RPG Insanity

TL:DR; What are good games to add to this site?
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Hopefully, it's no surprise that I plan on adding more games to this website (since I have talked about it before).

I'd hoped to really start this at the beginning of summer but I've kind of been dragging my heels... mainly because I'm not sure how to best "organize" the games into different categories.

I mean, we are the "Home of the Ultimate Kemco Fansite," and I want to keep the emphasis on that, because that's most likely why everybody is here.

But as I start to add new games, I need to expand the categories from just "Kemco Games" to allow grouping other games in some sort of logical manner. Originally I'd thought about doing it by developer - but I think most other mobile devs only have, at best, a handful of rpgs, and I'm not sure that people would automatically associate those games with their respective developers, anyway. (Without looking, who developed "Ys Chronicles," or "Adventure Bar Story," or "Knights of Pen and Paper?" Or "The Dark RPG?" - which I've seen recommended to me on Google Play but haven't even bothered to check out...)

The obvious choice then, is to group games by genre: action rpgs, tactical, jrpgs. Currently within the "Other Games" forum, I have sections for those genres and a couple others (which I will probably move out of "Other Games," and make them their own top-level forums).

"Genre" seems to make more sense - but then I run into the problem of:
Do I now need to assign each Kemco game to its respective genre as well, or do I go with something like:

Kemco Games
Action RPGs
JRPGs
etc.

and just assume that visitors will know that "Kemco Games" is the "genre" for all Kemco games, while "Action RPGs" is strictly for non-Kemco action RPGs, while the few action RPGs that were put out by Kemco are grouped with "Kemco Games?"

Possibly, I'm overthinking things (as I'm sure, some gamers have a tendency to do...)

But, in my mind, if I create a designator for "Genre," then it doesn't make sense to include "Kemco Games" within that designator.

So my other option is to simply create a designator called "Categories." And then group games either by Kemco Games, or by genre within the "Categories" heading. So it would still look like:

Kemco Games
Action RPGs
JRPGs
etc.

but with the label of "Categories," which seems to be more practical, even if it's not the most logical or obvious choice.

(Basically, I want Kemco games to still stand out, and not just be absorbed into the other genres.)

Of course it's still the same basic organization; the only difference is the label, but in my mind "Categories" works a lot better than "Genres."

Also, while I'd like to add other mobile games and *some* Steam games, I have absolutely no intention of adding console games (except in the cases where a mobile game has subsequently been released on a console, as Kemco has done with several titles now - and even then listing the PlayStation download link is really just a courtesy, but it does make sense as a PS player looking for info on Asdivine Hearts would most likely end up here).

I do plan on creating a basic "Game" page, with the user review, for every new game added to the site. Also, each game will get its own forum (as a sub-forum of the appropriate parent.) But with a lot of the games that I play going forward (be it a Kemco game or not), I myself will be more focused on leaving a user review, maybe dropping some hints in the forum, etc... At this point I don't see myself creating walkthroughs for non-Kemco games (especially if it's an established game that already has a good walkthrough on another site.) (I am, however, doing a location walkthrough for Fernz Gate, but after that I may not do more than 1 or 2 walkthroughs per year... I just don't have the time anymore.)

I am still open to other people creating walkthroughs, if they want to - but I'm far more interested in getting people to review the other mobile games they play, so we as a group can have some kind of idea, whether these other mobile games are worth checking out, and what other users of this site have to say about the game... something like that anyway...

So, what is your opinion on adding more games, on grouping new games by "Category," and, are there any immediate suggestions on what games to add right away?

(Also, somewhat unrelated - any ideas on how I can get more people to use the "User Reviews?" Or is that not a really popular feature?)

Anyone can comment on this, and you can post here or you can just send me a PM if you'd rather not share your opinion with everyone else.

You really wrote a very long post...

I think the best and simple solution (to keep both Kemco theme and adding new titles) is just adding a "Other" tag to the Developers section. I mean, even currently the list of games is hardy readable because Kemco is known for having a gazillion amount of games, and it's ppretty hard to find oneself among them. Too bad, majority of Kemco games are RPGs, and You can count on two hands the number of games aren't RPGs, which means adding a genre search is poinless.

