Forums > News > MobyGames Call For Help - coders, contributors!
Simon Carless (1834) on 9/11/2015 9:02 PM · Permalink · Report
As we continue to add original credits, screenshots, info, and cross-linked info on the history of video games daily, MobyGames needs your help to expand! In particular, we need aid in two areas:
1. Coders who can understand Perl, can help! We're still stymied in accomplishing a lot of bug fixes and new features due to lack of coding help. If you know Perl and can volunteer some time to get up to speed on our codebase, we would be very appreciative. Please message Simon if you can help out.
2. Contributors to underdocumented historic platforms! Check out this forums thread, but we think the Apple II, ZX Spectrum, Arcade, TRS-80, & TI-99/4A are all missing a LOT of releases. In addition, platforms like GBC, GBA, DS and Wii are missing a number of licensed & more 'minor' releases - of course, no games are minor in the end. So if you can help out and could specialize in any of these platforms - please contribute now - appreciated!
majutsushi (467) on 9/12/2015 9:51 AM · Permalink · Report
How about making the codebase open source and putting it for example on GitHub? That way the barrier to entry for prospective contributors would be much lower, and it would lead to some good exposure and demonstration of goodwill.
Simon Carless (1834) on 9/12/2015 5:02 PM · Permalink · Report
Honestly (and Nelio and Reed should weigh in on this) the codebase is probably too complex to set up and run as is - there's a LOT of dependencies and cruft even in getting the code environment working.
So right now as people volunteer we will need to walk them through setup on a one by one basis. Also there's a lot of admin level code and private things all woven in as well, sadly.
Majutsushi, would you work on the codebase if it were open source, or is this just an abstract suggestion? Just checking...
Karsa Orlong (151778) on 9/12/2015 10:40 PM · Permalink · Report
How about making a brand new site coding using some friendly programming language. This Perl will kill You guys, sooner or later...
Karsa Orlong (151778) on 9/13/2015 10:20 AM · Permalink · Report
As for now it's massive undertaking to find Perl programmer at all, so this may be a blind alley in the near future. Under consideration.
Patrick Bregger (303246) on 9/13/2015 5:05 PM · Permalink · Report
I have practically no programming knowledge, so please excuse me if I sound stupid, but I always wondered if the site has a modular design. For example, if the credits tool is a self-contained module which only has interfaces (is this even the right word, in German I'd say "Schnittstellen") to the other parts of the site over which it transfers the information. Or is it more a mishmash with no clear indication what has which impact on which other parts of the site.
Nélio (1976) on 9/13/2015 9:04 PM · Permalink · Report
It's hard to say. Each page is somewhat independent, but everything relies on a shared (huge) codebase.
In the future, we may start by rewriting the frontend on a different technology, and leave the backend (approval, admin stuff) on Perl. We'd then slowly migrate each backend "module" to the new website.
MAT (240988) on 9/13/2015 11:50 PM · Permalink · Report
When building a new site, thinking of a database at least won't be needed. So the current database could serve as a good starting point. You know what is connected and how, and you can build the site incrementally to approve that.
First release doesn't have to support everything like the current site (in fact, many features from old MG site were gone with this new design).
Speaking of which, the design too could stay and guide the development of the code. So basically from MVC (Model-View-Controller) paradigm, only Controller is what we need to change. That's a big "only", but it really saves a lot that we do have a database and a design that does not need re-doing (at least I hope it doesn't).
So first release of new code might be simple and can only allow key submissions, such as new game entries, covers, credits and screenshots. But because it would be easier and faster to incrementally add features in some language other than PERL, the changes and updates would happen faster and constantly, and more people would be able to help if this was built in, say, Java or Ruby or PHP or some other easier and more widely used language.
Pseudo_Intellectual (66423) on 9/13/2015 5:45 PM · Permalink · Report
Did anyone ever go fishing over at Perlmonks?
Pseudo_Intellectual (66423) on 9/16/2015 2:57 AM · Permalink · Report
If we can't engage even the people who are interested in Perl challenges, then we are sunk.
MobyReed (357) on 9/14/2015 8:30 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Karsa Orlong wrote--]How about making a brand new site coding using some friendly programming language. This Perl will kill You guys, sooner or later... [/Q --end Karsa Orlong wrote--] Yeah, that's the long term plan. But it's really a massive undertaking. So in the meantime we want to shore up the existing site. Hence the call for perl folks.
To make it more manageable, I'm thinking of breaking the site essentially into two big pieces. The public facing side (e.g, homepage, game pages, forums) and the approval/admin side. And would replace the public side first, since that's a lot easier and makes up most page views.
Игги Друге (46653) on 9/16/2015 12:28 AM · Permalink · Report
I think making at least some bits and pieces public would be a good idea since it lets interested parties take a look to know if they're up to it.
Siniorina Siniorina on 1/19/2016 9:47 AM · edited · Permalink · Report
spam