GameLizard needs some new love

General Discussions
#1

Hello all! I haven’t been on these boards in much too long. I’ve been busy with other work ventures that have sadly not had to do with Java game development. Lately, however, I’ve been thinking about my old site GameLizard (http://www.gamelizard.com) and how it’s been neglected and I’d like to redo it in a better way.

I’ve been brainstorming a bit and I’ve been thinking I’d do something a little more blog/comment oriented to develop a community where games and developers can connect in an easier way. I’d have it open so that all developers could come and post their games and take advantage of an API where they could have game saving, high scores, and other functionality that would tie it all together with the site. This would also include error reporting which would be channeled to an admin section that each developer would be able to access for all of their games. That way along with editing/maintaining their games they’d be given error reports that come back as players have problems that they could moderate cleanly.

Those are just some skeleton feature ideas but to make the site worthwhile I don’t think it would need much more than that.

Like I said, though, I’ve been out of the loop for a while so I don’t know if other sites have popped up that have this kind of thing already available to developers. If not, and if there’s some interest, I’d love to have a project like this that I can be excited about developing. Most of this functionality already exists in GameLizard for my usage and I’d just have to open it up (in a clean way) for other developers.

Thoughts?

#2

Sounds a like a good plan. Especially since Java Games Factory didn’t take off. (No offense blah*3)

#3

Hmm, I dunno, can’t really see it being of any intrinsic value meself. Anyone serious enough seems to get their own domains to do that kind of thing.

Cas :slight_smile:

#4

Give us http://www.kongregate.com/ for Java. (make it applet based! :))

Kev

#5

I’d like to reply to this topic, but I cannot :-X

#6

You just did! :slight_smile: I assume from that we’re supposed to get excited about the idea that the Java4k site is going to turn into something like kongregate?

Yippey Yar Yay!

Kev

#7

Well, if someone does do Kongregate for Java, this might come in handy: http://www.java-gaming.org/forums/index.php?topic=17835.0;topicseen

#8

Well this certainly gets me very interested. I took a good look at Kongregate today to gather some ideas and I think I could definitely get something going that would be worthwhile. Here’s some brainstorming:

Things I want:

  • Universal start screen. Want the user to feel ready to jump in whether or not it’s their 1st or 100th time visiting, or whether or not they’re logged in. I think Kongregate has done a pretty good job of that.
  • Games list with javascript search. My big gripe with game sites is that it’s always too hard to find something relevant to the mood I’m in. I want to build a search that dynamically refreshes as you type or as you click options. I want more than just searching the content of the title/description. Searching by tags/keywords as well is probably a better direction. Maybe in addition to descriptive tags have feature-related tags like “save games” or “high scores” or “multiplayer”.
  • Inviting API’s for developers. I already have built calls that my games can make to send when a person has started/finished a game and submit a high score or game save. I can easily add another to mark the completion of an “Achievement” like Kongregate/XBox-Live has done.
  • Along with those ideas I’d like to do a better chat. Right now in Kongregate it seems to throw you in a random channel unrelated to the game. While that can be nice to a degree, I really think you should be able to join a chat specific to the game you’re playing. In light of java webstart, I’d like there to be a chat API so that while developers can chose to use the GameLizard-embedded chat, developers can implement the chat in their own way inside their full-screen webstart game.
  • Developer area. Developers need to be able to moderate their games, upload code updates, and view error reports (submitted via another tool already developed for GameLizard) for their games.
  • Blog-style comments for the games. I think Developers would benefit from being able to moderate a feed of comments per-game so that they can let people know what they’re working on and so that the gamers can post about what they think.

