realize it's not supported but with wine on ubuntu it's just getting stuck on "Now Loading..."
will eventually try steam's proton but right now i don't know how to get steam to crawl out of it's sandbox to see the game, may eventually just install some random rpgmaker game on steam and just paste into it's directory as a crude workaround
anyway your game seems interesting and i look forward to playing it, thank you for responding
extremely simple: dev makes store page, dev sells game, dev deletes everything = red flag
dev makes store page, dev sells game, dev deletes all downloads, dev uploads nothing in a reasonable time ex. 5 days = red flag that can be removed by restoring downloads
dev makes store page selecting "comes with steam key option", steam store page with "upcoming" status linked, game released on steam, 2 weeks pass, no keys have been added to itch.io key dispenser for valid purchases = red flag that can be removed by adding the keys sold
all the variables already exist for the store to work such as sales tracking, whether the DL page exists, whether the DL page is empty, etc.
a good example of it being actively exploited is:
https://itch.io/b/636/the-big-lewd-spooky-bundle
19.99 tier
https://holodexxx.itch.io/holodexxx-home
which was moved to:
don't hold your breath about subscribe star getting paypal, paypal is against adult stuff, dlsite works around this by letting you buy tokens with paypal then using the tokens to buy games, the two subscription sites could do something similar but they would have to overhaul their sites and put in a token system
not only is that not how steam handles removed games there is even a removed game collector club over there
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/RemGC
google and apple however i can't speak for
by most common and trade laws itch would not only have the right but a compelled requirement to distribute to customers who had purchased, however you appear to be right only because a badly worded agreement waived rights itch and customers should implicitly have:
https://itch.io/docs/legal/terms
has the very poorly done "If you choose to remove your content from the Service, this license shall terminate within a commercially reasonable time after you remove your content from the Service."
where the standard language for something like this would be:
"
"
note i am not a lawyer, so you would need a real one to fine tune it
"What’s more, I think a developer is legally able to remove their project from a site that hosts/sells it at pretty much any point. I wouldn’t expect that itch has any legal ground to just reupload previously uploaded content without the consent of the developer/publisher."
removing the store page and preventing future sales is one thing, stealing back an item after it has been sold is quite something else (for example removing a download or download page only accessible to purchasers)
" I wouldn’t expect that itch has any legal ground to just reupload previously uploaded content without the consent of the developer/publisher."
they have every legal ground to provide something that was purchased
re: steam keys section:
keep in mind this is about steam keys that were part of the purchase or part of a purchase agreement to be delivered at a later time
this is not about begging for things one didn't buy
on point one and three the problem is a dev can delete the download file and download page and itch doesn't seem to keep a backup to roll back to, not talking about them removing just the store page for a project they wish to abandon. it breaks the "and have offline access to it forever" thing you mentioned, yes i have done the recovery of purchase download links through email and several projects deleted the DL page, more simply don't have the DL file(s) anymore.
on the steam key thing that is why i specifically mentioned it only applying when it was included in the purchase, most easily where they checked the right box so the store page and dl page note the purchase includes a steam key; this is easiest to check since the dl page will have "your purchase includes a steam key" but there won't be any keys for the box to dispense
possibly also where the dev specifically promises keys to be included with a purchase or above a certain purchase amount though i would expect less enforcement of that with how easily a dev can delete the store page and thereby the easiest documentation of such a promise
on why, partially principal since it was part of a purchase, partially because some devs stop updating the itch version after getting on to steam, partially because it is insurance if the dev deletes the project on itch or if itch ever goes the way of desura (lost a lot when they went down)
on language that's why i chose the term "red flag" which is appropriate even in situations where they've tried but failed to complete a project, the word scammer is appropriate in cases such as where they delete a download, delete other files included at higher tiers, or don't follow through with explicitly sold keys.
