#31619 - splattergnome - Mon Dec 13, 2004 3:35 am
I just played around with some homebrew games (GB, GBA), and just thought that there really needs to be some type of website which posts screenshots and short descriptions about these games - this there are apparently many more than one would expect, and many are quite good.
Existing websites such as pd-roms.de are quite good, but they don't give any real description, and don't link to the game's websites, if any, making it more difficult for people interested in learning about new games (and not neccessarily wanting to go through the entire effort of downloading them, emulating/and or flashing them just to delete them afterwards).
In a way, I feel a bit sorry for the programmers who worked hard on their games and have them unplayed. So - as a general question - what do you think one can do? Would a homebrew review WIKI be a solution, where people could add their own info and/or comments about homebrew games they have tested? Or a more structured website? (Or even on gbadev.org?) Or maybe just a general forum?
splatty, fan of homebrew games
splatty
#31638 - keldon - Mon Dec 13, 2004 10:00 am
They used to, but then people just got lazy I suppose. However there are some at fzero.co.uk. They used to be an illegal downloads site until they got tracked down and given a good speaking to. Now they're 100% homebrew.
#31667 - ScottLininger - Mon Dec 13, 2004 4:28 pm
Wow. That's a great idea. I personally have spent hours wading through homebrew ROM lists on various sites, and it's frustrating because 90% of what's out there is unfinished and obviously only meant as a quick tech demo.
There are some *awesome* homebrew games, but they're nigh impossible to find. A site that allows uploads and then community "vote" reviews similar to downloads.com would be very tasty indeed...
What are some of the features that the site would need to have? Here are my thoughts.
- Ability to classify games into multiple categories (Arcade, Puzzle, RPG, etc., etc.)
- General rating of how good it is
- Specific rating of how "finished" it is
- Qualitative reviews so people can share their thoughts/suggestions
- Contact info (optional) for the game creators so they can recieve feedback
- Powerful search feature
- Ability to upload multiple screen shots
- Ability to upload source code
- Most popular games appear on the homepage, ala Shockwave.com
- Some simple version tracking so authors could make updates
As if I need another web programming project right now. ;) I probably couldn't work on a site like this until the Spring... Any other web guys have some bandwidth?
-Scott
#31670 - Lupin - Mon Dec 13, 2004 5:25 pm
Good idea, but i would suggest to just give a selection of game reviews (so only games that are finished/playable/good get listed)
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#31672 - expos1994 - Mon Dec 13, 2004 5:53 pm
I have been thinking of creating a site like this for some time now for the same reasons.
PDROMS is a nice site, but it is somewhat messy. The polished homebrew games are thrown in with simple demos and uncompleted games.
I was thinking of creating a site that wrote reviews on completed games, and also had a user rating system (which I see Pdroms now has), and also a user review system so visitors to the site can add their own review.
The site would only review games that are complete with minimal bugs.
I think it is a great idea for a site, unfortunatly I'm a web programming newbie, and I'd been spending most of my free time on my compo entry. But now that that is done, I am starting to dive into php/Mysql and if I get it figured out I might get something together.
#31683 - Lupin - Mon Dec 13, 2004 7:30 pm
just google for CMS (content management system), there are plenty of good and ready PHP modules that you can use for such a project.
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#31705 - tepples - Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:01 am
Or you could just make a forum on forum.gbadev.org for homebrew reviews, and limit it to one thread per release (patrolled by mods).
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