itch.io

Page is finally back ! Thank you very much for your answers.

Really wish there was a way to prevent this, I guess I'll just have to pray that each new update goes fine now (or just not update recently released games at all).

And there is really no way to prevent this from happening ? For instance isn't there any way to post the game update files in advance to check whether the detection algorithm "approves" the files or not ?
As a more concrete example :  On youtube I think it's possible to first keep a video private for some time so that the algorithm can check it first to make sure it can be monetized. Then only the creator makes his video public, and the algorithm check was already done so he knows there shouldn't be any problem. I'm wondering if something similar would be possible here.

I understand their detection algorithm obviously can't be disclosed, but it's kind of a problem to have the page completely cut from its visibility for creators, especially soon after launch. And that's without mentionning the creepy warning for viewers + it discloses "connected regions" of the page owner which is concerning for privacy as well.

Hello ! 
I ran into a major problem recently when updating my last game on itch.io.... I really need help 😭

The problem :
My last game got "quarantined" by itch.io soon after I updated it (~3 days ago). The game can both be played in browser and downloaded for desktop. Soon after the last game update, it got removed from search on the itch.io store.
➡️ A screenshot of the message displayed upon clicking "download" is attached below.

Additionnal info :

• Game title is "Brewing cat" (my games are for a niche audience so I wouldn't recommend playing.... Reason why I wont put a direct link here either).
• I did read through other forum posts as well as this link https://itch.io/docs/creators/getting-indexed. I didn't find any specific answer about what to do for "quanrantined" pages, and I did wait 3 days before making this post (if the review of a "quarantined" page takes more time, then it's not precised in this link).
• The game was made with Contruct 3 (last version). A popular and trusted 2D game engine.
• The desktop versions got exported as NW.js executable. I can share the export settings I used within Construct 3 if that can help.
• VirusTotal doesn't give any malware result when scanning the executable.
• The game can trigger a windows defender popup upon trying to run the .exe (I added a screenshot), but it doesn't happen on all devices (tried myself on different computers)... That being said I don't know the % of devices on which it triggers the windows defender popup.
• I know that my previous games can trigger a windows defender popup as well, yet their pages didn't get quarantined (games are "Feed the Dragon" and "Wyverns & Dragons" - both made with Gdevelop engine)... So I guess the windows defender popup is probably unrelated to the page being quarantined...?

Context :

• The game was published the 30th of august, and the update that may have caused the issue was on 8th September (although I'm not even 100% sure the update is the cause, so far it may still be a coincidence but that would be very unlikely).
• The game is free and got around 8k downloads without such problem during the first launch week until the page got flagged (~1 or 2 hours after updating the game, I don't remember exactly).
• The game is not digitally signed (which partially explains the windows defender popup upon running the .exe). However I've been told it costs money to do it, so I want to be 100% sure it would solve the problem before trying this solution - or at least br sure it would prevent it from happening again in the future.
  Here is a link about digitally signing apps : https://shorturl.at/4VcIz

Last thing I'd like to say it that the "quarantined" message doesn't show up for me, only for other people who go to the game page. I don't know if it's intended to be this way or not - I hope not, because it does make troubleshooting much harder. In addition to that, itch.io itself doesn't notify the page owner that the game is removed from search & browse...... Which makes everything harder and a bit frustrating. It's a bit overwhelming when you suddenly get a user comment saying that "your game is quarantined" and disappeared from the shop, cutting most of the visibility on something you spent several fulltime weeks of work on.

Screenshots :
message displayed upon clicking "download" button

Windows Defender popup (tho as said earlier it's maybe unrelated?)

The poll has 3 options and will end next saturday :
Feed the dragon, Brewing Cat, or a new project.

Also, yes feel free to directly contact Jacotomo if you want to commission art of characters from this game ! :)

It's not a malware - my own windows defender doesn't get triggered and Virus total doesn't find anything either.

Concerning the problem with the game page, I opened a ticket with itch.io support. I hope it will get resolved soon.

EDIT : problem solved. Page got randomly flagged by some itch.io algorithm (false positive), but it's now back at normal. Nothing we could do but wait......

🩷

In theory it's still possible to beat it in approximately as much time ? Below 20min should be possible in this update.

Also congrats on beating the game :D

pretty good job then !

What's wrong with asking ?

just asking - I suppose the game is mostly AI art ?

You can still contact me on discord or twitter if you are interested in helping.

🩷

Thanks for the nice feedback ! 🩷

I can't tell what's the future of this game yet, but at least there should be a small additional update soon.

If you are stuck on a loading screen, refreshing the page should fix it. If not, try downloading a desktop version.

Thanks !! 🩷

I just updated the game with many quality of life features (v0.16.1). I really hope this will help.

I just updated the game ! More time is given at the start to experiment as much as you want :D

Game just got updated with many quality of life changes (version 0.16.1). I hope this will help with most of the mentionned issues. You can check the devlog for more details. (also, stamina has been replaced by speed potion).

The player now has to confirm he is ready on the first day before receiving clients, so that gives plenty of time to experiment and learn the various recipes :)

Days are now shorter, so you should receive feedback about how good you did more often. I hope this will reduce the feeling of sometimes making blind choices.

I just updated the game with a new font for dialogues. I hope this helps !

Game just got updated !

Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you appreciate 🩷

I made days shorter in last patch (v0.16.1) so that you can see the impact of your choice more often. This should reduce the feeling of making blind decisions.

I'll try to look into reported issues over this weekend (for game balance, browser support, UI readability, etc)

Thanks for reporting !

I just published a hotfix - hopefully it should be fixed alongside performance issues now.

I'm currently working on fixing the framerate drop when too many entities are on screen (last few waves)

I am sorry but providing a mobile build for this project would be extremely complex and costly because of the ways controls are currently implemented.

However this is something I'll try to take into consideration for future projects I am working on.

Thank you very much !!
Yes, the original "kingdom two crowns" was the main inspiration for the game. I hope I'll get to add some building as well at some point, but for nearest updates I'll mainly focus on polish and adding a new character :)

update 0.7.6 : 

• added crystal lizard ennemy (hard to catch but higher reward)
• Thief girl can now drop powder (x6) when you jump on her once she has been fed.
• Thief girl spawn rate reduced a little 

game should be a little easier

Amazing game !!! I hope you improve it, very good core idea and art is nice ! :D

minipatchnote 0.7.5 : (game polish update)

• added in-level progress bar
• reworked crosshair sprite, stomach bar sprite, ammo counter, sword sprite
• Added [W] and [Up Arrow] as jump keys

Thanks for reporting it, are you able to reproduce this bug ?

More interactions are indeed among things I plan to add, but I can't promise I'll have time to do it before game is 1.0.

I plan to first polish the game more, and make the gameplay loop cleaner and more enjoyable in the main level. For instance stuffing the thief will be more rewarding and she'll drop powder when you jump on her :)

A new rare variant of golems will also be added, harder to catch but higher reward !

minipatchnote 0.7.4 : 

• Added pause menu ([escape]/[P]). Doesn't work on interactive screen nor during intro sequence of level.
• increased thief head hitbox size
• Added menu SFX
• Fixed various bugs

thanks for reporting I'll try to fix it ! Could you tell me under what precise circumstances the bug happened ? 

minipatchnote 0.7.3 : main menu now added to the game (still WIP) as well as fullscreen and volume options.

thanks for caring :3

That's not planned for the game currently

Thanks ! Happy new year to you as well :)

If you have this kind of issue with the web version I recommend trying to use another browser like Firefox (if it doesn't solve it I can only advise to wait for the next downloadable build).