RomStation.org - Your favorite emulation resource
- Thread starter Mortar
- Start date
Skyla Doragono
Sponsor
Website is really plain. I hate the polkadot background. O.< Plan black would be better.
Well for starters if you really want to get some visitors you're going to need to do something that other emulation sites don't already do, and you're going to have to make it obvious on the front page. Having more ROMs and updated emulators won't cut it for two reasons: one, anyone can download a rom pack off bittorrent these days that has everything you could ever possibly offer in a more convenient package; and two you're going to get a C&D sooner or later if you do host roms.
Since you can't rely on having a great selection of software you're going to have to rely on something else or you're doomed to be yet another emu site begging for attention on a top100 list somewhere. In the market you're aiming at having a nice looking site is not going to get you far and it's apparent the layout and organization are pretty much exactly like any of a billion other emu sites (I've been to a lot of them, <3 my emulators).
I suggest a different approach entirely. Narrow down your audience to a small sector of all the people interested in emulation and provide content that targets their needs; for instance, you could target newbies and provide them all kinds of well-organized, helpful information on how to get an emulator set up. You could target people emulating on a specific platform, for instance on the PSP or xbox or another rare platform that people have a hard time with (what not to do: windows pcs!), and discuss current events, compatibility issues, new releases, etc. You could talk about romhacking, there aren't a lot of great sites that cover that subject.
Anyway, you should come up with your own ideas; but what you've got right now I could find almost identical clones by searching Google for "top emulation sites". So if you're talking about getting traffic, you're on the wrong trail. Good luck with whatever you come up with!
Since you can't rely on having a great selection of software you're going to have to rely on something else or you're doomed to be yet another emu site begging for attention on a top100 list somewhere. In the market you're aiming at having a nice looking site is not going to get you far and it's apparent the layout and organization are pretty much exactly like any of a billion other emu sites (I've been to a lot of them, <3 my emulators).
I suggest a different approach entirely. Narrow down your audience to a small sector of all the people interested in emulation and provide content that targets their needs; for instance, you could target newbies and provide them all kinds of well-organized, helpful information on how to get an emulator set up. You could target people emulating on a specific platform, for instance on the PSP or xbox or another rare platform that people have a hard time with (what not to do: windows pcs!), and discuss current events, compatibility issues, new releases, etc. You could talk about romhacking, there aren't a lot of great sites that cover that subject.
Anyway, you should come up with your own ideas; but what you've got right now I could find almost identical clones by searching Google for "top emulation sites". So if you're talking about getting traffic, you're on the wrong trail. Good luck with whatever you come up with!
Nphyx":3oaogn67 said:
Just saved me a whole bunch of typing, thanks.
Agreed. I also suggest you have a banner with maybe some pixel art from various ROM games and the sort. The generic cut-out photoshop tutorial logo up there doesn't really work.
Boring, plain, and forgettable.
Keep working!
OK, so basically, a new banner, target a certain subject and apparently my site is boring. I get it.
I'm not worried about getting a C&D since the download buttons link to a php file which sends them to the location of the file, so basically, people can't see whether I host my own files or not.
Also, here are some of ROMStation.org's features:
I'm not worried about getting a C&D since the download buttons link to a php file which sends them to the location of the file, so basically, people can't see whether I host my own files or not.
Also, here are some of ROMStation.org's features:
I like it to a certain extent; it's fast, straight to the point, and generally has all the information you'd want.
Sure, it's aesthetically lacking, but honestly, when I'm looking for ROMs, I don't really care; if you have it, I'll come. I think aesthetics can be something you work on later.
Considering this is a ROM site, hence mostly file downloads/uploads, I assume that you'll want to cut down on the bandwidth that isn't used by ROM downloads. Thus, cutting back on graphics is a good idea; perhaps, instead of long strings of "<br />" to display lists, you could use actual lists? UL and LI, thank you.
I don't have much more to add. The source is alright; except it's weird that your files are located in your home directory, and not the public_html (or so I assume, since you call them using "../file.php".
Anyway, good job on this; it's not my dream ROM site (which would be modeled after Google, except slightly modified for faster search), but it works.
As for ROMHacking, there is ONE site which covers it, and in darkness binds them: ROMHacking.net, home of the largest collection of documents, utilities, translations, etc etc. It's Nightcrawler's site, so...eh.
Good luck anyhow!
Sure, it's aesthetically lacking, but honestly, when I'm looking for ROMs, I don't really care; if you have it, I'll come. I think aesthetics can be something you work on later.
Considering this is a ROM site, hence mostly file downloads/uploads, I assume that you'll want to cut down on the bandwidth that isn't used by ROM downloads. Thus, cutting back on graphics is a good idea; perhaps, instead of long strings of "<br />" to display lists, you could use actual lists? UL and LI, thank you.
I don't have much more to add. The source is alright; except it's weird that your files are located in your home directory, and not the public_html (or so I assume, since you call them using "../file.php".
Anyway, good job on this; it's not my dream ROM site (which would be modeled after Google, except slightly modified for faster search), but it works.
As for ROMHacking, there is ONE site which covers it, and in darkness binds them: ROMHacking.net, home of the largest collection of documents, utilities, translations, etc etc. It's Nightcrawler's site, so...eh.
Good luck anyhow!
