Arcade Scripts

Excerpt

Before you make any decision to buy your next arcade script you have to consider all the things your looking for. In general, buying an arcade script is no differant to buying any other script. As a webmaster, you typically examine a number of elements in weighing up your decision.

The Key Elements

• Features
• Ease Of Use
• Stability
• Price
• Reputation
• Support
• Updates

Features

One of the most important factors in any script is the feature count. Does it have all the bells and whistles your after? Unless your coder, the last thing you want to be doing is trawling into the deep dark recesses of php and sql trying to implement that one key feature your script doesnt come with. You want as much bang for your buck as you can possibly get. One of the things I always looking for in a script is the history of features growing over time, examine the updates page, if its publicly accessible, and check how quickly new features have been implemented over the history of the script.

You also need to consider:

• Useful v superfluous - Is the scripted bogged down by features that nobody would ever use?
• Documentation - Are all the features well documented?
• Custom Addons - If a feature doesnt exist, and you really need it, does the developer have a history of doing custom addons? What do they charge? Is it reasonable?

Many people buy a script only to find it doesnt come with half the features they need, and they either junk the script or attempt to modify it heavily. It takes a lot of time, time better spent adding games to your arcade and promoting the heck out of it.

Ease Of Use

Always, ALWAYS, check out a demo before buying a script. If your going to be using this software over months, even years, you dont want to be frustrated by bad interfaces and poorly implemented features. Arcade scripts are becoming more complex, as they move from scripts designed simply to upload and and display flash games, to scripts that act as multimedia hubs - complete with pictures, video & animation.

Some scripts, like Arcadem Pro, have a free version - Arcadem LE. Whenever possible I would suggest installing a free version of a script and tinkering with the admin panel to see if it feels right for you. There are a number of factors you might want to keep in mind.

• Is it Intuitive? - Is it a brain strain or could a 5 year old manage it?
• Access - Are features hidden in the hierarchy. Is everything available with 1 or 2 mouse clicks.
• Technology - AJAX is cool for a reason. Its fun to use and makes things easier. Does the script use AJAX or other scripting technology to make life easier for the admin?

Ease Of Use is one of the most important requirements for any script, so take your time, get up close and personal with it, dont just demo a couple features, take a solid look, feel confident that when you install the script your job as admin just got easier.

Stability

Of all the fundamental factors you have to consider before you implementing your site - stability is absolutely crucial. When I talk about stability, Im really talking about two things - hosting and bugs. Nothing will drive your visitors away faster than a site that doesnt load, or takes an eternity to do so, and that comes down to hosting. A word of advice on hosting - Dont go cheap. Your arcade will grow to several gigabytes in size, and if it becomes busy, the number of queries it has to handle at any given time is quite large. Consider a good quality shared hosting account as a starting point. I can recommend Media Layer. I use them. They have a great reputation, and use Litespeed rather than Apache, which is particularly good for sites using PHP and SQL.

Beyond sites that fail to load, sites that appear broken or buggy will have your visitors fleeing in droves. Check out the demo, even better, check out several sites that utilize the script your considering, make sure everything appears sound. Its quite amazing really, but on more than one occassion ive seen demos of scripts on developer sites laden with pretty obvious bugs. That isnt a good sign for you. At a time when the number of options available is growing, there really is no need to weigh yourself down with a script thats full of bugs. Ask yourself some key questions.

• Is it buggy? How buggy? - Are you capable of fixing the bugs on your own, or with the help of a friend.
• Check the support forums - Are there many bug complaints? Are they getting fixed quickly.

At this point in time a lot of these scripts are quite mature in their development, fortunately for you that means a relatively hassle free life as admin, but still, it pays to check thoroughly before making any final decision.

Price

Money, money, money, must be funny in the rich mans world! Before you ask, NO im not that old! :p Seriously folks, running an arcade - successfully, is not a game for those on the bread line. Increasingly, webmasters are resorting to payed advertising to attract visitors and convert those visitors through affiliate and PPC programs. That takes a LOT of money, so before you going spending your hard earned dollars on a new script, and perhaps a couple game packs, consider all the alternatives. One of the most popular scripts available, onArcade, is entirely FREE! and from what I hear, comes with pretty decent support. Check it out.

