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Community => Adventure Related Talk & Chat => Topic started by: Calin Leafshade on Wed 18/08/2010 16:23:37

Title: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Wed 18/08/2010 16:23:37
http://svn.thethoughtradar.com/Nimbus.zip

Hola!

Here's a new version. If this one seems to pan out ok then I'll prepare a real release.

I would advise that you delete the existing Nexus folder entirely and start again (this should be the last time you need to do this since the system is extensible from here on out.)

If you really want to keep your existing games then you can rename the Nexus folder in My Docs to Nimbus and delete the IconCache folder which will be regenerated next time you run Nimbus.

feedback would be nice.



ok, so firstly I understand that all of what i am about to say falls under the category of unnecessary but hear me out.

What do people think of a steam-like system for ags games?

because AGS games are so small and so numerous I find I have loads of folders scattered around the place with ags games in.. I tend to download them and extract them where ever they are and just play them for 10 minutes or whatever and then forget to delete them.

So what if we made a system like steam for AGS games?

There would be a central repository of games that you can search.
If you like the game you can download it from the list with 1 click.
AGSteam downloads the game for you and extracts it to its own folder within a shared folder.
If you want to read the readme you just have to right click the game and click "show read me"
You could have a global set of settings for all the games if you wanted so you didnt have to run the winsetup everytime to set it how you like it.
if you *did* want to run the setup you could just right click it in the library and click 'setup'

if you liked a game you could rate it highly and all your 'friends' on the system would see that you just played the game and you liked it.
You could search for the most liked game that week.

plus loads of other things I can't think of.

What do you think?
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: arj0n on Wed 18/08/2010 16:30:01
Sound like a very good idea.

I do like how agssteam should be able to offer the games by listing them + having an easy install and delete.
a rating like steam have would be a nice extra too.

Great idea.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Anian on Wed 18/08/2010 16:41:55
This is no way an agry or similar tone, but
Wait you want to simplify the method of:
1. download game
2. put it in correct folder and unzip
3. start the winsetup or just game exe file
???
I mean, it might be interesting from a programing point of view, but kinda useless...I mean Steam offers a shop system, chat, DRM, game download from any pc and updates, voice chat, friends list, but 99.9999% of AGS games are singleplayer, os a lot of those features would be usless, wouldn't they? Just another program to instal (while you don't have to instal games now).

Not to mention that AGS games have a really wide set of resolutions and settings that can be used (which the included setup does well I think). And the rating system sort of exists already.
Only thing I'd like is a bit more screenshots (or at least one that works) on some games, but that's not really a big issue.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: arj0n on Wed 18/08/2010 16:49:59
It would still be nice for lazy people like me who doesn't install the games on one proper place.
And when that steam would be based on Peders AGSArchive: no more dead links.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Wed 18/08/2010 16:51:32
yea, as i said it is unnecessary in that a system already exists but it does have some advantages.

for example people are more likely to rate the game if its a 1 click process after playing the game. My evidence for that is the facebook 'like' button.
The current rating rate is something like 0.2% for big games.

It's not that I feel this is something that is required but i just think it would be kinda cool and help bring AGS into the 21st century with all the social networking (I hate that term) that becomes possible.
I just think it would be nice to unify the amateur adventure community a little and being able to take part without sticking to the forum religiously might be cool.

Edit: The resolution issue is a minor one that can be pretty easily dealt with.

Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Chrille on Wed 18/08/2010 16:59:40
Sounds like a great idea!
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Wonkyth on Wed 18/08/2010 17:02:56
I would love this.
I'd like to pretend that I'm a tidy file keeper, but...I'm pretending...
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Intense Degree on Wed 18/08/2010 17:23:09
That really does sound like a brilliant idea.

@Anian - never underestimate what lazy people will do/pay simply for convenience, or just something shiny and new! ;)
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Igor Hardy on Wed 18/08/2010 17:31:53
I just put all the AGS games into a folder called "AGS" and find it sufficient.

But I really like Steam for keeping my saved games, configs and offering good deals on commercial games, so if the AGS Steam had those features, I'll be most happy to use it.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Anian on Wed 18/08/2010 18:14:59
Quote from: Intense Degree on Wed 18/08/2010 17:23:09
@Anian - never underestimate what lazy people will do/pay simply for convenience, or just something shiny and new! ;)
But that's what I'm saying, the process is really simple as is, I'm not against it or anything, just saying that it might look "easier"
and "more profesional" but on the other hand it'll require an installation of a software and then downloading the game which kind of sounds
more complicated.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Wed 18/08/2010 18:22:31
yea its more complicated for people who play single games.. that would be absurd.

but if you play practically every game that comes out (or a large proportion) then surely it reduces the time required a great deal.

also we need to remember that the ags player community is far larger than the forumites.

most games get several hundred downloads but only a handful of forum comments.


Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Igor Hardy on Wed 18/08/2010 18:39:47
Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Wed 18/08/2010 18:22:31
most games get several hundred downloads but only a handful of forum comments.

At least 50% of each game's downloaders never even open the downloaded archive, another 25% of that give up after a few minutes with the game and try something else...

I think we could really use a feature in AGS Steam that would make it aggressively poke people telling them to stop being lazy and to play our excellent games.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Intense Degree on Wed 18/08/2010 18:42:14
Also, once you've got AGSteam on your machine it cuts out having to navigate through rapidshare or mediafire type sites to download files which would probably be a big bonus, esp. for the less "tech savvy".
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Wyz on Wed 18/08/2010 19:20:41
.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Dualnames on Wed 18/08/2010 19:20:57
I heartily love this!
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Diath on Wed 18/08/2010 20:17:37
I would love a system that would be like or similar to steam!
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Snake on Wed 18/08/2010 20:48:53
Calin, I think you've got something here. I really like the idea of an AGS Steam.
Though some people may find the idea to be useless/unnecessary/pointless, it could really be fun. No one would be forcing them to use it, if they don't want to, they don't have to. You've got nothing to lose giving it an honest go.

It could even be a place where the commercial games can be easily found and purchased. People could download patches, demos and read AGS related Blog's/Ezine's.

I can really picture it being the place for everything AGS related. Maybe even download the latest version of AGS itself.

Having a link to various IRC clients with instructions on how to set it up and join #ags, have an in-program chat and friend's list I guess would be included without saying.

The biggest thing with me is I really wouldn't want to see it turn into a social networking site/program.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Wed 18/08/2010 21:03:03
Thumbs up from me, though I fear this would kill www.agsarchives.com :P.
Though I guess AGSArchives will be usefull for those who wouldent want to use AGS steam ;).

[edit]
On another note I would love if we could work together on this somehow.
I can easily provide hosting, as I have a dedicated server just for AGSArchives.
Though I dunno what you have in plan? :).
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Wed 18/08/2010 21:17:25
I think it's a great idea and I totally agree with Snake about the chat room, friends list, etc. Maybe even a popup like how windows messenger does if you get a message from someone; obviously with the option to disable it.

Perhaps even a popup or flag on the system icon that notifies you of new releases. Hopefully there is the ability to check if a game or something has focus or not.. I hate playing a game and having something steal the focus of my game, or having the damn popup message thing flickering in the corner.

I am also really unorganized with my AGS downloaded games. They're all littered in my download folder and looks unbelievably hideous.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Wed 18/08/2010 21:20:22
Seems like a positive response... If I did do it though it's a pretty involved project so I would need help I imagine.

Peder: If I did decide to give it a go I would definitely be in touch with you about server space and stuff. I do have unlimited webspace & bandwidth but a dedicated server would really be needed for a service like this.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: ddq on Wed 18/08/2010 21:20:53
Meh, could work if implemented well enough. It seems like it would be pretty neat, if not wholly necessary. If someone were up to the job, I'd approve enough to use it. If you want to, go for it.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Wed 18/08/2010 21:22:58
I would even love to make some flashy looking mockups of how the interface could look. (no guarantees though :D)
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Wed 18/08/2010 21:28:11
Feel free RT :p I suck at interfaces and I'll be designing it in WPF so i have total control over how the window looks (like curse and steam etc)
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: LimpingFish on Wed 18/08/2010 22:47:51
Theoretically, I love this idea.

In practice...

The combined downloads of the top five games last week accounted for 110GB of data. The top five. In a week.

Running just those five games, at those download levels, through a single server would average out at around half a terabyte a month, wouldn't it?

Seeing as I generally suck at both maths and intraweb gubbins, feel free to correct me.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 19/08/2010 00:41:38
Hmm Thethoughtradar.com transfers about 40gb a week without a problem and thats not a dedicated server (i know thats like a tenth of the required number but peders hosting would be far superior to mine).

If the server has unlimited bandwidth and a relatively decent connection (I imagine peder has both of these things with a professional hosting service) then it shouldnt be an issue.

Also it's not really 100% necessary for the files to be stored with a single host. It wouldn't really make any difference if the files were stored elsewhere providing 'AGS Steam' knew where they were.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: GarageGothic on Thu 19/08/2010 01:27:00
If we're talking a stand-alone application like Steam, would some kind of P2P distribution make sense in addition to server hosting (making, in effect, the server a reliable seeder, but allowing those of us who don't mind sharing our AGS games folder to provide additional bandwidth)?
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Wonkyth on Thu 19/08/2010 04:20:30
yeah, a bit-torrent thingy would work nicely, I think...
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 19/08/2010 07:30:22
i'm not sure the AG community is large enough to provide the kind of seed network that would require but i guess it would take some of the load off the servers
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: GarageGothic on Thu 19/08/2010 07:57:40
At least for newly released games, which would most likely be the ones eating up the most bandwidth, it should spread the server load quite a bit if even just a fraction of those who download keep sharing the file for a couple of days. Of course most non-AGS'ers would get the game from other sources rather than download a special client program just for a single game. I don't know if it would be worth looking into using magnet links that could also be opened in standard P2P, but perhaps some developers would be opposed to the loss of version control and download count inherent in that approach.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 19/08/2010 12:01:33
Ok so let me give a brief run down of how I think it would work:

Project: Nexus!  ;D

Basically we have a C# coded WPF application. (WPF is just a rendering library to replace windows forms.. means i can make the window prettier)

--- game workflow ----

The app has a browser control which can access a database of games (via php & mysql)

If you like the look of a game you can click 'install' this is a custom protocol link formatted something like:

nexus://InstallGameID:57838
nexus://ViewGameID:42342

theses link tells the app to start downloading (or show) the game. (these links could also be posted to the forum and used just like download links so that if you click them it launches Nexus)

So the app downloads the game and extracts it in the background so you can continue looking through games or whatever.

once the game has extracted its added to a tabled list of games in your library.
This list would look similar to a song listing in itunes. Something like:

Name                      Dev                Current Rating            Your Rating            Gamepage
Backdoor Man 7      Edmuntito         * * * * .                      * * * . .         Show Game Page

This kind of format would allow you rate the game (and indeed change your rating) with a single click just like itunes.

