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Old 11-1-2016, 02:01 PM   #12
TC_Halogen
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Default Re: Rules/Submission Guidelines

Batch Rules/Submission Guidelines Addendum

Hello, everyone. There are a number of concerns from within the Game Management team that need to be addressed publicly for content creators that are submitting simfiles. This is being done with the intent to better streamline the submission and reviewing process for all parties -- users, judges, and the game management staff will all benefit with more explicit guidelines.

Before I continue, I will let it be known that the Game Management staff intends to enforce these rules from this point forward, and simfiling staff will aid in ensuring that these submission guidelines are followed. Users have not been exercising their due diligence in ensuring that their submissions are proper, and that in itself is a problem, as it creates additional work for staff and introduces the potential for various issues to occur.

RULES
It goes without saying that submission rules are rather detailed -- that being said, we expect all users to read them in detail. Questions are encouraged! Feel free to post in the Rules/Submissions Guidelines thread with any concerns and a member of the Game Management staff will do everything they can to assist you.

Users will always be submitting to public batches unless it is explicitly stated that there is a special batch going on. Special batches are typically announced in their own separate threads away from the designated monthly threads in the FFR Batch Forums, and are typically receive their own front page post as well.

The rules for these batches can be found in the first post of this thread.

We have repeatedly had issues with file fixes over the past few years, most notably paralleling the time when the Official Tournament events are going on. This causes a huge hassle in coordination, as the process for preparing these submissions is not a one person process. It is important to note that submission rules will now explicitly stipulate the following:

- Stepartists have a week to submit any relevant fixes to their files after the initial submission email; after that, no more fixes will be accepted and they will have to wait for the file submission to be judged.

- In addition, Judgment Staff has the right to deny changes made to files if the changes are sent less than a week before the file's release. If considered appropriate, changes sent for a file can be accepted with permission from a Game Manager if it happens to fall less than a week before the file's release.

- After a file has been either accepted or conditionally queued, a stepartist has eight weeks to resolve any remaining notes:
- Conditionally queued files whose required notes have not been addressed will be considered rejected past this eight week period - even if the rating is above the passing threshold.

- Accepted files whose notes have not been addressed after the eight week period will remain accepted; however, fixes sent past this eight week period will not applied.

- Any files whose status is conditionally queued prior to November 1st, 2016 will have eight weeks from November 1st to submit any fixes.
PROPER FILE SUBMISSIONS/PERMISSIONS

The Game Management team has outlined detailed specifications on a proper FFR submission. Please read them over to ensure that your file is following the guidelines, as simfile judges will now have additional flexibility in denying a file submission based off of certain parameters not being met.

A proper submission to FFR will now do the following:
- Follow this standardized submission format when submitting -- [Batch Name] Song Name (Stepartist Name[s]). Remember, unless announced as such, you are submitting to regularffrsubmissions@gmail.com.
- An example of a proper submission for the normal batch: [Sept/Oct 2016] Harmonia (TC_Halogen). If the file is being sent to a special batch, then this would be the format: [Official Tournament Batch] Undici (TC_Halogen & DossarLX ODI).
- Have a SM file that properly identifies the song artist and the song name.
- We have seen an increasing number of submissions whose .sm files are not supplying the necessary metadata (song name/song artist) for a completed submission. Please keep in mind that Unknown Artist is not an acceptable song artist, nor is a title like 64842_newgrounds_infern for the song title of a submission. Please make sure that you appropriately fill in the fields of your SM file to the best of your abilities. DDream Studio users: be wary of this - make sure you go to File -> Properties and file out the respective information! Incomplete metadata for your submission will result in a [0/10] rating. If the information is present but is not certain to be correct, staff will use their best judgment to ensure that the song titles and artist fields are proper.
- Have the conditions of your permission identified in your e-mail.
-Simfile judgment and game management teams are not expected to have every single artist that we have permission for memorized off of the top of their head. It is imperative that all submissions adhere to permissions as listed as in the Permissions List and Information v8 thread. Be sure to check conditions for content that you are submitting for inclusion into the game.

- Users are now expected to indicate the source of their permissions within their e-mail. Users can cite the Permissions List and Information v8 thread as proof. Submissions that adhere to limited permissions should list the contingencies behind the permission for the purpose of verification by Game Management. If permission is granted by an artist/group and not accounted for in this thread, users are expected to cite their reasoning behind why the permission is valid (example: Creative Commons Licenses), and, whenever applicable, are expected to post screenshots as proof.

- If you submit content that is not covered by permissions listed in the aforementioned thread, but have a screenshot that includes correspondence between you and the artist in question, supply the screenshot inside of your simfile. This way, we can verify that a permission in question does in fact exist.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Be wary of sites whose permissions are occasionally implied. An important example: Newgrounds, a site whose permissions used to be a fully covered blanket due to its Terms of Service, which included a clause stating that all content uploaded to the site could be used non-commercially with credit, has since changed its ToS to accommodate for their various revenue sharing programs. As a result, some users who have submitted newer content have stipulated that there are no granted permissions of use -- therefore, this content cannot be used on FFR.

Usage of these songs typically falls under what are known as Creative Common Licenses.

Some websites that are responsible for holding content from large numbers of artists will have their permissions defined on the given page. The terms of the permissions are indicated by the images (and their meanings). Visit the Creative Commons Licenses page for information about the permissions below.


Note that it is your responsibility as the stepartist to indicate what license is used on the site if you are relying on a Creative Commons License for a file submission.

All of these changes and additions will be merged into the main thread accordingly, highlighted with detail to indicate that they are in fact new rules/changes. As usual, feel free to ask any questions if you are uncertain about anything.

Last edited by TC_Halogen; 11-6-2016 at 07:44 PM..
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