Michael Edlavitch http://mikeedla.com Web Savvy Arcade Owner Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:36:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Sounds for Your Games? http://mikeedla.com/sounds-for-your-games/ http://mikeedla.com/sounds-for-your-games/#comments Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:35:57 +0000 Michael http://mikeedla.com/?p=289 Lots of people ask and wonder, “Where do you get music for your games?” Well there is a lot of free and illegal ways out there. But I prefer the legal route of royalty free sounds and music, don’t you?The first site I always recommend is soundsnap.com (and i probably should see if i can make referral money off a link here).

you have to buy a package of minimum like 8$ for credits, but each song or sound costs little over $1.

Unfortunately, there is a bunch of downfalls, like unoriginal music because lots of people use soundsnap.com.

While producing Briker 2, the developers there requested songs from audio jungle. Yes, while much more expensive comparativily.

But if you are looking for better, longer, and more original tunes i recommend spending the $14 per song and going to audiojungle.com (insert credit here).

Feel free to comment any sites you would highly recommend in the comments below.

]]> http://mikeedla.com/sounds-for-your-games/feed/ 0 Why I dont care about Tweets. http://mikeedla.com/why-i-dont-care-about-tweets/ http://mikeedla.com/why-i-dont-care-about-tweets/#comments Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:53:01 +0000 Michael http://mikeedla.com/why-i-dont-care-about-tweets/ After addimg addthis to my site for a fee weeks i paid attention to the data. As i learned before the majority of shares were facebook and twitter.

What i noticed from the data this time. Is that those actually clicking on the links located in the shares were all coming from facebook. What? No-one is coming to my site from twitter? So i checked my analytics, googke analytics. Sure enough, facebook was king or rather master of the universe. Instantly off go my regular twitter and google plus linkers, and i update the facebook code to the newest like and send buttons, making it very clear, share our games on facebook. Btw im talking aboyt my site HoodaMath.com, incase you afe not a regular reader.

]]> http://mikeedla.com/why-i-dont-care-about-tweets/feed/ 0 Why I went back to using AddThis.com http://mikeedla.com/why-i-went-back-to-using-addthis-com/ http://mikeedla.com/why-i-went-back-to-using-addthis-com/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 23:22:41 +0000 Michael http://mikeedla.com/?p=286 A long time ago, when I was first starting up my websites. I used AddThis, it was easy code, and gave you links to all the major social networks.

At one point, I decided I didn’t like all my shares advertising for @AddThis. Plus I didn’t have control over exactly what and how the content was shared.

But maybe I was wrong. Due to the newest (or new to me) AddThis feature:AddThis displays the share buttons that most likely will be clicked by the user.

Oh no more cookies, who cares, this is definitely more shares.

If a user is more likely to use a share button, if they see the one they regularly used featured on your site.

So I will put up with the free advertising for AddThis, and the lack of material control.

Hey, if it greatly increases my tweets and odd stuff like baidu shares, then it might just be worth it.

]]> http://mikeedla.com/why-i-went-back-to-using-addthis-com/feed/ 0 How to Make a Simple Game Site using PHP – Step 2 http://mikeedla.com/how-to-make-a-simple-game-site-using-php-%e2%80%93-step-2/ http://mikeedla.com/how-to-make-a-simple-game-site-using-php-%e2%80%93-step-2/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:10:35 +0000 Michael http://mikeedla.com/?p=278 Let’s start off with my frustration motivation. Today, I spent over 4 hours trying to install different arcade scripts (the biggest problem i have is that my server does not have the most current PHP version). I gave up and decided to get back to my simple game site using PHP.Today, I will be installing the necessary files on MathGames.us. I could go into the whole seo behind math games, but i won’t right now.

If you read step 1, you know that i recommended for you to start collecting games and images. And uniformly naming them.

I did not do that, so i will be quickly downloading 5 games, from my most popular math games site HoodaMath.com, as well as 5 images from there.

Feel free to take some as well at http://hoodamath.com/gamesforyoursite/

I downloaded 5 swfs and images and renamed the files to match my style. For example i renamed pixies2.swf to Pixies_2.jpg and i renamed mathfind.jpg to Math_Find.jpg

Now i will upload the flash folder and the images folder to my server. Each folder filled with their respective files.

Now I will create and upload a simple database file called database.php

the code will look like this:

<?php $game = array(

“Pixies_2″,

“Dublox”,

“Briker_2″,

“Math_Find”,

“Line_Bounder”

);

?>

At this point you should have in your public_html: a flash folder, images folder, and database.php file

Now I will demonstrate how to make your first game page. I will use Math Find as my example. I will create a file called Math_Find.php and put it in the public_html folder, with the following code inside.

