Request for Feedback

[GameUpdateNotifier]

Hi all! I'm Dan and I'm working on a side project called Game Update Notifier and I was hoping to get some feedback.

https://gameupdatenotifier.com/

Here's the problem I built this to solve:

I see some game that is like at 0.2. And I think the premise is interesting.
But I decide to wait to try it until like 0.5. When the game is more baked.
Then I forget all about the game and never go back to it

(Obviously games like TiTS and CoC have plenty of content, so this more applies to other games.)

So yeah, I wanted to run this by this community and see is this useful to anyone else?

And does anyone have any suggestions for making it more useful?

Cheers,
Dan

 

[xenoscene]

I don't actually play that many games, but I would definitely use this if I started to. I use visualping to send me alerts for buying tickets and looking out for sales - this seems kind of similar so I know I'd like it.

It would be helpful to have some indication as to what games have been most recently updated, like listing the date of the latest update or having the most recently updated games be at the top of the list. Having an unread/read status when checking the site for updates would be cool too, but that’s just an extra nitpicky thing.

I tend to let my emails pile up, so I would be more likely to check in with the site itself rather than watch out for the notifications. Because of this, I’d lose track of what updates I’ve already checked out unless it the site made it very clear to me.

 

[GameUpdateNotifier]

This is excellent feedback. Thank you!

I've added in the Release Date.

I also like your idea of being able to mark off which updates you've read very much. I never thought of that but it makes sense!

That's going to be trickier to do but I should be able to get to it this week.

Here's a rough draft. Is this what you're thinking?





The idea here is that you last logged in on 2022-01-01 and marked everything as Read. And then one new update has rolled in since then.

 

[xenoscene]

I think it looks great!

Out of curiosity, how do you add games that people can choose to follow? Do you have to add them manually one at a time or do you have a way to sweep game databases?

 

[GameUpdateNotifier]

Thanks!

I have a script that automates it! It runs twice a day currently. I still have a ton of improvements I want to make to it, but so far it's doing pretty well.

 

[Diarmait]

Definitely an interesting concept.

 

[To&Fro]

Okay-

Point #1: Concept is great, very useful if executed properly.
Point #2: Warning Klaxons, Red Flags, and Alarms go off instantly.

The primary issue here is security. I know that some folks here don't care and happily download everything and trust everyone. The others are likely the polar opposite, extremely cautious and don't generally like the idea of giving over email addresses or other personal info to a system that could be hacked, or some other kind of computer betrayal.

So you should strongly consider how you are going to deliver the information to the interested party and get the information from the game vendors. I assume you've already considered all of this by now, but I'm just bringing it up in case it kind of got overlooked.

I have personally watched an entire programming team miss this aspect of a software application. It almost went live with the problems and took almost a year to re-write it to be secure.

Anytime I see an app that tracks peoples information, I toss out this particular warning. I'm sure it's already been handled, just making sure the warning is heard.

 

[GameUpdateNotifier]

The primary issue here is security. I know that some folks here don't care and happily download everything and trust everyone. The others are likely the polar opposite, extremely cautious and don't generally like the idea of giving over email addresses or other personal info to a system that could be hacked, or some other kind of computer betrayal.

Thanks for the warning To&Fro! I agree security is very important. The app is 100% over HTTPS and I use vetted open source libraries (Django) for all my authentication / security stuff. More on the Django security features:

Security in Django | Django documentation

The web framework for perfectionists with deadlines.

docs.djangoproject.com

Was there in anything about the website design in particular that made these alarms go off?

I have personally watched an entire programming team miss this aspect of a software application. It almost went live with the problems and took almost a year to re-write it to be secure.

Yikes! That sounds awful.

 

[To&Fro]

It's not really about the transfer protocol being secured but generally how security is treated on whatever service and servers you are using.

I'm not actually sure how much anyone would care about something like a log in or username being hacked for something like this, but if you are tracking anything more personal than an email address I'd just say make sure the data is secured and properly protected.

If you look at something like this forum software, we are all just using anonymous data and it's storing only an email. That's the worst exposure we have. If your application grows to use more sophisticated information and data gathering methods, then security becomes more critical.

I'm only bringing this up because your application has the promise to grow beyond what you already are envisioning for it. With that may come more and more detailed informaiton and tracking of what your customers interests are. Maybe it starts tracking like programs and gives recommendations, reviews, or trys to connect them with other players of interested games. It can become an issue so I'm just making sure that you keep security in mind as you code your way forward!

Good luck!

 

[GameUpdateNotifier]

I'm only bringing this up because your application has the promise to grow beyond what you already are envisioning for it. With that may come more and more detailed informaiton and tracking of what your customers interests are. Maybe it starts tracking like programs and gives recommendations, reviews, or trys to connect them with other players of interested games. It can become an issue so I'm just making sure that you keep security in mind as you code your way forward!

Good luck!

Thanks very much! I like all those ideas. And I will definitely keep security in mind as the site expands!

Cheers,
Dan

 

[Tomboll]

I bookmark games on F95zone. You can make your own tags for the bookmarks so you easily see if the game was already completed when you bookmarked it. Or add what genre/kinks it covers etc.

edit: Forgot to mention you can filter your bookmarks if you tag them. So you don't have to look through all of your bookmarks if you are looking for something in particular, like a game with a female protagonist.

 

[GameUpdateNotifier]

I bookmark games on F95zone. You can make your own tags for the bookmarks so you easily see if the game was already completed when you bookmarked it. Or add what genre/kinks it covers etc.

Nice! Yeah that bookmark interface is really nice. I did not know about that. Then you just remember what was the last version you played? Or do you write it down somewhere?

 

[Tomboll]

Nice! Yeah that bookmark interface is really nice. I did not know about that. Then you just remember what was the last version you played? Or do you write it down somewhere?

Personally I only play complete games. But you can update the bookmarks and add information to them. Either in the tag field or in the note field or both.