You would be able to rightclick the listing to access commands like "show readme" "uninstall" "play" "settings" and so on.

You would be able to make sets of global settings for all games with certain resolutions.
for example you could set all games in 320x200 to play fullscreen at 2x scaling but all 800x600 games to play with no scaling in a window.

---community---

On the community page you have a kind of activity stream which would look something like this.

Darth Mandarb commented on Ben Jordan: Case 8 and said "YOU DIDN'T FOLLOW THE RULES" - 3 Minutes Ago

ProgzMax rated 5 Days a Stranger 4 cups - 2 hours ago.

DualNames installed Eternally Us - 3 days ago.

and so on.

The stream can be changed to only show friends activity or only certain members of your friends list

certain games could be 'followed' so that you could see if anyone had rated or commented on it.

---adding games---

For a game to be added to Nexus certain requirements would have to met.

These would only be very loose requirements just to homogenise the system.

such as:
a text only readme with the name "readme.txt"
the resolution settings and engine version must be supplied (for compatibility and global settings purposes)
a screenshot must be supplied

and things like that.

once a user successfully submits a game their account has developer status, this allows them to add certain things to their profile that 'players' cannot such as an rss feed of their blog and/or twitter

Developers would also be able to create Studios. These would be groups of users which have their own little profile.. I havent really thought this part through yet.

That's about as far as my brain has gotten.. I apologise for spelling and grammar errors..

Does anyone have any thoughts and/or feature requests?
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Atelier on Thu 19/08/2010 13:08:57
Perfect name choice. I believe the features you've already outlined would make a great first version as-is. Beginning with over-ambitiousness has killed many a project. Good luck, Helmsman of Nexus =D
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Virgil on Thu 19/08/2010 14:01:58
One minor note for the UI, next to each game should have an 'Options' menu or dropdown, which is essentially the same as right-clicking but a little more apparent. (I don't know if you had already thought of this or not)

Also on the feed, maybe instead of commenting directly inside the program, any comments are pulled from the game's forum page? This way we don't have separate feeds where one is possibly neglected. The game's feed can still say downloads and ratings as well.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Atelier on Thu 19/08/2010 16:34:22
Quote from: Virgil on Thu 19/08/2010 14:01:58
maybe instead of commenting directly inside the program, any comments are pulled from the game's forum page?

More often than not topics tend to go OT. So you'd be left with alerts pulled from the game's thread that are very forum-centric. Perhaps as well as also, a feed could come from the AGS database, where comments on the game are always on-track. Here though, you sacrifice quantity.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Stupot on Thu 19/08/2010 19:54:07
Quote from: AtelierGames on Thu 19/08/2010 16:34:22
Quote from: Virgil on Thu 19/08/2010 14:01:58
maybe instead of commenting directly inside the program, any comments are pulled from the game's forum page?

More often than not topics tend to go OT. So you'd be left with alerts pulled from the game's thread that are very forum-centric. Perhaps as well as also, a feed could come from the AGS database, where comments on the game are always on-track. Here though, you sacrifice quantity.

You could have it work the other way round aswell... perhaps have a function on the AGS Steam software to leave comments about the games which would automatically appear in the regular AGS database.

It sounds like a good idea, Calin, but as you stated in your very first sentence, it's a tad unnecessary... I'm rubbish with computers but even I've managed to keep all my AGS games in one folder (apart fom those which self-extract and create their one folder, but those are few and far between)... still, I'd be interested to see how this goes.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 19/08/2010 20:11:07
unnecessary does not mean not cool :P
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: LRH on Thu 19/08/2010 20:26:21
Sounds great indeed! I would to see something like it.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: IndieBoy on Thu 19/08/2010 21:02:01
As much as I like this idea, I have doubts if we will see this ever being made. We still haven't accomplished updating the website yet, so something on this scale seems too much of a big step for the community. Although I don't want to sound pessimistic, I'm just trying to be realistic here.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: LRH on Thu 19/08/2010 21:07:35
Meh. If one puts their mind to something, where there's a will, there's a way. Sure it takes dedication, but finishing such a project isn't that far-fetched.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 19/08/2010 21:43:46
you underestimate how mental I am
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Wonkyth on Fri 20/08/2010 05:11:18
Well, get going!/me gets JimReed to use his awesome whip-crack sound on Calin.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Khris on Fri 20/08/2010 10:05:00
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). :)
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Fri 20/08/2010 10:07:45
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.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: GarageGothic on Fri 20/08/2010 10:44:37
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.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: 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...
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Fri 20/08/2010 11:18:24
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.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Khris on Fri 20/08/2010 14:24:47
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.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: tzachs on Fri 20/08/2010 16:33:13
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).
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: ddq on Fri 20/08/2010 17:06:50
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.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Ali on Fri 20/08/2010 17:08:11
'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.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Fri 20/08/2010 17:27:58
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..
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Alun on Fri 20/08/2010 19:10:50
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...
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: GarageGothic on Fri 20/08/2010 19:29:35
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) ;).
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: straydogstrut on Sat 28/08/2010 14:24:38
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.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Sat 28/08/2010 14:33:12
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.
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: straydogstrut on Sat 28/08/2010 15:01:48
Sounds like a sensible head on those shoulders of yours, Nexus is in safe hands=)
Title: Re: AGS Steam
Post by: Dualnames on Sat 28/08/2010 17:48:39
Also I'd like to be aware of who votes for your game. Address and the like. So i can bomb thank em!!
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Mon 13/09/2010 05:50:41
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:

(http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/4753/nexusscreen.png)

Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: Mr Flibble on Mon 13/09/2010 06:01:36
As a front-end for that massive AGS archive, I think this is a pretty neat idea.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: GreenBoy on Mon 13/09/2010 07:29:47
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.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: Gudforby on Mon 13/09/2010 09:48:38
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
(http://ufokus.no/files/games/BBlogo_Nexus.png)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: tzachs on Mon 13/09/2010 10:02:20
Aye.
(http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/37/robolutionicon.png) (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1336) (http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/9171/thequestfortheholysalsa.png) (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1285)(http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9013/theenergizericon.png) (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1221)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: Ali on Mon 13/09/2010 10:12:37
Aye aye, Cap'n.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: arj0n on Mon 13/09/2010 10:14:36
Aye
see sig
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: Buckethead on Mon 13/09/2010 14:26:51
aye:

Delerium (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6325410/Delerium.zip)

Craft of evil (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1038)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: Dataflashsabot on Mon 13/09/2010 14:36:13
Aye: Tenhum's Tomb (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1193)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: Snake on Mon 13/09/2010 14:36:34
AYE!

Castle of Fire is in my sig.

Also, if you wish, you can add The Original Leitor's Edge (http://spentertainment.webs.com/LE/Original_LE.rar) to the list as well.

If you would like to add the canceled Matt to the Future Demo, you are more than welcome (also in sig).

I hope the time isn't up already...

\\--EDIT--//
At one point, Calin, will be able to edit our own game's descriptions and such?
(sorry if I missed this already being stated)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: Dualnames on Mon 13/09/2010 17:14:41
Aye, for HHGTG and Disquiet. :D

(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/logo1-1-2-2.png) (http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/JustLedZep/disquiet-2.png)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Mon 13/09/2010 17:42:07
Road Racer welcomes you. Link in signature.

(http://www.bryvis.com/entertainment/other/agsf/icon_road_racer.png)

Maybe later this week I'll work on some rough concept layouts for this thing.... 'maybe'.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: Kweepa on Mon 13/09/2010 21:10:47
Aye!
III Spy, The Young Gabriel King Chronicles, Space Pool Alpha here: http://www.kweepa.com/games.html

(http://www.kweepa.com/step/ags/games/IIISpy_Icon.png) (http://www.kweepa.com/step/ags/games/GabyKing_Icon.png) (http://www.kweepa.com/step/ags/games/SpacePoolAlpha_Icon.png)

More like mini-screenshots than icons, but what the hell.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: Radiant on Mon 13/09/2010 21:25:27
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!

(http://crystalshard.net/btn/meta.png) (http://crystalshard.net/index.php?g=4) (http://crystalshard.net/btn/warthogs.png) (http://crystalshard.net/index.php?g=11) (http://crystalshard.net/btn/yrolg.png) (http://crystalshard.net/index.php?g=8) (http://crystalshard.net/btn/vector.png) (http://crystalshard.net/index.php?g=14)

Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Mon 13/09/2010 22:31:43
thanks guys, I think that should be enough to give me a sizeable library to play with

if anyone feels so inclined they could make an icon for their game.

The icon is 45pixels square...The ever beginning tales is like this:

http://www.thethoughtradar.com/AGS/TaleIcon.png

Edit your post if you want to.

EDIT: Snaklepants: Yes, the games will be assigned to your usernames so once the system is up and running you'll be able to edit it like any other game you added.

Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: Radiant on Mon 13/09/2010 22:44:19
Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Mon 13/09/2010 22:31:43
The icon is 45pixels square...

That's a bit of an unusual size. Would 48 pixels be okay, as this makes it easier to convert standard 16x16 or 32x32 windows icons?
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Mon 13/09/2010 22:45:33
Yea 48 is a more sensible size actually.

48px it is!

Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: therantingrob on Tue 14/09/2010 03:03:51
it would certainly be user-friendly to have such a service.
(especially for users who don't even know how to unzip, etc.)
it could also help indie developers to distribute high-quality titles.

however, the question is:
what is the cost-benefit ratio?


oh and congrats for the progress on the alpha version!
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: Snake on Tue 14/09/2010 05:53:03
Icons for me!
(http://spentertainment.webs.com/COF/COF_nexus.png) (http://spentertainment.webs.com/LE/TOLE_Nexus.png) (http://spentertainment.webs.com/MISC/mttf_nexus.png)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: GreenBoy on Tue 14/09/2010 07:07:10
Bam!  (http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/GreenBoy_02/Sig2.png)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam
Post by: arj0n on Tue 14/09/2010 20:10:13
(http://arj0n.webs.com/blockz-icon.png)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 16/09/2010 14:27:15
ok again I seek the advice of the AGSers.. this one is more directly related to nexus so it goes in this thread ^_^

The AGS db accepts all games submitted to it.. even clearly broken ones. These are given 1 cup ratings by the panel.

Now, would you consider it a positive or negative if Nexus only accepted games which would be considered 'proper games' and not anything that is submitted.

I'm finding it difficult to know where to draw the line. I need to find a balance between not alienating the developer base and providing players with games of a certain calibre.

So what are you thoughts?
Should Nexus be entirely unregulated?
Should games be accepted based on a panel decision (yea i know how fun that would be)
Should games have to adhere to a set of objective rules with no thought for the subjective aspects of a game?
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Mr Flibble on Thu 16/09/2010 14:40:48
I don't think anybody here has the right to tell someone their game isn't good enough to be made available. I'd be sad if we turned into that kind of community.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 16/09/2010 14:44:21
no one said anything about not making a game available. the database would still be the same.

but should games that are impossible to complete be available on a service designed to make life easier for players?
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Dualnames on Thu 16/09/2010 14:46:06
"Now, would you consider it a positive or negative if Nexus only accepted games which would be considered 'proper games' and not anything that is submitted."

