Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release

Started by Calin Leafshade, Wed 18/08/2010 16:23:37

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Khris

So if we're all going to streamline the game publishing process, this is probably an as good opportunity as any to get some basic, common sense-based rules out of the way, right? ;)

It is so much cooler if a published game comes as zipped folder, as opposed to all files being directly in the archive.
The latter irks me every time, almost as much as screenshots with window borders. There, I said it (again). :)

Calin Leafshade

Agreed,

I was kind of thinking of having a submission process whereby the game submitted must confirm to certain submission rules.. If the game is found to not conform to those rules then the game is suspended until the author fixes the issues.

I'll try to automate the validation process as much as possible.

GarageGothic

#42
Quote from: Khris on Fri 20/08/2010 10:05:00It is so much cooler if a published game comes as zipped folder, as opposed to all files being directly in the archive. The latter irks me every time, almost as much as screenshots with window borders. There, I said it (again). :)

I guess this depends a lot on which archive application you use (and how you use it). Personally I've used WinRAR for at least a decade, always with the default setting of creating a new folder, same name as the archive, wherever you extract it - unless you bother to change the path. So often I'm annoyed with those archives that extract another folder into the newly created one.
Not to mention that developers tend to use folder names that are hard to identify, like abbreviations or worse, just zipping the "compiled" folder, or typographical weirdness like underscores instead of spaces or not capitalizing words, making my games folder look like shit until I rename them (OCD, what's that?)  :)

Edit: But yeah, I'm all for a consistent submission format, and since long filenames can't be relied on for online distribution, I'll refrain from bitching about folders-within-folders as long as those zipped folders carry the full, properly spelled, capitalized and punctuated (to the degree that FAT32 naming restrictions allow) titles of the game.

Babar

I kinda agree with GG. For as long as I've been unzipping files, that is how I've been doing it, and folders inside archives somewhat break the flow...
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Calin Leafshade

Well for nexus this is kind of a moot point since Nexus will automatically extract the game with it's own internal naming structure.

The whole point of nexus is that you never see the archive yourself.

The submission guidelines on this would be purely for nexus' convenience when parsing the archive.

Incidentally I'd probably set the guidelines to be that the game is submitted with no folder in the archive.

Khris

Quote from: GarageGothic on Fri 20/08/2010 10:44:37I guess this depends a lot on which archive application you use (and how you use it). Personally I've used WinRAR for at least a decade, always with the default setting of creating a new folder, same name as the archive, wherever you extract it - unless you bother to change the path. So often I'm annoyed with those archives that extract another folder into the newly created one.

I've used TotalCommander for about the same time; it allows you to browse an archive as if it were a folder. Thus I simply copy the folder to the other side and am done. If I see all the files instead, add tab, F7, enter folder name, return, return, tab, Ctrl-A in front of that.
So if everybody created a folder, all you'd have to do is change one option ;D

Regardless, I'd say it's the best way to leave all that to Nexus.

tzachs

This is a cool idea...

As a feature suggestion, I think a place for game reviews would be nice (it should be seperated from the regular two line comments).

ddq

Kind of like the game news section on steam with links to external reviews? That'd be nice. Or are you talking about an area where users can write longer reviews? Not sure about that. If you did have links to external articles, it might be nice to have a streamlined way for game authors to submit them so that they are automatically included on the page.

Ali

'Nexus' is a good name - I first learned the word from 'The Dig'!

Don't forget to make it give you an error message every time you try to run a game without being connected to the internet. Otherwise it just won't have that Steam feel.

Calin Leafshade

#49
Being able to tie external reviews to a game is an excellent idea... It shall be added to.

THE NEXUS LIST

*cough*

Quote from: Ali on Fri 20/08/2010 17:08:11
Don't forget to make it give you an error message every time you try to run a game without being connected to the internet. Otherwise it just won't have that Steam feel.

Oh you internet people and your jokes..

Alun

Quote from: Babar on Fri 20/08/2010 10:49:02
I kinda agree with GG. For as long as I've been unzipping files, that is how I've been doing it, and folders inside archives somewhat break the flow...

Ditto.  It's not a huge deal, but I definitely find archives that come in zipped folders slightly annoying.

Though I guess as Calin said it's kind of a moot point for the topic of Nexus anyway...

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GarageGothic

Quote from: Khris on Fri 20/08/2010 14:24:47I've used TotalCommander for about the same time; it allows you to browse an archive as if it were a folder. Thus I simply copy the folder to the other side and am done. If I see all the files instead, add tab, F7, enter folder name, return, return, tab, Ctrl-A in front of that. So if everybody created a folder, all you'd have to do is change one option ;D

Sounds very cumbersome. As a fellow Total Commander user, please let me introduce you to Alt+F9 (which coincidentally also has a "Unpack each archive to a separate subdir (name of the archive)" option) ;).

straydogstrut

I think it sounds like a great idea so long as it's not to the detriment of the forums. Personally I look at the forums at least every day, even if I don't post anything, but I can imagine there are whole swathes of people who only visit the games pages. A standalone app might help more people get involved, gradually moving up from rating a game to writing reviews and taking part in the forums.

