Arson

Ok I changed up the game profile pages and the index is spruced up a bit. Haven't gotten to individualizing the lists. Also need to pagify them yet.

Yeah, I forgot to mention that I do have a bit of tweaking to do yet. After about 6 hours working on creating and implementing the design I remembered how much bert stressed the importance of a good captcha, so I decided to implement that "real quick" haha..ever have those times when you have one little problem with a script and you just can't figure out what the heck is wrong...then a couple hours later after trying every possible fix you can come up with you find it...yeah so I went to bed when I finished at 7:30 in the morning... But as far as the design goes, I want to put some boxes with backgrounds to separate the games in the category lists a little better, kind of like how each of your site's games listings are in separate boxes instead of all the same background. I think that will help set the mood a lot better. The game profiles are going to get an overhaul to suit the new design as well ;) Thanks for making me strive for perfection Kieran :)

Ah, 52 pixels off! I'll see what I can do for you 1024ers out there lol

Thanks! @Mystical, just curious, what's your screen resolution? The sites at 1076px wide, I was hoping to find a happy median lol

Update The voting captcha has been implemented. Hope to get some more input from everyone!

I just finished a new design for my top list: http://www.besttextgames.com and am hoping to get some constructive criticism :) I am pretty new to site designs and this is the first one I've done on my own for a live site. Its relatively basic, but any input is appreciated. Also, I only tested it on IE7 and Firefox 6.0.1. Anyone running other browsers like opera or whatever, please let me know if you find anything funky. Thanks!

The design is implemented. Obviously there are going to be a few tweaks here and there I might have missed. I'm still currently scouring the code for any flaws. Let me know what ya'll think and please let me know if you find any problems with the site!!

Update I am extremely pleased with the progress of my design, although CSS is a royal PITA for novices like me...especially when you have to make it uniform over multiple browsers.. This design looks a hell of a lot better, I just need to make one or two adjustments to the code as I don't have a template system or anything so its going to be somewhat of a bitch. I am starting to implement it right now so if you experience errors, that's why. Wish me luck! lol...

That's a good lookin site ya got there Kieran :) Hopefully the design I am working on will be sufficient, I actually kind of like working with photoshop :)

Just wanted to give you all an update. I've got a design drawn up and I'm starting to work on it in PhotoShop. Hoping to have it implemented by this weekend, provided there are no speed bumps along the way. Cheers

@BioHazard, it uses the GET method, only for the user's id on your game. So a voting link would look something like: http://www.besttextgames.com/vote.php?game=YourGameId&player=TheirUserIdOnYourGame You just make a script on your game, a secret script, you can password it with GET or whatever you want to do to secure it. There is an option on BTG in the game settings to set your incentive link, you would put the link to your secret script there. Like so: http://www.yourgame.com/credit_player_with_vote.php?secretpass=WhatEver12345678 When a player votes and that extra variable, "player" in this instance, but you can make it whatever your heart desires...my site will call back to your incentive script and activate it. You will want to make sure to set a variable for BTGVoted in your users table, int(11) default 0, and make sure your incentive script sets it to 1 so they can't get credited more than once, and a query will need to be added to your daily or weekly cron (depending on what you want), to reset the player's voted status to 0 so they can vote again for the new day/week. I probably over explained it, but I hope I answered your question lol. @Kieran, I know the layout is in need of improvement, but it obviously doesn't scare everyone off. It is still my top priority along with captcha. Especially now that I see how bad it looks in IE.. Are you a web designer, or do you own another top list? Just curious :) @ShadyCoco, Thanks I'm working on it :) PM me a link to your game and I'll make sure it gets on the list when I've got the kinks worked out.

Oh JEEZE Looking at my site in IE it looks absolutely terrible, but then I look at it in firefox and all the effort I actually did put into the design can actually be seen..why the hell does ie have such a hard time with CSS? I think my site looks decent..in firefox...and looks pugfugly in ie.

Hehe, I was hoping no one would catch that. Was having troubles implementing some javascript code. Its back to normal now, thanks for pointing it out to me though! As for the slow loading, and the question I asked in my last reply.. I found some javascript that preloads the images in the <head> Let me know if this reduced any lag for you. It sure made a huge difference for me :)   edit: I didnt want to use another reply for this... I really appreciate your input bert, and I hope to continue receiving more! But I am exhausted (been coding since 4pm, its now 5:30am....) So I'm hitting the hay and I'll be right back at it tomorrow once I get off slave duty...errr...work.