Is there an answer in specific that would somehow rule out the other? The two points are highly subjective and at terms appear to be correct.

There's a comment for HHGTG.

Quote
This has the honour of being crowned the most frustrating game I have ever played in my whole life (and believe me, I have played a lot!). The puzzles are completely non-sensical, the dead-ends and deaths constant, and the number of possibilities to try is massive. I would not recommend it unless you love a huge challenge, have a lot of time on your hands, and are very tolerant!
Also, I had quite a few problems with the game crashing and errors when trying to load saved game. In the end I had to give up completely because the drop button disappeared for some reason, I suppose a bug, and so I couldn't continue.

As the game is long, the manipulation of the inventory is also a big problem. It takes an awful lot of time to remember where different items have been stored and to extract them so that they can be used.

That means the game shouldn't be played by anyone. And it may be correct. I can explain why this comment has no sense at all IMHO, but that's not related here.

And there's a comment for my first ags game.

Quote
Amazing game.the best of AGS ever.

Does that mean the up-above is true, and the down-above is wrong? Or vice-versa? It's up to anyone to judge if a game is worth it. I honestly think moving to an elitist would be a terrible move. Yes it would increase the quality of the nexus database. And the arrogance aura all around. I would be very disappointed to see that happen. And if the Nexus and AGS db are at some point linked to each other, then imagine what will happen on bad ratings.

The best approach if you choose the elitist way, would be to discuss the game with each author's game that you're not sure whether it should be eliminated. It may be tedious but less insulting than taking the action on your own. That means you accept all games with 3 and more rating from the panel, instantly. And games that you're sure of their quality. And then have some audition for those you're eliminating or not sure.

Just my thoughts.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 16/09/2010 14:50:12
My concern is more about things like training games and games that are impossible to play.

Hitchhikers would easily meet the kind of requirements i'm thinking of.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Mr Flibble on Thu 16/09/2010 15:00:01
I haven't read the whole thread but have you considered adding emulation support so DOS AGS games will work straight from Nexus? That'd be a pretty cool feature.

On the current topic, if you're just taking games that people are volunteering for the service, I doubt you really have to worry about people submitting games that are utterly unplayable. Maybe the simplest way to remedy this is to only accept games that have had over a certain number of downloads? I can see where you're coming from, wanting to present a cream of the crop type showcase where every game on the system was potentially worth a download, but I also feel like Nexus would be massively useful as a way just to download any old game at all.

Even one that looks so bad you wouldn't usually bother, but you now can, due to the simplicity.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: GarageGothic on Thu 16/09/2010 15:00:40
I think restricting distribution would subvert at least what I see as the main attraction of Nexus - namely an efficient way to try out all those smaller games that I currently can't be bothered with because I know I'll just have a ton of awkwardly named .zip files and temporary folders in my download folder that I never get around to deleting.

Nexus is perfect for something like MAGS, OROW or hour games, where you know that you're most likely not going to keep the games. The larger games, which are often the ones getting high cup ratings, I don't mind installing in my games folder to return to later, but the real benefit of Nexus to me would be a fast and clutter-free way to try out all those "lesser" games, that often prove very inspiring despite their flaws but at the moment doesn't seem worth the trouble.

I'm guessing Nexus would have the same, if not more, sorting methods as the current DB, so if you wish just leave the "Don't show games with less than two cups" filter on by default.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Dualnames on Thu 16/09/2010 15:06:40
I find Nexus as GG said ideal for Nexus, and despite its one cup rating, and indeed more of a student's art project than a game, to accomplish more than HHGTG set out to achieve IMHO. Even if it has lesser than 8000 downloads or so, I'm more proud for Disquiet. Even if it took 7 days instead of 2.5 years. I find myself to believe that HHGTG evolved my skills on the technical compartment. Where Disquiet is the direction I've been meaning to find all this time.

Assuming that disquiet is one of your worries in terms of quality, I'd like to hear your thoughts and discuss this further.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 16/09/2010 15:10:05
You all make excellent points... this is why i post here :P

I think a filtering system is the best approach. Allowing hardcore users to search for the less mainstream palatable games.

On the topic of MAGs and so on, I actually plan to have a 'collections' systems whereby users can download all the Mags games for a particular month in a single click.

EDIT:

Dual, disquiet wasn't specifically on my mind no.

Although it only got one cup I still think it would satisfy my requirements since it's playable and complete.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Leon on Thu 16/09/2010 15:13:35
Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Thu 16/09/2010 14:50:12
My concern is more about things like training games and games that are impossible to play.

Hitchhikers would easily meet the kind of requirements i'm thinking of.

There are 'training games' of a pretty high standard. I believe every first entry of a game maker is a training game.

You have to ask yourself what your goal is with Nexus. Is it easy distribution or is it moderating the quality of games? And what about the panel? It has been proven on this board many times that the 'general public' doesn't always agree with the panel. So indeed, where do you draw the line?

What you could do is a rating system. Let the public rate the games and show these on top or promote them in an ad-section. The 'lesser' games will sink to the bottom (unless searched for). Then, for maintenance purposes, you could remove games that haven't been downloaded in 6 months. It's not that you want to start an archive ... is it?
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Dualnames on Thu 16/09/2010 15:20:59
I think a filtering system won't be the best approach. Perhaps a different way. No idea what there should be instead, but I just never liked filtering systems. And their purpose is wrong. There are always game-gems even for 4-5 people.

I think a total lack of panel rating would be great. And just allow comments for people. It depends really. Like I said, I think all 3+ cup games should be there instantly accepted.

Or just put games YOU value. There's not a definite answer to this. At least I can't give one that seems like one.


Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 16/09/2010 15:25:27
Dual, I'm a little confused by your post.

by 'filtering system' I mean a system where you can search for games based on rating.

I know it's an unfortunate truth but some games are better than others so there needs to be some way to attempt to quantify that.

On the subject of the panel rating I'm still unsure whether I will include it.
I think on balance I am erring of the side of not including it and allowing all rating to be done at the community level.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Leon on Thu 16/09/2010 15:32:55
Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Thu 16/09/2010 15:25:27
I know it's an unfortunate truth but some games are better than others so there needs to be some way to attempt to quantify that.

According to who? Better in what?  Graphics, sounds, game play, puzzles? There are games that are praised on this board that I think are total @#$#. Who decides what's good and what's not? It's all a matter of opinion and personal taste.

As said earlier, just create a distribution system, not a quality measuring system. If you want to add that as well, I'm with Dual, just put the games on there that you value.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 16/09/2010 15:42:11
Well I think i'm pretty decided (due to the excellent comments here) that an unregulated (but searchable) database is probably the best solution.

However it's pretty naive to say that all levels of quality are entirely subjective.

if that were true then all games would sell roughly equally and all games would receive similar review scores. You'd see a totally random distribution which is clearly not the case.

Deus Ex is better than Daikatana
Half life is better than GORE(look it up, it's terrible)

obviously some people will hate Deus Ex and they will hate Half Life but it is *useful for the community* to rank Deus Ex higher than Daikatana so it is more easily exposed.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: GarageGothic on Thu 16/09/2010 15:50:14
Some kind of review score aggregating feature would be interesting (if not too much of a hassle to implement). Otherwise at least a separate field for review links/quotes so authors won't have to put them in the description text.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 16/09/2010 15:59:24
very few freeware indie games get enough review scores to be aggregated.

Eternally Us got a little bit of press coverage but i don't think a 'score' was ever given.

There will be a community rating feature and a field for developers to link reviews to their games though.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Dualnames on Thu 16/09/2010 16:20:25
I'm with Leon all the way. A search-able database by any kind rating, would just be wrong. It's as wrong as judging a game by downloads.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 16/09/2010 16:22:43
an entirely unrated database with possibly hundreds or thousands of games?

How would that possibly work for the end user?
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Thu 16/09/2010 16:24:22
QuoteIt's as wrong as judging a game by downloads.
Completely disagree. The rating wouldn't be calculated by download amount, they would be calculated by the average player rating.

I also disagree with disregarding the player rating altogether and having only an alphabetical/genre sort. Nexus would be nearly pointless without it. I only want to play games that people deem worthy. I don't have loads of time where I can play all games from A to Z, it's just not going to work.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 16/09/2010 16:26:03
agreed.

Just because the database has a rating field doesnt mean you have to use it yourself.. you can start at A and work through to Z if you like but i imagine that is not how most people find games to play.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Radiant on Thu 16/09/2010 16:38:16
Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Thu 16/09/2010 16:22:43
an entirely unrated database with possibly hundreds or thousands of games?

How would that possibly work for the end user?
Through searching on other criteria. Knowing that a game is of genre "science fiction", or has "640x480 VGA" graphics, or was made by "Blizzard" is much more helpful to me than knowing that "there exists at least one person who thinks this game is great".

Home of the Underdogs had a great feature that "if you like this game, you should also try these three:"

Tag clouds are rather easy to implement, and seem to work rather well on tigsource.

And finally, you could have users submit their Top Ten List of game recommendations, so that I could e.g. find a username that I know and see what ten games he thinks I should play.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Dualnames on Thu 16/09/2010 16:41:45
Radiant just scored gold imho!!! :D

I want nothing else than what Radiant suggested. ;)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 16/09/2010 16:47:04
While radiant made some good suggestions they are not reasons to drop a rating system.. they are just reasons to add other searching criteria.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Thu 16/09/2010 16:57:00
Quote"if you like this game, you should also try these three:"
But you can't offer this method without actually having a user rating system. How else would it rate that you've liked that game?

It should have all the searching/categorizing features suggested here along with a user rating. How you choose to sort the games you want to download, that's up to you.


Anyway, Calin, with the game list. When you're searching for a game to download, it should exclude games that you already currently have downloaded. With perhaps an option in the preferences menu to have those games still show on the search list, just a darker shade of gray or something.

Also, when you're in the My Downloads list (or whatever it's called), it should have a Rate Game button to the side of each game that you haven't rated yet. Or a different colored 5 stars/cups/whatever to show that you haven't rated it yet. Basically something to indicate that you haven't actually rated it yet.
It would be cool if you could change your rating at anytime, just in case you change your mind or play the game again. etc.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: ddq on Thu 16/09/2010 17:09:24
Geez, what's wrong with having game ratings? Everyone is throwing around "subjectivity" and "opinions" as reasons why you can't include ratings but a score that represents at least an average opinion of a game's quality is really helpful for me in finding games. I understand that the average user will dismiss low-rated games just by the score, but if the game wasn't good enough to earn a score that could be generally agreed with, that's just the risk one takes on the Internet.

