I've recently been making the switch from Steam to GOG. I've dug around searching for games I want to buy/re-buy. Eventually, I came to Siralim Ultimate. Being a big fan, I wanted a GOG version. Unfortunately, it isn't sold here. I decided to do some digging. Who knows, maybe it was on its way?

Instead, I found all the games from the series have been rejected for "low production value".

I'm not exactly sure what this means. The only thing that makes sense in my mind is the graphics. Sure, the game looks 20 years older than it is. But it definitely doesn't look much worse than some of the stuff here that IS sold. Besides, why would the quality of the graphics be the deciding factor anyway? I thought this site started out with a focus on old and classic games. It continues to sell and add more today. These are not generally known for their mind-blowing graphics.

Maybe it wasn't the graphics, but in that case, what was it? It's an amazing game with an insane amount of depth that you can play for thousands of hours.

The logic falls apart even more when you look at some of what DOES get accepted. I wouldn't exactly rate lazy, rehashed RPG Maker games that don't even bother to change the base tile sets and sprites as "high production value".

If anyone has a deeper understanding of this topic, I'd love to hear an explanation. Because I am absolutely baffled.

Don't look for consistency in GOG's curation. There have been discussions about it going round and round for many years.

It does seem that some publishers, like Kagura and Whale Rock, have special deals with GOG that mean they get a pass for games that normally wouldn't be let through. May also have to do just with being able to provide a steady stream of games, and of course with sales, which probably do exist in a fair amount at least in Kagura's case. If someone can only offer a game or two and there's little visible demand for it (think at least several hundred wishlist votes or maybe some active discussions on the forums), they'll be much stricter. Probably.

A clear example of curation being turned around by demand was Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar, initially rejected but eventually accepted for that very reason.

I expect this will result in a productive and totally novel discussion.

Edit: Welcome, though, and congratulations for switching to a superior platform.

Magic & Pixie Dust.

Only GOG knows and current mods are forbidden to discuss the GOG Curation model due to NDA.

We can only speculate how it works. My guess is that well-known games are a must for GOG to have, and curation doors are always open for those. Anything else is treated as *niche* and a special team at GOG make such a decision based on various factors, from particular's gamer experience and profits projections to mood and possibly nepotism.

for "low production value"
omg
but all the kagura games without any production value are not only allowed but preferred here...

I'd say Siralim Ultimate looks a little cheap, but it looks orders of magnitude better than some of the shite GOG has shovelled onto the store in recent times.

Most of us have given up trying to understand the alleged thought processes of whoever is doing curation around here.

There is no such thing as a "deep understanding of this topic," because GOG has never discussed their "curation" policies publicly in any sort of substantive or meaningful way.

At most, they have made a few spin-doctored PR statements about it that never give any concrete details of what their actual policies are, or how they work, or why they often reject good games yet frequently approve of shovelware.

'No production value', obviously doesn't meet the 'low production value' crieria, so that's why they made it through the curation process...

Curation here is very subjective and fussy. I remember Lichtspeer was initially refused to be welcome once popular.

Welcome to Go_G! You might experience all sorts of emotions on the way. Games are still free from locks to enjoy (99.9%)
Best place for freedom so far.

"low production value" can mean a lot of different things but I suspect in this case it means massive use of store bought assets and zero customisation of them.

This seems like a giant problem in the curation process. It is honestly pretty insane that they are apparently either unaware of this or just don't care.

Who knows how many great games were rejected at this point.
Which makes no sense, considering Siralim Ultimate has original graphics. As opposed to the already mentioned games that are on this store.

From what Ive seen I'm not convinced. Either way, its pretty low quality so the low production values stick.

I made mention of no such thing, but you do mention unchanged assets which is what i said.