itch.io

Download the latest BugFix file and launch it from your PC. This will only work if you already have full resources folder downloaded to your computer, so make sure you have all the files as well.

With downloads of the game an image is included showing you how the folders and files should be laid on your PC.

The file size for the game greatly exceeds itch.io's limit on uploads, and as such the In Browser version on itch.io has been stuck on a previous version for some time.

ONLY = Only the new files for the update
FULL = The entire game
BugFix = A Patch for the update

Since I don't play the game on mobile I'm not entirely sure of the process, but from what others have said you need to access the game through your devices file explorer. It works similar to a file explorer on PC, and has a few more options available. I believe a few previous comment threads on here have more detail about how they were able to get it to work.

Right click and select "Open With" and choose to open the HTML file with Google Chrome (or another browser of your choice). It seems like your computer is opening the HTML file in Notepad and showing you the raw code instead of loading it on a webpage.

Opening the online playable version or opening a downloaded version?

For offline, make sure you've unzipped the downloaded file and you should just need to click the .html file to start the game.

If this isn't the solution, I'm going to need some more information and/or screenshots to work out what the issue is.

itch.io has two main upload limits for me as a developer when adding a playable version.
- The game cannot be more than 500 MB
- The game cannot contain more than 1000 individual files

Whilst I am able to satisfy the first limit with a compressed version of the game, the game has over 1200 individual files, which grows with each new update I release. Currently I have no way to work around this and upload a playable version to itch.io.

Hosting my own online version is currently the next goal on my Patreon Page. But there are still a few options available to you. I know other sites like Gamcore currently host the latest version of the game, and I do have a download for a compressed version of the game on my Discord Server. The latest compressed version file size is 371 MB.

I would love to be able to get an online playable version back on itch.io, but with those limitations, the version that gets uploaded would have to be heavily modified in order to meet their upload requirements.

In case we're unable to get the offline version working, https://gamcore.com/games/community_service is currently on Update v2.2.1. There's a lot of ads on the website (shouldn't affect the game window), but very few sites at the moment host an online version of the game. (Unfortunately I can't host on itch.io as the game exceeds upload limits. A dedicated online version is currently the next goal on Patreon)

My knowledge of how the game runs on Mobile is very limited. So far the fix that @umbigo and others have found (loading the game from file explorer) seems to be the most viable solution.

As a fall back, there are some sites that host an up to date online version of the game (e.g Gamcore). And whilst playing the online version may not be as optimal as getting the offline version to work, the online version should load without issue.

Usually, if the files are in the right place and the usual methods haven't worked, it implies that there is something about the browser that's blocking the images from loading.

Try using the established file explorer method to load the game in another browser (Edge or Firefox work best behind chrome). If the problem disappears, then chrome is likely blocking the images. If the problem persists, then it indicates something might be going on with the game files.

Is this on Mobile or PC?

Good to hear. Thanks for the detail about the solution. It'll come in handy if anyone else encounters the same issue.

I have messaged the other user and asked them if they could elaborate on the solution.

The chat is in one of the public channels on my Discord Server so you're able to view it as well, but I'll also reply here when I get a response from them.

I'm unable to test the game on mobile devices, so this solution comes from another user who experienced the problem. They say that they used a file explorer to open the html in Firefox (though I would think Google Chrome should work as well). I imagine this is so that the game recognises the source files and is able to load them.

Let me know if this information helps. If not I can get in touch with the user who suggested the solution and ask them for more help.

What device are you using to play the game?
What browser are you using to play the game?

Some mobile users have reported issues with the images loading, and a solution has been provided by another user so let me know if this is the case.

Some browsers also have difficulty loading the game properly. Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox, are all able to be tested and work as expected. As such these are the browsers we recommend when playing the game.

Is this the online version or the downloaded offline version?
Have you installed both v2.2.1 Files and v2.2.2 Files (BugFix is not full game)?
Have you made sure that the index.html file is not in the resources folder?

These are often the common reasons as to why the images won't load. If they're still not loading get back to me and I can look further into it.

For the download, please ensure that the index.html file is not in the resources folder, this is the most common reason why the images may not be loading.

Also ensure that you have downloaded both v2.2.1 files and v2.2.2 files, as the BugFix does not contain the full game. If you are still having issues let me know and I can look further into it.

itch.io have a couple of limitations in place to make sure that games run smoothly in browser. The file I upload can't be more than 500MB or contain more than 1000 items. With our recent ability to compress the game, we're able to satisfy the first condition. However, the game currently has over 1100 items and counting.

I'm looking into previous versions of the game to see if I can get a more recent version on itch.io, but it doesn't look like I'll be able to post each new release here. Over on the Patreon Page, we're 80% of the way towards the next goal: setting up a dedicated online version that works with the latest update.