Guidelines & safety

What you can publish on Halftone

Halftone is for games people made and want to share. Anyone can upload; every new game is checked before it goes live.

How publishing works

1. Upload. Sign in, press Upload a game, and add your game as a .zip (with an index.html) or a single .html file, up to 64 MB.
2. Automatic scan. We unpack it and check every file. Uploads with programs, crypto miners, ad code or tracking code are refused on the spot; anything unusual is marked for a closer look.
3. Review. Someone from Halftone plays it and reads the scan. Most games are approved; if something needs fixing we send it back with a note.
4. Live. Once approved and published, it appears in the feed. Uploading a new version sends it for a quick check again.

Allowed

• Games you made, or have permission to share. Jams, prototypes and tiny experiments are welcome.
• HTML, JavaScript, CSS, WebAssembly, images, audio, video, fonts and 3D models. Exports from Unity, Godot, Phaser, Three.js, Construct, GameMaker and similar tools work.
• Loading code libraries or fonts from well-known public sites (for example cdnjs or Google Fonts).

Not allowed

• Malware of any kind: programs (.exe, .apk, .dmg and so on), crypto miners, code that tries to break out of the game, or that downloads something to players' computers.
• Scams and phishing: asking for passwords, logins, payment details or crypto wallets; fake prizes; pages pretending to be another site.
• Server code: PHP, Python, server scripts. Halftone only hosts files that run in the player's browser; nothing you upload runs on our servers.
• Ads, brands and tracking: no ad code of any kind (AdSense, AdMob, Unity Ads, IMA video ads, Poki, CrazyGames, GameDistribution or GameMonetize SDKs and the like), no banners or sponsor messages, no promo codes, no "visit our site", "more games at" or "download our app" links, and no analytics or tracking pixels that follow players. Uploads with ad or tracking code are refused automatically. Your own name in the credits is fine.
• Redirects and outside links: no sending players to other websites from inside the game.
• Things that aren't games: wrappers around another website, link pages, spam, or empty uploads.
• Harmful content: hate, harassment, sexual or pornographic content, glorifying real-world violence, or anything illegal.
• Other people's work without permission, and gambling for real money.

Comments

• No links. Comments with a web address in them (including disguised ones like "site dot com") aren't posted, and nothing in a comment can be clicked.
• Warnings. Each try gets a warning. After 3 warnings in 30 days you can't comment for 7 days.
• Be kind. Harassment, hate and spam are removed, and accounts that keep at it are banned.

How players are protected

• Separate address. Games load from a different web address than Halftone itself, so a game can't read anyone's Halftone login, cookies or messages.
• Locked-down frame. Each game runs in a sandboxed frame: it can't change or redirect the Halftone page, and can't use the camera, microphone, location, payments or USB devices.
• No sending your typing elsewhere. Forms inside games can't submit to other websites, and other websites can't embed Halftone's game files.
• Scan plus people. The automatic scan catches the obvious; a person plays every game before it goes live. No automatic check is perfect, which is why both exist, along with reports.
• Reports. Every game has a Report link. If several players report a game as harmful, it is hidden immediately until we check it.

If a game breaks these rules

We remove it, and may suspend the account. Repeated or deliberate harm (malware, scams) means a permanent ban.

Questions about a decision? Upload a fixed version and say what changed in the description.