OHR Arcade

You should try to have the things sortable in ways such as:

Alphabetical

Price (or even just limit to free)

Chronological (I don't prefer this, but I know some do)

Popularity

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dOn'T MiNd mE! i'M jUsT CoNtAgIoUs!!!
Play Orbs CCG: http://orbsccg.com/r/4r6x

... Well hi there, Good Idea! It seems I didn't notice you at all last year.

Oh, surprise

Having another archive of OHR games may not be a bad thing. There isn't enough activity to justify a 3rd forum, but that argument doesn't apply to game lists.

So what's the Kickstarter funding for?

Speaking of forums... the Old OHRRPGCE HelpMe forum has finally dropped off the face of the planet! A sad moment. I would say that it was the longest existing OHR Forum (since 1999?), but since I don't know when it ceased to exist, Castle Paradox may actually have that distinction.

Sorry for the derail.

I am actually looking for people to work on this with me if anyone's interested.
I'm going to need to do a bunch of stuff and if you'd like you help then by all means, do so.

So, I'll need to:
- Make a Kickstarter video
-Make website mock ups to show
-Film Interviews of people who may or may not end up being involved
-background graphics, and music?
- Spread the word about said video on a bunch of indie gaming sites



Other things need to be done too, but if the kickstarter things doesn't work out then the other stuff is moot, or at least harshly changed.

What did you have in mind by "other things"?

I'm skeptical that non-OHR users/players can be convinced that they should fund a site specifically to help OHR users sell their games: can such tiny markets attract buyers? Launching the project on Kickstarter seems like an odd move.

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To friends long gone, and those I've yet to meet - thank you.

Well you bring up a good point that I've been thinking about for a long time. Should non-OHR games be allowed on OHR Arcade? Most of are community's game databases have seen at least some intrusion by games made through other means, but should OHR Arcade embrace that or shy away from it?

The two scenarios basically go as follows.
First, if OHR Arcade does allow games not made with the OHR then it will hopefully attract more developers and players alike. It will however slightly, if not hugely over shadow the OHR games and at that point the site becomes more like the other sites that host Indie games.
If OHR Arcade doesn't allow non OHR games then outside interest and funding will go way down. It will basically be just an extension ( or revival ) of the old Hamster Wheel database. The market function might still be possible in the form of a premium version available for some games, like Motrya planned to do. The likely hood of OHR Arcade turning into something non OHR related wouldn't be a problem though. Also, even though the numbers might take a hit because of the sites focused database, there would still be lots of room to improve our download counts through this site, and even though we'd might potentially get less money from kickstarter, we would need a lot less money too.

So let me know what you think everyone. Keep in mind that the OHR community would always maintain control over OHR arcade no matter the content.

Anyways, I'm not really sure about some of the stuff that will or will not be featured in the OHR Arcade's Official Launch Site, but I am sure that this site would be good for the community as a whole.

I've begun to set up the site, and may have some demos of it up at some time in the near/kinda near future.

This is something I know nothing about, so I don't know what to say. What other indie games markets are there?

But is it your intention to focus the site on selling games? I would think that not too many game authors around here would take you up on it, that's the main problem. Almost no one polishes their game near the typical quality of commercial indie games. But even if there are only two games for sale on the site I wouldn't count that as a failure if the website is good for other things, though you might regret the effort spent.

And hey, if you have success listing non-OHR games, that's great for you, and IMO not bad for anyone listed on the site.

I tell you the truth, I think any kind of indie game portal with the OHR community as the core audience/participators that intends to focus on sellin' games is going to be a dismal failure. I would love to be wrong on that, but we only have, let's be charitable and say 100 people in the community. That's no kind of exposure at all.

As easy as webhosting is to find these days and with shit going viral left and right, I don't see why someone with the next indie success would come slummin' around here and cut any of us in on it. That's not to say I think an Indie Game sales portal like Steam couldn't be succesful, because there's a definite vacuum in that department. Just don't kid yourself and think you could call it OHR Arcade or give us bush leaguers any say in it.

No, if you wanna go for this thing, you better go for the jugular. Look at all the indie bundles people are doing. They want to get out there and share each other's exposure. They're willing to take a small amount of money and all. Try more of a Farmer's Market approach, some kind of co-op type thing. If you can handle the scary business end, and get the word out there about yourself, maybe get lucky with a big game or two, there are definitely people out there who could use your proposed service.

