Any chance we can make it so the author can indicate the current version of their game which would display on the page and then add a page like https://www.delicious-fruit.com/ratings/game_version.php?id=15472 which would return just the current version number? This would let us check the game's current version whenever the player launches the game so we can tell them if they need to update or not.
A public API to check game information by id in a simple JSON format is on my radar. I'm not actively adding new features to the site right now because I'm so busy with other stuff... it's about all I can do just to keep up with maintenance and reports at the moment
I agree with WetWookie and disagree with Starz0r that it should be left out; that said there's merit in the idea of a curator functionality. I also don't think that del-fruit needs to log all versions of the game, just the most recent.
I imagine the process would go something like this:
- A reviewer requests access to a curator profile type.
- They are then verified through means decided by Klazen.
- They can then edit the entries of games they are the creator (or main collaborator) of (edit abilities should definitely been contained to just one profile per game to avoid collaborator bickering/miscommunication).
- The options at their disposable would be the following: being able to set and change download links, being able to upload screenshots without need for verification, being able to specify version type and, even though they're not currently implemented, being able to add a written bio. (The functionality of adding bios to your own games is something I think the site needs since self-review isn't necessarily an issue but looks messy and the creator review can get lost underneath the other reviews - this would remedy that ad also ensure creators self-review their own games were tampering with its score).
I think it's an idea worth considering. I suppose if you added versions you'd also have to add a function to select which version you'd played when reviewing.
Going along with this, at some point we'd like to switch delfruit over from passive game management to active game management. What does this mean? It means that users on the site can link themselves to their games, and update the download link themselves.
However, this involves a huge paradigm shift from the way things work today. The #1 hurdle, for instance, is how do we link people to their games? Do we let people put in requests saying "this game is mine, link it to me please"? The obvious way would be to cut out the middleman (the wiki) and let people upload directly to delfruit themselves. However, people are already concerned with a community split - no one wants to check 2 different sites to see if they missed a new game release. Also, since delfruit mirrors the wiki, if you remove your game there, it's gone here too - no need to remove from both.
Also, there's still the problem of the 2873 fangames that exist on the site today. Verification is pretty much impossible unless I know you personally - there are many accounts on delfruit whose names are not the same as the names listed as author for their games, and I can imagine the land grab that would be attempted if anyone could put in a request for game authorship.
Basically, it's this authorship issue which needs to be worked out before any of these ideas can move forward. The API could be worked out today, but it's just going to return the information you can already find on the site, not very useful for an autoupdater. The "Creator's Bio" for each game also sounds like a very neat idea, but again, is blocked by this.
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