TIGdb: Big Update!

Posted by Derek Yu Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:08:00 GMT

TIGdb

The Indie Game Database got a big update this weekend. Jeff and I also had a great time on tigIRC, where we were exposed to “spider-hell.jpg” time and time again. (Among other things… shivers)

Regardless, we made a lot of progress and I’m excited to share it with you guys.

User Reviews! A long-awaited feature! Now, after you’ve rated a game, you can share you experiences with it and discuss what you liked, what you loved, and what you thought could be improved. User reviews will appear at the bottom of each game’s page, where the most helpful reviews will float to the top! Check out this review I wrote for MDickie’s Hard Time! You may be surprised to find out what I think of it! (Or maybe not at all!)

And if you click the user’s name under the review’s headline, it will take you to their profile. Right now your profile will display your avatar (if you’ve uploaded one), and your bio, along with a list of the reviews you’ve written.

User Submissions Users can also submit games from the site itself now, although an administrator will still have to view the submission and add the game manually. But it’s a great way to bring a game to our attention, and I think it’ll be a lot easier than submitting via the forums.

Also, I know a lot of people will be submitting their own games, but we ask that, if you do, please also submit a game that you enjoy that someone else made. This will increase the likelihood that your own submission will get added (the submissions page has other guidelines that will help you get your submission through).

“Remember Me” Login Some people were hoping that the site could remember that you logged in so you wouldn’t have to enter your info every time – now you can check “Remember Me” when you log in and it’ll do just that!

Lots o’ New Games! I added a bunch of new games from all of the place, including your submissions on TIGForums. The grand total now is nearly 300 (maybe 300+ by the time you read this?). Rate, tag, and review ‘em up! With the new submission system I can hopefully add games faster and more regularly, as well. Whoo hoo!

The db has been a great success so far, but these new features should make it even more fun and useful. And as usual, we’d love to hear your feedback. If you look on the left-hand side of TIGdb, you should see a UserVoice “Feedback” widget that you can click to vote on suggestions and feature requests, or submit your own.

And mad props to Jeff for working hard to implement these features. We really hope you enjoy!

Posted in  | 28 comments

Comments

  1. first post gotten said about 2 hours later:

    I was beginning to wonder whether the tigdb was frozen or on hold etc., but it would seem not. huzzah

  2. AClarkFS said about 2 hours later:

    What is this spider hell you speak of?

  3. Toadsannime said about 2 hours later:

    Hmm… I may be wrong, but is it just me and Derek that have submitted reviews so far…? No worry, I plan on doing many, many user reviews. Great update, I should add. ^_^

  4. bongo said about 2 hours later:

    It’s still missing an essential feature: the possibility to browse genres through a menu.. it’s only possible to make research.

    You should add it for improve the usability.. as it is now is much “database” and few “website”. You have a powerful research feature, but you cannot navigate the site at all :(

  5. Renton said about 2 hours later:

    Now all we need is a “Preview your review” button ^_^. And maybe a Pros/Cons option as well.

    Great work, guys. Keep it up!

  6. Gainsworth said about 3 hours later:

    Ah, wonderful. Always logged in mode. Log on was annoying.

    But, I’m a little nervous of user reviews. Simply due to memory of Game Hippo’s back in the day. Eugh.

  7. raelz said about 5 hours later:

    thanks thanks thanks thanks!! amazing! :O

  8. Lim-Dul said about 5 hours later:

    Holy macaroni! That’s great news!

  9. Toadsannime said about 5 hours later:

    Just wanted to get something clarified in my mind about submitting games to you. We don’t have to of made the games to submit them to the database, do we…?

  10. Foppy said about 6 hours later:

    Nice, and I like the colors of it too, the fresh layout.

  11. raelz said about 7 hours later:

    I believe the spider hell is this http://www.myextralife.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/spider-hell.jpg Pretty sick, huh? =X

  12. moonboy said about 8 hours later:

    nice work! just one suggestion: we are seing in the Top section some games with only 2 or 3 votes, which may be misleading. A game to be eligeble to the Top Games should have at least 10 votes (or some other number).

  13. BoboDaHobo said about 8 hours later:

    Excellent, looks like TIGdb is really coming along! I’m looking forward to writing a few reviews myself. Also, seconded on the minimum vote tally for the top games section suggested by moonboy.

  14. Krux said about 9 hours later:

    yea very cool it is the Best Indie Game database I’ve ever seen, but Hurrican(Game) is still missing.

  15. !CE-9 said about 14 hours later:

    Hard Time, also try, Aquaria?=))

  16. Jeff Lindsay said about 16 hours later:

    I sort of like the fact that games end up disrupting the Top list because it encourages people to rate them. :P

    But I’m all for doing what you guys think is best. Please use the Feedback tool on the site for all these ideas.

  17. Golds said about 16 hours later:

    there’s a joystick guy thumbnail next to each reviewer…. is this a placeholder for AVATARS?

  18. rinkuhero said about 16 hours later:

    Glad you’re allowing user submissions. But I think it’d be a good idea to allow user edits too (moderator-approved, of course). For instance, if someone notices a date is wrong, or a typo, they should be able to make an edit request for that.

    Oh, and I only see 294 games, not 300+? Did some get deleted?

  19. Golds said about 17 hours later:

    Holy crap, there already are avatars. I can’t read.

  20. Jeff Lindsay said about 18 hours later:

    Nothing got deleted, Derek is just slow. :)

  21. Lim-Dul said about 18 hours later:

    Now you could also perform the titanic task of moving the favicon from the forums to both the main site and the DB. ;-)

  22. Jeff Lindsay said about 19 hours later:

    THAT IS ASKING WAY TOO MUCH.

  23. BoboDaHobo said about 19 hours later:

    You’ve got a point Jeff. What about a section devoted to under-rated (as in not enough ratings, maybe they’re ‘rated’ just right :P) games so that people can find games that nobody else has played yet and get the word out! Or even just a sort by number-of-ratings option (maybe this is in place, and I missed it).

  24. Jeff Lindsay said about 19 hours later:

    I like both of those ideas, but I think I need to think about it some more. More suggestions about this are welcome too.

  25. aww said about 19 hours later:

    Off you go little spidies! Maybe one day you’ll be as big as your mama. Good luck!

  26. beethy said about 23 hours later:

    pretty sweet man, i’ve already made a few review i’ve noticed a bug though… if you go to someone’s profile and try to click on their url it’s faulty because it ends up coming like this: http://db.tigsource.com/users/www.example.com

  27. Jeff Lindsay said 1 day later:

    I noticed that too. Because I was lazy and did not require or add http:// … which is required for a valid URL. Oh well. I’ll fix it laaaater

  28. gustav said 1 day later:

    great work once again!

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