UVL Work In Progress|
|
Old news
Eight new platforms added!
Action Max, APF, Casio PV 1000, Epoch Cassette Vision, Microvision, My Vision, Pippin, Supervision 8000
A place to talk
The forum is here, at last! I was aiming to a full integration with all the site, so I wrote it from scratch.
Like any forum, the 'start a new thread' does what it says... Posting a reply to a game description starts a new thread too, so any game might have it's own thread (logged users will see a 'add your comments' link near every game description).
That's all for now, in the next days users will be able to start a new thread from a group, companies and platforms descriptions: almost any text in UVL will be able to spawn a new thread.
The classic forum page will keep together all these threads.
All the posts from a single user will be accessible from his personal user page (available shortly) building a sort of personal blog.
I'm going to fix here and there as things evolve...
I've imported all the posts from the old forum, as some of them still contain many good ideas about UVL.
IE7 editors problem
Airhead91 reported about a strange problem when editing games using Internet Explorer 7. This doesn't happens with IE6, Opera and Firefox ... :)
Anyhow, I'll fix this as soon as possible.
Articles updated
Some minor fix, and updated the guidelines page.
Please report any minor glitch (or huge bug) you see.
Oh, as you already seen, I have updated the site skin to a brighter one.
Articles!
After many hours of testing and fine-tuning, any logged user (no need to be an editor) can now post articles, comments or reviews to games and groups!
While users can eventually edit/delete only their own articles, editors can edit any public article, if really needed.
A side affect of this system, is that now any user post could be grouped as a simple blogging platform.
As there are many more things to say, now I'll finish the forum (based on the same technology) so we can discuss this easily.
Editing groups
Pieces are getting together...
Now editors can add new groups and edit existing ones: Groups are relatd to tags, so find a tag without a group and click the link in the new editor special area. There you can add a short description too. Full descriptions (and reviews, comments, etc) will be ready shortly.
Marry Wiixmas
Yes, I did it. I bought it.
After installing the slick Opera browser (I never used it with a PC!) I checked if UVL was ok... Works great, I managed to login and browse the admin pages too!
The only problem is that the text were almost unreadable, so I have added the BIGGER TEXT link you can see in the right column. A bit ugly, but now I can browse the site without using that (cool) zoom feature.
The Wii caused a stop to the UVL development for many, many hours, but I can assure that in these holidays many new improvements will be added, things like a forum, user-based pages/reviews/articles, improved groups and so on...
Lastly, there are other enhancements already visible but not yet announced, as still need some fixes, thanks for all your feedback, guys!
Tags improved
In most tags lists, like the one found in the DS info page, hovering over a tag shows some datails like the number of games and a brief description, if available.
Platforms
Enhanced the platforms list with the number of released games and the list status, showing how much UVL covers each platform games.
Improved the status value too.
Unicode
Finally UVL correctly handles Unicode, via UTF-8
This means that we can have (alternative) games name in kanji and any other writing forms.
The down side is that all the games already using "foreign" writings need to be edited.
Misc additions 17
- Some fixes to make the site look nicer with text-only browsers
- Some enhancements in the game editor page
- Cleaned the companies list page for a forthcoming upgrade.
- The avatar manager is almost ready.
- Some more translations.
Search plugin
This site now works with search plugins. If you are using Firefox or Mozilla, click here to install. This should work with Internet explorer 7 too.
Here you have the official installation page. Thanks to Zerothis.
Search enhancements
- The option to show thumbnails is mantained across pages.
- Search has the new images option, where you can filter games with or without them.
My thanks giving
I wish to thank all the 9 active editors, you are really doing something great! Despite now there is a page to monitor editors activity, I have started collecting data just since last february, so oldest editors are not 'awarded' as they should. People like Teran and Zerothis should have 20 stars considering the actual 1-5 range, hope you can live with this ;-)
Misc additions 16
Various improvements to images management, such as better error checkings and the option to return to the game after the upload.
I'm building the profile page for any UVL user, the idea is to show each user tags, number of games/images/tags, avatar, bio, links, list of the latest actions and so on. I'd like to know any user/editor opinion about this and about the possible privacy infringiments.
What do you want the others know and what you don't?
Contact me directly or with the usual contact form.
9th Year
Almost forgot to say that we entered in the 9th year, IX in roman numbers... And this is the best version ever :)
(20MB monthly limit reached, upgraded to 30MB...)
