New Game Pages and New Features

Hi, you may have noticed that new features have been added to oagd.net, especially during the last couple of weeks. The most recent major change is the new “game pages”, see for example Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 and Paradise Lost. This is just the first version of game front pages, coinciding with the release of Paradise Lost. Not all new editing functionality is enabled for users yet. This is simply because not every detail is fleshed out yet – please be patient 🙂

We are also working on support for auto-downloading games (on demand) directly to FS-UAE Launcher – where possible.

The reason for these changes is that while the primary function of oagd.net was to serve as an online configuration database for FS-UAE Launcher (and other clients), the scope of the project grows, as we now also try to host game ourselves where possible – or link to legal download pages. People may now start to browse oagd.net without necessarily wanting to edit the online database.

We keep in mind that trying to do “everything” is not not always a good idea. The primary function of oagd.net was, and still is, to be a great resource for helping people to play games, either directly to human visitors, or indirectly when clients such as FS-UAE Launcher retrieves information from this site. It is not an encyclopedia, and it will not try to compete with e.g. HOL on the level of detail available about games. For this purpose, we link to HOL and Wikipedia instead 😉

It will probably help to have some kind of “mission statement” at some point. But in short, if something is useful to people playing Amiga games, and we can host or link to it, it should have a place on oagd.net in the future. I’ll follow up better later with more details and documentation regarding any changes 🙂

Open Beta – Open Registration

Open Amiga Game Database is now in open beta! This means that you can now register yourself a username/password to access the database, no need to send an e-mail and ask for an account any more.

By registering a username and password, you’ll be able to:

  • Enable the database feature in FS-UAE Launcher and enjoy “one-click” running of pre-configured games (provided you have the required floppy images, etc).
  • Log in to the web interface and make improvements to game entries if you find missing information, or want to improve what’s already there.

Booking System is Active

Users that are taking screenshots for an entry or in general are working on an entry and would like to indicate that to others, so duplicate effort can be avoided, can now book a game entry for two hours. During those two hours a warning message will be displayed to other users that the entry is being worked on.

To use the feature, please click the ‘Book game for editing for 2 H’ link found under the title screen area. Of course the entry can also be unlocked by the user again.

Of course there are also new games for you all to enjoy this weekend 😉 Happy editing and gaming 🙂

Open Amiga Game Database

The new name for this database is: Open Amiga Game Database (OAGD) 🙂  (though a bit less open during the beta ;-))

The new domain name is simple and short: oagd.net. Old links to fengestad.no/games should still work and/or redirect to the same resource at oagd.net.

New Games Added, New Report Added

I have just added the following games to the database: Moonmist, Trinity, Border Zone, Bureaucracy, The Lurking Horror, Nord and Bert Couldn’t, Make Head or Tail of It, Plundered Hearts, Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur, Journey, Lancelot, Gnome Ranger, Scapeghost, Legend of the Sword, Tass Times in, Tonetown, Borrowed Time, Time and Magik: The Trilogy, Ingrid’s Back, Sherlock Holmes: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels, James Clavell’s Shogun, Jewels of Darkness.

The following games have also been recently added: Obsession, Alien Bash II, Tilt, Tilt [Genias], Forest Dumb Forever!!!, Spikey In Transylvania, La Storia Infinita II, The Neverending Story II, Die Unendliche Geschichte II, La Historia Interminable II, Behind The Iron Gate, Warlords.

It is now possible to use this URL to get a list of games missing at least one screenshot. More reports will follow later 🙂

Improved Game Browser

You now browse games by platform and letter, so the size of the game lists are more manageable. Also, game names are now shown below the covers, and a game “quality score” is displayed on the box (if the game lacks information in the database).

Game Database Upgrade

The game database (web frontend) is being updated with a WordPress installation, for easier publishing of guidelines, documentation, faq and news.

Theming will be applied so when the work is done, users won’t see the big difference when jumping between wordpress pages and database pages.