The new 'Featured Games' section

[erikd]

To be honest, I'm not too enthusiastic about the new 'Featured Games' section yet.
All it seems to do is make a rather arbitrary division between the 'Showcase' and 'Featured Games' sections without providing any kind of useful feedback of why games have been moved where. To be honest I don't really see the added value of that.
Perhaps better would be if it would be a more editorial section: A moderator adds a (locked) topic with the name of a chosen game, a screen shot, a link and which points have been awarded according to their scoring system (perhaps even with a small review). Maybe they can be added as a 'poll' topic so that forum members can vote 'great', 'average' or 'meh' (maybe a fourth option 'didn't work').
IMHO that would be more useful, and more clear.

[teletubo]

I think the feature section is quite okay.  It seems that it's serving its purpose well . But ..

@kapta
One thing I kinda dislike is the fact that you're, in my opinion, adding too much "external" games. I know they are java, and they are high quality, but I think the forum should highlight the games produced by the folks in this forum. For a general java-gaming site we already have the java game tome and maybe others that dont come to my mind right now.

I mean, the guys work hard here and discuss the updates and present the techinques used in the games, and that is very useful for other developers. When you post an external game you help the "in house" games sinking to the bottom of the list. I know it's nice to show other good java games, but this actually does not help at all any developer, and furthermore if the game author really is intersted in showing up their games, they should register into the forum, post it to the showcase then wait for someone to feature it .

Otherwise, I think it discourages people that work hard on their games here and their games dont get featured , but some other people that dont even care about JGO get their games featured.
 
What do u think about it, kapta ?

[kapta]

All it seems to do is make a rather arbitrary division between the 'Showcase' and 'Featured Games' sections without providing any kind of useful feedback of why games have been moved where.

There is a criteria which the mod's try to follow. Only games that meet those requirements get into the section, due to the load of work involved some of the more obvious games (that meet the criteria) were moved without a full rated being added (maybe someone will add that to the current batch ). However I'd disagree that no useful feedback is given, see examples one, two, three, etc. Any author can request their game be featured and one of the mods will rate it and say where it falls short or what it rates and move it to featured area if they feel it satisfies the criteria.

Perhaps better would be if it would be a more editorial section: A moderator adds a (locked) topic with the name of a chosen game, a screen shot, a link and which points have been awarded according to their scoring system (perhaps even with a small review). Maybe they can be added as a 'poll' topic so that forum members can vote 'great', 'average' or 'meh' (maybe a fourth option 'didn't work').

agreed, but we are really reaching the limitations of the forums here as they aren't designed to really handle this sort of stuff, better to have a more robust system, there was some talk about adding a JGO front page complete with news, community voting, spotlight games, etc, but not sure what the status of that is atm.

There are still some quality games in the showcase that should be featured but it takes time to sift through all the entires, feel free to point any out that might be worthy.

[kapta]

@kapta
One thing I kinda dislike is the fact that you're, in my opinion, adding too much "external" games. I know they are java, and they are high quality, but I think the forum should highlight the games produced by the folks in this forum. For a general java-gaming site we already have the java game tome and maybe others that dont come to my mind right now.

I mean, the guys work hard here and discuss the updates and present the techinques used in the games, and that is very useful for other developers. When you post an external game you help the "in house" games sinking to the bottom of the list. I know it's nice to show other good java games, but this actually does not help at all any developer, and furthermore if the game author really is intersted in showing up their games, they should register into the forum, post it to the showcase then wait for someone to feature it .
 
What do u think about it, kapta ?

Well if people don't want the external games then thats fine by me, I'll stop adding them.

As for being a discouragement, theres not really that many high quality desktop java games out there to flood out entries from JGO and games that do fit the bill come along very rarely. I just thought that adding a few games not on JGO would keep things fresh (besides most of games I did add are by JGO members, its just that they didn't have a post for it).

Otherwise, I think it discourages people that work hard on their games here and their games dont get featured , but some other people that dont even care about JGO get their games featured.

If the games good enough it'll get in, if not it won't, its part of the learning process, hence why a judge will leave the reasoning behind why it doesn't make it to the featured section.

[jezek2]

Well if people don't want the external games then thats fine by me, I'll stop adding them.

Please no, it's great to have such games added, please keep doing it Would be nice to also include some screenshots, I think it should be mandatory for Featured Games section.

[Markus_Persson]

Yeah, screenshots would be great, but I really like how you add good external java games. Not every single java game dev is on these forums, after all.

[erikd]

There is a criteria which the mod's try to follow.

I know that there are criteria, but I think that it should be clear how those points were awarded.

However I'd disagree that no useful feedback is given, see examples one, two, three, etc.

Okay, there is some feedback if you scroll down or if go to page 3 or something. What I mean is that it should perhaps be there in a more edited, organized way, in the 1st post.

Perhaps better would be if it would be a more editorial section: A moderator adds a (locked) topic with the name of a chosen game, a screen shot, a link and which points have been awarded according to their scoring system (perhaps even with a small review). Maybe they can be added as a 'poll' topic so that forum members can vote 'great', 'average' or 'meh' (maybe a fourth option 'didn't work').

agreed, but we are really reaching the limitations of the forums here as they aren't designed to really handle this sort of stuff, better to have a more robust system, there was some talk about adding a JGO front page complete with news, community voting, spotlight games, etc, but not sure what the status of that is atm.