One option for clearly broken in terms of compleatability, not quality, could be a tag or icon that indicates "this game is reported to have a game-breaking bug" or something.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Dualnames on Thu 16/09/2010 17:13:10
Drew has a point. Okay how's this. A rating to 5 stars/cups/nexuses. And then you can drop down a list (similar to the youtube description), showing the following

CalinLeafshade 4 stars
DDQ                  5 stars
qptain_nemp    1 star
Dualnames       4 stars

That'd be cool. So you can find your friends or someone you trust (like last.fm works) and play the games he has rated highly.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Radiant on Thu 16/09/2010 17:15:07
Quote from: Ryan Timothy on Thu 16/09/2010 16:57:00
Quote"if you like this game, you should also try these three:"
But you can't offer this method without actually having a user rating system. How else would it rate that you've liked that game?
Sure you can. It finds random games from the same genre category, or with the same cloud tags.

Just to throw some more ideas out there - the most effective rating system is probably the one used by rottentomatoes.com, which simply asks "did you like this movie yes/no", and prints that "4738 out of 12893 people like this movie". This is good because any other system is arbitrary: if the scale is, say, one to ten, people can and will disagree whether a seven means "good", "somewhat above average", or "mediocre"; and there are always people who'll simply vote "10" for all games they like, and "1" for all games they don't.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: tzachs on Thu 16/09/2010 17:18:24
Quote from: Radiant on Thu 16/09/2010 16:38:16
Home of the Underdogs had a great feature that "if you like this game, you should also try these three:"
That's true, but the Underdogs also had a ratings system.
I believe most of the users will find the ratings system useful, and those who won't can simply not use it.


Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 16/09/2010 17:23:04
Dual:
I have already planned to implement a system which shows what your friends thought of a game.

like on the games page it would have something like:

Your friends said this about this game:

Dualnames - *****
"This game is super awesome!"

Ben304 - **
"This game sucks but i'm Australian so what do I know."

and so on.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Dualnames on Thu 16/09/2010 17:26:25
Nice to hear. :)
Oh, well carry on then.

Suggestions like IMDB does, based on genre and keyword match, would also be cool.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Thu 16/09/2010 19:55:49
Quote from: ddq on Thu 16/09/2010 17:09:24
One option for clearly broken in terms of compleatability, not quality, could be a tag or icon that indicates "this game is reported to have a game-breaking bug" or something.

A "report a bug" function here would be usefull for the developers..
About any type of rating system I think a "like/not like" function would be the best.
Though I don't usually care how many people have liked something or not when I try new games :).
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Mr Flibble on Thu 16/09/2010 20:12:48
How about this? Ask people to rate a game after playing it in Nexus. Then use that.

A system like that would also be useful for suggesting other games to play next.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: GarageGothic on Thu 16/09/2010 20:52:09
Quote from: Mr Flibble on Thu 16/09/2010 20:12:48How about this? Ask people to rate a game after playing it in Nexus. Then use that.

Perhaps it would be a bit cheeky, but a big "rate this" pop-up (which can of course be declined) as a default part of the uninstall procedure would certainly make me a lot more likely to rate a game that I normally wouldn't bother to give my opinion on. Other than that, if we could agree on a standard system where games write to a specific file upon finishing it, that could be used to trigger a rating pop-up after exiting. I don't like the idea of being asked every time I played it for a few minutes (unless it was totally unobtrusive), that'd be as much of a pain in the ass as Skype's call quality survey.

Also, no need to encourage rating a game until the user has either finished the game or given up on it :)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Mr Flibble on Thu 16/09/2010 23:45:08
I was moreso thinking of just being able to give feedback on a game at any time, from the list of downloaded games in my imaginary picture of the Nexus browser. Like eBay feedback. I agree that a pop-up or prompt would be far too invasive.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: therantingrob on Fri 17/09/2010 00:13:04
Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Thu 16/09/2010 14:27:15
Now, would you consider it a positive or negative if Nexus only accepted games which would be considered 'proper games' and not anything that is submitted.

I'm finding it difficult to know where to draw the line. I need to find a balance between not alienating the developer base and providing players with games of a certain calibre.

I think a Nexus-internal ranking system which allows players who played through a game to rate certain categories with a 1-10 "star" or points system would be a good thing to sort the good from the bad over a period of time.

the point is to make the rating window pop up after the game has been played through.
not making it entirely optional. to motivate lazy people  ::)
for instance, the rating system of "Little Big Planet" works this way and it has proven to sort the well-designed content from the alpha or beta testing stage content.
(although there might be a tendency to accumulate overly positive or negative ratings because the user wants to "get done with that annoying survey".)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: ddq on Fri 17/09/2010 00:30:12
Have it ask for a rating after playing new games by default, but have the option to disable it in the preferences. And only ask for a rating once per game, of course. How will you tell that they've finished the game, though? It might be weird for longer games if they open it, play half of it, save, quit, and be prompted to give it a score.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Fri 17/09/2010 02:57:29
The popup once you've closed the game should have a Vote Now or Next Time I Close the Game option.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: GarageGothic on Fri 17/09/2010 03:06:21
Quote from: ddq on Fri 17/09/2010 00:30:12How will you tell that they've finished the game, though? It might be weird for longer games if they open it, play half of it, save, quit, and be prompted to give it a score.

Quote from: GarageGothic on Thu 16/09/2010 20:52:09if we could agree on a standard system where games write to a specific file upon finishing it, that could be used to trigger a rating pop-up after exiting.

Would be as simple as a script module imported in the editor and called from the game's ending screen. Nexus would presumably already have full access to the game's save/config folder for the sake of uninstall, so checking for the existence of a specific "proof of completion" file should be trivial.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Fri 17/09/2010 03:13:59
It's a neat idea, but as Calin stated, he wants to make the nexus for AGS games now and other indie games later.
So that system would only work for those who actually care enough about nexus and enough to put in a module to create a file upon completion. I know I'd probably never put one in my games.. mostly because I'd never think about it before releasing it.

Can't it just check if the game is still running? Is that not possible?


Anyway, I forgot about Do Not Vote for a third button on the popup after the game is finished. So I say it should have these buttons: Vote Now | Do Not Vote | Vote Later
And my opinion matters because I'm radtastic.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: GarageGothic on Fri 17/09/2010 03:31:11
Well, my point wasn't to trigger the rating dialog when you exit the game, but only after playing it to completion (or upon uninstall, in which case the player has made his mind up not to finish it). Of course this differs between game genres too, but it should be within everybody's interest that games aren't rated after two minutes of play - you could also leave it up to the author to decide when to prompt for a rating (though it should always be possible to rate the game unprompted of course), so the maker of a platform game could trigger it for 15+ minutes of play, while someone releasing a mystery game may not want to encourage players to rate it until after the mid-game plot twist.

Sorry for rambling, I just think it would be a cool idea to encourage people to vote but also don't want a rating dialog to pop up every time I close the game. Haven't necessarily thought the idea through ;)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: SSH on Fri 17/09/2010 03:35:56
Could you have a Like.dislike button on each rating/review so that people can say which are useful reviews and which ones are just "Dualnames sux, hahahah". Then each user's reviews can be shown with their +/- score so people who can't tell their Leons from their Iceys can get an idea about the reliability of different reviewers?
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Fri 17/09/2010 05:50:01
Quote from: Mr Flibble on Thu 16/09/2010 15:00:01
I haven't read the whole thread but have you considered adding emulation support so DOS AGS games will work straight from Nexus? That'd be a pretty cool feature.

I am planning for something like this for agsarchives.com with help from Arj0n, and Calin will have full access to those files for Nexus.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Fri 17/09/2010 08:42:49
Actually thats already been done.

Nexus runs a version of dosbox for the games.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: abstauber on Fri 17/09/2010 10:35:02
Hey,
here's another late time entry for the db.

(http://shatten.sonores.de/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/aero_icon.png)
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=download&game=1238&mirror=1

I'm a bit too lazy to closely read the entire thread, so I hope you're still accepting entries.
And sorry that I have nothing to add to this thread expect: great idea ;)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Darius Poyer on Fri 17/09/2010 13:03:21
I support this, in spite of the massive risk of it becoming steams' trash-can.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Mr Flibble on Fri 17/09/2010 13:27:15
Quote from: Peder Johnsen on Fri 17/09/2010 05:50:01
Quote from: Mr Flibble on Thu 16/09/2010 15:00:01
I haven't read the whole thread but have you considered adding emulation support so DOS AGS games will work straight from Nexus? That'd be a pretty cool feature.

I am planning for something like this for agsarchives.com with help from Arj0n, and Calin will have full access to those files for Nexus.
Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Fri 17/09/2010 08:42:49
Actually thats already been done.

Nexus runs a version of dosbox for the games.

I love you all  :=
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Fri 17/09/2010 14:02:04
Quote from: Darius Poyer on Fri 17/09/2010 13:03:21
I support this, in spite of the massive risk of it becoming steams' trash-can.

"Steam's Trashcan" is not so much a risk as it is a goal.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Ali on Fri 17/09/2010 14:21:44
In case its helpful... icon'd: (http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/8703/nellyiconq.png) (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=30440.0)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Dualnames on Fri 17/09/2010 15:07:29
Quote from: SSH on Fri 17/09/2010 03:35:56
Could you have a Like.dislike button on each rating/review so that people can say which are useful reviews and which ones are just "Dualnames sux, hahahah". Then each user's reviews can be shown with their +/- score so people who can't tell their Leons from their Iceys can get an idea about the reliability of different reviewers?

I like your examples.  ;)

Quote"Steam's Trashcan" is not so much a risk as it is a goal.

Well, I see Steam as Bruce Lee and Nexus as a young texan ranger.  ;D
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Snake on Fri 17/09/2010 16:24:16
Steam Powered:
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TLG8SzQb6_M/TGoX505WAXI/AAAAAAAAAVs/7KXV72dx7do/s1600/Bruce-Lee10%5B1%5D.jpg)

Nexus Natal:
(http://fresontech.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/chuck_norris_cake.jpg)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Fri 17/09/2010 17:56:13
Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Fri 17/09/2010 08:42:49
Actually thats already been done.

Nexus runs a version of dosbox for the games.

Ah well, we still have to do it for agsarchives.com too :).
For those who might decide NOT to use nexus :P.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: straydogstrut on Sat 18/09/2010 17:51:32
Here's my humble little opinion...

While I think a restricted entry would give developers a bar to aim for - polishing their games to meet the standard - I don't like the elitism that suggests and the overhead involved in deciding whether a game qualifies. It's important to me that sharing our creations is made as easy as possible, on a level playing field. Everyone has a right to express themselves and I don't think it's fair to take that away. I would rather have no entry requirements beyond providing the games files in a specific package (zip or whatever) and supplying a readme or completing a form that Nexus can pull the metadata from.

A filtering system is a given - genre, setting, length etc - since we need some way to explore the huge list of games, and the more Nexus lets me sort that information, the better. But as for a ratings system, personally it doesn't play a big role in my decision to try a game. I'm more swayed by what the game itself promises - the blurb, artwork etc - than an abstract number or star/cup rating that doesn't really tell you what the game is like since we all rate a game highly for different reasons. Slightly better is breaking the rating down into categories - gameplay, puzzles - to better direct the gamer's focus when deciding on a rating.