Prices for arcade scripts can range from free, to around the $50 mark, doesnt sound like much, but a penny saved is a penny earnt, and thats more money you can put towards an Adwords campaign, paid links or banners on another site. Ask yourself one or two questions.

• Free v Paid - Generally speaking commercial scripts are better supported, and updated more frequently. Support, long term, is very, very important.
• Tiered Options - Some developers offer several options when buying scripts. Something like Bronze, Silver and Gold packages. Consider those options carefully, dont pay for features you wont use.
• Refund Policy - If your not happy with a script, can you get a refund? Its always a good idea to ask the developer up front.

As ive said before, the number of scripts continues to grow, the competition is fierce and prices in general are falling. Take your time, it will pay off for you in the long run.

Reputation

In the online world its very difficult to gauge the reputation and trustworthiness of developers. When it comes to arcade scripts ive seen several people pulled up on popular forums like Digital Point for selling scripts that they had “ripped off” and had no rights to resell. Be wary of what appears to be “the bargain of the century”, chances are they are selling something of poor quality or ripped from another developer. Your chances of support are also non existant.

Its true that many of these scripts have come from a common ancestor. People have taken the first iteration of that parent script, made changes and improvements and promoted their version as entirely new. More often than not, that really isnt the case.

• Read Forums - Always read forums and ask questions about a particular script. Whats the community think? Thats one of the main reasons for this website.
• Google Search - Search is your friend. The internet makes dodgy dealings transparent, do some quick searches and see if everything appears above board.
• Be objective - Often people talk crap and complain about developers because they havent catered to their every need 24/7. Be mindful of this, weigh their opinions objectively.

Reputation is important. If you deal with people fairly and they show the same consideration, everything should go smoothly and you wont have something bite you in the backside down the road.

Support

Always a difficult factor to judge, support is fundamental to your long term success. Probably the biggest complaint from people that have bought arcade scripts, isnt price, features or performance - its support. Some scripts come with very little, they are usually free, but even buying commercial scripts is no guarantee of support. Some may offer some fairly basic installation instructions and an FAQ to get you started, but unless youre a code monkey, that really isnt enough. The bare minimum I would consider is forum based support, anything less and youre going to get frustrated.

• What support is provided - faq, forums, ticket system, email, IM, phone. Consider all the options
• Do you have to pay for support? - Developers sometimes promote there script cheaply, and can afford to do so, because they know many customers will have to pay for support.
• Tiered support - Increasingly, developers are offering tiers of support. Basic support - forums/faq for free, and enhanced support - IM, email, phone for a price. It may well be worth it, take a good look at what they offer.

Dont underestimate your need for support. You might know youre way around HTML and CSS, even PHP and SQL to some extent, but hours and weeks can be wasted with poorly supported products. Aside from competition, its one of the main reasons arcade owners give up on their sites.

Updates

A good developer will listen to his customers and add new features regularly. In order for you to stay ahead of the pack its important that you implement new features quickly on your site, especially when it comes to driving revenue your way in what is becoming an increasingly expensive business to run. Look at the update history, do those updates consist primarily of bug fixes (always good) rather than features? Obviously you want a sold mixture of both.

• Is the developer proactive? - Do they take an active approach to implementing updates and new features. Does the script show a good history of updates.
• Patch Notes - Does the developer post their patch notes?
• Upgrade Instructions - People tweak their scripts considerably, and while you cant expect developers to support those tweaks in their updates, you can expect them to give decent upgrade instructions on the basic script.

An arcade strong on nicely implemented features will attract traffic that stays. Updates are crucial to your business, so give that factor plenty of consideration.

Conclusion

Ultimately what makes a great arcade is content, top notch design and a uniqueness or gimmick that gives it a leading edge. Beyond that its really about promotion and building backlinks. A great script will set your on the right course, a poor script will give your hours of frustration. Make the right decision the first time and your well on your way to building a fantastic site.