All of the scenarios i mentioned are where users would have no option to get what they paid for, at least seemingly, it would be useful if the
"This project is not available for download
This game is not published and can no longer be downloaded."
page had a simple one button report thing to simplify and automate itch checking if they have a roll back, or if a dev emptying a dl page without putting a new file in a reasonable amount of time would trigger a potential problem flag, on the steam keys the easiest way would be if the steam key box had a button that would open a box where you could put a steam store page link so support could quickly verify there was a steam release without follow through. non-automated support should be a last resort
"keep a local copy..." lots of problems with that, not updated, need a huge server farm, and people would spend all their time trying to manually update and organize a collection without ever playing anything, back when i used to fill hd with stuff like that and make database sheets of which pc gamer disc had which patch for which game, etc. sounds simple, becomes insane
at the top of each game page and dev page there should be a red flag section:
-if a purchasable game has no download
-if a game has released on steam but the dev never followed through on providing steam keys in cases where steam keys were part of a game purchase
-if a dev has deleted the download page for a game they have sold so customers can no longer download it
i would like to think this would make devs more honest, but will settle for protecting people from being scammed
edit: the steam version has more dlc available so better to buy there
https://dinmoney.itch.io/faultyapprentice only has dlc 1-3 [edit: a version sold years ago was supposed to eventually come with a steam key but never did, from devs response this may have been an accidental release where they clicked the wrong box ie. "comes with steam key"] [edit: dev claims censorship is toggleable in this version]
edit:the download page still has the key claim box but there are no keys for it to dispense
"Claim Steam key
Your payment comes with a Steam key!
There are no keys available at this time, try again later"
https://dinmoney.itch.io/faultynsfw is where they originally sold the uncensored version on itch
edit: after posting the dev deleted the nsfw page and the associated download page so anyone who bought only through that page is SOL
btw made my purchases before game was released on steam
is there any difference between the v1.5 version here and the v1.5 at:https://extrafantasygames.itch.io/miss-agathas-palace ?
be careful what you wish for, devs tend to abandon itch, for example the paid
https://gatekeeper-a.itch.io/inheritance
lags way behind the free.
then there are lots of cases there the dev has sold the game then renamed the game to game version x so you'd have to rebuy the game to get an update. (i don't have issue when they are upfront about the game v x thing, it's the bait and switch that annoys me), there is no approval process for renaming so devs can and have turned paid versions into demos before
sometimes a dev changes the title of a game, there can be good reasons for this like making sure there isn't confusion with a similarly named title or to emphasize something about the game but other times it can have dubious purposes like downgrading a game they've sold to a demo and moving the actual game to patron.
having a name history would lessen confusion and help with shaming those who use renaming for the wrong reasons into doing the right thing.
something sort of like how on steam profiles there is a arrow next to the username that if you click shows all the previous usernames the person has used only here it would be next to the game titles
sometimes even if they post an update there may be no feed notification, for example:
https://indivi.itch.io/elfjail/devlog/70826/elf-jail-r21
where neither the actual file update nor the dev's update post triggered there being something about it in my feed
https://fariseostudio.itch.io/the-chant-of-dead-068 has v.75 patron for sale
some devs update their games but don't make a news thing about it so their update doesn't appear on the feed. I realize this request could cause double notification on games where the dev does make a news notice but that seems the lesser evil compared to all the updates we currently just never know happened.
Thank you
speaking of titles they may want to look into restricting the ability of a dev to change the title of a work. for example let's say the sell a game "X", then later they change the title to "X demo" or "X version 0.001". this happens a lot with adult games when the dev abandons the itch version in preference to selling on patron, or decides to milk the audience for more, granted milking could be somewhat defended if they had initially sold the game as "X demo" or "X version 0.001", but to sell it as "X" then downgrade it is a bit bait and switch.
you probably want to use "create application" instead of "export project"
https://docs.yoyogames.com/source/dadiospice/000_using%20gamemaker/drop%20down%2...
dl not starting, other devs have mentioned itch has a file size cap so you might have to use mega.nz or something as a mirror.
another option one dev did was sell through itch but host the game file on humble bundle, but i'm not sure how they set that up, and it's a bit weird because there is no humble store page for it
seems like it would have potential as humor and eroticism varying from innuendo to porn depending on where you want to go with it. Consider that in Zelda the main character is always doing theft/home invasion type stuff, therefore they could probably use a spanking and those upside down hearts look sort of like butts so to start 3 swats would put an end to their life of crime against the poor dungeon creatures, at least until they collected more butt containers to increase their endurance...
There needs to be a way to top up payments, then in your example if the dev if the dev converted a free to a 10$ game with purchase to donation conversion the 1$ donator would then be able to top up with 9$ to reach the 10$;
or if a dev released a version 0.5 game for 6$ then added a tier of 7$ for version 0.6 the customer could just top up the 1$ instead of having to rebuy the game at full price again.