The very first UVL
I've found the first UVL 'alpha' version, it's name was a clean and short "THE '80s ARCADE GAME LIST" :) and covered 239 games! No database here, yet something better than most sites, a javascript (client-side) sorted array, yes, that's Ajax in 1997!
The file says "Last update 11/NOV/97", and the oldest file found is dated 29/sep/1997 ...
I forgot to say that it never went on-line, don't know why. The only choice was to host it in Geocities, perhaps I wasn't aware of this yet.
Wildcards!
When searching for a game, the symbol % means 'any charaters'.
This is great when you know how a game name starts and ends, but not sure about punctuation or spaces in the middle: For example Ghosts 'n Goblins is usually mispelled, so you can search for gho%ins.
Another example: I had an unnamed Megadrive game screensot named g_btl2_2.png (see Haze's wip page), to find the game I searched for b%t%l%2, this returned 4 games, excluding the games I already knew, I found that the game was Battle Mania II.
Misc additions 15
- Explained the 'extra options' found in the images upload area and the wiki-like tags used for special links.
- Usual various fixes.
Misc additions 14
- As the site becomes more popular, I have to try to not overload the web/sql server to keep good performances. I've found a good way to cache just the small (yet heavy) parts that don't need to be computed at every page reload. I'm talking about site statistics and the graphs found in the platforms / companies pages. These parts are updated every 8 hours, so editors should not worry if they add 100 new games and the total doesn't change in real-time!.
- Game search pages now don't show the small thumbnail for each game by default. Yes, the compact (and faster to load) list is back! Just select the 'show thumbnails' button to see all them again.
Stats
In july 2006, this UVL (.net, 6 months old) has reached the monthly performances of the old UVL (.com, 8 years old):
14005 unique accesses
41677 pageviews
The bandwidth usage was of 15693.04MB (15GB), and my limit was 10GB! Some years ago I was worried about exceeding the 2GB limit! :-)
New pages
I've added some pages still missing from the previous UVL release: features/contribs and arcade hardware list. I've made a redirect from the old site (.com) to these new pages too.
The forum/blog/comments/reviews system is almost ready too...
Editors search tools
Improved the search links in the game editor panel, 12 combo links to the most popular search engines. While Google is great as usual (and a bit spammed), Yahoo! is great to find images... MSN Search, sometimes, can find "never seen before" sites... sometimes... ;-)
User games
Provided some links so users can see or show their 'preferred', 'playing', 'completed' games (users page).
Enhanced timeline
In the timeline page the single year is now clickable to see the list of games and platforms released in that year.
Anniversaries
Despite many editors are in holiday ;-) I'm still adding new features and fixing the old ones.
As the new DB stores dates correctly, now I can easily see the games released exactly 1, 2 or more years ago, see the right column in the resources page.
Groups
I've quietly added groups days ago, after some fixes now I can annouce them!
Groups are deeply linked to tags as every group has a main tag: every game tagged the same way is linked to the group. They are useful as we can now have small "homepages" for each group, see this Street Fighter group as example.
Autocomplete while you type
Now the game editing page has proper autocomplete feature in the game name, companies and hardware fields. Just start typing...
Press return, tab or the mouse button to select, arrows up/down to browse the list, and ESC to halt.
Arcade game music
I already knew the origin of Mr.Do! music (the one when you complete the EXTRA bonus)... Now I've dicovered the origin of another classic arcade music, Amidar! Sounds silly but I love it :)
Misc additions 13
- Multiple tag search. You can search for worldcup soccer to filter games with both tags. This way games i.e. tagged golf worldcup are not showed.
- When editing, tags can be entered in any order. now are stored (and displayed) always in the same way.
- Various tags-related fixes.
- Added some more sites in the link section. Your favorite gaming source (other than UVL!) is missing? .
TAGS 2
- The advanced search page now has the tags field.
- Click on tags (found in various lists/clouds) to search for all the other games with the same tag.
- Added the unmissable Tag cloud page.
TAGS!
Any logged user can now add any tag to any game. Please read the guidelines page for more details.
The next step is to make these tags really useful (search for them, tag cloud, cross reference with groups... groups?)
Misc additions 12
- I've added a new marking symbol, for the games you have finished: it was requested by me! :-)
- When logged, you can see the other users that have marked a game. Wasn't sure to make this public or private...