I figured out what was causing the lag issue, and fixed it as best I can for now. The problem is the banners are being pulled from the games like http://www.game-link.com/logo.jpg instead of uploaded to the site. So when a game is slow, and their banner loads slow, it hangs up my site... How would I make it so it doesn't hang up EVERYTHING that needs to load after the banner? One way would be to make the game owner upload their game banner to my server, but that will take some time. I have an uploading function from one of my other random projects I could use with a little customization here and there...but this would be a last resort. Isn't there a way to make the site call for the image beforehand, or make my site cache the image or something so that it loads faster next time? Or so that everything coded behind the image doesn't have to wait for the image to load before loading?

Well, what would you recommend I do to stop proxies? Besides adding a captcha.. Captchas are too much of an inconvenience.   I had a much buggier version of this script running on an old voting site of mine and didn't have any issues with cheaters. And, like I said, I can easily remove games from the list if they decide they want to cheat. That quells the motivation of game owners to cheat votes. As for the motivation for players to cheat votes...there is none. I don't see a player going through the trouble of setting up a proxy bot or going through web proxies one at a time to vote multiple times..they get nothing out of it.

Thanks Bert! I know the design is lacking, but I'm a coder not a designer..so that parts easier said than done. Personally I think the functionality of the site is much more important than the design. Once I get all the kinks in the coding worked out then I will move on to design, or just hire someone to do it for me ;) The only unsecured thing about the voting as far as I can tell is that there is no captcha. I have it set up so that you can only vote once per game per day. So yeah, someone could use a bot, but as far as my testing has gone they will only be able to vote with it once. So they'd be wasting their time. More security can be added with the incentivized voting system I have in place, a game owner can make sure their players are only credited for 1 vote per day or week or whatever they want, regardless of however many times the player chooses to vote. Besides, I am on the site all day every day. If I see a game cheating to get votes it will be immediately removed from the list. As for the slowness...I know :( I am on a shared hosting plan so there's not a whole lot I can do about it. I have been going through and cleaning up the code where it needs it to hopefully increase speed, but it hasn't made a whole lot of difference yet. I'm already working on finding sites to add to the list, hence this post telling game owners about the site lol I also created a nice little system to let me add games and create an account to put them on at the same time. Ive been hunting down games, adding them to BTG, and sending the login details to the game owners via their in-game mail.   I appreciate all the valuable input :) Anymore is welcomed!

