Portal Software?

[JGOware]

I'm deciding on rolling my own custom solution OR purchasing some kind of portal system for my site. Anything out there worth looking into? Thanks.

[cyrus_zuo]

I'm deciding on rolling my own custom solution OR purchasing some kind of portal system for my site. Anything out there worth looking into? Thanks.

I'm a little biased...but I'd recommend signing up as a Reflexive affiliate and then using the 'WDK' to build the site (it's a series of templates and php libraries that allow you to create a site using the XML feed pretty easily).

If you are just looking CMS, Joomala is the standard pick.
If you are looking for flash games, I'd recommend PHPArcadeScrip (http://www.phparcadescript.com/)t.

[brianhay]

Drupal (http://www.drupal.org/) is damn fine. :cool:

[MrPhil]

I've considered polishing my website code up and offering it as a "portal hosting service," but haven't discovered much interest. You are the first person I've seen ask for one!

The main problem is most people who could use a portal solution are programmers, and programmers are notorious for rolling there own stuff. Certainly, you could make a rational argument for using a 3rd party tool but my guess is you'd have to have a huge pile of features before most small game studios would even consider using it over rolling their own.

[sunxvogy]

If i am selling on BigFishGames, must I need a TITN code???

I am not a American

[Qitsune]

Mr Phil, maybe it's just that you aren't looking in the right places, just like I don't usually sell my art on artist forums, maybe you should look into non-programmer forums to sell your code. It would have to be VERY easy to use however. I didn't find portal code suitable to my needs and have turned to Joomla, I had to learn how to install Apache and a bunch of stuff and I'm not done learning how to build a template. I think it's knowledge that could be of use later but I would rather have kept my time and efforts on doing art. So it you have easy to use clean portal code, you could try and sell it to people who can't create code like that.

[JGOware]

"I've considered polishing my website code.."

hmm.. I didn't see anything on your site that seemed like a portal system, do you have a more complete demo of your portal software? Thanks!

[MrPhil]

Mr Phil, maybe it's just that you aren't looking in the right places, just like I don't usually sell my art on artist forums, maybe you should look into non-programmer forums to sell your code. It would have to be VERY easy to use however. I didn't find portal code suitable to my needs and have turned to Joomla, I had to learn how to install Apache and a bunch of stuff and I'm not done learning how to build a template. I think it's knowledge that could be of use later but I would rather have kept my time and efforts on doing art. So it you have easy to use clean portal code, you could try and sell it to people who can't create code like that.
It is possible, especially since I've built some stuff around Reflexive's affiliate system. I'm at one of those tipping points and haven't seen the potential clearly enough to push me into doing the work. Basic problem with ideas, they can seem like good ones, but then after a lot of work turn out to be duds.

"I've considered polishing my website code.."

hmm.. I didn't see anything on your site that seemed like a portal system, do you have a more complete demo of your portal software? Thanks!
Sorry, I don't have a demo, and yes some of the features I've worked on don't show up at Mr. Phil Games yet. Is there a particular killer feature you'd like to see?

[MrPhil]

Is there room for a third party game portal system?

I’ve thought this over and I don’t think so. There are two main problems I see.

First, in order to compete with the general content management system crowd like Drupal you’d have to target non-html/css tech savvy customers. This means a lot of work creating a system that is easy to use but allows lots of flexibility to allow the final websites to look unique. I think that would take a lot of time, talent and energy. This creates a challenge recouping, much less profiting, on the invested energy.

Second, you also have to compete with the systems the distributors (affiliate networks) are putting out. Reflexive and Big Fish are both providing more and better tools everyday to their affiliates. They have two advantages here: they have more customers to spread the cost out over, customers that already exist; and they have more to gain because they get a cut of actual sales made by affiliates. A third party tool would have to find a revenue model that is attractive in comparison and features that tip the Pros and Cons in its favor.
All this means the product is facing two very unattractive challenges: Narrow market band, and high upfront costs.

Considerations:
1) There could be some killer feature undiscovered that would hurdle all these problems, but I don’t see it.
2) If the end goal was to become a portal than building a solid affiliate network would be a good strategy.

Hijack Inoculation:
Relating back to the OP, I doubt you’ll find any game specific portal software outside of what Reflexive, Big Fish etc offer. So the question is what is the goal, where do you want to go? For my website, I promote games that I like to play, which are mainly strategy games, and eventually the ones I make. So I don’t need a complicated framework. I can bash out pages when I need them without concern for things content management systems worry about.

One of the problems with using an affiliate system is that your content is a copy of content on many, many websites. This makes is pretty hard to stand out.

[ErikH2000]

Is there room for a third party game portal system?

I’ve thought this over and I don’t think so. There are two main problems I see.
Makes perfect sense. I think you're right.

Another idea is to create a set of templates or plug-ins for an existing, popular, well-supported CMS. Many of these CMSs are difficult to learn and the example sites for them look nothing like a game site. The main thing I've seen lacking is using product data to drive generation of web pages.

-Erik

[Qitsune]

You seem to think your target market is just casual games sellers, but there are music portals, application portals, audio books portals, digiprints portals and portals about just any subject, making your marketing work heavier but your potential buyers more numerous.

[Matthew]

I think there could be room for a game portal system that can inter operate with multiple affiliate programs. Reflexive and BFG both provide their own PHP packages to jump start site creation, but of course they're intended for single-source usage (their own).

Our own system automates three XML feeds and supports an arbitrary number of download sources per game. One of the benefits of multiple sources is a larger catalog--we have 1,052 unique games, which AFAIK is more than any single portal.

Now, I don't think there's a business behind offering such a solution. The bottleneck is creating a profitable affiliate site isn't the technology; it's traffic, SEO, and marketing.

[zoombapup]

I'd pay for a simple to manage games portal site that was reasonbly laid out and had all the CSS/HTML crap taken care of. I'm not interested in becoming a portal affiliate, I just want a simple games site template that can handle adding more games in a useful way.

I'm sure there is something out there that does this already. Its just unknown to me (mainly becaause I stay well clear of website stuff).