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Game Shop v2.1
Although the release of version 2.0 was a big release for us, there was still so much more we can do to make this truly one of the best game shops any gaming community has ever seen! The moment I released the Game Shop v2.0, I started working on version 2.1! Although development halted considerably these past couple months due to personal life, the 2.1 updates have been slowly rolling out with one little update at a time. This thread will reflect everything that has changed over this course.
This update introduces more automated systems along with design improvements and bug fixes.
Whats New
Dedicated Game Pages
The biggest change of our shop is having dedicated game pages for every single individual game! In our previous version, there was no way for you to get information about the game you are interested in getting unless you visited a third party website or already knew about the game. This big update changes that! This is the update that took the longest in 2.1 due to the sheer amount of work involved in just updating every single game's database, let alone the coding for it. We hope our users can appreciate the work put into this
The game sales page will include info about the game, along with specifications, developer info, trailers, screenshots, and more! Please be patient as some game pages are not yet finished and this feature is still rolling out!
Sales
Technically we had sales before. However, we had to change all the pricing and template files manually. On top of that, the sales only displayed on the shop homepage. In 2.1 we have rolled out an official sale system that allows us to check off games that are on sale and it updates that game everywhere in our shop!
This also ensures that if you are browsing the game categories, it will tell you which games are on sale or not. We hope to improve upon this feature later on!
Launcher/DRM Info
We have had issues in the past with users not knowing which software a game is for. Majority of the time, the games from our shop are for the Steam platform. However, some games such as Overwatch are for the Battle.net launcher and GTA5 for the R* Social Club Launcher. All games will now show what launcher/DRM is needed on the appropriate dedicated game's page.
Community Integration
We want our community to really feel like, well... a community! So our shop will have some community integrations built into it. If a game in our shop has a specific section in our forums, there will be a "Community discussion" link on the game's page. Which may also show the latest threads related to that game.
We also integrated our Media Gallery into the shop. All of our game's screenshots will come from our users! Our users can upload their own screenshots of the games they play that will be associated with the games in our shop. We also plan on integrating our "Game Reviews" system next!
Steam Integration
This was supposed to be released with version 2.0 of the shop. Unfortunately, with the shop continuously being put on hold for further development, it was put on the back burner for 2.1 so the shop could be finally released. Now that 2.1 has arrived, the shop will require users to associate their forum account with their steam account before purchasing games. Unfortunately, this will also be the case for games that do not require steam to play.
We are going forward with the steam integration to pave the way for future development. Our hope is to show which of our users already own a game, how many hours our community has played a game, if the game is recommended by our community, etc. Currently similar to how steam does it on their steam sale pages in the "Is this game relevant to you?" section.
Mystery Game Changes
The Mystery Game is the most popular selling product in our shop. Previously, we set a number of how many "copies" to sell. It would then select games at random from a list we provided with a 10% chance of getting a $60 game. Unfortunately, this turned out to be very costly. As soon as we would enable the Mystery game, it sold out not too long after. So we have no updated our algorithm.
The Mystery Game price will increase, and decrease based on a number of factors.
The more people who purchase the Mystery Game, the more the price will increase. As time goes on, and fewer people are buying the Mystery Game, the price will decrease! So be sure to check the shop daily to try to get the best prices! This will make the mystery game cost based on supply & demand.
Although the release of version 2.0 was a big release for us, there was still so much more we can do to make this truly one of the best game shops any gaming community has ever seen! The moment I released the Game Shop v2.0, I started working on version 2.1! Although development halted considerably these past couple months due to personal life, the 2.1 updates have been slowly rolling out with one little update at a time. This thread will reflect everything that has changed over this course.
This update introduces more automated systems along with design improvements and bug fixes.
Whats New
Dedicated Game Pages
The biggest change of our shop is having dedicated game pages for every single individual game! In our previous version, there was no way for you to get information about the game you are interested in getting unless you visited a third party website or already knew about the game. This big update changes that! This is the update that took the longest in 2.1 due to the sheer amount of work involved in just updating every single game's database, let alone the coding for it. We hope our users can appreciate the work put into this
The game sales page will include info about the game, along with specifications, developer info, trailers, screenshots, and more! Please be patient as some game pages are not yet finished and this feature is still rolling out!
Sales
Technically we had sales before. However, we had to change all the pricing and template files manually. On top of that, the sales only displayed on the shop homepage. In 2.1 we have rolled out an official sale system that allows us to check off games that are on sale and it updates that game everywhere in our shop!
This also ensures that if you are browsing the game categories, it will tell you which games are on sale or not. We hope to improve upon this feature later on!
Launcher/DRM Info
We have had issues in the past with users not knowing which software a game is for. Majority of the time, the games from our shop are for the Steam platform. However, some games such as Overwatch are for the Battle.net launcher and GTA5 for the R* Social Club Launcher. All games will now show what launcher/DRM is needed on the appropriate dedicated game's page.
Community Integration
We want our community to really feel like, well... a community! So our shop will have some community integrations built into it. If a game in our shop has a specific section in our forums, there will be a "Community discussion" link on the game's page. Which may also show the latest threads related to that game.
We also integrated our Media Gallery into the shop. All of our game's screenshots will come from our users! Our users can upload their own screenshots of the games they play that will be associated with the games in our shop. We also plan on integrating our "Game Reviews" system next!
Steam Integration
This was supposed to be released with version 2.0 of the shop. Unfortunately, with the shop continuously being put on hold for further development, it was put on the back burner for 2.1 so the shop could be finally released. Now that 2.1 has arrived, the shop will require users to associate their forum account with their steam account before purchasing games. Unfortunately, this will also be the case for games that do not require steam to play.
We are going forward with the steam integration to pave the way for future development. Our hope is to show which of our users already own a game, how many hours our community has played a game, if the game is recommended by our community, etc. Currently similar to how steam does it on their steam sale pages in the "Is this game relevant to you?" section.
Mystery Game Changes
The Mystery Game is the most popular selling product in our shop. Previously, we set a number of how many "copies" to sell. It would then select games at random from a list we provided with a 10% chance of getting a $60 game. Unfortunately, this turned out to be very costly. As soon as we would enable the Mystery game, it sold out not too long after. So we have no updated our algorithm.
The Mystery Game price will increase, and decrease based on a number of factors.
The more people who purchase the Mystery Game, the more the price will increase. As time goes on, and fewer people are buying the Mystery Game, the price will decrease! So be sure to check the shop daily to try to get the best prices! This will make the mystery game cost based on supply & demand.
