Homebrew central (catalog, etc?)

A place where you can keep others updated about your NES-related projects through screenshots, videos or information in general.

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nesrocks
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Homebrew central (catalog, etc?)

Post by nesrocks »

I feel like I'm missing on some great homebrew games simply because they usually don't get the attention they deserve. When a tree falls in the forest does it make a sound? The point is clear.

So I was thinking, is there any idea for a repository of free/paid homebrew games, possibly with reviews/scores? I'm talking about something user friendly with many screenshots for different games with categories being displayed at once on the page instead of a simple huge text list. I understand there's a difficulty in managing these things, but I feel like having users being able to submit entries and other users rating the games would naturally help keep things organized. And so much effort goes into making these homebrews, that it is a shame that only a handful of people get to actually even know they exist.

Also, I know RHDN has a homebrews section, but it seems that it is under used. Should we just get to submitting existing homebrews there? It isn't really ideal for this because you don't get a nice list of games with screenshots, it's just a text list though...
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gauauu
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Re: Homebrew central (catalog, etc?)

Post by gauauu »

PDRoms tries to keep tabs on what exists -- they have a news section with announcements, and a files sections with lists of games (each with a screenshot and description). But it's missing some of the features you're talking about, and there's so much content that it's a little overwhelming.

In particular, without some sort of rating system, it's hard to find good high quality games that are buried in the noise.
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Sogona
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Re: Homebrew central (catalog, etc?)

Post by Sogona »

How often is the projects section of the wiki updated?
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dougeff
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Re: Homebrew central (catalog, etc?)

Post by dougeff »

I have a list of homebrews on my website. The problem with it, I am unable to play EVERY game, and uninterested in rating games.

I mostly rely on YouTube reviews, but they seem to be hit or miss, and incomplete. Like, Haunted Halloween 86 has been out for a long time, and I've yet to see a video of anyone beating it. I'd call that incomplete.
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Kasumi
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Re: Homebrew central (catalog, etc?)

Post by Kasumi »

Best of: http://www.nesworld.com/article.php?sys ... rew_bestof
Absolutely everything: http://www.nesworld.com/article.php?sys ... eshomebrew
For the absolutely everything list, it's missing screenshots (or screenshots need a click to see), but it's still very complete.
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rainwarrior
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Re: Homebrew central (catalog, etc?)

Post by rainwarrior »

dougeff wrote:Haunted Halloween 86 has been out for a long time, and I've yet to see a video of anyone beating it.
I recently got around to figuring out how to stream stuff, so I thought I'd give this one a live shot sometime soon. Maybe Black Box Challenge as well.
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nesrocks
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Re: Homebrew central (catalog, etc?)

Post by nesrocks »

@dougeff: I had seen your page. Pretty good selection and it has reviews and screenshots! Very helpful to find some good homebrew games.
@kasumi: I had seen that page in the past, and it seems to be only missing the screenshots and ratings, but wow it sure does have a really great amount of games. I hadn't seen the "best of" version of it though, but taste can be arbitrary and it seems to me that one person judges what is best and what isn't. A good format (and I'm glad the page exists), but not ideal.

Haunted Halloween 86 is an example of a game I don't know much about. So it's worth playing? See, that's why it'd be great to have a better way to find games.
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Oziphantom
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Re: Homebrew central (catalog, etc?)

Post by Oziphantom »

I've been musing on the need for a Retro STEAM. A store that has only "actual on hardware" titles, blurbs, new releases screenshots, movies, early warning radar, following this platform/publisher/developer yadda yadda. A key aspect would be having it install things for the right platform. So if you have a NES title, and you are on the Retro Pi version it will download the ROM put it in the right place, add the screenshot, text etc for the carousel, if you have an everdrive it will know that Mapper of the ROM is and it will be able to say if it is Everdrive/other flash cart compatible or not, and when you install it, you connect to the cart via USB and it will program the flash for them, if its SD based it copies the file with or without header as the device needs etc. So the great unwashed can use it. If you're on a PC it will launch your preferred emulator with the right boot config to run the game ( probably not a big issue for the NES )
calima
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Re: Homebrew central (catalog, etc?)

Post by calima »

Some publishers do not share ROMs. I think such a ROM-downloader would be begging for piracy.
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nesrocks
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Re: Homebrew central (catalog, etc?)

Post by nesrocks »

It must have some sort of moderation, of course. Not only for pirates but for other things. And it having community feedback there could be a "claim ownership" (which would be reviewed) and "flag as innapropriate" checkboxes. Yeah, it's work.

I tried to implement a quick test of this on a new page on my website but I have zero experience with web coding so it didn't go anywhere.
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Punch
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Re: Homebrew central (catalog, etc?)

Post by Punch »

Kasumi wrote:Best of: http://www.nesworld.com/article.php?sys ... rew_bestof
Absolutely everything: http://www.nesworld.com/article.php?sys ... eshomebrew
For the absolutely everything list, it's missing screenshots (or screenshots need a click to see), but it's still very complete.
Who owns that? I'd like to have my game removed. Well, at least the old version of it, the A53 release build is better in every way.

edit: didn't realize how old the last post was. Sorry for bumping the thread.
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dougeff
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Re: Homebrew central (catalog, etc?)

Post by dougeff »

There's an email link near the top of the page. He's a bit slow to respond, but I'm sure he'll listen to your request.
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Erockbrox
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Re: Homebrew central (catalog, etc?)

Post by Erockbrox »

At Super Mario World Central its a SMW site which has a database that pretty much covers all SMW hacks minus maybe some Japanese hacks.

It would be really nice if there were an up to date centralized site for NES homebrew or homebrews for every console.

Users or devs could release the entire rom if they choose or they could release a demo. It could be a great way to search for new stuff. With the NESmaker tools being released soon there will be tons more NES content so yeah, someone make a database.

Make a database where the users can upload their roms or demo roms of their homebrew games.
lidnariq
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Re: Homebrew central (catalog, etc?)

Post by lidnariq »

Erockbrox wrote:Make a database where the users can upload their roms or demo roms of their homebrew games.
We could make a page on the wiki...?
Erockbrox
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Re: Homebrew central (catalog, etc?)

Post by Erockbrox »

It should be a site where you can actually download the roms or demos too. I don't know if wiki allows downloading.
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