Discussion - Games Section Quality Control

[Marked 197]

There's been some talk on the site recently about the lack of quality of some game pages. That's not to put anyone down and suggest their game isn't good, but actual content of the game page. 

 

So lets brainstorm. I've already got a fair idea of how I'd do it:

• Anyone can publish a game page, but it doesn't show up in the public listing or show up as a new content item (eg in the forum sidebar, the latest scolly thing, and homepage). 
• Game pages only show up in these sections when dev's opt-in, ie they have to click a button to request to be listed - this mainly applies to the games sections' public listing. 
• A moderator has to manually approve the opt-in request based on openly public criteria
  • A demo is present - but this won't be screened. It's up to the dev but there should be at least downloadable content. 
  • A minimum of 4 screenshots 
  • No empty pages / tabs (eg when people have a credits or contact us page but there are no details filled out in this page)
  • Properly set banner/header 
  • Sufficient details in the homepage, including good presentation and use of BBCode.   

What do you guys think? If I implemented this, we'd have to manually go through the games listing and opt-out the low-quality pages, and post feedback and where they need to improve to get approved. I think the main thing is the presentation - you must have enough there to serve as an advertisement for the games, and secondly the presence of the demo. There's a whole bunch of half-ideas in our games section, and this would filter those out, leaving more established games on display, and you know you're going to get more than an idea for each page. 

[Polraudio 122]

I personally like the idea. Im for the demo idea but i think it should be optional. Not every game can have a demo or want to make a demo. I think if they have enough content already for people to get the idea across it should be good enough.

EX: What if Todd Howard wanted to make a game page for Fallout 4. We would have to say no to this awesome guy becasue he doesnt have a demo.

 

I think we should require at least 2 screenshots with gameplay in them like the battle system, menu, etc...

 

• At least 6 Screenshots(2 gameplay, and 4 other)

[Ardaceus 21]

I would disagree with the demo part, but agree with everything else. For not every game can have a demo, my demo I'm working on isn't even of the original game, and that is going to take a while to complete now looking at it.

 

Also btw... what if instead of having screenshots you have the option to post a video of your game instead? That would be an option I think.

[Marked 197]

Ok, good points on the demo requirement. 
 

Also btw... what if instead of having screenshots you have the option to post a video of your game instead? That would be an option I think. 

 

 

I was actually thinking about this last night. The games pages are essentially marketing tools, so really the content is for users, it's not for the devs. I was thinking of abolishing the gallery "page" altogether and moving this content directly under the heading on the homepage. I got the idea from Steam, so:

 

Put yourself in the shoes of the users who're browsing the games, looking for good games. You don't want the first thing you see to be a wall of text. You want to get straight to the media because that's how you're going to judge the quality of the game. A sort of first impression thing. 

 

For this idea, videos or images can be uploaded and reordered, and it would be a content slider as above (which I was planning to implement as an option for galleries anyway). 

 

My original concept of the games section really dragged things down. I wanted to make the game pages capable of being standalone websites and including all these options to change everything, turn things off, etc. and that really slowed development.

[Ardaceus 21]

That's a pretty rad idea, a lot of people would love that kind of style for a game page. I thumbs dat up!

[Kitsuki 17]

Put yourself in the shoes of the users who're browsing the games, looking for good games. You don't want the first thing you see to be a wall of text. You want to get straight to the media because that's how you're going to judge the quality of the game. A sort of first impression thing. 

 

For this idea, videos or images can be uploaded and reordered, and it would be a content slider as above (which I was planning to implement as an option for galleries anyway). 

 

That's not a bad idea! I'm always for avoiding walls of text (which comes off... slightly hypocritical as I tend to post them :>). I haven't been on Steam in ages, not to buy games at least... On Steam, if you click on the game you'll get a description, right?

 

The only pages of the current system I'd really like to see kept are the blog page and a section for a description of the game and its features. Characters shouldn't have their profiles written out blatantly; the joy of a game is learning about these characters, so a simple mention in the description might be all you need, and it cuts the necessity to have a whole other page. And if there are comments at the bottom of the page, I don't see the need for a "comments" section.