That said, I have nothing against rating systems and will always rate a game if the system allows. The important thing to consider is why you want a rating system? Is it to allow the 'best' games to bubble to the top, at the risk of burying niche titles? or is it to allow recommendations amongst friends? what else?

For me personally, the important thing about having a rating system is so that I can tell a developer that I liked his/her game. Everybody likes to feel appreciated;-) This could be a simple Like button, but it's probably more useful to the developer if i'm able to say specifically what I liked about it. Of course, that's what reviews are for but there are many times when I want to write a review but never get around to it - Eternally Us being a case in point - and that's where a quick, easy ratings system is useful.

A popup reminder is a little too invasive for my tastes and only really makes sense if the ratings system has some important bearing on the way games are presented in Nexus, requiring that all games have be rated eventually. I like the "If you liked this.." idea and this doesn't need to be based on ratings. It could be displayed on the games page itself before you've tried it, just showing other games from that genre, or it could be based on downloads like Amazon's "Customers who bought this item also bought". Having an icon for broken games is a good, quick, visual reference and might encourage developers to fix their games.

It all comes down presentation. I think the more you can do to showcase games and encourage people to try games the better, both for players and developers. Whether a ratings system is the way to do that, I don't know.

One final thought: whenever makes sense in Nexus' development cycle, maybe you could start a competition thread to design Nexus' interface? Just simple graphical mockups or, if someone feels the inclination, a 'working' demo (button rollovers, menus etc). You wouldn't have to use it - and I know nothing about the development environment you're using - but it might give you ideas for layout/features. Maybe set some guidelines of things the interface must accommodate at a minimum and let people take it from there.

Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Sat 18/09/2010 18:10:27
On the subject of the interface, I am looking for a graphic designer if anyone is interested.

Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Kweepa on Wed 22/09/2010 03:01:37
Quote from: Dualnames on Fri 17/09/2010 15:07:29
Well, I see Steam as Bruce Lee and Nexus as a young texan ranger.  ;D

(http://www.librarising.com/astrology/celebs/images2/B/brucelee4.jpg)
No contest.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: jannar85 on Sun 10/10/2010 19:29:20
Just some inputs, can we sort the games after year, developer, rating and so on?
I would think screenshots from the game would be better as well, in the database, plus walkthrough, link to the game site, also a full description of the story, and that description can be tagline.

Maybe with full cover too, if it's added.

Well, that's my two cents atm. I don't know if they have been suggested already, but here you have it :)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Dualnames on Wed 01/12/2010 03:59:04
There's been some silence for this. And since well, it's late, I just went to AGSarchives and just wondered. Any news on this?
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: straydogstrut on Wed 01/12/2010 07:47:29
*wonders too* =)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Wed 01/12/2010 10:58:54
I don't know about Nexus but I just added 600+ games last week to AGSArchives.com :).
Working on a little management system for it now to easier edit game descriptions etc, as many of the game descriptions could need a "makeover".
Also some of them include character errors etc.

There might also be a couple of games with faulty downloads.

I am currently getting a list ready for Arj0n of the games in the database without a download link so he can upload all the games he got to the server :). I hope to have most of the games listed on the site as of now with a download link before christmas.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: arj0n on Wed 01/12/2010 12:14:58
My overview:

Todo:
Hourgames
MMM games [Manian Mansion Mania Series]
-Episodes
-Fan Adventures
-OSD_Funky-Teaser
-Specials
   --Edgar Award Show
   --Festivitäten
   --Halloween 2005, 2006 & 2008
   --Maniac Dungeon
-Trailer & Demos
-Underground [Trash Episoden]

Done:
Games that are in the AGS-gamedatabase [+/- 1223]
Games that aren't in the AGS-gamedatabase [+/- 220]
MAGS games [2001-2010]
OROW games
RON games [Reality-On-The-Norm Series]
Extra: AGS soundtracks

:)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Wed 01/12/2010 14:09:38
The program itself is more or less fully functional but the web interface is taking some time since I *suck* at web design.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Dualnames on Wed 01/12/2010 19:21:55
Most of my games aren't even there except for one, whip Arj0n , peder! :D
I'm glad to see you guys are working.

@Calin: Can't Peder give you a hand, he seems proficient enough to me, but I'm guessing you already asked for his help..I'm sure though that someone around here is proficient enough to solve the problems you might be facing.


Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Wed 01/12/2010 20:01:12
Actually I'm thinking of getting nexus to directly interface with AGSArchives.com

Then I dont have to make my own system and I can work more closely with him.

If thats alright with him of course.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Wed 01/12/2010 20:26:14
Let's talk one day ;).

Sorry Duals!
Working on it! :P.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Wersus on Wed 01/12/2010 21:45:26
This doesn't really sound half bad. I hope it turns out good and people find it too.

I have a question though: how do you determine what file you execute in the game folder? And how do you find the setup file? Just asking as I did some data hiding in my game and created an external exe to run the game, so does that screw it up?

Anyway, the idea kind of makes me wish there was a steam for free games in general. I personally miss a lot of great small games just because setting up the game is too much work for a short session. I have like 50 zip files lying around that I've downloaded ages ago and I'm never going to play them as I have no idea what they are anymore.


btw, you should make it possible to use the program without installation. I think that would make it more approachable to people who aren't in the heart of AGS developer community, but just want to try a game or two.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Wed 01/12/2010 21:55:21
AGSArchives.com will allways provide direct2drive downloads directly from the website :).
So whoever is only wanting to play a couple of games won't have to download the program!

I assume it would be possible to show both a normal download link and a nexus download link on the website while if they are on the website within the program it will only show the nexus download link.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Snake on Wed 05/01/2011 04:11:02
Sorry for digging up an old thread, but, what's going on with this one, Calin?
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Dualnames on Wed 05/01/2011 04:14:51
I caught myself thinking it was actually out.  :'(
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Thu 06/01/2011 00:22:18
There is an alpha version :P. I am still working on sorting out the new nexus friendly version of www.agsarchives.com.
Still ALOT of games to sort out... Currently struggling a bit getting paid work hence why it has taken longer than I wanted as most of my time has gone into looking for work.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - Advice needed
Post by: straydogstrut on Thu 24/02/2011 00:01:38
So here's an idea that came to me just now in those delirious moments before I drift off to sleep: I was thinking of making my own boxed versions of my favourite AGS games, and for no other reason than my fondness for physical media and my obsession with filling any spare patch of floor in our room.

Bear with me, this is Nexus related!

Then I started thinking about compilations and how you'll get boxsets of games under a common theme. I know we've discussed different metadata for the games in Nexus - that alone has me drooling - but I'm thinking, what about a Nexus version of iTunes' Genius? You know, like the compilations of different music genres you get in Genius. Although better than Genius which never seems to give me a decent playlist (or maybe that's just my rubbish music collection!). This is all covered by the metadata, of course, but there could be interesting compilations to group different games together.

Anyway, it's not like you guys don't have enough to do, i'm just throwing it out there. I haven't really thought it through.

G'night y'all.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 24/03/2011 17:18:39
Hola!

Ok here's a little pre-alpha version. It works in as much as it downloads and plays games but it doesnt do much more than that.

All AGS windows games *should* work but dos game currently wont.

The games are serves from Peder's AGSArchives.com and not all AGS games are availble to be installed with nexus. (Look for the 'Install via nexus' button.

Usage is pretty straight forward. If you've used steam everything should seem pretty familiar.

I would really like some feedback on what you like and dislike about the interface and how you would change it.

I know that the game card in the Collection tab looks a little silly but Peder is working on that.

http://www.thethoughtradar.com/Nexus/NexusPreAlpha2.zip
.Net framework 3 or above is required.

Crashes are almost 100% likely.

"Wait! Why is nexus fucking with my registry!"
Thats so that nexus can catch clicks from other browsers: (even when nexus isnt open)

It's entirely optional and you can ask nexus to never ask you about it again.

Have fun!

(I apologise for the shitty download speed of the client link above, GoDaddy are being assholes at the moment. The actually games are from a different source)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Igor Hardy on Thu 24/03/2011 17:29:38
Doesn't even want to start on my system. :(
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 24/03/2011 17:30:50
Error?
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Buckethead on Thu 24/03/2011 17:39:45
Nice I'll check it out  :)

EDIT:

It doesn't start here either. It says "Nexus doesn't work anymore. The program shut down because of a problem". I think it has something to do with Windows security blocking it.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Dualnames on Thu 24/03/2011 17:42:00
It doesn't start here either. I tried running the Registry Updater, but still no go. I'm on Win7 btw.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 24/03/2011 17:51:48
ok, must be because i have admin permissions

I'll debug it!
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Dualnames on Thu 24/03/2011 17:55:43
Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Thu 24/03/2011 17:51:48
ok, must be because i have admin permissions

I'll debug it!

I could do with admin skills. I'm sure Peder will be very happy to give me and everyone administration access.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Thu 24/03/2011 17:59:21
Same here. It says that Nexus has stopped working and that windows is pretending to look for a solution.
I even tried to run it as administrator, if that's what you were talking about with the admin permissions.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: JJS on Thu 24/03/2011 17:59:47
Crashes on start because of this exception:

Eine nicht behandelte Ausnahme des Typs "System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException" ist in Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll aufgetreten.

Zusätzliche Informationen: Ein Teil des Pfades "C:\Users\JJS\Documents\Nexus\Settings.ini" konnte nicht gefunden werden.


If you manually create the "Nexus" folder in "Documents", it starts fine.

Windows 7 x64 btw.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Buckethead on Thu 24/03/2011 18:02:17
YES! JJS' solution has done the trick for me. Testing it now.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 24/03/2011 18:05:17
Yea i just found that.. That was a really stupid error.

I will upload another version now with another fix that i have just found.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Dualnames on Thu 24/03/2011 18:11:30
Seems to be working. How do I remove games?
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 24/03/2011 18:14:32
Quote from: Dualnames on Thu 24/03/2011 18:11:30
Seems to be working. How do I remove games?

That is the next feature on my list dually pants.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: TomatoesInTheHead on Thu 24/03/2011 18:43:17
Everything that should work (including parallel downloading/installing/browsing) seems to work fine here (WinXP, and after applying JJS' solution).