Introducing BestTextGames.com Now you might look at this site and think, "Oh, another top list", but it is more than that. Take a look around the site, check out the game profiles, and other features BTG has to offer. You will soon see that it is more than just a top list for text based games, its the ultimate free promotional tool! Because BTG utilizes some of my favorite SEO tactics, as well as many social mediums, your game will gain players from being on my list of Best Text Games. But don't take my word for it, adding your game is free, so do it and see for yourself ;) Does BestTextGames Work? Best Text Games is dedicated to bringing your game new players. Even though the list is still a baby, it has already done a lot for the games already listed. Even the games with 0 votes! Just see for yourself Here is a game with no votes: http://www.besttextgames.com/gameprofile.php?game=11 Yet it still has received 13 visits so far from Best Text Games!!! Still not satisfied? Exhibit B: http://www.besttextgames.com/gameprofile.php?game=6 This game has only had 1 vote on BTG so far, and 19 visits! One more for good measure: http://www.besttextgames.com/gameprofile.php?game=5 Total Votes: 3, Total visits: 23. As you can see, BestTextGames does work! Why should I add my game? As you can see from the info above, BTG works. Having your game's profile on BestTextGames.com, will help it spread like wildfire! Each game gets it's own individual profile page, with your game's banner, description, and voting statistics. From this page, visitors can vote for your game, or visit your game. They can also recommend your game through various different social networking/news/bookmarking sites like facebook, digg, stumbleupon, del.icio.us, myspace, google +1, twitter, etc...and more to come. Each profile also features a comments system where visitors can post their comments or feedback on your game. Don't worry about moderation, I've got that handled ;) As you can see, your game's profile will be packed with tons of ways to get your game out there, and there are plenty more to come! Best Text Games also has a unique points system for game owners. Points can be spent on various promotional tools, and are quite easy to get. It's as simple as adding your game, and getting votes! What are points good for? Bid points to have your game advertised in the 468x60 ad spot on the top of every page at BestTextGames.com  Bid points for the featured game of the week position, which will be located right under the top game on the home page (and possibly the top of every list besides the front page, haven't decided yet)  Buy ad spots on other game's that have opted to sell their vote page ad spot. Price per day set by seller.  Trade 10 points for 1 vote. This is a free 10% boost to your game's votes, which could go a long way in bumping your game to the top of the list for the day!  Of course there will be plenty more ways to spend those points to come!  How do I earn Points? Earn 100 Points for adding your game after it is approved.  Earn 50 Points for setting up our custom incentive script, which guarantees your players have to vote before receiving their reward.  Earn 1 Point for each vote that each game you have added to the list gets.  Earn XX points by choosing to sell an ad spot on your game's voting landing page. You will have to turn this option on in your game's settings, so don't panic if this just isn't for you, its not mandatory. You will be able to set the price per day for the ad.  Or Purchase points via PayPal. Pricing to be determined.  There will be more ways to earn points in the future.  Will you continue to improve BTG and it's ability to get my game more players? As you can see I have been rolling out the features since I opened the site only 2 weeks ago, and already BTG has sent several players to the games on the site. I intend to always strive to improve its ability to get your game new players, so rest assured there will be many more updates to come, I'm just getting warmed up ;) So get on over to BestTextGames.com and add your game! The points system is still getting the finishing touches. For now, all earning abilities are functional, so you will earn points for adding games and incentives, as well as getting votes on your game. Spending functions will be completed in the next day or so. Update Log 09-01-2011 - Best Text Games is open! 09-04-2011 - Best Text Games got a new design! 09-04-2011 - Voting system CAPTCHA implemented. 09-05-2011 - List layout, and game profiles improved. More to come. 09-06-2011 - Game banners are now uploaded to the site, instead of called from the game's site. BTG has sped up tenfold! 09-11-2011 - Voting CAPTCHA updated to reCAPTCHA 09-13-2011 - Integrated a comments system. Visitors can now comment on each game's profile page! many more to come! I'll keep this list updated.

Re: Ideas/Requests [Free Mod 4 U] Still taking ideas, so feel free to shoot me a PM!

Re: Ideas/Requests [Free Mod 4 U] My topic has been moved to Odds and Ends? That doesn't even make sense. Who is going to look here for this kind of topic?

Re: Ideas/Requests [Free Mod 4 U]   I can see where you are coming from, but I have no reason to scam people. I have been selling mods for a while now, I don't intend to ruin my reputation for 5 or 10 bucks. If you come up with an idea, and I go through with it, you will receive the mod. End of story.

Got an idea for a mod, but don't know how to make it, or just don't want to spend the time to make it yourself? I will make it for you for free. That's right, free. Just PM me your modification idea (please don't post your idea as a reply), and if I think its worth making I will make it, and send you a copy free of charge. Whats in it for me? I will release the mod on CE either for free or for a small price (usually between $5 and $10).   Want the mod to be unique? If you want the mod to be unique to your game that's no problem. Just be sure to let me know that in your PM, and we can work out a reasonable price for the work at hand. You will have sole rights over the modification and can do with it as you please (use, sell, give away, etc.).* If you do not want it to be unique, you will only have the right to use the mod. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Re: [mccode v2] User Shops [$35.00]   Strats asked on your post, so naturally I replied. It's not like I was pitching my mod, or even said anything about it.

Re: [mccode v2] User Shops [$35.00]   Wasn't trying to jack your post, just couldn't ignore strats.

I have been trying to sell my xbox 360 pro for some time now, so I decided to have a friend list it on ebay for me. I know most everyone here is a gamer, so I figured I would let you know about it. heres the auction It comes with call of duty 4, halo 3, gears of war 2, madden 09, grand theft auto 4, tony hawks proving ground, guitar hero 2 and guitar hero 3. Also comes with 2 wireless controllers and a wireless les paul guitar. :)

Re: Usless comments in threads need to go bye bye   ...way to prove our point.