OHR games would be welcome, but don't cheapen your idea by saying that's all the site is about. If you want to make another OHR Gamelist site, it would be a great thing for the community. I just don't expect it'll get much bigger than anything we've already had.

(I don't mean to bad mouth the OHR. Our community is a great thing, I love it very dearly, but like TMC says, almost nobody polishes their game to the level where someone would want to pay to play it. It's not impossible, just nobody's had it happen yet)

Ah, I've been unclear. Heck I've been downright mysterious. Ok so here's what I plan to do.

First off, OHR Arcade would be an indie game database site. Putting the question of whether or not it would be OHR game exclusive aside for now, it would simply be a site focused on making the indie games on it look good and playable.
Selling games is mainly an idea I thought up, because there's basically 0 sites that let indie gamers upload their games and sell them there without passing some kind of focus group prodding. The sites that could sell indie games don't because they base the games they put on their site off of the game's previous sells. Leaving the developer to shell out for the game's advertising themselves.
Selling games on the site wouldn't be the main attraction and OHR Arcade could exist without the idea. It could also be done in an extra limited way. I was thinking that offering premium versions of games would be a good way to sell games. Basically a player would go to the games page and be able to download the game, but then right there on the page their's also a premium version of the game for a dollar. Maybe that version has different rpg outfits, extended cutscenes, or a NewGame+ feature. So players can basically surf through the website and completely ignore the game selling part, or they can pick out the games they really like and buy those games.

Anyways, the absolute main thing that the OHR Arcade is about is a website that would act as a stage for launching our communities games. Right now this site basically does that and as much as I like Slimesalad, I don't think it's designed in a way that promotes gameplay, and I think the name may turn some people off. There are several other reasons why I think making a new site would be better than sticking with Slimesalad as our main showcase site for our games, but in the end without at least a good portion of the community behind this idea, it really has no meaning.

So, if you like the idea of making a new site for the sole purpose of showcasing our games in a flashing hip way, please let me know by voicing your opinion here.
Also, it's a big project so if any of you supports wanted to jump over to the helpers category please do so.

I'm all for giving people more game lists with more options but I still have no idea what it would need kickstarter funding for. Also the name OHR Arcade sounds like a portal for bad Flash games.

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Super Walrus Land: Mouth Words Edition

My initial thought on the matter regarding game sales is that not only are most OHR games unpolished to the point of not being worth even a dollar, but most plagiarize somebody else's music, graphics, or in the case of fan games, intellectual property, and they wouldn't be legal to sell without the other artists' or IP owners' permission.

I think if you were to have a paid section for games, you'd need to test rigorously for original content or permissions from the authors of the "borrowed" content before you post, and that could be time consuming and disappointing when you discover that one lost track from Chrono Trigger playing during the closing credits sequence. Failing to do that could risk some trouble.

The risk is also there that if the site becomes popular enough, even the freebies could come under scrutiny if someone finds his intellectual or commercial property in somebody else's game without getting permission or compensation. It's a low risk, because most artists are happy to have the additional exposure, and most of those artists probably won't discover their works in an OHR game anyway. But a risk is a risk.

Before you launch your big vision, I would think about how to handle original versus borrowed content on your site. While we're small, it probably won't matter much. But if you attract funding, you're going to ask for people to pay for a site that posts borrowed content, even if it comes wrapped in original content. And if you attract large crowds, somebody will eventually care that an IP has been used without permission. It could take years to gather the kind of momentum needed to attract that kind of attention. But eventually it could happen. And then what will you do?

That's my initial thought on the matter.

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Place Obligatory Signature Here

This idea could work, but there would definitely need to be a no ripping rule for paid games, and maybe all games to be safe. A lot of scary stuff has gone on with copyright law since Viacom sued Youtube, we almost got SOPA, and our ISPs are probably watching everything we download by now.

I'm reviving this thread, because of activity in the OHR Blog thread.

Basically, ignore everything here about Selling games or kickstarter.

Ok so, is anyone here interested in actually working on this? After trying, I've realized I'm just not that proficient at making websites. (Maybe after I take a class or two.) So what this project really needs is someone that can actually make the site. I'm not looking to control this website if the person who actually codes it wouldn't want to turn over control.
I do think that multiple community members being in charge of it could be ideal. (As long as no one goes crazy)
The site should be described pretty well in this thread, but feel free to post questions.