I don't know what other games are You planning on adding to the site, but I think majority of them will still be RPGs, so adding "Other" Developers will work. I don't know if You can do that, but if You can, I would suggest disabling showing non-Kemco related Developers on the Developers list (just keep that "Others") and add or not a link to a given company just there:



If You can't do that, just add a name of the company that made the game, but don't make it a hyperlink.

This way people will be able to browse Kemco games and other non-Kemco games.

Yes, I feel like I wrote a novel (and not a very good one, at that... I don't think it was all that clear.)

Basically, what I'm talking about is adding a whole new level - "Categories." Like so:


And here's what it would look like on the sidebar:


Thereby enabling people to "sort" the games by Category, Developer, or Platform. I was hung up on what to call the new level - "Genre" or "Category," but right now I think Category is a better label. Now, with a lot of games, "Developer" may be a waste of time, but if I added for example, all the Hyper Dev Box rpgs, or all the Oddy Arts games, it might still work. (Granted there are only 4 Oddy Arts games on Google Play, so "Developer" might not work out... but anyway...)

The idea is to just give another way to easily sort through the games and (hopefully) find just what you're looking for.

Along these lines I also have the idea to add some kind of search bar, that would let someone start typing the game name and would auto-complete as they type; then when they hit enter, go directly to that game page. (But for now, that's only in the idea stage... I know it can be done, just not how to do it.)

As to types of other games - it will be mostly other RPGs, also some games with RPG elements (like maybe Mage Gauntlet, Magic Rampage, that sort of thing). Games that at least have magic and swords and shields and all that (but no MMORPGs). Also, games that involve strategy, like card or board-type games, and maybe some tower defense. But mostly RPGs (I want to stay true to "RPG Insanity" as much as possible.)

I have some games in mind already, like the Shadowrun games and a card/board game called "Guild of Dungeoneering" - https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... geoneering (A fun timekiller, and IMO pretty unique)

I don't want to rush to add 1,000 games or anything, but if there are any real quality games people can recommend, I'm open to adding maybe one or two dozen right away, and then kind of see how things go.

IMO, Kemco games should just remain on, well, Kemco Games tag as people who are looking for a specific Kemco game will appreciate not seeing other games from random developers.

Other games on the other hand should stick on their respective genres but excluding all Kemco games from any genres as it will ease the search of people who are looking for a specific game that they know isn't from Kemco but only have the genres to go to. That will keep everything nice and simple.

If a Developer have quite a handful of RPGs on its arsenal I think they deserve their own little space on the site but even as a long time mobile gamer I'm having a hard time thinking of a Dev that offers close to 10 RPGs unless we're all willing to dive to Devs that only pumps out untranslated JRPGs with no hope of having a translation ever.

This one totally depends to you but I'm against of having RPGs from big Company like Square Enix, HyperDev Box and even Sega as majority of people will definitely hit Gamefaqs and the likes before they even do a deep Google Search and miraculously find this site. That will be just to much work for so little gain on Visitors.

How can we recommend games to be added? I think its best for you to make a separate thread for people to drop their recommendations and with that I'll be happy listing out tons of mobile rpgs ranging from old school to hybrid and modern rpgs (seriously, I played tons of them XD).


PS:

Fernz Gate not on the lists on "Completed Kemco games" on our profile.

[quote=23641]IMO, Kemco games should just remain on, well, Kemco Games tag as people who are looking for a specific Kemco game will appreciate not seeing other games from random developers.

Other games on the other hand should stick on their respective genres but excluding all Kemco games from any genres as it will ease the search of people who are looking for a specific game that they know isn’t from Kemco but only have the genres to go to. That will keep everything nice and simple.
[/quote]

That seems to go in line with my current thinking - I think what I'll do is remove the "Developer" tags from below each game, and instead add tags for "Category" and keep the current tags for "Platform." It seems like those would be the two that people will be most interested in. Plus, I'll still leave "Developers" in the sidebar (for now anyway, but if it becomes a huge mess than I'll have to think of something else.)