At this time the only thing that bothered me was the maximizing functionality, as it makes the window cover the whole screen instead of only the whole desktop (so it's actually a full screen mode, and not a maximize function), and that when maximized, the restore button is still showing a maximize icon.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 24/03/2011 18:51:19
Ok new version fixes all the errors above (except the maximize button graphic) plus a couple more that i have found since.

http://www.thethoughtradar.com/Nexus/NexusPreAlpha2.zip

Right click on the game allows a delete option from the context menu.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: arj0n on Thu 24/03/2011 19:05:51
NexusPreAlpha2 works like a charm on WinXP.
When nexus is minimized it uses about 6500 kb
when in front it uses 30000 to 40000 kb

Didn't need to create the nexis dir in MyDocs manually.
But maybe that bug only appeared using NexusPreAlpha1 and has been fixed in NexusPreAlpha2... :D
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 24/03/2011 20:08:55
Here's a faster download from agsarchives:

http://nexus.agsarchives.com/NexusPreAlpha2.zip
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Igor Hardy on Thu 24/03/2011 20:16:08
Works great on my XP! :D Congratulations on creating the new (better) Steam!

Now testing if there's anything different in Snakes of Avalon when started via Nexus - can't get enough of that game for some reason.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Ali on Thu 24/03/2011 23:29:47
Great work, running smoothly on Win 7 64bit Home Edition!

Not wanting to sound self involved... but I immediately searched for Nelly Cootalot and I noticed the screenshot was squashed vertically. When you have the time, could you sort it out? Because it makes Nelly look fat and I could get into trouble with the missus.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Thu 24/03/2011 23:34:07
Now that is something I will have to do Ali ;). I shall see why the thumb code haven't done a better job ;)

[EDIT]
It was a setting that was set to false so if an image was smaller than the screenshot size on the page it would not resize it at all. Now I might change how it displays the screenshot so if the original file is smaller than the screenshot size it will show the original size centered within a black box.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Buckethead on Fri 25/03/2011 11:02:53
I've downloaded Snakes of Avalon and A night to remember with Nexus. Both worked like a charm. However, snakes tried to start in a really high resolution that my laptop doesn't support. This was easily fixed with the setup option though.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: mode7 on Fri 25/03/2011 12:14:57
It really works great - this is a great piece of software which makes it so much easier to load and keept track of your ags games.
Only complaint: Why aren't my games on there?
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: tzachs on Fri 25/03/2011 13:24:17
As someone who has never used Steam... How do I download games?
When I press on "Install via Nexus", all I see is a blank page, and nothing happens.  ???

Also, the right side of the page seems to be cut, including the border of the window, here's a screenshot (http://imgur.com/YXg7L).

Using WinXP.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Stupot on Fri 25/03/2011 14:20:02
This is sweet!
One question.  Is there a way of getting games that we already have to work in Nexus, or would we have to download them again? Ta :D
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Monsieur OUXX on Fri 25/03/2011 14:52:24
Call to the admins: This should be quickly integrated to the website or wherever it belongs, so that it doesn't stay a "hidden" feature, reserved for the forum crawlers.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: JJS on Fri 25/03/2011 15:28:59
Since this an early version, I am not sure what kind of feedback is needed but:

- If you start a game download and quit Nexus before it finishes, the game vanishes from the game list and the partial download stays on disk.
- If a game is removed from the list while it downloads, the download continues in the background. It is possible to readd the game to the list, but it will not show the download status or the name. When eventually the game is downloaded it will be unpacked. If you then again click on the "install game" button, it will reappear in the game list.
- Deleting a game only removes the folder, not the download archive.
- Regarding the last point: Maybe there could be an option to have a downloaded game "uninstalled" (i.e. not unpacked) but still appearing in the menu (as "preloaded" or something). That way it would be quick to reinstall it without another download.
- Sometimes, a game will not be successfully added to the list if you try to install it. There will be a list entry created, but it its description is empty. Also no file is downloaded. When you click on it, it will take you to the games page though. This seems to occur at random.
- Running a game from winsetup.exe will not make the game show up as "in game" in the list (it shows as "Ready").
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Fri 25/03/2011 15:45:45
Quote from: JJS on Fri 25/03/2011 15:28:59
- Sometimes, a game will not be successfully added to the list if you try to install it. There will be a list entry created, but it its description is empty. Also no file is downloaded. When you click on it, it will take you to the games page though. This seems to occur at random.

This could simply be because some games that are downloadable on the new.agsarchives.com website are still not Nexus ready (even though they have the install via Nexus button). This is because I have yet to replace all non zip files with zip files.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Fri 25/03/2011 16:32:49
Quote from: Buckethead on Fri 25/03/2011 11:02:53
I've downloaded Snakes of Avalon and A night to remember with Nexus. Both worked like a charm. However, snakes tried to start in a really high resolution that my laptop doesn't support. This was easily fixed with the setup option though.

I plan to have a kind of 'universal config' option so all games will play with the same settings unless overridden but because of all the different versions of AGS thats not a trivial task but its on my list!

Quote from: mode7 on Fri 25/03/2011 12:14:57
Only complaint: Why aren't my games on there?

Peder's fault. Yell at him until it's fixed. And make him make the user system while you're at it.

Quote from: tzachs on Fri 25/03/2011 13:24:17
As someone who has never used Steam... How do I download games?
When I press on "Install via Nexus", all I see is a blank page, and nothing happens.  ???

Also, the right side of the page seems to be cut, including the border of the window, here's a screenshot (http://imgur.com/YXg7L).

Using WinXP.

Very odd problems there. I will look into it. If you double click the title bar the whole window should maximize. See if that helps.

Quote from: Stupot on Fri 25/03/2011 14:20:02
This is sweet!
One question.  Is there a way of getting games that we already have to work in Nexus, or would we have to download them again? Ta :D

I might allow the option to add third party games but the goal is to have *all* ags games available through the system so it might be a little but counter-productive.

Quote from: Ouxxey_games on Fri 25/03/2011 14:52:24
Call to the admins: This should be quickly integrated to the website or wherever it belongs, so that it doesn't stay a "hidden" feature, reserved for the forum crawlers.

Nexus is not developed by CJ and so he is probably reluctant to give it his 'seal of approval' by adding it to the site. Especially considering that it's written by a very junior and inexperienced coder. Adding it to the gamesdb would be nice but I understand why it should not be.

Quote from: JJS on Fri 25/03/2011 15:28:59
Since this an early version, I am not sure what kind of feedback is needed but:

- If you start a game download and quit Nexus before it finishes, the game vanishes from the game list and the partial download stays on disk.
- If a game is removed from the list while it downloads, the download continues in the background. It is possible to readd the game to the list, but it will not show the download status or the name. When eventually the game is downloaded it will be unpacked. If you then again click on the "install game" button, it will reappear in the game list.
- Deleting a game only removes the folder, not the download archive.
- Regarding the last point: Maybe there could be an option to have a downloaded game "uninstalled" (i.e. not unpacked) but still appearing in the menu (as "preloaded" or something). That way it would be quick to reinstall it without another download.
- Sometimes, a game will not be successfully added to the list if you try to install it. There will be a list entry created, but it its description is empty. Also no file is downloaded. When you click on it, it will take you to the games page though. This seems to occur at random.

All good bug reports, thanks

Quote from: JJS on Fri 25/03/2011 15:28:59
- Running a game from winsetup.exe will not make the game show up as "in game" in the list (it shows as "Ready").

I plan to bypass winsetup entirely with my own setup program so this wont be an issue.

Phew,

Ok I'm glad people seem to like it thus far. I shall continue my tinkerings!
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Monsieur OUXX on Fri 25/03/2011 19:15:54
The image for "the papparazzi prince" seems to cause issues. It seems to have weird dimensions (it's stretched in the AGS database website) and it's exagerately zoomed in inside nexus (you can see only the chest of the character, and huge pixels)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Monsieur OUXX on Fri 25/03/2011 19:17:35
I suggest you add a message saying "you haven't downloaded any game yet" when the colleciton is empty... Otherwise at first one wonders if it's the collection of existing games (available for download), or the collection of installed games
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Radiant on Fri 25/03/2011 19:44:02
It doesn't work on my computer period. Does it require certain libraries to be installed first?
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Fri 25/03/2011 20:01:43
Just .NET 3.

Do you get an error?
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Stupot on Fri 25/03/2011 20:49:56
Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Fri 25/03/2011 16:32:49
Quote from: Stupot on Fri 25/03/2011 14:20:02
This is sweet!
One question.  Is there a way of getting games that we already have to work in Nexus, or would we have to download them again? Ta :D

I might allow the option to add third party games but the goal is to have *all* ags games available through the system so it might be a little but counter-productive.

What I mean is, rather than re-downloading, say, Nelly Cootalot through the Nexus system if we already have the game, it would be cool to be able to simply drag our existing AGS game folders into the Nexus 'gamecache' folder.  I tried this with Nelly C and it crashed Nexus. D'oh.

Anyway, I think it's really cool what you guys are doing here.  Keep it up :)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: TomatoesInTheHead on Fri 25/03/2011 21:14:38
Quote from: Stupot on Fri 25/03/2011 20:49:56
What I mean is, rather than re-downloading, say, Nelly Cootalot through the Nexus system if we already have the game, it would be cool to be able to simply drag our existing AGS game folders into the Nexus 'gamecache' folder.  I tried this with Nelly C and it crashed Nexus. D'oh.
You can do it if you name the folder with the game's number from agsarchives.com (in this case (http://www.agsarchives.com/gamecard/735/nelly-cootalot-spoonbeaks-ahoy!.html), 735), make an icon with the same name in the icon cache folder, and include a registry file in the game folder like the ones created by Nexus, with the appropriate values...
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Fri 25/03/2011 21:19:53
yea, as tomatos says. You can trick nexus into doing this if you really want to.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: on Sat 26/03/2011 01:23:10
Great! But no installation manual or any kind of set up readme? I dont have a clue what Im doing nor how to get framework etc so please make some documentation for dumbasses like me Leaftits!
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Sat 26/03/2011 01:32:43
*PRE*ALPHA!
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: on Sat 26/03/2011 01:50:10
Suck my space pool alpha!

But: Okay.

:=
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Stupot on Sat 26/03/2011 07:49:03
Quote from: TomatosInTheHead on Fri 25/03/2011 21:14:38
You can do it if you name the folder with the game's number from agsarchives.com (in this case (http://www.agsarchives.com/gamecard/735/nelly-cootalot-spoonbeaks-ahoy!.html), 735), make an icon with the same name in the icon cache folder, and include a registry file in the game folder like the ones created by Nexus, with the appropriate values...
Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Fri 25/03/2011 21:19:53
yea, as tomatos says. You can trick nexus into doing this if you really want to.

Gah, probably easier to just download them again... ta anyway :)
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: AGA on Sun 27/03/2011 22:48:00
Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Fri 25/03/2011 16:32:49
Quote from: Ouxxey_games on Fri 25/03/2011 14:52:24
Call to the admins: This should be quickly integrated to the website or wherever it belongs, so that it doesn't stay a "hidden" feature, reserved for the forum crawlers.

Nexus is not developed by CJ and so he is probably reluctant to give it his 'seal of approval' by adding it to the site. Especially considering that it's written by a very junior and inexperienced coder. Adding it to the gamesdb would be nice but I understand why it should not be.