Unless Nexus would simply act as a download manager, I can see some crossover with the forum with some of the features suggested. Rather than see the forum become a ghost town, I would rather if Nexus pulled in content from the forums AND allowed you to use the forums, right from within Nexus itself. That way you wouldn't have to use one or the other and possibly we could use our forum IDs without having to make a new one.

Following the Steam approach, I would have a Games section where you can see all the games and filter them by various categories, just like the Games page. This would also be good for highlighting new games and offers on paid games etc. Each game's page would have the description/features/genre details blurb, screenshots and links to Hints and Tips and reviews.

The Library would be where you could see all the games you've installed, again with filtering options, icons, ratings etc and any other metadata that Nexus can get from the game. That in itself would satisfy the collectors urge in me. The games could include a link back to their games page or direct links to Hints and Tips and reviews (by right clicking for example), also updates and patches as suggested by Snake. Looking at iTunes for ideas is the right approach imo.

You could copy Steam's tools section and include a download of AGS itself, but also links to plugins and modules and any tools the community has developed. There could also be a section for the tutorials people have written.

A Community section would basically be the forum, maybe with chat integration. It could be as simple as a mini-web browser within Nexus that defaults to the forums, or a custom interface that pulls in the content and styles it to suit the Nexus interface.

Personally, I tend to arrive late to the party when announcements are made on the forums since I don't always look beyond the Most Recent Posts feed (today's response being an example!) Being able to filter through all the different threads and having highlighted games or news popups like Steam would be a big help.

I'm not big on the whole Social Networking thing either so lets not make an AGS Facebook, please. But stuff like ratings, reviews, developer profiles, studio profiles...all those are things i'd like to see. We have a lot of it already but the possibilities for manipulating and presenting that information are virtually unlimited in a standalone app.

Developers could have their own page listing all their games and pulling in their Twitter feeds and links to their blog if they have one etc. You could also have a subscriptions thing similar to YouTube where you can follow certain developers and receive their latest updates.

The hands off install process and organisation of games you've downloaded are the features that sell it for me. Also, I hope some integration with Peder's work comes to fruition as I wouldn't like to have to choose between the two=)

I would like to see you at least attempt this and would be happy to help out in any way I can.

Calin Leafshade

Yea basically everything youve said was essentially what i was going for.

The platform will include a web browser since all the games stuff will be PHP/HTML formatted.

I have no desire to affect the forums and Nexus wouldnt provide *any* of the functions that the forum does.

The 'community' section would literally just be want your friends have rated/played/downloaded.

It will also include things like a feed from the AGS blog (providing SSH has no problem with that ofcourse) and things like recent reviews and possibly a news podcast with recent releases which would play within nexus.

but there is no danger of Nexus affecting the forums.

The ultimate goal is to provide a platform for the entire indie scene. The steam platform is great and everything but it doesnt provide support for freeware games and its entry requirements are very steep.

straydogstrut

Sounds like a sensible head on those shoulders of yours, Nexus is in safe hands=)

Dualnames

Also I'd like to be aware of who votes for your game. Address and the like. So i can bomb thank em!!
Worked on Strangeland, Primordia, Hob's Barrow, The Cat Lady, Mage's Initiation, Until I Have You, Downfall, Hunie Pop, and every game in the Wadjet Eye Games catalogue (porting)

Calin Leafshade

#56
Hola AGSers!

I need people's consent to use their games for testing purposes.. those games will also be part of the Alpha release (again mainly for testing purposes)

So anyone who is willing to let me manually add their game and username to nexus before the submission system is active say aye!

The caveat is that the game's archive will be altered while I test various game submission standards. I will use screenshots and create icons for the game and so on.

Basically: the game archive is mine to fuck with.

-----

I suppose I should give a progress report too.

Nexus now downloads, extracts and plays games but the interface looks like shit ^_^

Screenshot:




Mr Flibble

As a front-end for that massive AGS archive, I think this is a pretty neat idea.
Ah! There is no emoticon for what I'm feeling!

GreenBoy

Wow wicked.  I completely forgot about this, and I'm not sure why!  You're more than welcome to use my game if you like, there's a link in my signature.

Gudforby

#59
Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Mon 13/09/2010 05:50:41
So anyone who is willing to let me manually add their game and username to nexus before the submission system is active say aye!

Aye. The link is in my signature too.

EDIT: Here's the image as well

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