Project Uploading & Updating guidelines

These guidelines only apply to PenguinMod's project sharing.
If you are packaging your project for release on other websites, you should follow their rules instead.

Also, let us know of any necessary changes we should make by talking to us in our Discord server or making an issue on our GitHub.

Base requirements for a project

Uploading empty or default projects will get your project removed.
Please do not do this multiple times as your account will be limited if we see you doing this.

Projects that are based around using an iframe to display other websites or projects will be removed.
This is a rule because the only purpose of this is to show content that is not yours or can be viewed anyways in your browser.
(This may not apply to projects uploaded before October 6th, 2023 due to communication issues.)

Spam

Do not just upload the same project multiple times.
To update a project you can either:

• Click on the Update button on the Upload page, and click on any project.
• Go to the My Stuff page on the Home page and click the 3 dots on any project. Then click Edit Project.

If you keep uploading the same project multiple times, you may not be able to post projects for a day or more
(depending on if you already got punished for it).

Projects uploaded that were shared on Scratch (Scratch Reuploads)

If you are just taking a Scratch project that was shared on Scratch and uploading it onto PenguinMod, please note the following:

• The PenguinMod version must have a change in the code (ex: changing a costume would not be enough)
• The code change should be meaningful (ex: a bug fix not in the Scratch version wouldn't count as a meaningful change)

This means like something extra should have been added, or something important in the project was changed like a gameplay difference or added difficulty.

If you are not following any of the above changes:

• The PenguinMod project has to be a devlog or small message about the project you are planning to upload with PenguinMod-specific changes
• The PenguinMod project can have changes planned later (in this case, the above rules would be considered after you have updated the project)

PenguinMod Forks / Mods

If your project only works outside of PenguinMod, don't upload it to our site.
All PenguinMod projects should actually work on PenguinMod, we don't want to approve something that crashes the site instantly.

(Note for developers: If we get a lot of projects uploaded from your mod that don't work on PenguinMod, we'll likely end up blocking your site from the API. See here for details.)

"Chatroom" Projects or Projects based around online chatting

Please do not upload these types of projects anymore.
Old projects may also be reported and taken down, but you will not receive punishment for them.

These types of projects are no longer allowed due to the PenguinMod team not being able to control these spaces properly,
and we do not believe we will be able to keep these types of projects safe for everyone in the future.

Projects with an online chat feature

This section is talking about projects that have online chat, but aren't focused around it.

As of now, you are not currently allowed to have online chatting within your project unless:

• Users can only use hand-picked phrases or sentences to chat

We are planning on developing online chat systems to allow creators to have a moderated but easily usable chatting feature.

There is no estimated time when this guideline will be lifted.

Be respectful to others.

Your project cannot contain any derogatory terms (slurs).
You will likely get banned for posting a project with these.

Be respectful of any real-world events that harmed others in any way.
(ex: don't make fun of people who were affected, or don't make a comedic version of the event)

You cannot make reference to discrimination or discriminate of certain things like:

• Age
• Race
• Religion
• Sexual Orientation
• Gender & Pronouns
• Disabilities

You cannot make reference to:

• Terrorism
• Suicide
• Death Threats

Keeping others safe

Your project should not put others in danger. General rules for this are:

• You cannot force others to download malicious material or link them to malicious material.
• You cannot threaten others in any way.
• You cannot use their general location without full consent. If you need to, you can just put a pop-up asking if you can use their location, with a simple Yes and No button.
• You cannot ask others for their full name, password on any site, phone number, email address, or legal details.
• You cannot take pictures of others without full consent.

Faking personal information (ex: showing a fake IP address) should be noted in the project itself or the project's notes.

Downloading malicious material may be an executable application or DLL that contains spyware, malware, ransomware, etc.
Your account will be instantly banned and you may be reported to the Scratch Team or security services if your project does this.

Profanity / Curse words

Swearing is allowed, but you shouldn't swear too much (ex: not every 2 sentences, not more than 2 swear words per sentence).
If you do need more, you may censor the profanity or add a warning that the project contains it.

Projects may not use profanity inside of their title, instructions, notes & credits, or thumbnail.

Limits on Blood and Violence

If your project contains large amounts of blood, it must have a warning somewhere at the start of the project and in the project instructions.
Cartoon gore may also fall under this rule. (ex: happy tree...)

You cannot display:

• Realistic or real-world depictions of extreme gore, graphic violence, or death
• Animal abuse and torture (realistic or not)

Blood also cannot be realistic and human bodies/skeletons should be used lightly.
Dead bodies of human characters should not be used more than once or twice at a time.
Realistic human skeletons may not be piled or contain blood unless for clearly-stated educational purposes.

Disturbing content (non-sexual)

Content that actively attempts to trigger phobias such as arachnophobia (fear of spiders) should be behind a warning.
If not intentional, you likely wont receive any punishment other than a project removal.

Sexual content or references

Sexual content cannot be included at all in your project, including references to sexual material such as genitals or pornographic websites.
Sexual activities or themes may not be referenced, encouraged, or shown either.

Disturbing content (ex: characters consuming each-other, inflation) may also fall under these rules.
Content or references to kinks or fetishes will also be removed.

You may receive heavy punishment if these rules are broken.

Drugs, alcohol and illegal material

You cannot display or encourage others to take drugs, drink alcohol, or vape.

You cannot display illegal content (anything that breaks the law in the U.S.)
or encourage others to commit crimes or do anything against those laws.

You cannot encourage others to use real-life guns or explosives.
You also cannot:

• Encourage or make reference to shooting living things in real life
• Encourage or make reference to shooting buildings in real life

Use other platforms sparingly.

If you are linking to a seperate Discord or site anywhere on your project (including iframes),
your actions on that site (or the site itself if it is not a major platform) must not endanger others
or display content to them that is only appropriate for certain ages.

External sites also cannot be scams or information-stealing websites.

Ideally, external links should follow all rules here wherever they can.

Money

You cannot sell products for real money inside your project.

You can however, link to Patreon or Shopify.
Let us know of any other sites we can allow if you need them.

Copyright

PenguinMod will remove your project if we are told that it violates copyright rules for any specific company.
Any company or business also reserves the right to take down your project if they believe it violates their copyright.
We will also remove your project if it contains pirated content or material.

Reasons your project might be removed are:

• Using another PenguinMod user's content without their permission
• Including logos or designs without their owner's explicit permission
• Using other people's artwork or music without their explicit permission

If you are a company or individual and believe your copyright has been violated, please check contact methods here.

Preventing or Removing access to parts of the site

You may not remove or prevent access to any part of the project or website.
This includes things like the Pause or Stop button.
If the moderators can not access the project and its contents from within the site, it will be removed.

Examples of what you can not do:

• Removing or preventing the use of the "See Inside" button
• Removing or preventing the use of the "File" menu
• Removing sprites, costumes or sounds if the project is opened

Limits on Audio

If any audio clips in your project are past the top of the audio preview in the Sounds tab,
moderators are allowed to mute/remove those sounds or remove your project entirely.

This also applies if you are using multiple audio clips to play loud/unpleasant audio.

If you do want to use loud audio, you must display a warning screen that the user must interact with to continue.
Stating loud sounds are in the project using the title, instructions or notes is not sufficent.