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New game instantly quarantined and unindexed Locked

A topic by eezybreezy created 96 days ago Views: 699 Replies: 15

This topic was locked by lyn-marie excelsia 70 days ago

Issue resolved via support desk

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eezybreezy96 days ago

So I released early access for my game around 2 weeks ago and it was suggested to me to host on itch.io rather than the forum's and boards I had been using so far.

So I created an account , followed all the guidelines, added correct tags, created a good looking homepage, brought traffic to the site from various forums and message board I had been using and I've even had donations! Yet still the game is Quarantined and not indexed.

I read all the FAQ's waited for over a week and still wasn't indexed so following the FAQ I submitted a support request (279039) but after 3 days still no response.
After finding out from multiple messages that players had sent me, that the page was also quarantined I raised a separate support request (279384) to address that issue but again no response.

I know the team is busy and reviews can take time but I'm pretty frustrated with the lack of communication as a huge warning saying "This page has been Quarantined" is pretty off-putting when new players want to try the game even when I'm directing them to Itch.
I really didn't want to post here but I'm not sure where else to turn.
Hope someone can help.

No Time To PlayModerator96 days ago(+1)

I've let our admins know.

eezybreezy96 days ago

Thank you! I really appreciate it <3

eezybreezy93 days ago (1 edit)

Hi, Its been a few days and I've still received no response from the support team,

Marketing is still progressing and I have multiple donations and hundreds of downloads all from outside traffic since my last post.
Is there any chance this can be expedited, so far I don't seem to be getting anywhere.
The game is still unindexed and quarantined.

No Time To PlayModerator93 days ago

I don't know. It's out of my hands now.

eezybreezy93 days ago

I appreciate the reply, hopefully i'll have some kind of news soon

K.Darshan70 days ago

Respected Sir,

my page is quarantined and it shows like this:

My game only has downloadable executable file and there is no other file other than this, my tags are appropriate. I downloaded my own game and tested it by running the .exe in my computer and it runs as usual

My page isn't found when I searched on itch.io and it's been a week since I uploaded my game, Is there is any issue in my game page or in my download section

If there is any issue in my game page, let me know about changes that need to be made by me.

kindly reply me regarding this issue hoping for your request

Yours obediently,

K.Darshan

No Time To PlayModerator70 days ago(+1)

I don't know why exactly your game was quarantined. Please read this unofficial FAQ. And next time please make your own topic instead of hijacking someone else's.

K.Darshan70 days ago

Respected sir,

Sir, can you please make it clear about "And next time please make your own topic instead of hijacking someone else's." In your reply

Do you mean that using free assets (CC0) is illegal or naming my game "Sick Knight's Dusky Adventure" is hijacking others game title ?

First of all, I named my game as "Sick Knight's Evening Adventure" and later turned into "Sick Knight's Dusky Adventure".

This game title was created by me and these changes have made before exporting my game from godot to itch.io.

I'm new to itch.io and even new to game development.

I thought that uploading games on itch is peaceful. but because of some scammers, the security system flags newly published games to be quarantined and this really saddens me a lot

Sorry and thank you!

No Time To PlayModerator70 days ago(+1)

You're posting in a topic made by somebody else, who now has to see our discussion too! And I just said I don't know exactly why your game was quarantined.

K.Darshan70 days ago (1 edit)

Respected Moderator,

Thank you for your kind response sir, now only I realised that I stated my issue on another user's topic and sorry for that

Thank you and Sorry for the inconvenience!

eezybreezy90 days ago (1 edit)

It's now been 2 weeks with no response from any support teams.
Game is still unindexed and quarantined despite the close to 1,000 downloads and multiple donations.

The Itch team don't seem to care at all regardless of if you follow their process or not.
I've emailed support twice, contacted in discord, contacted via this forum and still nothing.
This is just crazy now...

Waiting for someone in support to click a button and actually let you use this platform should not take this long.

eezybreezy88 days ago (2 edits)

I don't know what else can possibly be required from me at this point, I've followed every rule, advice and guideline to the letter.

The game now has 2,000 visits and coming up to 1,500 downloads all from outside traffic and in the past 16 days of emails and messages, trying to get a response from anyone at Itch the only response I've had is from No Time to Play on this thread.

Waiting for indexing i understand can take time but 16 days of "This page has been Quarantined" ACTIVELY discouraging players from downloading the game is unbelievable.

hechelion88 days ago(+1)

I don't know what else can possibly be required from me at this point

Possibly nothing.

Staff don't usually provide explanations for why a game isn't indexed, but what I've seen over the years:

Most likely, they simply haven't been able to manually review your game yet. Many of us believe that Itch must have an automated system with a secret algorithm that initially decides whether a game is indexed or not.

If that automated system flags your game for manual review, there's not much you can do but wait. The problem here is that there aren't enough human staff to handle the full volume of requests that need to be reviewed, and that generates the delays we see.

Surely, being quarantined is a sign that your game has been flagged as dangerous, and that likely complicates the process further, as it means staff must confirm that it is indeed a false positive before lifting the quarantine.

eezybreezy88 days ago(+1)

I think the frustrating part is the lack of communication.

I would happily have provided any info required, attached virustotal scans, given copies of my custom scripts etc. if i had any communication whatsoever. Yes, i know things like this take time but 16 days of quarantine is absurd. Especially as Itch can easily see the amount of downloads and views the game has.

To not even receive a single email or message to say it will be looked into within a week/month/year is so disheartening as a new developer.
Especially when I'm spending 12 hours a day working on the game and advertising the game to new players to bring them here.

redonihunter87 days ago

I think the frustrating part is the lack of communication.

This.

Also, that they are obviously not able to reduce their big heap of unfinished business down to the normal expected size, so waiting times for staff to intervene would be the few days that are mentioned in the faq. It is not a few days. It is several weeks often. This is not since yesterday, this is going on for quite a while now.

Because it is not a few days, all these threads pop up. Be it about payout time, unresolved quarantines, index status or removal of malware and pirated games.

I have seen about a thousand malware games (that number is not inflated to impress) and scams here. Trust me, nothing you mention would be proof that your game is not, including a clean virustotal scan. I have seen malware vehicles that did not trigger anything. If it were possible to simply proove that nothing is suspicous, the criminals would start faking it to get through the automatics and through the staff approval. And yes, I even have seen a case, where the criminal made a thread here in message board and was approved after that. I hope they learned their lesson. I also am pretty sure I encounterd cases where the developer had an infected developer machine and uploaded viruses without intention.

lyn-marie excelsiaAdmin locked this topic 70 days ago

lyn-marie excelsiaAdmin archived this topic 70 days ago

This topic was locked by lyn-marie excelsia 70 days ago