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Game File Hosts Compared (part 1)

There are loads of sites out there who want to let you have the privilege of storing your game on their servers for download. Indeed there are so many of these sites which I see advertised daily in people’s signatures at the GMC and in the download links provided that I am amazed by the poor quality hosts some people choose to have.

Today I am going to examine the features of 3 of the best game file host sites used by the gamemaker community, and I will also highlight some of the appalling hosts some people insist on using.

The hosts I am featuring are ‘instant upload’ hosts, so fully fledged webhosts such as parahosting which half the GMC seems to have fallen in love with are not going to be included in this article.

To test the various sites I am going to attempt to upload and host a 1,365KB .zip compressed folder containing a very simple gamemaker creation on all of the sites.

First up is mygmgame [gmc] [url], a site which enables users to upload webpages as well as files for download if they wish. The design here seems to change at a rate of about twice a month, but from what I can make out new features are being added as the site develops.

The site has had problems from spammers in the past, in particular, porn has been posted on the site on at least once occasion and was not removed instantly even when I notified the site.

I click to register as I assume this is what I must do to upload a file although there is nothing other than my instinct to suggest this.

Straight away the site looks poor – the register page has a different design from the rest of the site. Not quite sure why they want to know my time zone, but these extra questions and checkboxes certainly don’t win it any extra marks.

After I submit my details up comes a page which looks like it is supposed to be the members dashboard, it certainly doesn’t win any marks for design or ease of use. Indeed I have still not come across any directions of how to use the site. Guessing my way along I decide to upload the file, I’ve no idea what the ‘Directory’ box is for, perhaps I can choose where on the server my file is stored – I’ll leave it blank.

It took a long time but eventually the progress bar was completed and it appears my file has been uploaded, ‘Upload Succsesfull!‘ says the site hopefully. No URL for me so share with my friends is present, but by clicking on the uploaded file name in the dashboard I am taken directly to download the file. The download takes 30 seconds, with no nonsense ‘click here to start download’ pages.

The site could be a lot more user friendly, but it serves its purpose. The file downloads.

What do you think?

4 Comments

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  1. The main problem with MyGmGame is it is programmed in asp. That means it takes them 10 times longer (I may be exagerating – but I may not be either) to create new features. ASP is harder to learn and is slower to code. It doesn’t have any advantages over php so really PHP is the logical choice to program in as it is easier and quicker. I have had so many issues with ASP in the past I have sworn never to touch it again.

    Just an interesting side note to the convo. Not that anyone cares 😛

  2. I understand what you are saying.

    When I visited the site and reviewed it, probably about a week ago, this is what I found. You may well have made improvements since then but obviously I reviewed the site as I saw it.

  3. Well these are some old pictures. The site is new so you cant expect it to be perfect in the first month. There are many more things on the site now. The userCP is getting redone. The quick uploader is the best around. When you use the quick uploader you get: HTML and BB Code for your ImageCounter. Yout get a preview of the file, you get a download counter, AND people can add comments about your file. Right now i think the quick uploader is better then registering. Users will get access to the Teams page comming soon where people can send applications to various teams who need some ppl. A team can have their own showcase for their games.(Comming Soon) Can you please get new pictures of the site?

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Game File Hosts Compared (part 2)