CJ's usually pretty cool about supporting projects like this.  He might add a link to it once it's in a proper public release state.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: cosmicr on Sun 27/03/2011 23:39:42
I really like where Nexus is going. Keep up the good work! If you're after help with maintaining or anything really, I'm available to help.

I'd like to see more separation between the web aspect and the program. At the moment all it feels like is a browser that captures downloads to AGS games. Its really no different to if I were to visit the site with chrome or firefox. When I used steam it actually felt like I was in a different protocol than the web (even though the interface was the same).I suppose with time it will come.

Once again, if I can offer any assistance, I'm open to help.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: theo on Sun 27/03/2011 23:44:36
Kick-ass project. Sometimes Calin, you're actually pretty cool.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Sun 27/03/2011 23:49:27
Only sometimes?
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: theo on Mon 28/03/2011 09:59:54
yeah, I think your girly avatar might causing the "sometimes". You need something awesome like a goblin with crossbones, or a wolf with a rocket launcher, or a bearded, slowly rotating smug man doing an odd suggestive gesture with his hand (?!).
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Dualnames on Mon 28/03/2011 13:19:46
There's nothing wrong with HOT avatars. :D :D
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 31/03/2011 08:21:35
Nexus has had a redesign, a new name and a new set of features!

Check my blog for the skinny.

http://www.thethoughtradar.com/blog/?p=234

I will also be tweeting regularly about the project so feel free to follow me @spoulton.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: zabnat on Thu 31/03/2011 08:45:13
What do you mean web 2.0 aesthetic? The buttons don't even have round corners! ;D

I'm very interested in this project and am eagerly waiting for it to mature.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Monsieur OUXX on Thu 31/03/2011 08:59:36
You can't call it Nimbus!!!!
Abstauber (and me) is working on a game with that name!!!
You traitor.
You'll have to share the huge royalty fees you get from Nexus. There's no way I let you get rich with AGS and get away with it.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: abstauber on Thu 31/03/2011 09:58:51
Narrp, Nimbus is a bad choice indeed.

Spoiler
We're working on ShattenReyze, I just didn't tell :-[ On the other hand - getting ShattenReyze through the Nimbus is a rather interesting idea
[close]

Edit - maybe I should mention that I visited your blog. The new design looks nice, also you could raise the contrast a bit. E.g. "generated at..." is hardly readable on this (hopefully calibrated) monitor.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Snake on Thu 31/03/2011 14:38:42
I love the new look and I don't mind the new name. At first I thought it was awful, but it's actually growing on me quite fast. Just don't turn it into a fucking FaceBook

Calin, would it be a bother to update the first post with the latest updates as well? Every time I see this thread float back to the top I get excited and click on it... only to see:
Quoteok, so firstly I understand that all of what i am about to say falls under the category of unnecessary but hear me out.

What do people think of a steam-like system for ags games?

Then I find my self sifting through the last page trying to find what you had posted.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 31/03/2011 15:28:40
Quote from: abstauber on Thu 31/03/2011 09:58:51
Narrp, Nimbus is a bad choice indeed.

Sorry if I stole your name :( I didnt mean to.

Quote from: abstauber on Thu 31/03/2011 09:58:51
Edit - maybe I should mention that I visited your blog. The new design looks nice, also you could raise the contrast a bit. E.g. "generated at..." is hardly readable on this (hopefully calibrated) monitor.

Actually the 'Generated at' part was really for debugging purposes so that i knew that the page was being regenerated.

Quote from: Snake on Thu 31/03/2011 14:38:42
I love the new look and I don't mind the new name. At first I thought it was awful, but it's actually growing on me quite fast. Just don't turn it into a fucking FaceBook

Thanks. *Technically* it was forum user uoou that designed the UI. I just implemented it.

The UI is all themed by the way so user can created third party themes for it if they so desire. [/pointless feature]

Quote from: Snake on Thu 31/03/2011 14:38:42
Calin, would it be a bother to update the first post with the latest updates as well? Every time I see this thread float back to the top I get excited and click on it... only to see:
Quoteok, so firstly I understand that all of what i am about to say falls under the category of unnecessary but hear me out.

What do people think of a steam-like system for ags games?

Then I find my self sifting through the last page trying to find what you had posted.

In my defence, Nimbus is still in the category of unnecessary. I will update the first post in future.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: abstauber on Thu 31/03/2011 15:38:28
Damn, I should have reserved that name ages ago.

Nowadays everything's called Nimbus, including a bug tracker at my company. I stole the name from was inspired by the movie "The Others" btw :)

Anyway, that name is a good source for a few puns.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Anian on Thu 31/03/2011 15:54:42
...yeah, don't mean to rain on the name parade (and this might be a pun cause a nimbus is actually one of the cloud types that brings rain, which already is not a positive association). But really there are games, softwares and other things already named Nimbus (I mean, even when googling it).

On the other hand, it's impossible to choose a name that might make some sense and was not used already for something, so you might as well stick with it. It's simple and memorable, that's the easiest way to spread it.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Atelier on Thu 31/03/2011 15:57:29
Quote from: theo on Mon 28/03/2011 09:59:54
yeah, I think your girly avatar might causing the "sometimes".

Incidentally cailín in Irish means girl.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Thu 31/03/2011 15:58:26
I still prefer Nexus... meh. It sounds fairy-like for some reason. Or a hairy potter magic spell "Nimbus-elicious".

I'm just a hater. :P
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 31/03/2011 16:21:05

*Takes his football inside and will not play with you guys anymore*
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Snake on Thu 31/03/2011 16:23:45
*snake hollers to Calin as he marches off the field like a little girl,

"JACK BE NIMBUS!!"
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: tzachs on Thu 31/03/2011 19:43:04
Yes for the new look, it looks really good, clean and simple.

Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Fri 25/03/2011 16:32:49
Very odd problems there. I will look into it. If you double click the title bar the whole window should maximize. See if that helps.
I don't know if it's still relevant with your new design and all, but maximizing the window doesn't help...

Quote from: Ryan Timothy on Thu 31/03/2011 15:58:26
I still prefer Nexus... meh. It sounds fairy-like for some reason. Or a hairy potter magic spell "Nimbus-elicious".
Actually, you're not far off. Nimbus 2000 is the broom Harry gets for his birthday from his godfather...
But yeah, everything will probably associate with something these days, Nexus to me associates with the nexus smart phone.
It's probably a big idea, though, to pick a name that doesn't have a lot of competitors in google.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: on Thu 31/03/2011 19:50:08
Trust Calin to change its cool manly name to a silly girly name  ::)

Sure you don't want to put "RM" before "Nimbus", too? :P
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: TomatoesInTheHead on Thu 31/03/2011 19:53:16
I'd call it "BigBlueCupboard" 8)

Considering that many AGS games use the default icon, it will hold many blue cups, just like a cupboard.
(and with the new design, it even is blue!)
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 31/03/2011 19:58:35
Quote from: Mods on Thu 31/03/2011 19:50:08
Trust Calin to change its cool manly name to a silly girly name  ::)

Sure you don't want to put "RM" before "Nimbus", too? :P

Could someone please remind me why I am making this thing for you assholes. :p
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: on Thu 31/03/2011 20:11:54
Because you're an asshole too  ;D
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Dualnames on Thu 31/03/2011 20:12:41
Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Thu 31/03/2011 19:58:35
Quote from: Mods on Thu 31/03/2011 19:50:08
Trust Calin to change its cool manly name to a silly girly name  ::)

Sure you don't want to put "RM" before "Nimbus", too? :P

Could someone please remind me why I am making this thing for you assholes. :p

To split the community in two. Or something like that.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Thu 31/03/2011 20:20:19
NIMBUS WILL DESTROY THE FORUMS!
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: on Thu 31/03/2011 20:24:34
No, NEXUS would destroy the forums, NIMBUS is a wispy white cloud that will gently caress the forums genitals. :P

Names aside, good luck getting it done.
Title: Re: Nexus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Fri 01/04/2011 02:39:42
Quote from: tzachs on Thu 31/03/2011 19:43:04
Actually, you're not far off. Nimbus 2000 is the broom Harry gets for his birthday from his godfather...
Well would you look at that! I've only watched half of one of the movies. Not sure if it was the first or not. Something to do with a dragon with multiple heads, or was it a snake? Or did it even have multiple heads? lol. The movies definitely aren't my cup of tea.

The layout looks nice. The information and such for the games is a little simple looking, but I imagine it'll get revamped one day.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Stupot on Fri 01/04/2011 02:53:22
Why not have two versions alongside each other... Nexus for the boys and Nimbus for the girls ;)
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: cosmicr on Fri 01/04/2011 03:26:34
FWIW, I like the new name. That screenshot looks great too.  Looking forward to trying out the next version.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Mon 04/04/2011 17:47:09
http://svn.thethoughtradar.com/Nimbus.zip

Hola!

Here's a new version. If this one seems to pan out ok then I'll prepare a real release.

I would advise that you delete the existing Nexus folder entirely and start again (this should be the last time you need to do this since the system is extensible from here on out.)

If you really want to keep your existing games then you can rename the Nexus folder in My Docs to Nimbus and delete the IconCache folder which will be regenerated next time you run Nimbus.

feedback would be nice.

Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: AGA on Mon 04/04/2011 23:25:17
Looking good.  This may have already been covered, but what decides whether a game can be installed via Nimbus or not?
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Igor Hardy on Mon 04/04/2011 23:31:05
Quote from: AGA on Mon 04/04/2011 23:25:17
Looking good.  This may have already been covered, but what decides whether a game can be installed via Nimbus or not?

I think all the games from agsarchives.com are accessible via Nimbus. And games are on agsarchives.com because their creators asked Peder to host them.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Mon 04/04/2011 23:41:33
Not quite. The archives need a little tweaking to make them Nimbus ready.

They need to be zip files with their files in the root of the zip. Arj0n has been painstakingly fixing all the archives on AGSA by hand but they should be ready very soon.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Tue 05/04/2011 03:08:46
For those who are a little bit thick *cough* mods *cough*. I've made a nice installer package for Nimbus that can be found on the agsarchives main page. It even adds a start menu thingy!

http://www.agsarchives.com/

(I hope it works)

*Calinleafshade is a bit thick
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Tue 05/04/2011 11:33:51
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/04/05/accumulo-nimbus-ags-gets-digi-distro/
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Snarky on Tue 05/04/2011 12:55:22
Quote from: Mods on Thu 31/03/2011 19:50:08
Trust Calin to change its cool manly name to a silly girly name  ::)

Sure you don't want to put "RM" before "Nimbus", too? :P

Nambus Pambus?
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Stupot on Tue 05/04/2011 16:22:15
Quote from: Peder Johnsen on Tue 05/04/2011 11:33:51
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/04/05/accumulo-nimbus-ags-gets-digi-distro/

Nice write-up.  Sounds like Nimbus has quite a future ahead of it.
The sky is the limit, you could say...
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: on Wed 06/04/2011 15:57:16
Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Tue 05/04/2011 03:08:46
For those who are a little bit thick *cough* mods *cough*. I've made a nice installer package for Nimbus that can be found on the agsarchives main page. It even adds a start menu thingy!

http://www.agsarchives.com/

(I hope it works)

*Calinleafshade is a bit thick

Thanks Mr Poultry - I'll give it a whirl asap!