 

What I envision is when you click on the game, you get a single page with a description, the content slider that you saw in the home page, and maybe a place to read reviews. I don't know how a blog would be incorporated, but I like to see updates from the creator themselves, and the progress they're making. In a blog, the developer can tell the player about future promising features without spoiling too much with, say, and image or video. And it's a neat touch for the developer to keep in touch with the community :D

 

If a game has no demo or material to show, I believe there was an "Established Games" or "Early in Development" section somewhere in the forum? I agree 100% that the game pages should be approved before they're posted publicly--if the game isn't ripe enough, it can go to the previously mentioned sections. Steam themselves have a Greenlight system, right? Or at least I think that's what it's called, after reading tons of Steam articles about RPG Maker. :P 

[Marked 197]

The only pages of the current system I'd really like to see kept are the blog page and a section for a description of the game and its features. Characters shouldn't have their profiles written out blatantly; the joy of a game is learning about these characters, so a simple mention in the description might be all you need, and it cuts the necessity to have a whole other page. And if there are comments at the bottom of the page, I don't see the need for a "comments" section.

 

Yeah but you can disable characters. People have been doing that for decades, so there's a section for it. But you can disable it, so it's not an issue. Actually, the games section is currently flexible to achieve all of this already with the options. 

 

There is also no comments section anymore. There used to be - and a few unmaintained pages have the menu item still existing. But I'd say that's rare. If you create a game now, that doesn't come up. But you can actually disable any page (which are technically tabs, not actual pages). The comments system is something I want to change in the future anyway :) I want something far more interactive. 

 

 

I don't know how a blog would be incorporated, but I like to see updates from the creator themselves, and the progress they're making. In a blog, the developer can tell the player about future promising features without spoiling too much with, say, and image or video. And it's a neat touch for the developer to keep in touch with the community :D

There is a blog system :huh2:  How do you not know that D:

[Kitsuki 17]

Yeah but you can disable characters. People have been doing that for decades, so there's a section for it. But you can disable it, so it's not an issue. Actually, the games section is currently flexible to achieve all of this already with the options. 

 

There is also no comments section anymore. There used to be - and a few unmaintained pages have the menu item still existing. But I'd say that's rare. If you create a game now, that doesn't come up. But you can actually disable any page (which are technically tabs, not actual pages). The comments system is something I want to change in the future anyway :) I want something far more interactive. 

 

 

 

There is a blog system :huh2:  How do you not know that D:

 

O.o Ohh, were you talking about incorporating the new content slider but not redoing the actual game pages themselves? 

 

Sorry, then I misunderstood that XD I thought you were going to revamp the whole system or something.

[Marked 197]

No lol I'm far too busy to do that again in my lifetime.

[Kitsuki 17]

How long did the system we have now take you, anyway? Seems complicated :P

[Marked 197]

Yeah, it's pretty complex. Definitely the biggest thing I've written, and the last thing I wrote. I had planned it for a wee while, and I think I started development November 2013 and it went live Xmas eve. Although it needed a fair bit of work in the months afterwards. I spent a lot of time on it while I went overseas for 7 weeks. Which probably sounds odd, but I had a lot of time since I spent probably a month living at a friends place as opposed to being a tourist. The actual code that powers the system is about 5,000 lines of code, although relies heavily on a collection of other utility-type code that has built-up over time. Then there's all the front-end code stuff which doesn't require programming, which is probably quite long but basic. 

 

Actually, for this system I developed some really cool code. I actually used it to get a job once. It's made possible by the PHP framework which has a super cool database framework. I'd love to go into detail, but it's not a wise thing to do security wise. Even though I think this particular part of it is secure.  But every time you change your settings in the admin control panel of your game, it whips through the request and uses the variables sent to jump on a routing system before it eventually gets to this peace of code:

        //MAKE IT RAIN 
        $bean->$field = $value;
        $bean->update();

This'll basically send the request into the DB to the effect of UPDATE [mah table] SET [field] = [value] WHERE row_id = [row_id], without needing to write that out for every single piece of data we need stored.  :love:

[Kitsuki 17]

Actually, for this system I developed some really cool code. I actually used it to get a job once. It's made possible by the PHP framework which has a super cool database framework. I'd love to go into detail, but it's not a wise thing to do security wise. Even though I think this particular part of it is secure.  But every time you change your settings in the admin control panel of your game, it whips through the request and uses the variables sent to jump on a routing system before it eventually gets to this peace of code:

        //MAKE IT RAIN 
        $bean->$field = $value;
        $bean->update();

This'll basically send the request into the DB to the effect of UPDATE [mah table] SET [field] = [value] WHERE row_id = [row_id], without needing to write that out for every single piece of data we need stored.  :love:

 

I can safely say that I understand none of that.  :grin:

 

But you used that code to get a job? That's amazing. Definitely shows all the hard work you put into it.

And holy crap, 5,000+ lines. I can't even--wow.

 

You got mad skills, Mark ;D which would explain why GDU is the prettiest game dev site I've seen around!