TheBaron
03-05-2007, 01:36 AM
Hi guys,
I'm working on a new site that will deal with user voting and rankings, mostly on games (tho im going to have TV shows and movies etc too)..
I've got a list of games for most systems.. pretty much the same list that gamefaqs has :) , which is roughly 60 000. I realise a lot of these are games may be unreleased etc, but I'm pretty sure the list is fairly complete.
The problem is that its just a list, so I don't have many details about the games.
However, looking at my IGN list (which I stopped using after that big change), I realised that if you generate the list with the release date, ESRB, Publisher, Genre and Developer, then voila.. you instantly have all this extra info for games in your collection.
This gave me the idea to write an import script, which will just accept the html of this list, and will parse through and update all the games in my database with these details.
So I guess my first question is, I'm sure there are a lot of you with massive game lists on IGN... so if I got this import script happening, if you are happy to share your lists it would help me automatically fill in a LOT of details about the games.
This also gave me the idea that if new users sign up (all this would be free) and have a list from IGN, then they could import this straight away and would instantly have their collection stored on the site. I Imagine I could also attempt writing import scripts for other sites with similar lists, obviously not all games would be matched but even if 80% were it would help.
The site will be CSS / XHTML based, so I thought another cool idea would be to provide mobile / palm users etc a really stripped down list of their games... so if they are on the road and need to check if they have a game, then voila. Also, upon buying games you could update your list through the mobile too.
I was thinking of making the editing of game details (bar the title) similar to wiki, whereby as long as you have an account you can fill in a games genre etc if it isn't yet stored. Maybe even new games could be added in this fashion (with little or no approval required).
Instead of having central forums (such as DP), I was thinking of just allowing little discussions per game, but keeping it really simple (as I assume most gamers will still prefer to chat here etc). What I really want to achieve out of the site is gathering lots of stats / rankings about games (all generated by the community), and as the site grows further develop the engine to allow more detailed stats etc to be gathered.
So, after all that, I would like to hear some opinions from you guys...
Do you think a site like this is a good idea?
Should I even bother?
Would those of you with IGN lists be willing to help with the import process?
Do you think having import facilities for members from other collection sites would be a good feature?
I envision that if the site grew I could then add in the ability to add images, reviews etc for games.. again all community driven.
Any advice / ideas are appreciated, if this is in the wrong forum etc I apologise
I'm working on a new site that will deal with user voting and rankings, mostly on games (tho im going to have TV shows and movies etc too)..
I've got a list of games for most systems.. pretty much the same list that gamefaqs has :) , which is roughly 60 000. I realise a lot of these are games may be unreleased etc, but I'm pretty sure the list is fairly complete.
The problem is that its just a list, so I don't have many details about the games.
However, looking at my IGN list (which I stopped using after that big change), I realised that if you generate the list with the release date, ESRB, Publisher, Genre and Developer, then voila.. you instantly have all this extra info for games in your collection.
This gave me the idea to write an import script, which will just accept the html of this list, and will parse through and update all the games in my database with these details.
So I guess my first question is, I'm sure there are a lot of you with massive game lists on IGN... so if I got this import script happening, if you are happy to share your lists it would help me automatically fill in a LOT of details about the games.
This also gave me the idea that if new users sign up (all this would be free) and have a list from IGN, then they could import this straight away and would instantly have their collection stored on the site. I Imagine I could also attempt writing import scripts for other sites with similar lists, obviously not all games would be matched but even if 80% were it would help.
The site will be CSS / XHTML based, so I thought another cool idea would be to provide mobile / palm users etc a really stripped down list of their games... so if they are on the road and need to check if they have a game, then voila. Also, upon buying games you could update your list through the mobile too.
I was thinking of making the editing of game details (bar the title) similar to wiki, whereby as long as you have an account you can fill in a games genre etc if it isn't yet stored. Maybe even new games could be added in this fashion (with little or no approval required).
Instead of having central forums (such as DP), I was thinking of just allowing little discussions per game, but keeping it really simple (as I assume most gamers will still prefer to chat here etc). What I really want to achieve out of the site is gathering lots of stats / rankings about games (all generated by the community), and as the site grows further develop the engine to allow more detailed stats etc to be gathered.
So, after all that, I would like to hear some opinions from you guys...
Do you think a site like this is a good idea?
Should I even bother?
Would those of you with IGN lists be willing to help with the import process?
Do you think having import facilities for members from other collection sites would be a good feature?
I envision that if the site grew I could then add in the ability to add images, reviews etc for games.. again all community driven.
Any advice / ideas are appreciated, if this is in the wrong forum etc I apologise