This is just my opinion but if your showing off a game, put an image of it in the post and provide a link to your game. I always pass up games because I like to see what people have done and then I have easy access to see more. Good luck on your projects.

Seconded as well. If you are advertising a game...use a simple layout for your post that allows easy downloading of your game. Nothing is more annoying than hearing about that uber-awesome-super-duper-crazy-fun-shooter that you created and then making me copy and paste the url of your website into a new tab (Mozilla) or browser (IE).

Layout your post something similar to the following:

Intro
A short paragraph about you and/or your game.
What is the name of your game?
What genre is the game?
How long did it take to develop?


Features
Highlight some interesting aspects of the game.
Briefly describe some of the player options (single player, multiplayer, etc)
Highlight a cool special effect.


Screenshots
A quick html lesson - if you have a link to a screenshot of your game, use a similar format to the following in your post:

< a href="http://www.yoursite.com/yourimg.jpg" >< img width=100 height=100 src="http://www.yoursite.com/yourimg.jpg" >< /a >

This will allow the reader to click on the screenshot to see the full sized image.


Download
This is the most important section. PLEASE use a link directly to the game file (zip,rar,exe) so the reader can easily download your game directly from the thread. Another html lesson for doing this:

< a href="http://www.yoursite.com/mygame.zip" > download here < /a >

Website
Optional. Include a link using the html learned previously. Do not force the reader to visit your site to download your game. Most readers (like me) will pass on these types of posts completely. If the reader tries your game and likes (or hates) it, then he or she might visit your website later.


Hopefully this small guide will lead to easier to read/use game posts in the "Your Announcments" forum and make life easier for all of us. :)

[Edited by - Qa303asmGuru on November 8, 2006 12:53:33 PM]

Just realize some of the games are not downloadable =)

Quote:Original post by Scet

Quote:Original post by Qa303asmGuru

< a href="http://www.yoursite.com/yourimg.jpg">< img width=100 height=100 src="http://www.yoursite.com/yourimg.jpg" >< /a >

The width / height properties only resizes the full image, meaning the user has already downloaded the whole huge screenshot. A better method is to make a smaller thumbnail and use that in the image tag.

< a href="http://www.yoursite.com/yourimg.jpg">< img src="http://www.yoursite.com/yourimgtb.jpg" > < /a >

Good call. Sometimes I tend to take the high speed net at both home and work for granted. ;)

Oh and I wasn't trying to discourage website advertisement...I'm mostly aiming at those who have a downloadable game with a link on their site that is easily transferable here.

Quote:Original post by Paulius Maruska

Quote:Original post by KGodwin
Just realize some of the games are not downloadable =)

Then you should clearly state that this is an on line, browser-based game. And then you put the link, where the game can be found. Note: even if your game is browser-based - if it has graphics - it deserves a screen-shot!
Only text games doesn't have to have any screen-shots Note: ASCII art IS graphics too! ;)

I'm just saying it may make sense to have a modified template for that if your trying to get a mod-enforced template like in Help Wanted done here.

instead of < ahref = " " >, you could just use img src = " " :) I like it better, lets me be even more lazy.