Arcade Submissions

[Ellie]

Arcade Submissions

What is the HBGames Arcade?

• The HBGames Arcade is a collection of browser games created by you, the members of HBGames. These games are available to play in the Homebrew Arcade subforum. If you don't see something you like in the list, you could always consider brewing up your own, and sharing it with us. But that's why you're reading this thread, isn't it?
  
  These games should be playable in any modern browser, although they tend to perform best in Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Some games may require you install a browser plugin such as Adobe Flash Player, Java, or the Unity Web Player.

What are the submission rules?

• Any game you submit must be made by yourself. For more information, please see the section on plagiarism in the General Forum Rules.
• You must be a member of the forums to submit the game. This is so we can link the submitted game to your account.
• Credits may be provided in-game or as an additional list.
• Content which is mature in nature should clearly be labelled. Any mature games will be hidden by a disclaimer in the arcade. Please let us know if you consider your game to be unsuitable for younger players. If you can, please provide specifics on why you feel the game should be aimed at a more mature audience.
• Content which is designed to find, expose, or use vulnerabilities in the site will result in a permanent ban.
• Games cannot include, require, src, or download files from another website. If you use jquery this file should be included in your directory. Any javascript files or image files used must be in your directory.
• Games may not use rogue links. (See point five, regarding vulnerabilities.)
• All files will be inspected by staff before uploading.

How do I submit a game?

• Before you submit your game, there are a few things to deal with. We'll need a 100x100 pixel thumbnail image, which could be a logo, screenshot, or something else entirely. The thumbnail should be provided in the .png format. (If it isn't, we will convert it to a .png) We also want you to make sure that you're sending us what we need to host the game. Here are a few guidelines regarding different types of games and what we expect from you:
  
  • Flash Games:
    • Submit these games as the final product. A staff member will decompile the game to check its compliance with the arcade submission rules.
    HTML5 Games:
    • Submit these as the final product. However, they may only contain html files, javascript files, image files (.png, .jpg, or .gif), and music files.
    Java Games:
    • Submit these as the compiled product. A staff member will decompile the Java binary to check its compliance with the rules listed above.
    Unity3D Games:
    • Submit these as the source project. There is no easy way to decompile these, so we have to check them before they have been compiled.
  
  Once you have the game ready to send to us, the rest is pretty simple. Just follow the two steps below:
  
  1. •Package your game in a .zip file.
  2. Report this post, and include a link to your .zip file in your report.
  
  Once you've done that, it's out of your hands. The forum staff will be notified of your submission, and will check your game for any breach of the above rules before uploading it to the site.

Additional Information

• We will operate using a "common sense" guide regarding quality control. If your submission is nothing more than a few words on the screen, a recompilation of a sample game, etc., it probably won't be uploaded.
• Once uploaded you have the ability to edit your game to remove it from the system. You can do this at any time if you wish.
• Banned members who want their games deleted should request so in IRC or another method of contacting the staff.
• We allow HTML5, Flash, Java, and Unity3D game submissions. Please see the submission guidelines above.
• By default, comments will be allowed on games. If you absolutely do not want comments enabled, please let us know and we will disable them. Comments are subject to all current forum rules and are treated as a forum thread.

Game Categories

• We will attempt to slot your game into an appropriate category, but please tell us if you definitely want a certain one. These are based on the game's genre or play-style, and may be added to in the future.
  
  At the time of writing the categories are:

• Action
• Shooter
• Role Playing
• Puzzle
• Miscellaneous

 

[valkyriegames]

Hi Wyatt, it's great to see that the arcade is coming along to the point that it's accepting submissions! I'm thinking of submitting my game from the HBGames Build and Win contest, but am planning to make future updates as well. If I submit now, will I be able to somehow upload a newer version later?

 

[valkyriegames]

Hi Wyatt, it's great to see that the arcade is coming along to the point that it's accepting submissions! I'm thinking of submitting my game from the HBGames Build and Win contest, but am planning to make future updates as well. If I submit now, will I be able to somehow upload a newer version later?