[quote]
This one totally depends to you but I’m against of having RPGs from big Company like Square Enix, HyperDev Box and even Sega as majority of people will definitely hit Gamefaqs and the likes before they even do a deep Google Search and miraculously find this site. That will be just to much work for so little gain on Visitors.
[/quote]
I tend to agree with leaving out Square Enix - or at least leave out all FF games, and things like that. Big, established companies will already have quite a following elsewhere... but it might be nice to at least have user review pages for some games like the Chaos Rings series, or something along those lines... I'm still undecided on that.

[quote]
How can we recommend games to be added? I think its best for you to make a separate thread for people to drop their recommendations and with that I’ll be happy listing out tons of mobile rpgs ranging from old school to hybrid and modern rpgs (seriously, I played tons of them XD).
[/quote]

You can use this topic: https://www.rpginsanity.com/forum/gener ... site-here/

[quote]
PS:

Fernz Gate not on the lists on “Completed Kemco games” on our profile.
[/quote]

Whoopsie. This will be fixed shortly.

[quote]
(Also, somewhat unrelated – any ideas on how I can get more people to use the “User Reviews?” Or is that not a really popular feature?)
[/quote]

Oh! Well! Uhm! I dunno!
It's a really cool feature, however, uhm, besides adding an emphasis "Don't review on Google Play as they suggest, review at RPG Insanity instead! We actually care for your reviews." or something like that, I don't have much idea of what to do.

It's not like writing a review is easy. Also, considering RPG Insanity use Definitive Review system, you can only review shortly after finishing a game, and that's not exactly something you ought to remember to do

So I think you can only try to remember players (even if you just add a box asking for reviews on the last Location Walkie page) and let “time heal wounds”.

...Uhm? I'm offtopic? I'm supposed to be speaking about non-Kemco games?! ...Oh.

Don't do anything too hard to use, nor anything too simple it become messy.
Actually, checkbox are a good idea. I'm of the line of “non-Kemco Games hidden by default” but that's too extremist even for my own liking.
(Still moderated though)

So, a way to sort (by title, by producer, by score...), and to filter (Basically, hide what I don't want to see. You can even filter a minimum score for some aspects - no sorry. Ignore this. "Minimum Story Rating 3+" is definitely too hard to use.)

Sort and Filter. Keep that in mind is all I have to say.

[quote=24464]

Sort and Filter. Keep that in mind is all I have to say.

[/quote]

That's actually my next project. I'm working on it now, but no estimate on how long it will take to implement.

I thought I'd chime in on the user review discussion.
(Also, somewhat unrelated – any ideas on how I can get more people to use the “User Reviews?” Or is that not a really popular feature?)
Well, MSG Commander, you have click counts, etc. by area, so you should have some idea of how often the Peanut Gallery reviews are visited. My impression is they aren't an attraction, so I've stopped writing such reviews.

I tend to like in-depth reviews, with the focus on play (not graphics or sound) and not the thumbs up/down type that are more popular (and hence should be more visible on the website). I find the forum discussions generally more illuminating about whether I will like a game or not than the simple star ratings.

[quote=24478]I thought I’d chime in on the user review discussion.
(Also, somewhat unrelated – any ideas on how I can get more people to use the “User Reviews?” Or is that not a really popular feature?)
Well, MSG Commander, you have click counts, etc. by area, so you should have some idea of how often the Peanut Gallery reviews are visited. My impression is they aren’t an attraction, so I’ve stopped writing such reviews.

I tend to like in-depth reviews, with the focus on play (not graphics or sound) and not the thumbs up/down type that are more popular (and hence should be more visible on the website). I find the forum discussions generally more illuminating about whether I will like a game or not than the simple star ratings.

[/quote]

Good to know. (Although, graphics and sound are not included in the 5-star user reviews...)

As older members of this site will know, I started this with the main goal of learning web design (and what better way to learn than by creating a REAL website?), so it's good to get honest opinions on what works, what doesn't, what appeals to a large base or what is only used by a small handful... it helps me to know what's actually important to the end user.

(Of course, I also started this site because Kemco Games ROCK! Lol. But no, really, it makes all my learning more meaningful when it's based around something that I'm actually interested in, as well.)

Someday I'll have to figure out how to incorporate polls or surveys, and then I can do a survey on which elements of the site draw the most people. (I can look at how many clicks each page gets, but that only tells me where people ARE going, not where people WOULD go, if I had other elements on the site that may currently be missing or hard to discover.)