QuoteNambus Pambus?
Definitely sounds like part of a woman :p
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: tzachs on Fri 15/04/2011 13:17:03
Tried the new version, it looks good and worked very well.

I'm missing outlines on the borders of the window when it's not maximized.

I'm also missing a minimize button. I thought that the cloud on the top left is maybe the minimize button, so I double clicked it and the application closed.
And that's when I had two downloads going on in the background, and when I re-opened Nimbus they were gone.
If remembering the downloads is not a possibility, then maybe consider adding an "Are you sure?" dialog if you try to close when you have downloads. And if the cloud is really supposed to close the application, then I would add a tool tip that says that.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Ishmael on Sat 16/04/2011 05:27:48
Quote from: tzachs on Fri 15/04/2011 13:17:03
And if the cloud is really supposed to close the application, then I would add a tool tip that says that.

No need really, any application closes if you double click the icon in the top left. But I do agree on the confirmation if you have downloads going.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Sun 17/04/2011 14:42:20


Something pretty from my dev machine:

(http://i.imgur.com/1qVYV.png)
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Wonkyth on Sun 17/04/2011 15:05:41
Perty.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Kweepa on Sun 17/04/2011 15:52:33
Indeed!
But look at that hideous scroll bar!
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Sun 17/04/2011 15:57:10
that is my next job!
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Stupot on Sun 17/04/2011 18:47:35
Have you thought about adding the capacity for custom skins?  That would be a cool (if not entirely necessary) feature.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Sun 17/04/2011 19:18:34
Already done. That *is* a custom skin.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Stupot on Sun 17/04/2011 19:30:29
Ahh I gethcha! The lad is always one step ahead :)
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Stee on Sun 17/04/2011 22:22:28
DRM next. Nimbworks.

And a Nimbus Wallet.

Maybe better to actually have some agreement with commercial devs first though.

Still prefer the Nexus title. Nimbus reminds me of the shit PC things we had when I was in primary school.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Tue 19/04/2011 06:27:23
Nimbus was mentioned in Edge magazine:

http://www.next-gen.biz/news/ags-gets-digital-distribution-platform
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: WHAM on Tue 19/04/2011 13:58:01
This idea seems great! Can't wait to get to add my own games to this one day.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Tue 19/04/2011 14:05:53
2 of them are :P http://www.agsarchives.com/catalogue/list-all/Author/wham.html
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: WHAM on Tue 19/04/2011 14:10:12
Oh... I was not even aware of that website, the anly AGS archive I knew about was the AGS games database. :D
I will be silent now, and just wait for the proper Beta release or something.

In any case: this seems just awesome!
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: TheRoger on Fri 22/04/2011 07:21:51
I really like this um.."thing". Now i don't have lots of zip files and folders on desktop. But there are few problems: Can't change language in config (it shows only default). And sometimes it crashes when I quit game (e.g. A day in the future).

A part from error message:

************** Exception Text **************
System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
   at System.Drawing.SafeNativeMethods.Gdip.GdipDrawRectangleI(HandleRef graphics, HandleRef pen, Int32 x, Int32 y, Int32 width, Int32 height)
   at System.Drawing.Graphics.DrawRectangle(Pen pen, Int32 x, Int32 y, Int32 width, Int32 height)
   at System.Drawing.Graphics.DrawRectangle(Pen pen, Rectangle rect)
   at Nimbus.Controls.BorderlessWebkit.OnPaint()
   at Nimbus.Controls.BorderlessWebkit.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Fri 22/04/2011 09:40:28
hmm ok, thanks for the bug report. I'll look into it.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Buckethead on Fri 22/04/2011 10:05:03
I've been using Nimbus to catch up on some games but I've noticed that it doesn't always show if I've played a game. Several games in the list still mark as "Never played" while I've fired them up and played a bit.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Igor Hardy on Fri 22/04/2011 10:08:41
Quote from: Buckethead on Fri 22/04/2011 10:05:03
I've been using Nimbus to catch up on some games but I've noticed that it doesn't always show if I've played a game. Several games in the list still mark as "Never played" while I've fired them up and played a bit.

Even Steam has this feature broken.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Fri 22/04/2011 10:16:10
Quote from: Buckethead on Fri 22/04/2011 10:05:03
I've been using Nimbus to catch up on some games but I've noticed that it doesn't always show if I've played a game. Several games in the list still mark as "Never played" while I've fired them up and played a bit.

Yea, thats a known bug which has been fixed in recent builds. I just havent released it yet.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Tue 10/05/2011 22:06:27
I am looking for these games for the AGSArchives.com: http://www.agsarchives.com/missing_games.php
If you happen to have one or more of these please send me a shout through PM!
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Igor Hardy on Tue 31/05/2011 23:41:32
Could this be true? Nimbus is being ported to PSN, and will be now called Nimbus+: http://www.diygamer.com/2011/05/nimbus-nimbus-psn-users/
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: SpacePirateCaine on Sun 21/08/2011 17:21:19
For what it's worth, I spent an hour, roughly, troubleshooting an issue I was having with Nimbus, wherein the library window displayed nothing but a blank white box. After uninstalling and reinstalling a few times and even a system restart, I realized that my firewall (ZoneAlarm) was interfering with Nimbus accessing its database. If anyone else is having an issue where they are unable to view the library and install/view game content, you may need to manually configure your firewall to accept incoming and possibly outgoing connections from Nimbus.

Just FYI. Great product Calin, I'm having a blast. Just to mention - though I'm not sure if anyone is really downloading in the first place - the version of Kuma Story available to download via Nimbus is an older version, using 'borrowed' music. I have no idea who should be informed about it, so I apologize if this is the wrong place for it. As a semi-related question, is Nimbus going to be able to keep download statistics: number of downloads, etc. for individual titles, so that the developers can keep track? By that right, will developers somehow have a way to upload and manage their content for the Nimbus platform at some point? I imagine that may be a tall order, but it would be great to know.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Mon 22/08/2011 22:25:15
All the online support, including the DB, is maintained by peder so if its not related to the actual client there's not much i can do about it.

The version here is quite old and there are alot of new features now including dos game support out of the box.
I'll try and get the final version + source out fairly soon. I'm not going to expand it beyond AGS games anymore so should be fairly straightforward to fix it up.

need to fix some graphics too:

(http://i.imgur.com/iwiOT.png)
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Tue 08/11/2011 16:15:12
Calin has found other things to do than work on Nimbus! But he is such a nice guy he gave me the source code for it!
Now I know nothing about c# but I've managed to understand some of the stuff and have created a new build with a design that fits the new design build of the AGSA website. Please download (http://beta.agsarchives.com/download/nimbus.html) and check it out. Feedback would be very much appreciated! (Design still needs changes done. Menu button colors etc).

My good friend knows c# so hopefully he will be helping me adding the currently missing features. But if anyone else knows c# and would love to help out please do give me a shout! :).
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Wed 09/11/2011 10:55:15
Peder, your first priority is to get the automatic update system working. It's almost functional, you just need to get it to download the new exe and replace the old one.

Once the auto update thing works you can release a final version and update more easily.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: straydogstrut on Wed 09/11/2011 23:16:54
Quote from: Peder Johnsen+ on Tue 08/11/2011 16:15:12
Calin has found other things to do than work on Nimbus!
:'( I sort of thought he had .. I saw the odd mention around the forums but I think I missed the official announcement if there was one. I just can't keep up with you kids, you move too damn fast.

I hope this is a 'good thing' for you Calin? That you're happy to let it go and are moving on to brighter things? Nexus/Nimbus blew my mind when you first released the preAlpha - I really look forward to seeing what you're up to next, and of course your Bake Sale game :D

Quote from: Peder Johnsen+ on Tue 08/11/2011 16:15:12
..have created a new build with a design that fits the new design build of the AGSA website. Please download and check it out. Feedback would be very much appreciated!

Nice to see you taking this on board Peder, good man!

I'm not overly keen on the slight re-design of Nimbus to be honest. It's a bit sterile without the dreamy graphic Calin had in there before, but I understand if you're not allowed to use it. I actually like the menu button colours though, but they perhaps don't go with the AGSA website. I do like that they're now on top - this is similar to the website and allows more space in the Nimbus interface - however it does feel quite empty on the left hand side now without that column there. With the background graphic and side bar before, it kind of framed the content. Now the content seems to float in the middle of the window. I'm not really sure what to suggest though as I think too much clutter would be a bad idea.

Hmm..yeah..actually what you have is growing on me now, forget I said anything!

I'd like to see the default scrollbars go if at all possible; they're too much of a reminder that i'm looking at a website inside an application. A thinner solid colour little vertical sausage shape would look quite nice against a black strip or something depending on the final colour choices.

Couple of functional quirks:

- The width of the list of games in the games section cannot be resized. Not essential but would be nice to have.

- There doesn't seem to be any images for the games I already had downloaded. Do I need to re-add them? I installed this version straight over the old one (Ah..I bet that overwrote the folder where the local images were stored, didn't it? Okay my bad..)

- Trying to download a game that is 'coming soon' crashes Nimbus. The Access games being examples. You also can't tell this unless you are on the game's page, which I had forgotten how to get to (It didn't help that ! made it a bit of a pixel hunt ;) )

- A visible resize handle in bottom right hand corner for the window would be nice

Some minor formatting issues on some of the game's pages here and there but all good overall though - i'm really pleased to see this is still being worked on ;D Let me know if there's anything I can do to help you out. Don't know anything about the development environment Calin used to build this, but I can get cracking on those screenshots for the website and do some proof reading of the games pages or something (unless you've got that covered which you probably have).
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Fri 11/11/2011 01:12:18
Thanks for the feedback straydogstrut!
I'll definitely take them onboard!

Also I do actually need more people to help with adding/fixing screens, and sort the descriptions and such out!
Like alot of descriptions contains links, and things not really important to players.

I'll PM you once my "moderation" system is finished (hopefully sometime before end of next week!).
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Sane Co. on Wed 11/01/2012 04:10:27
I have a suggestion, you should incorperate user rating, and cups in searching for games. Though this isn't the most reliable way to search, it would be nice to have that option.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Wed 11/01/2012 18:12:46
I would add that option if those features ever get added ;). As of now there are no user rating nor cup rating on AGSA.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: jannar85 on Sun 20/08/2017 13:46:19
Did this project just die? I surely hope not :shocked:
Looked promising.
Title: Re: Nimbus! - AGS Steam - PreAlpha release
Post by: arj0n on Sun 20/08/2017 15:04:38
Quote from: jannar85 on Sun 20/08/2017 13:46:19
Did this project just die? I surely hope not :shocked:
It did, years ago...