- 7 active users! (me excluded) and another one has just joined, welcome GenJackson and thanks to the others!
- Fixed a bug in the RSS file.
Preferred games and more
Now (registered) users can mark any game as preferred and/or playing clicking the following two icons:
 
All this works with the common technology known as ajax, to make it look smoother (no refreshes, quick update).
I've made this to be easy to add new flags other than these two, i.e. buy and sell could be added...
Technically speaking, this is the first step toward the new tagging/groups systems, so expect news about this too.
New platforms
- While waiting for the new games, I've added the new Nintendo and Sony consoles, Wii and PlayStation 3, respectively.
Translations
- Esperanto is the 6th language you can use to browse UVL! B-)
- Fixed various translation issues.
Images
- Opened a new section to show all wallpapers archived until now.
- Enhanced the latest images section to show the game name under the image: click the name to view the game, click the image to view at full size.
- Reached (and overcome) 17K images! 3220 new images only in april 2006!
Misc additions 11
- Added "Next games chart" in HP.
- More datails about games for each platform.
- Some graphical update.
Misc additions 10
Games with more than 8 images now have their own gallery page. (registerd users only)
Misc additions 9
- Image description now appears under the cover image.
- Some enhancements in the game editing page.
- New option on the webtools, thumbnails grid. (Still basic but nice to see)
Misc additions 8
- Added option to remove a cover image. The file is not deleted.
- New platform: GP2X-F100
- Editors: Added a link to directly go back to the previous latest search results page.
- Image preview when searching games. (will be made optional to logged users: now is fully enabled to test the resources usage)
Printing
When printing, redundant parts like the navigation menu, banners and some links are now hidden. In example, the print game info page looks very nice and compact :-) .
Images deletion
Now editors can delete any image!
As for deleting games, you have to click two times to confirm: please think twice before deleting an image, if in doubt, don't do it!
Misc additions 7
- Added the permalink in the search pages.
- Updated the editors guidelines page.
- Enhanced the way images are stored.
- Size-optimized the Lightbox 1.0 script (original by Lokesh Dhakar).
- Uploaded images larger than 800 pixels are automaticaly scaled down and saved at 90% quality.
- MAX_FILE_SIZE (image upload) is now set to 1.5M instead of 0.5M
Misc additions 6
- Finally added this much needed feature. Will be available only to 'certified' editors. (no undo here!). Two clicks are required to really delete a game.
- When adding a game, the 'latest platform used' is the first option available. This will make adding new games even faster!
Misc additions 5
Banners, links & icons
Misc additions 4
Some more translations.
Missing game-type now is not an error, just a warning.
Preferences: Number of results per page.
Updated the "editing ideas" section.
46000+ games :-)
Webmasters/Bloggers
Want to add a list of the top games of you preferred game system to your site/blog? Try this!
Misc additions 3
Enhanced RSS.
Fixed image upload small bug.
Added poll.
Added user logs.
Multiplayer attribute: splitscreen, cable/nullmodem, LAN, WEB, Wireless.
Misc additions 2
Enhanced image manager, now any image can be used as cover.
Screenshots loading graphic.
RSS fixed.
Platform showed near games lists.
Many fixes in the users page.
Added some companies, many games and A LOT of screenshots.
New platform, SAM Coupé
Added this long time request, and we're studing about the TRS-80/COCO/Dragon issues.
Misc additions 1
New icons to show screenshots/comments in games, added the anonymous comment option, exact number of images available in the welcome text (9982 and counting!), editors ranking (?), many small fixes.
Company best games
In the company details page (i.e. Capcom) now there is the company's top games list. (and the worst games too!)
Clone game
Now it's possible to add a new game starting from another game data. Very useful for games released in multiple platforms. Beware that usually game specs differs for each release.
View all the gallery images
Now the secondary images can be viewed at full resolution! Just click the small thumbnails...
Best games of the week
Lists the top-ranking games voted in the last 7 days.
RSS
Subscribe now to know the latest games added or updated. More about RSS
|
DISCLAIMER: All image galleries, logos and names are property of the respective authors - This site doesn't make use nor permits the download of copyrighted material such as ISO, video game roms, software, music, movies or similar. The site is primarily based on reviews, screenshots and various game details. - Please contact me if you believe your work has been used in a way that may constitute copyright infringement.
|
