8 replies to this topic

[flubboOor]

This Forum has new ratings and a new structure. First: There are really good ideas. The new sections are all right. To separate green rated game from the rest is great.

But i have ONE (really just one) problem. Why i have to rate a port red when there is no sound. Sure it is big disadvantage, but a red rating? I think, red should tell you that the game isn't (or hardly) playable at all. But a game without sound the game is playable, maybe not the best experience, but playable. On the other hand a game which crash every 10-15 minutes get a orange rating. In my opinion this is worse.

So move no sound to orange solves the problem.

And another point: when it is a slow performance? when i can't play assassin's creed 2 on a macbook 13' or when i can't play it on a mac pro? a little vague

enough for now

for all: the sound discussion started there: viewtopic.php?f=221&p=38489

[doh123]

i know... you can get Orange if your game crashes ever 10 minutes making it unplayable... but for some reason if it works 100% perfect, yet has no sound.. its red? makes no sense at all...

in fact theres many things looking through there that make no sense... I don't think there is a single list we can make that will work. Just like porting, the ratings need to be a case by case basis with some room for interpretation.... where the list is guidelines to give an idea. My idea for a revamp was much more complicated than this, using much more than just a color coded system, but an actual list of common things ( a big list...) that had to be edited per port... that would have like point values attached and give an overall rating number... but that could be very complex to put in, and figured all out.

[thedoctor45]

doh123 said:

you can get Orange if your game crashes ever 10 minutes making it unplayable... but for some reason if it works 100% perfect, yet has no sound.. its red? makes no sense at all...

As long as you are able to save your progress a game that crashes every 10-30 minutes IS playable with a little effort...

doh123 said:

in fact theres many things looking through there that make no sense... I don't think there is a single list we can make that will work. Just like porting, the ratings need to be a case by case basis with some room for interpretation.... where the list is guidelines to give an idea.

You are right there is no list that will satisfy everyone in this forum and that is why I didn't make this new rule system a public discussion in the first place.

But judging a port on a case by case basis is simply not possible for the admins/mods in this forum.
Sometimes there are some compromises one must accept - and if a port is now red or orange doesn't make much difference in the end imho since it does not deliver a satisfactory experience either way.

Also "some more room for interpretation" has led to flawed ports being rated as green all over the place.
The tight rules of the new system have their purpose - namely keeping the Games & Apps section clean from bugs.

doh123 said:

My idea for a revamp was much more complicated than this, using much more than just a color coded system, but an actual list of common things ( a big list...) that had to be edited per port... that would have like point values attached and give an overall rating number... but that could be very complex to put in, and figured all out.

A system that's too difficult/complicated is also counter-productive in my opinion as it would lead to too much confusion amongst newbie porters.

However I won't force my opinion of quality on you - therefore we will expand/supplement/modify the exisitng list with the suggestions that you make here in this topic.

[doh123]

Quote

ORANGE:
Playable with some effort:
- moderate graphical corruption (invisible/transparent objects, corrupted textures etc..)
- save bugs (saving your gamestate is not possible)
- speeding bugs (probably related to dual core architecture)
- frequent crashing bugs (every 10-50 minutes)
- choopy/cut off sound or no sound at all
- gameplay hampering input related issues (such as the 360° mouse axis problem)

so you cannot save your game.. and it crashes every 10 minutes... somehow thats a better port than one that every single thing works perfectly except for sound?

rating systems are nice.... but we need something better.

How about just making a simple webform covering like 20 or 50 or whatever main points needed about a game... and on the back end it tallies up a score and gives a rating... make it like a standard test for usability and rate them on like a 0% to 100% scale... we can put color ratings at certain levels.

[thedoctor45]

doh123 said:

so you cannot save your game.. and it crashes every 10 minutes... somehow thats a better port than one that every single thing works perfectly except for sound?

sigh - ok I moved the save bug to the RED ratings.

doh123 said:

How about just making a simple webform covering like 20 or 50 or whatever main points needed about a game... and on the back end it tallies up a score and gives a rating... make it like a standard test for usability and rate them on like a 0% to 100% scale... we can put color ratings at certain levels.

Not a bad idea, but would you be willing to take care of this? Such a system needs to be thought through very well. Try to give some more detailed suggestions for possible points on the form please.

[flubboOor]

I know i'm not a real power user here but i think the state of the ratings now isn't really near to perfect. Your ratings based on technical facts not on the game experience. Sure "experience" is subjective but if sound is important or if its a disadvantage that the game can't run on fullscreen is subjective too.

My little "idea"(simply its your Rating without the listed flaws)

Green
The game works nearly without any flaws and the game-experience isn't affected in any way( or just a little). (If the game has a singleplayer campagne there is no need for a working multiplayer part and the other way.)

Yellow
The game runs with flaws which affects the game experience in a noticeable way.

Orange
The game runs with significant flaws which can destroy the complete game experience.

Red
The game isn't playable at all.

May be you add some examples in the description of the rating that the user know how to rate.

Some examples:
I got a small funny game which can not save the highscore(=mean no saving) but the game experienced isn't affected. -> Green (As you don't really need the toplist to experience the game)
Or Prince of Persia The forgotten Sands with no Sound -> Orange, because it can destroy the game experience
Or a FPS have no mouse cursor in the main menu but can be controlled ingame perfectly and the game experience beside this is pretty perfect. -> Green
Maybe the game has no fullscreen mode on windows too -> green (atm i have to rate it yellow)
The game performance is slow(15 - 20 frames on a specified computer (13' Macbook or MacPro?) -> Yellow, because it noticeable but really playable
The game performance is really slow (below 10) -> Orange, as a slideshow destroys the game experience
A game with a story of 3 hours hasn't the ability to save -> Yellow, as you can play three hours at once
A RPG like Morrowind hasn't the ability to save -> Orange, as you can't play 100s of Hours without restarting or quiting

So let the user think, how much does the flaws affect the experience and then decide. As every game is different, you need to rate every game different and every game needs different rules. Don't let just the technical facts rule the rating. The key to rate a game should be the game experience. You can write down the flaws but the rating should be done after some minutes (or hours) of gaming and not in excel table.

I hope my english isn't that bad and you understand what I mean.

flubboOor

[nintendotoad]

Mine:
Green
The game works nearly without any flaws and the game-experience isn't affected in any way (A "little problem" is Yellow if the issue isn't crack related... like multiplayer. We want to rate the port, not the difference between the port and the crack.) A MouseOverdrive flaw is for porters to decide. (Mirror's Edge was apparently Green after the mouse worked ingame but not in menu.)

Yellow
The game runs with flaws which affects the game experience in a noticeable way. For example, no sound, multiplayer, or LAN.

Orange
The game runs with significant flaws which can destroy the complete game experience. For example, crashing after X minutes (more than 10, less than 2 hours). Note: A lack of sound does NOT destroy the experience. See: Yellow.

Red
The game isn't playable at all. For example, saving doesn't work, crashing when loading a save, takes 30 minutes to load a level, and so on.

[NSObject]

Honestly, I'm for this change.
It's like not being able to give someone a 3.5/5 on a test.
Now we can. That .5 makes a big difference.

[KGameLover1]

Agreed!