game verification on galaxy

When galaxy was first launched, the only criteria for game verification were a few simple rules like “only submit games you made” and “no ads”. The intention behind this policy was to foster an environment where new developers could learn and grow based on feedback from the community. However, as the website and community expectations grew, this policy was revised to be more restrictive with regard to the quality of games. Simply put, it no longer felt right to subject the work of new developers to the scrutiny of games on the homepage. We still try to be accepting of work by new developers, but some games may be best shown off elsewhere like r/incremental_games’ Feeback Friday threads.

When a game is submitted through the publish page page, volunteers from galaxy’s staff team look over the game for potential rule violations and concerns regarding quality. These volunteers may talk to developers through a chat window just for unverified games, raising concerns or asking questions. If an obvious issue is found, a game may also be hastily deleted with an explanatory message sent to the developer. If no such issue is found, staff vote “yes” or “no” on if the game should be accepted. The first option chosen by three distinct members decides what happens to the game.

Ultimatey, our goal is to create a neat site for neat, free games. We are human too, and sometimes make mistakes or bad judgement calls. We’re doing this in our spare time and can’t look deep into everything.

common non-quality issues

Besides the checkboxes on the publish page, there are a few more issues that warrant hasty deletion of a games being verified. Unless explicitly stated, this does not prevent the game from being re-submitted after the issues are addressed.

• The game is not long enough
• The game is a modification that doesn’t differ enough from the base game
• The game contains advertisements or microtransactions
• The game is not in English