New AGS site release

AGA · Thu 20/02/2025 18:36:36

I'd say curating them in advance is probably a bit limiting. And assigning them "automatically" would basically be curating by code, someone would have to maintain a list of rules. We have 2,000+ games, I think creating a list that suits lots of them would be an impossible task! We have a limited number of genres and game types after all, and I think those are very limiting.

I'd say let's just get people to embrace the concept of tagging first, and if things get too unruly we can make some effort to tidy things up.

cat · Fri 21/02/2025 08:21:23

Okay, I've updated my games with hopefully useful tags.

One question, though: wouldn't it make sense to have the tags search work as AND instead of OR? I think tags would be very useful to narrow down search results instead of broadening them.

edmundito · Fri 21/02/2025 12:35:51

Congratulations on the release. It's a mini mental achievement and it's great to see it live!

Couple of things I wanted to point out lol:

- the showcase says hundreds of games but we have thousands
- it's a bit difficult navigating to the community areas. I'd like to have a shortcut to the forums, discord, etc through the nav bar

heltenjon · Sun 23/02/2025 15:47:13

The new Game Entry Reports thread will be useful. But...

I checked one of these games randomly (with database admin rights): Reality-on-the-Norm: Davy Jones C'est Mort. As suspected, the report about the download not working was false. (The case of having to override Windows Security by choosing "Download anyway".) I was able to checkmark away the reported error, and I think that went away. However, when trying to save this, the page jumps to the download link and wants me to change it from http to https. I can sort of understand this automated behaviour, and it is probably some of the cause for the game being flagged anyway, but in a database such as ours, that's not going to fly. Many older games still have working http links.

In this case, I believe I have managed to make the checkmarks go away, but I could not remove the two erroneously listed downloads marked Store and Demo (which probably are there due to a bug on the old website).

heltenjon · Sun 23/02/2025 18:12:18

Short wish/question: Do the authors of games marked in the Game Entry Reports thread get an alert?

cat · Mon 24/02/2025 08:08:46

I'm not quite sure how to handle those Game Entry Reports. How am I supposed to check it for all my games? Do I have to search for every game name in this sub-board? Or am I notified if something has to be done?

Babar · Mon 24/02/2025 11:54:17

The AGS versions listed on the main site: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/#create
As well as the CREATE page: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/create/

Are out of date, pointing to a download (and forum page) of a version from June of last year.

AGA · Mon 24/02/2025 14:20:03

Quote from: Babar on Mon 24/02/2025 11:54:17The AGS versions listed on the main site: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/#create
As well as the CREATE page: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/create/

Are out of date, pointing to a download (and forum page) of a version from June of last year.

Fixed, ish. Seems I forgot to give Crimson Wizard the login details for the new server. That's now done, so hopefully he can update the versions soon.

AGA · Mon 24/02/2025 14:29:36

Quote from: edmundito on Fri 21/02/2025 12:35:51Congratulations on the release. It's a mini mental achievement and it's great to see it live!

Couple of things I wanted to point out lol:

- the showcase says hundreds of games but we have thousands
- it's a bit difficult navigating to the community areas. I'd like to have a shortcut to the forums, discord, etc through the nav bar

I've updated the references to hundreds, thanks.

As for the second point, someone has already raised this. However, I'll make the same point I did then, which is that people who visit the forums are actually a tiny percentage of the people who use the site (less than 1%). I've added a few links to the 'Join' menu in the navbar though, directly to the forums, Discord and Facebook (the last two of which are actually in the footer of every page already...)

AGA · Mon 24/02/2025 14:31:21

Quote from: cat on Fri 21/02/2025 08:21:23Okay, I've updated my games with hopefully useful tags.

One question, though: wouldn't it make sense to have the tags search work as AND instead of OR? I think tags would be very useful to narrow down search results instead of broadening them.

I'm working on this, but it's much harder to implement than you might think, given the current design of the search page code. Bear with me!

