[Mandrake]

I don't know if this is stuff Bjorn would want to implement in RPGDX, or if I would go out on my own and build this stuff myself. Of course, if I go on my own this probably won't be RPG-specific, but for all video game devr's. Anyway, the idea is to create a more pronounced community (ie living/moving) rather than a forum with a system for rating/posting games created by hobbyists.

One of the things I think would enhance community aspect would be the ability for people to have a journal for their game, as well as an RSS feed for all new games being added/dev'd/reviewed. Maybe integrate a forum more completely into the other aspects of the site- people being able to do more than just review a game- post notes about it, get RSS notifications when it's updated, talk/interview the developer. As it is, I think that the actual game page itself could be more powerful, allowing for different kinds of downloads (manuals, etc). Also, I wonder if there is a better way of doing the genre listing. Instead of genres, maybe allowing devrs to tag their games (like what del.icio.us does), and also allowing game players to tag games as well.

Just some ideas.

ps-
Around November I plan on taking a break from my writing and working on a game for about 3-4 months- so expect me to be around a lot posting about my trials and tribulations.
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[Sirocco]

Some ideas:

- Multiple genre tags for projects

Just like you see for anime sites. Series receive multiple tags for things like "slice of life", "ecchi", "school", "feudal", etc etc. The same thing can be applied to game projects.



- A better (p)review system

Allow users to submit their thoughts along with a numeric rating if they do not want to post a formal review. The preview would not count toward the project's overall rating.



- Bug tracker

Nothing complicated, but a section for users and dev'rs post bugs, and allow for the dev'rs to tag them with a priority level and completion marker.



- Goodies section

For each project, have a small section for things like walkthroughs, post production notes, manuals, wallpaper, etc.

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[Terry]

I'd like to see proper weighted averages to list the games by rating fairly. At the moment, the top rated game is an engine demo with a single 10 out 10 review - which doesn't make any sense.
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[Mandrake]

I love the bug tracker idea- that never even occurred to me.

Hmm. Here's a formal listing of my ideas (rather than a jumbled paragraph above)(and incorporating some of the ideas that Sirocco mentioned I liked):

+A tags system (with multiple tags). Users and Developer can both submit games by tags. Then users can sort by tags, have favorite tags and etc. Another neat idea would be able to tag teams and users.

+RSS feed integration. Being able to get a feed on all the latest games/reviews/etc, or even be able to get feeds specific to tags that the user has set up.

+User pages. A devr has a page that users can visit. Games listed there as well as other stuff (including dev journal)

+Teams. Teams are groups of users with their own page/icon etc.

+Journals/Blogs for devr's and users. Each user can have either a local blog or a an RSS feed to a remote blog that will be posted on a personal devr's page.

+Bug Tracker.

+Release versioning for downloads.

+Goodies section on game pages.

+Better game pages. Users being able to add notes and other oddities to games. Better rating system. Better ways of sorting.

+An incentive system for working on a game. Have games separated into four categories: slush, non-slush, finished, abandoned. Slush is only visible if the user specifically makes it visible. A game is put into the slush pile whenever 1. A month goes by without an update (whether on in the journal, an update of the game itself, more screenshots, whatever) 2. It receives a low rating from a review and 3. Within the first two weeks if no screenshots are shown. You can remedy this by keeping the game active. Finished games are ones that are finished and will never be slush, abandoned games are those abandoned by their devr and will also stay out of the slush.
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[Sirocco]

Perhaps if the project isn't complete, it can only be previewed, rather than actually reviewed.

.

Edit: Between posts!

I think the slush pile is a good idea, but perhaps make the inactivity period something like 4 months instead. Things tend to move slowly in the RPG world...

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[Mandrake]

That's a good idea. Combined with the slush concept, we might have a way of keeping interesting games at the top of the ratings view.
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[Mandrake]

On the four months topic-

I think four months is too long for a game to go without going into the slush. Again, you can bring it out of the slush by posting updates about it. So, if you go four months withou updating and then you want to bring it out of the slush, just do a few updates.
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[Terry]

I think the slush pile idea is fantastic. Two months ought to be long enough for it to be considered an active project - I would even say that one month is a fair cut-off time.

(Though there's something I don't like about the name "slush pile"... Can't quite put my finger on what it is!)

These ideas are pretty cool in general, though some seem like more work than they're really worth (would anybody really use the RSS feeds?). If it's possible to just set up each project page as a blog with comments, that would quite a good start.
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[tcaudilllg]

I agree with Chaotic Harmony, Mandrake. These are good ideas, and they would change the character of the page, for the better, I think. They would certainly be more inclusive by providing a range of outlets by which people can express their views. However, this is an awful lot of stuff to put into action. I think the blog idea would be the best way to start, and then after that, maybe move things in the other ways. It seems to me most of this will take at least a year to complete, maybe another six months after that.

[Mandrake]

I could do it in less the month. I've implemented an exact copy of some of these ideas for my job (instead of games, it's classes. Instead of devr's it's teachers and students) so it's not that big of a deal.

[Terry]

I just meant that it's hardly the most pressing issue. But maybe I'm a little behind with the times on this, I don't know.
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[Sirocco]

I don't use RSS, but I know a few people who do, so...

I like the idea, and wish I could help out, but I don't know the first thing about web stuff, and you've obviously got a firm grip on things already ;)

.

[Nephilim]

With Safari's new RSS features, I'd definitely use an RSS feed.
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Visit the Sacraments web site to play the game and read articles about its development.

[Mandrake]

The latest Safari in Tiger is the BEST browser hands-down. Now if only it had tabbed browsing.

Yeah I got a pretty firm grip on this, but if I need help I'll let people know. Although I do work better solo. Hmm. Yeah, I think monday I'll start work on this.
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[Nephilim]