rpgmaker.net/forums/index.php?topic=322.0

The aforementioned game policy, while much more effective than our previous policy (if only because we didn't have one), had one glaring fault: as long as you met the basic criteria, we would approve your content, no exceptions. Ladies and gentlemen, that day is over.

Effective immediately, we will only approve content that we deem worthy. We reserve the right to reject your submitted content on the basis that it sucks. Only content that is believed to be of a certain level of quality will be approved by our moderation team, else they face the wrath of my future ex-wife.

What does this mean for the average user? Well, nothing really. This is not meant to be a form of censorship and we're not going to actively looking for reasons to deny your content. The vast majority of our users here generate decent enough discussion and submit good enough work. However, it does mean we will refuse to be a breeding ground for spastic noob submissions. Chances are if you're new to the rpgmaker scene, your first few submissions will be denied until you catch up to speed.

However, there won't be any "lol no" comments. We'll specify what is wrong and give you the opportunity to correct it.

Sincerely,

Robert Holbert I, The Conquerer
First and Much Beloved Emperor,
RPG Maker Network
Updated and moved to reflect the new site features and layout of RMN3.
Revision 7.7.29 (a) Section 81 - Review Submission Update

You can only review games that have an available download.

It is required that you have played the game you are reviewing. If possible you should play the game to completion. If you are unable or unwilling to complete a game but feel compelled to review it you must state how long you played and the reason you stopped playing.

You may rate the game and give it a score ranging between 0.5 and 5.0 stars. You may also choose not to give a score. Be prepared to justify your rating with the content of your review. If you give an exceedingly low score you are expected to describe the game's flaws in detail. Similarly if you feel the game deserves a high score you must adequately justify this viewpoint.

You must write at least two paragraphs, 4-5 sentences long. Be prepared to discuss gameplay, graphics, sound, or anything else relevant to the game you are reviewing.

You are expected to maintain a certain level of professionalism and maturity in writing a review. Personal insults, name-calling, or other nonsense will not be tolerated. As always, proper spelling and grammar are expected.

If you feel you do not have enough content to make a solid review you should consider simply posting your thoughts on the gamepage comments or sending a message directly to the creator.

All reviews are evaluated by staff before they are accepted and appear on the site. The staff may deny your review if we feel it does not meet the site's standards. Typically when this is done you will be informed of what changes need to be made before the review can be accepted.
Addendum 92.1 (m) (a.k.a. The Davenport Rule)

You cannot abuse the game download update feature to artificially anchor your game on the front page.

Gaming the system so that your game is constantly on the frontpage is against the rules. (a.k.a. The Davenport Rule - named after the first egregious offender). People caught abusing this system with their game download will have their game forcibly removed from the frontpage. Repeat offenses will lead to the game being removed from RMN.

Signed,

Junior Executive Vice President kentona
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