AGA · Mon 24/02/2025 14:43:31

I think I probably need to make the games page entry notifications a bit more active, as currently it relies on game authors keeping an eye on their games' threads. Bear in mind of course that said threads will always move to the top of the board when a new report is made. Only reports made since the new site went live will be noted, which means you don't have to scan back very far to see if your game's already been reported. But I could make use of the forums alerts and personal messages systems to make it harder to miss.

That's not to say any game that doesn't have a forums report is perfect of course, just that it hasn't been reported since we went live! Think of it as more future proofing than ensuring the existing archive is complete. The games search page also has the "Other" -> "Marked as Broken or Missing" filters, which can be combined with "My Account Filters" -> "My Games" to check any reports that may exist. If there's a report for a game you'll see a big call to action banner at the top of said game's page.

AGA · Mon 24/02/2025 14:51:18

Quote from: heltenjon on Sun 23/02/2025 15:47:13Many older games still have working http links.

HTTP is no longer actively supported, and most browsers reject it. It really isn't wise to rely on it any longer.

Most of the games that are so old they have HTTP links have downloads in the archive.org repository. Anyone can also upload to archive.org themselves if they're looking for stable HTTPS hosting in place of an old HTTP link. I am aiming to integrate archive.org mirror links into the games page eventually.

Crimson Wizard · Mon 24/02/2025 22:03:15

I don't know what is happening, but I currently see this below the forums:

QuoteUsers active in past 15 minutes: AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, .............

where "AGS Site Reports" is repeated about 100 times.

AGA · Mon 24/02/2025 22:21:52

Quote from: Crimson Wizard on Mon 24/02/2025 22:03:15I don't know what is happening, but I currently see this below the forums:

QuoteUsers active in past 15 minutes: AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, AGS Site Reports, .............
where "AGS Site Reports" is repeated about 100 times.

Haha, my fault. I tried to borrow 'user 0' on the forums for the AGS site reporting. Apparently it was already in use for something else! Should be fixed now.

AGA · Mon 24/02/2025 22:56:28

Right, reports should be a bit more visible now; game owners will get a PM and alert automatically too when the reporter posts in the reports board.

heltenjon · Tue 25/02/2025 22:21:29

Just a heads up. I updated the not-working link for The Marionette and replaced it with a link to the AGS depository on archive.org. So far, so good.

However, saving a new link does not resolve the reported error. I went in to edit the game again, and was now told that the new link (that I had just entered) was the one being reported. I could checkmark it and mark it as resolved. This behaviour is somewhat misleading.

TL;DR
If you fix a download error, you have to edit again to remove the error report afterwards.

AGA · Wed 26/02/2025 14:59:25

Quote from: heltenjon on Tue 25/02/2025 22:21:29Just a heads up. I updated the not-working link for The Marionette and replaced it with a link to the AGS depository on archive.org. So far, so good.

However, saving a new link does not resolve the reported error. I went in to edit the game again, and was now told that the new link (that I had just entered) was the one being reported. I could checkmark it and mark it as resolved. This behaviour is somewhat misleading.

TL;DR
If you fix a download error, you have to edit again to remove the error report afterwards.

This should be fixed now for downloads, images and videos.

heltenjon · Fri 28/02/2025 19:39:36

Another one about database maintenance:
Tres Acordes had three download links: game, store and demo. All three was reported broken. As all three were identical, I deleted store and demo and replaced the game link with a working one. However, in the AGS site report thread, the result is that the two deleted links are still listed as errors. Is it possible to automatically mark these as fixes when deleted? (I guess a workaround would be to add false link, checkmark, then delete, but that would be cumbersome.)

heltenjon · Thu 13/03/2025 18:00:38

Quote from: heltenjon on Fri 28/02/2025 19:39:36Another one about database maintenance:
Tres Acordes had three download links: game, store and demo. All three was reported broken. As all three were identical, I deleted store and demo and replaced the game link with a working one. However, in the AGS site report thread, the result is that the two deleted links are still listed as errors. Is it possible to automatically mark these as fixes when deleted? (I guess a workaround would be to add false link, checkmark, then delete, but that would be cumbersome.)

This problem still exists - when deleting a download option, the tag marking that it has been reported still is active. Example