Just a quick info from AoCZone workshop, the place where we try to fulfill your desires Sorry for taking space off the main page as we have some great posts there, but we`ve brought you some nice, new features, and we would like to present them to you - so you know how to use them... eventually.
Most downloaded / viewed / replied
... recorded games.
First, a while ago we got a suggestion from king niels at AoKHeaven forums about making a list with most downloaded / viewed / replied recorded games. We discussed about it, and even if we weren`t quite sure if it is a good or bad thing (having some not necessarily good games launched into the skies), we wanted to give it a try. We even had it shown on our main page for some period of time (bellow the new recorded games section), but it wasn`t actually working at the moment. Well, it does now
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[span=pic-left][/span]By clicking on the desired option (Most downloaded / Most viewed / Most replied) you will get a list of top 500 games, arranged according to the given criteria. You may notice that some topics are shown more than once - it is because those have more than one file (game pack) inside which satisfies the search filter. We thought of showing only one topic (even with more packs inside) but it makes SQL query a bit large (in simple words - it slows down the whole site), so we decided to leave it as it is. With top 500 games returned, it shouldn`t be an issue
We are still aware that "most" games don`t have to be the best ones, too, but they might be a good starting point for people that want to get some nice games in a quick and easy way.
Game type search and "exact match"
(in our Game Search engine)
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[span=pic-left][/span]Next great thing we got for you is possibility to search recorded games by Game type. If you`re trying to find Death Match games, Regicide, or even some Turbo Random match - the easiest way is to select the desired game type from the drop down list box (they`re all listed), and you`re good to go. Of course, you can fill in some more info, player name for example, to get more specific results. Some of you already asked about this possibility ( henc13, if I remember right), and now you have it. As Yoda would say - use it wisely...
But, we`re not done with tweaking our Game Search engine yet - there`s a new "exact match" search option that works for player names and map names. As you know (at least those that used Game Search engine before, others read here), when you enter a player name (or map name) it will find all players (maps) which names match the name you entered - even partially. For example, dan search will retrieve BaBa_Shamdan, JorDan, etc... But if you put the name in brackets (of player and/or map), like "dan", then only games with players named exactly dan (or Dan, daN, DAN, whatever) will be found. It works the same for map names - while arabia search will get you even blue arabia, double arabia, etc, searching for "arabia" will get you games played only on Arabia, as requested.
Game searching is now even easier - if you haven`t tried it yet, do so when you feel like it. For complete tutorial on using AoCZone Game Search engine, check this post (note that it lacks game type search described, need to update that later).
Single game link / download
(from uploaded game packs)
And last, but not the least (maybe even my personal favorite :P) is one more feature we added to ease your game finding/downloading. As it was till now, once you find a game you would like to watch, if it was inside a pack (more games packed in one .ZIP or .RAR file) you needed to download the whole pack just to get that single game. You guess - you don`t have to anymore
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[span=pic-left][/span]At the top right of our Game Analyzer (inside topics where recorded games are uploaded) you will find two new icons -
IMPORTANT NOTE: Regarding single game download feature, we need to inform you that it will only work for .ZIP files (not .RAR), and that it won`t work correctly if the game files aren`t in the "root" folder of the ZIP file (like if you have more folder levels inside). Our Game Analyzer will still be able to examine and show games packed to RAR files, but because of RAR`s design we are not able to make this feature possible for it at the moment, not hurting our server.
So, we would like to ask you to UPLOAD GAMES PACKED IN ZIP FORMAT ONLY, if possible, so we could have this nice feature up and running for as much game packs as possible, to benefit us all
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Of course, if you spot any bugs regarding some of the features, feel free to report so we may fix them.
Well, ladies and gentlemen (we do have them around ), that would be all for tonight...
... But, in the end, we must not forget to say a HUGE THANK YOU to one special person who made all this possible, our man in the shadow - _PkZ_! Thanks, mate, for everything you do, we all appreciate it <3 ops:
Now, don`t forget to read this week`s news posts:
- LMA Season 6 sign-ups,
- Karl`s interview with GeeK,
- and progress of great new MegaRandom map by our The_Prophet.
Discuss, share ideas, make friendships.
Stay well, gl & hf