Most of that would be stuff I’d have to build myself on the web-side of things. However for the Java components, having volunteers to hop on board of GameLizard to help this happen in a timely manner would be excellent. Those items would be:

  • Chat API
  • Applet implementation of the Chat API to go beside all of the embedded games
  • Applet loader (combination of Dzzd’s AppletLoader and the current GameLizard one probably)
  • Solidified API for communication with the GameLizard database: achievements, high scores, saved games, etc. I have this stuff working currently but I’m sure it would be best to package it in a cleaner way than I have it.
  • Multiplayer API? Dunno about this, but it sure might be nice to have hooks for developers to use the GameLizard community to feed their multiplayer games.

What should be done for Phase 1 (first release)

  • Stuff that’s already on GameLizard currently
  • Developer section
  • Steamlined and packaged GameLizard database communication API
  • Some consistent way for Developers to upload their games. Should they all be jars? Should we allow source + some sort of loader like I have on GameLizard so that you don’t have a blank page for too long?

Well I think that’s enough ranting for now. Now I need feedback and I also need some volunteers from people who would be willing to take a piece of this project. I think Phase 1 could be done really fast, like within a month (holiday vacation aside). That way we could get something out there that would be worth having to get more people interested.

Like princec said, the initial idea doesn’t have enough intrinsic value. Kongregate solved that problem by introducing their achievements and levels concept. That way when people play games, they can unlock something that gives them a sense that they’re keeping something permanent from it. It gives people extra motivation to come back and play a game a bit harder/longer. Something similar can be done here.

#9

Is that British sarcasm? :slight_smile: Nope, Java4k is going to be for Java4k, no more no less.

#10

Wasn’t sarcasm actually - but now you’ve dashed my hopes! :slight_smile:

Kev

#11

I’ll hopefully undash your hopes, chat to you later about it.

#12

I think you need to provide an API for:

  1. When a game loads it can be given the users name, if they are logged in.
  2. The game can post results back for hi scores or challange results.

For giving the user’s name, it can be as simple as generating a dynamic JNLP or Applet parameter for the game to access. But for communicating back an API is definitely needed.

#13

Funny enough I wonder to what extend you need a webpage a app ala steam might make a lot of sense

#14

Keeping it web-based makes it a heck of a lot more inviting than an app. I would have never checked out Kongregate if I had to download software before trying anything out. I think that’s how most people feel these days as well. Being web-based and well designed makes it very enticing for people to simply slip seamlessly into their program with no struggle at all. Click most anything they see on the page and they’re instantly USING their product.

#15

Again most of this is already done, but it certainly puts me in a better state of mind for doing it “properly”. I can certainly see handing out a single jar with a GameLizard class that gets instantiated once with the params of the applet/jnlp and then is forever useable with simple calls like sendHighScore(), getSavedData(int) or getPlayerName(). It will be done!! :slight_smile:

#16

ive nothing to add really, just a thumbs up. :slight_smile:

#17

I started coding today. I’ll let you all know when new stuff is available!

#18

Well the site is getting really close! Now I have a question I need help with.

I want to support webstart + flash + applets. To do this, I need different info for each type. Here’s what I’m thinking:
Everything needs:

  • width
  • height
  • possibly more API related params

Then the types specifically need:

Flash:

  • .swf file name

Webstart:

  • .jar file name
  • .class file name
  • extra .jar file names (resources?)

Applet:

  • .jar + .class file name OR!!!
  • .class file name only

So for Applets, the way I do my snazzy GameLizard loader is by knowing all the file names and they are NOT in a .jar file. So I load them individually and display progress on the loader. So then the question is, do I allow that somehow for developers? If so, does that mean I allow them to upload as many files as they want here? Or should I simply limit it to jars only… and if so, should I only allow 1 jar? Multiple jars?

Let me know what you think I should do!

#19

Unzip the jars to the server for applets.

Kev

#20

Could you elaborate a bit more on that? Should I always unzip jars? Only on request? Or should I do something like… allow only .jar, .class and .zip uploads, and when I get a .zip file I automatically extract it? That way someone could upload their main .class file, and a zip file with all the things they’re planning on accessing with that .class file. Or perhaps the same functionality with only uploading the .zip file.

Thoughts?