submission rejected: what now?

if the curating team has finished evaluation of your submission and it wasn't approved this time, you will receive a notification email – and also see the status change on the game submissions page.

a rejection isn't the end of the road. our curators leave notes and feedback on every evaluated submission, so the first thing to do is open the submission drawer and read them carefully: they're there to help you understand the decision and what to focus on next.

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you can find the reviewer's notes and review date directly in the submission drawer. see viewing past submissions for how to get there.

what to do next

• revisit our criteria. make sure you're familiar with what spawnd is currently looking for at this stage of the platform. a fresh read of the criteria often surfaces gaps that are easy to miss while you're deep in development.
• keep polishing. if the game fits with the criteria, but the build provided for testing had major, noticeable technical issues, use the reviewer's feedback as a roadmap and consult the build technical requirements as you go. there is always a possibility that a currently not approved game may be accepted after some rounds of iteration, giving that it fits our core criteria.
• understand what makes a good demo. a strong demo shows your game at its best in the first few minutes, communicates the concept clearly, has comfortable controls, and delights the user with polished animations and sounds. it's worth taking some time to dive further into the many publicly available resources (mostly shared by other experienced developers) to iterate on your project before resubmitting.

resubmitting

if your game still fits the criteria, you feel you've addressed the feedbacks and your build is in a stronger place, you're welcome to submit it again through the new game submission form.

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there's no penalty for resubmitting, but please make sure you've meaningfully addressed the feedback first - resubmitting an unchanged build won't change the outcome. if you have unaddressed questions about your evaluation, reach out to [email protected] or through our official channels on the Discord server.

above all, don't be discouraged. plenty of great games need more than one pass. we're looking forward to seeing what you do next!