RPGDX > Forums > General Discussion > Official Reviews

DarkDread · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2003 11:27 pm Post subject: Official Reviews

Right, so whitedoor an' I were talking on MSN yesterday, and we came to the conclusion that rpgdx.net needs official reviews of the games, and projects that get posted to it. We would need a few people who would be willing to review the games, and then these reviews (which, would have to weigh in around 2-3 paragraphs, minimum, and be detailed) would be linked to the game on the game's page (and we would let people know that these are the 'official' reviews, done by rpgdx.net staff). We could even do something such as having a 'game of the month'... and 'demo of the month'... where a deserving project gets some attention on the front page.

So, what do you guys think of the ideas? ...and Bjorn, would you be interested in implementing something like this. I belive it would be much better than just having some people run around and check others' reviews.
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ThousandKnives · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2003 1:06 am Post subject:

Actually, I guess thats a good idea, but I think what most of these games need is a "comment/critique" board. Most of the games are still very much in-progress, even if they do allow reviewing. There needs to be a way of organizing comments on a game-by-game basis without forcing a number or judgement on it. I mean, compatibility issues, for one thing, are an important thing that people playing your game need to comment on and can be very useful, but they are actually against the rules for reviewing, and with good reason, because you can't really apply a number to a game you haven't played. But thats not to say that such things dont have an important place in a community thats supposed to help the people that are a part of it with making their games. So, I guess my feeling is that its more important for each game to have its own message board for comments. Sure, there will be jackass and throwaway comments so you'll have to weed through the chafe, but I think it would be a great resource.

korndog · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2003 3:00 am Post subject:

I think official reviews are a good idea. It may help motivate people to finish an almost-finished game. I would be interested in contributing if such a feature were added.

Also, at first glance rpgdx.net appears more like a collection of games without guides as to what's what and which game's which . This is fine for hobbyists like myself, but perhaps when newbs visit the site for the first time, they are at a loss for finding games that represent indie rpgs well.

Staff interaction with games would also help liven the community, even if it's just writing a few words under a demo-of-the-week screenshot.

Bjorn · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2003 12:58 pm Post subject:

I generally agree, we need stuff like game of the week/month or a random screenshot pointing to a completed game to point visitors to the game's available on RPGDX without having to search for them. I also think the official review might be a good idea, but I don't know how to intergrate this with the project page yet. I think reducing the current reviews to a more short-comment system as on Allegro.cc would be nice then.

I'm not sure about the comments as in bug/compatibility reports. I tend just to email the author about problems I have running the game, which I think would generally be better because the author will want to reply to such comments. Opening a forum for every game isn't really necesary in my opinion.

As for the project of the week, I think korndog has a great idea about adding a short staff-comment about it and would prefer such a scheme to a random screenshot scheme.

I very much appreciate any other input from the community, and especially our "staff" who will be meant to use this system. I am willing to implement it but first I'd like to get decided on exactly how it should work.

Sirocco · Mage Joined: 01 Jun 2002 Posts: 345

pabarry · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2003 10:53 pm Post subject:

I like DarkDread and Whitedoor's idea about having official reviews. Normally when I want to try the games I start with the ones that don't have reviews done. I don't know what they will be like, but at least I can give a general idea in my review so others don't have to wonder about the games.

I also believe that a "Game/Demo of the Month" would be a good idea, but with the number of projects on RPGDX (I'll assume that only 10-20% are finished enough for review) that would create a lot of work for the people reviewing the games.

white_door · Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2003 3:00 am Post subject:

well I think a "I want to be offically reviewed now!" check box would be ideal, provided it was unticked by default! ;) That way it would reduce the numbers of people seeking offical review. Plus there should be a warning under the box that each game would only EVER get ever one offical review, so really should you wait for offical review until you were really sure you are finished. Since if you get a bad or lukewarm offical review it will be quite final.

In terms of effort if only 1 game was reviewed per month per person on the reviewing staff, I think it wouldn't be such a huge amount of effort. With in a year or so we could get through every game on rpgdx.net, not that I think every game will have that box ticked.

then maybe at the end of each month: the top game from all the different offical reviews that month (only one per reviewer staff) would be selected for the next 'game/demo of the month'.

DarkDread · Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2003 8:59 am Post subject:

That's a good idea.

Plus, I don't think official reviews should actually have scores. Most people will look at the score of a review, and often or not just skim through the review itself, or not even read it. If there's no score, people will need to read the review to get an idea of the game, and this way, they'll get a good idea of what there is to like/not like about it... much more than they would if they just read a number, you know?
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Sirocco · Mage Joined: 01 Jun 2002 Posts: 345

Hmm... must say I like that idea. I know a lot of times I will go and check the number, and just go with that (but only for commercial titles). For indie stuff I generally read the entire review, unless I'm pressed for time for some strange reason.

.

XMark · Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2003 10:18 pm Post subject:

I love the idea of having official game reviews for the site. I think it would help direct people toward games that they might not have tried downloading and playing because they didn't know what to expect from them. Kind of like uncovering diamonds in the rough.

Oh, and I woud also be interested in doing some reviews.
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Guest · Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2003 11:01 pm Post subject:

" 'almost-finished' game of the month"

ThousandKnives · Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2003 2:33 am Post subject:

The Anarchist · Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2003 9:44 pm Post subject:

Reviews are a brilliant idea, and i'll tell you why. Democracy is good, and works well in theory. Theoretically there should be a range of people who either like it or don't, and submit reviews and ratings accordingly. However, from there its up to you to search out the game you want and read all the reviews to get an idea of what the game is really like, when it could be a hell of a lot easier to just download a game and check it out yourself.

But an experienced reviewer would be able to give all of those points, and more, and list them out in a way thats actually readable. The ratings themselves however are still a matter of opinion right? So its a damn good idea to leave them up to everyone.

If this plan goes ahead, i'd volunteer myself as an independant reviewer.
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akOOma · Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2003 8:32 pm Post subject:

So, what's up with the official reviews??? Will they be done or not??
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Bjorn · Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2003 6:22 pm Post subject:

Yeah, they will be done. I'm sorry, I've been busy with other stuff lately but I'm going to try to make the neccesary modifications upcoming days. I'm aiming for doing a few things at the same time, namely:

- Make the forums match the not-so-new-anymore, site style.
- One time login for both forum and main RPGDX site.
- Links for editing news, review, projects for RPGDX moderators.
- Staff reviews.
- Featured project (with screenshot and short introduction on main site).

The last two can be used by a moderator simultaneously to get attention to an accompaning staff review, or he could just do a newspost about it. I'll try to figure out a convenient way to put these things in the current layout. Keeping the classic theme up to date will not be a priority, though I'll keep it functional.

Don't take my word on this though, it's all still at TODO status.