Edit: Sorry my net's horrible and I double posted :/ Could you remove this post? Thanks >_<

 

[Ellie]

You can send us new files at a later date and we can overwrite them, yes. If you'd prefer it to be in there as a different game (so both are still playable) that's fine too.

To anyone interested the arcade is now open if you want to try it out. I will make an official announcement later.

viewforum.php?f=299

 

[onzephyr]

Awesome to hear about the arcade. I'm sure the details will be in an official announcement, but are there any other restrictions to think about. File size limit? use of plugins or certain external scripts/plugins? Max width or height. of the game?

 

[BlueScope]

I'm interested in the mature-in-nature clause... to what extend can games be mature before they get filtered out for being porn or whatever?
Just asking because I know the American understanding of mature is a bit different than the German one... just give me a heads up if 'mature in nature' means teenage dating game :smoke:

And yes, I am asking that because I'm interested in playing & creating those kind of games. Not the dating game kind, that is. Deal with it. :shades:


Also, no externally referenced files means I can't implement online multiplayer, or read mysql databases?

 

[Ellie]

Hi, thanks for the feedback;

Awesome to hear about the arcade. I'm sure the details will be in an official announcement, but are there any other restrictions to think about. File size limit? use of plugins or certain external scripts/plugins? Max width or height. of the game?

I will have to discuss this with the rest of the staff. I will get back to you.

I'm interested in the mature-in-nature clause... to what extend can games be mature before they get filtered out for being porn or whatever?

I see what you're saying, and for now I will have to say the normal forum rules apply but I'm not sure how vague they are. I think that if there is nudity, hardcore gore, drug use, then it will be considered mature, but every game is different. It's not particularly a problem, all that will happen is the game will look like this when you open the page:

Spoiler: Disclaimer goes here

Game goes here

Also, no externally referenced files means I can't implement online multiplayer, or read mysql databases?

Indeed. I would suggest that if this is your case, it should be hosted on your own server anyway for your own security; we could implement an iFrame perhaps to link to games hosted elsewhere if this would be wanted. We would have to make sure there are no security issues with that first.

 

[BlueScope]

If that would be possible, than it actually sounds like a better option... that way, the author could always update the project without having to wait for reconfirmation, which is quite vital if you got to fix MySQL securities quickly.

Plus I'd host it on my own server anyway.

 

[Ellie]

Bit of a cafuffle,
In three entries we've already had two which show a flaw in the system.

A "game" is, technically, just a post. That way we can automate certain things, one of those is attributing a game author using their forum profile.

Well, two games submitted have more than one author. I have attributed the person who submitted the games for now, but this may need to be changed in future so as to give all members of a team proper credit.

 

[BlueScope]

I think it'd be a good idea to add a designated area, meant to credit people. If you limit it to users of this forum, I couldn't properly credit the guy from Jamendo that wrote the awesome music I used as Power Shift's soundtrack </shameless advertising> :grin:
If you got that, hiding the poster of the game won't be all that important anymore... instead, maybe a text field for the author would work nicely, which means you could put one, two or three names in there, as well as a company name for those who want to roll big. Now if you get extra fancy here, do some rexexp magic and replace words in there with userprofile links if matching

In general, I really like where it's going, though... I'm definately planning to contribute to this in the future.

 

[Ellie]

Yes, you're right.

I have added a new bbcode intended for this, however you can use it how you wish; I just wanted something stylized. Once your game's up you can modify it to add the bbcode below it.

[infobox=Credits]Credits go here[/infobox]

Credits
Credits go here

Of course you can then add more if you need to or do it in your own way, etc.

 

[Jason]

Just wondering, but is it possible for multiple people to have ownership over a game? Since Tuna is the author of Project GRID on the Arcade, but what if I wanted to add an update to the game and he isn't online? Will I just have to sit and twiddle my thumbs until he comes on so I can give him the files to report and whatever else?

 

[Ellie]

I can only set one "owner" who can edit the page itself, but if you want any files replacing or the game itself just report this post and include a link to the new files (or indeed if you want the game removing from the site). the staff aren't robots so we'll know it's you. (All files are manually dealt with as a security thing.)