What feature of what I suggested can't be done with the current forum?

BTW, just to be sure, none of my criticism was meant to be harsh or demotivating or something. It's a nice initiative but I just feel that it doesn't feel enough to be a real 'featured games' section yet, where I would expect a rather more organized section of games picked by the moderators. Maybe it's just my expectations that need changing 

[kapta]

What feature of what I suggested can't be done with the current forum?

no I agree with the features you mentioned, Its just that it'd be better if we had something of a more robust CMS to work with.

[teletubo]

Well if people don't want the external games then thats fine by me, I'll stop adding them.

Well it seems that its just me , so just forget about what I said

[dishmoth]

Well it seems that its just me , so just forget about what I said

Not just you.   Seeing 'external' games in the featured section struck me as a little odd - but it's not something I have strong feelings about.

[kevglass]

This is just another push for a JGO website, which a featured games blog? (presumably run by kappa ).

Kev

[Alric]

I don't know about a website but I think we can see already that the features of the forum can be used well or badly.
Imagine you're a first time visitor to the site:

http://www.javagaming.org/index.php/topic,19215.0.html
http://www.javagaming.org/index.php/topic,16778.0.html
http://www.javagaming.org/index.php/topic,21043.0.html
http://www.javagaming.org/index.php/topic,20524.0.html

Things I would look for
- Concise description that makes me think it migh be worth a go.
- Screenshots that give a polished feel.
- The impression that people in the community have taken the time to try it and given some worthwhile feedback or review.

There's more good than badand it's beter than what was there before.

[bobjob]

In regards to the original post of and editoral section.
would be cool going to the forum with a specific section to read, regarding games/game tech.
Like:
news: eg. what games are new to the site and which games have been improved enough to try them again.
concerns: eg. too many games getting posted with bugs.
mangement: eg. internal site changes.

with all the relavent links to the games and threads that are voiced in the editorial,
so people dont voice there opinion on the editorial.

I understand that this is more of a website style change and probably not good for a forum.
But I would find it interesting nun the less, I could see myself spending alot more time on the site.

[h3ckboy]

I understand that this is more of a website style change and probably not good for a forum.
But I would find it interesting nun the less, I could see myself spending alot more time on the site.

I cant remember where I read this, but I read somehwere something about there used to be a jgo site. I might be wrong though.

[kapta]

I cant remember where I read this, but I read somehwere something about there used to be a jgo site. I might be wrong though.

yeh there use to be a simple front page, with basic Sun related news, but was hardly ever updated, think it was removed once JGO moved to the new forums.

[kevglass]

Could we set up a page somewhere else for now and then get ChrisM to redirect the site to it, creating forums.javagaming.org back to here instead?

He seems to be pretty busy so we could probably get a site setup and using the javagaming.org moniker if we minise the time he needs to spend doing it.

Kev

[erikd]

no I agree with the features you mentioned, Its just that it'd be better if we had something of a more robust CMS to work with.

This is just another push for a JGO website, which a featured games blog? (presumably run by kappa Smiley).

Although it would be very nice and of course the best way to implement all the cool features we can think of, I'm not pushing for a full JGO website as that would really require a *lot* more effort to keep it alive with content than moderating and maintaining a forum. Better a lively forum than a dead website IMHO (which iirc, and correct me if I'm wrong, was one of the reasons the JGO website was changed into a forum-only site in the first place?).

What I was suggesting is just organizing one section a bit more, in a way that doesn't need full CMS functionality IMHO.

Of course, if there are enough people that have the drive to daily spend the time to maintain a full JGO site, I'm all for it, but I hope people realize how much continuous effort that would be if you want to do it right.

[dishmoth]

This is just another push for a JGO website, which a featured games blog?

Isn't this all kind of what Java Game Tome was supposed to achieve?
Simon

[ChrisM]

Although it would be very nice and of course the best way to implement all the cool features we can think of, I'm not pushing for a full JGO website as that would really require a *lot* more effort to keep it alive with content than moderating and maintaining a forum. Better a lively forum than a dead website IMHO (which iirc, and correct me if I'm wrong, was one of the reasons the JGO website was changed into a forum-only site in the first place?).

What I was suggesting is just organizing one section a bit more, in a way that doesn't need full CMS functionality IMHO.

Of course, if there are enough people that have the drive to daily spend the time to maintain a full JGO site, I'm all for it, but I hope people realize how much continuous effort that would be if you want to do it right.

Exactly why there is no longer a full site as I was the one doing everything for it.  All articles, news, updates, formatting, graphics, etc.  Anyone remember this little guy?

[Nate]

Exactly why there is no longer a full site as I was the one doing everything for it.

And now you are too busy to even answer emails.

[ChrisM]

And now you are too busy to even answer emails.

Well, sorry I didn't get back to you about the SingSong demo for Java one that you sent me in May.  I am looking at an inbox of over 9000 e-mails now with 1067 unread as I write this.  Too many to respond to, and sorry I missed replying to yours.

[CyanPrime]

I am looking at an inbox of over 9000 e-mails now