This would still be informative to the creator. Hopefully, he/she would realize that the rest of society does not consider the game to be complete, and then has two choices: a) Screw them!, since they don’t know what they’re thinking, or b) improve the game with the advice from the WIP.
I know there are alot of categories already.
But if its really bugging people. maybe have an extra category.
keep current showcase as polished app.
and the new category: Bug test request.
then modirators can move topics in the wrong location.
How can we get more artists to be involved in Java gaming?
How can we get Java on Xbox 360 and iPhone so that ordinary developers take it seriously?
Cas 
gonna reply to this post in another thread, the title of this one is really starting to get old.
Got to say, I’m not sure why the title got changed, the community’s ace really. We just need to move the game on from where it’s sat for the last 5 years.
Cas
wow. im missing so much. i usually browse through the games showcase, read the online part and then im off. i just found this discussion.
about missing feedback:
lets me honest: some showcases don’t show much. they have a jnlp link, a short description and are simply not asking for specific feedback. if graphics are crappy, but intentionally temporary, i want to know that before i post! i don’t want to say “improve the visuals” if it’s just coders art. i rarely see a description of how complete the game is or what’s intended to follow! some people don’t like to install, just to see what’s happening, if anything. i tend to give feedback on interesting games, which is subjective. i don’t like tower-defense that much.
if you want to get better feedback, make sure to offer something and ask for some kind of help. let us know how you reflect your efforts and what you want to achieve.
also, jgo is not a feedback community for games for me. it is a limited audience in the first place (coders of java) and that limits the feedback more. don’t expect too much, id say.
about updates on the same game: if there are too many and the differences get blurred or minimal, people won’t test again because of “new title image”, e.g… bigger updates should get their own post maybe. close the old thread and re-start the feedback getting with new questions. it’s hard to follow through 15 pages of posts and follow the intention of the developer.
ideas:
- there should definitely be a guide, how to post showcases!
- encourage to post versions in different posts (with version in title, close old)
- maybe add a system to give quick-feedback in form of a survey?
the latter idea would be to have each showcase be accompanied with a survey. those that see the screens or test can give feedback, without writing and the developer has to come up with a few votable questions.
i think blogs would be fine, but maybe they could simply be integrated, not stored/created on jgo? like a RSS feed, where developers could register their blogs and jgo would get the latest posts of some of those on a page?
please: don’t start a wiki. to make this useful, it would be a lot of work and housekeeping. also don’t add more sub-forums. they don’t organize everything by themselfs.
princec: i disagree: we don’t need to focus on the 90% that’s missing. it’s fine to have a page with crappy coders art and all. but it should be about the game idea then or the execution. something that’s worth commenting. if the shown game is just a pacman clone, i don’t want to post lots about it. there are blueprints for those remakes: the originals! my advice: be more realistic maybe. that does not mean you have to say “it’s shit i know”, but something like: “i would like to have better graphics, but i focus on gameplay” or something like that.
jgo is a java game developer community. it’s not an artist community. while it’s nice to get more art in the games and better visuals, that’s simply not the site to attract art-guys. maybe we should communicate where to find game artists though! or we should be fine with coder art.
i like this community. even though im bickering and don’t give feedback =)
It does not sound good.
I agree.
I really like this idea.
I’ve not been here that long myself but I’ve found this community to be very helpful and supportive of each other and even though I’ve seen some really weird and stupid questions they’re always answered in the politest manner.
I’m usually not the person to dive head in and reply to threads when I join a community but I prefer to stay on the edge and read up, after all there is a lot of history on these boards.
Another idea which might already have been mentioned would be to create a wiki at JGO where people can post pages about their game and update them as they release new versions.
Keep up the good spirit everyone!
// Json
+1
I think it’s quite acceptable - providing the moderators are reasonable (which I’m sure they will be).
Finding solutions to the apparent weaknesses in this community is of the uttermost importance to furthering JGO’s success.
I regularly check JGO but do not contribute much. I’ve found it extremely valuable whilst pursuing game development.
The loss of Kevin is saddening but I’m sure he will return when he is ready.
In theory I would agree, but if we went with it, our moderators would have to do even more work and upkeep. Given that one is looking for help, and the other quit because of too much effort I’d say we need a another approach.
Although more complicated, perhaps we could have a vote system, a game in WIP can be posted with a vote counter to see how many people think its worthy of “completion”. If it reaches high enough, a moderator can easily check and move it over.
nice idea
Sounds like a great idea but how much time would be required to create and integrate such a system?
Would be great if show case games were all presented in a standard format and possibly locked.
Title:
Author:
Description:
Download/Web start:
Discussion/Feedback thread link?:
[Screenshots]
Maybe even change the existing “showcase” section to “work in progress” and some lovely volunteer(s) pull together a revamped showcase section. There are some real gems in there but it’s often difficult to find them.
There are some great ideas in this thread keep them coming
TBH I think Java gaming, (as opposed to just java-gaming.org), needs a big money injection and some serious backing.
Cas
Yes please! ;D
Let me see, who’s out there with a big pile of money they don’t need… hm… the U.S. government never seems to run out. Let’s lobby U.S. congress!
too bad that the U.S government is completely broke/ in extreme debt.
This has not proved to be an obstacle to further spending.
so true…