I actually like the site, the layout is nice and easy so it's easily navigated, the colour scheme is looking good, but if you really want to attract more people, as said before, you have to do something different with your site, just a few quickies off my head:
Make a cheats, FAQ, walkthrough section for each game
Make the website more about games, add sprites and screenshots around the site, have a rating system so people can comment what they think on games, have like a Game of the Day or something, "ROMStation reccomends:", get some people to review some of the games, things like this can and most likely will attract more people, they don't want to come to a site and not know any of the games there (Lol who would that be :crazy
, so information about the game, a brief storyline, features that can help them while they play if they get stuck somewhere.
You have to think about the gamers who'll be coming onto your site, and need help with games, they need cheats, walkthroughs, they don't know if they should get a game cause they haven't really heard of it.
PS. Also see if you can rip game graphics and soundtracks etc. That will attract even more people !, you could make a site with:
Emulators
ROMS
Cheats
Walkthroughs
FAQs
Forums
Reviews
Graphic rips
Soundtrack rips
Hope my suggestions help you !
:thumb:
Make a cheats, FAQ, walkthrough section for each game
Make the website more about games, add sprites and screenshots around the site, have a rating system so people can comment what they think on games, have like a Game of the Day or something, "ROMStation reccomends:", get some people to review some of the games, things like this can and most likely will attract more people, they don't want to come to a site and not know any of the games there (Lol who would that be :crazy
, so information about the game, a brief storyline, features that can help them while they play if they get stuck somewhere.You have to think about the gamers who'll be coming onto your site, and need help with games, they need cheats, walkthroughs, they don't know if they should get a game cause they haven't really heard of it.
PS. Also see if you can rip game graphics and soundtracks etc. That will attract even more people !, you could make a site with:
Emulators
ROMS
Cheats
Walkthroughs
FAQs
Forums
Reviews
Graphic rips
Soundtrack rips
Hope my suggestions help you !
:thumb:
I don't think that using php redirects is going to save you from legal action, I'm pretty sure even linking to a third party location is enough to make you actionable. That's the whole premise they go after torrent trackers and the like with, with varying degrees of success depending on the country they're hosted in. If you're in a really liberal country of course I suppose you don't have much to worry about.
But anyway hosting roms is sort of old-hat, one can download massive ROM packs off the torrent network. I don't want to get into it too much here and violate forum rules, but I know of a great SNES pack for instance that has nearly 7k ROMs (many of which are foreign language, homebrew, unlicensed, translated, patched, etc, but I haven't found anything missing in it yet and I've checked against a *lot* of lists and for pretty obscure titles).
Basically my point is that if you want to host ROMs as a feature for as long as you can get away with it that's cool, but if you really want to grab attention focus on useful content, and of course increase your visual appeal
@Etheon: yeah romhacking.net are my heroes, they host Aeon Genesis amongst others. But they tend to sort of look down their noses at people who don't have the technical skills to do things like apply patches, remove headers and do other hex editing fixes, etc. It'd be nice to see a really newbie friendly site dedicated to helping people learn the ropes. There are some great, great fucking games that you'll never see outside a translation patch (Metal Max Returns! Seiken Densetsu 3!), and even the retranslations of games that were released in the US are sometimes much better done (or even radically different, ala FF4j)... fuck anyway I'm getting OT, sorry :D
Edit: my bad it's actually plain ol' romhack.net that hosts AG, I don't know if the two are related. Anyway, those guys are ftw.
But anyway hosting roms is sort of old-hat, one can download massive ROM packs off the torrent network. I don't want to get into it too much here and violate forum rules, but I know of a great SNES pack for instance that has nearly 7k ROMs (many of which are foreign language, homebrew, unlicensed, translated, patched, etc, but I haven't found anything missing in it yet and I've checked against a *lot* of lists and for pretty obscure titles).
Basically my point is that if you want to host ROMs as a feature for as long as you can get away with it that's cool, but if you really want to grab attention focus on useful content, and of course increase your visual appeal
@Etheon: yeah romhacking.net are my heroes, they host Aeon Genesis amongst others. But they tend to sort of look down their noses at people who don't have the technical skills to do things like apply patches, remove headers and do other hex editing fixes, etc. It'd be nice to see a really newbie friendly site dedicated to helping people learn the ropes. There are some great, great fucking games that you'll never see outside a translation patch (Metal Max Returns! Seiken Densetsu 3!), and even the retranslations of games that were released in the US are sometimes much better done (or even radically different, ala FF4j)... fuck anyway I'm getting OT, sorry :D
Edit: my bad it's actually plain ol' romhack.net that hosts AG, I don't know if the two are related. Anyway, those guys are ftw.
Thanks, jbrist, those suggestions will really help me out! I think you guys are right and I should add a lot of new stuff. I will look through you guys' suggestions and try to make my site even more attractive.
I live in Holland, I don't really know how the laws are here, so I'm not sure if my site could get a C&D.
I live in Holland, I don't really know how the laws are here, so I'm not sure if my site could get a C&D.
Ah, if you're using a hosting service in your country you might be okay then. I'm no expert on law in the Netherlands but you guys seem to be pretty good at resisting U.S. political pressure and that's how most of the overseas gray-area sites end up getting shut down (see the "Steal This Film" part 1 & 2 documentaries for instance).
In any case good luck, be sure to post again when you have done some more work, I would love to see what you come up with.
In any case good luck, be sure to post again when you have done some more work, I would love to see what you come up with.