<?php
$title = str_replace(“_”,” “,str_replace(“.php”,”",str_replace(“/”,”",$_SERVER["PHP_SELF"])));
echo “<html><body><table><tr><td width=’810′>”;
echo “<object classid=’clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000′ codebase=’http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,0,0′ width=’800′ height=’600′ />
<param name=’movie’ value=’flash/”;
echo         str_replace(” “,”_”, $title);
echo “.swf’ />
<param name=’quality’ value=’high’ />
<embed src=’flash/”;
echo         str_replace(” “,”_”, $title);
echo “.swf’ quality=’high’ pluginspage=’http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash’ type=’application/x-shockwave-flash’ width=’800′ height=’600′></embed>”;
echo “</td></tr></table></body></html>”;
?>

<?php
$title = str_replace(“_”,” “,str_replace(“.php”,”",str_replace(“/”,”",$_SERVER["PHP_SELF"])));
echo “<html><body><table><tr><td width=’810′>”;
echo “<object classid=’clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000′ codebase=’http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,0,0′ width=’800′ height=’600′ />            <param name=’movie’ value=’flash/”;            echo         str_replace(” “,”_”, $title);
echo “.swf’ />            <param name=’quality’ value=’high’ />            <embed src=’flash/”;            echo         str_replace(” “,”_”, $title);
echo “.swf’ quality=’high’ pluginspage=’http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash’ type=’application/x-shockwave-flash’ width=’800′ height=’600′></embed>”;
echo “</td></tr></table></body></html>”;
?>

If you copy the Math_Find.php file and name each copy after each game you uploaded you will have several working pages of your games.

I hope this tutorial got you on your way. WARNING: don’t make too many games pages, because in tutorial 3, I’m going to demonstrate how to add a header, footer, etc. As well as making it easy to make changes to all of your files at once. By changing code in one center file.

Please COMMENT, so I know that anyone is reading these tutorials.

]]> http://mikeedla.com/how-to-make-a-simple-game-site-using-php-%e2%80%93-step-2/feed/ 1 How to Make a Simple Game Site using PHP – Step 1 http://mikeedla.com/how-to-make-a-simple-game-site-using-php-%e2%80%93-step-1/ http://mikeedla.com/how-to-make-a-simple-game-site-using-php-%e2%80%93-step-1/#comments Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:03:31 +0000 Michael http://mikeedla.com/?p=274 I am going to assume you already bought a domain name and attached it to some sort of server. If not read one of my old tutorials about setting up a wordpress arcade site.

You should now be able to log-in to a folder called public_html. Now the 1st thing you are going to do is create 2 folders. The first folder, called “flash”, where you will keep all of your .swf files. Another folder, called “images”, where you will keep all your images.Before you start uploading all your games and images, listen closely. I like to keep everything very uniform, it is going to make coding in php very simple, specially when it comes to a database for your files.

Name all of your flash games the exact name you want it to be titled and instead of spaces put underscores (_), you probably can also used dashes(-), but this tutorial will use underscores.

For example, if you go to http://topfivegames.com/flash/Pigs_Can_Fly.swf . You will see that I named the file the exact title with underscores instead of spaces. I also did the exact same thing for the game image. Example, go to http://topfivegames.com/images/Pigs_Can_Fly.jpg .

Notice how I used .jpg for my image, I do this for all my images, as I said, I like to keep things uniform. All of my images are also 160×120 pixels, because this seems to be favored by Google, and again, I like to keep things uniform.

One more thing, before you start collecting games and making images. Notice how all of my images have the title of the game in it. That is because I do not put the title of the game in a text link. I figure the user should have no problem downloading images, if they are going to be downloading a much larger file, the flash game.

Most websites, have a section put this game on your site, or free games for your site, you can take a look at mine at http://hoodamath.com/games/gamesforyoursite/ . This is a good place to start to find .swf files, which you should rename in the format I gave you.

Images I make myself using Fireworks, for whatever reason, because I already paid for it when I bought Flash, but any art program should work, plenty of free ones out there, feel free to suggest your favorite in the comments below.

Ok, now start collecting games, you are going to need at least five to fill the Featured game section that is on the top of every page, like on http://topfivegames.com/Pigs_Can_Fly.php . Also notice the name of the file, that is no coincidence.

That is all, in Step 2, I will start getting into the coding and we will set-up your simple PHP database. In the meantime feel free to look over the source code on my site. Notice how it is all in HTML, that is because PHP converts to html after it runs the functions it needs to. Why not code your whole site in HTML? Because you are lazy and don’t want to do all the extra work, that php can do for you, see you next time.

]]> http://mikeedla.com/how-to-make-a-simple-game-site-using-php-%e2%80%93-step-1/feed/ 0 How to Make a Simple Game Site using PHP – Introduction http://mikeedla.com/how-to-make-a-simple-game-site-using-php-introduction/ http://mikeedla.com/how-to-make-a-simple-game-site-using-php-introduction/#comments Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:33:18 +0000 Michael http://mikeedla.com/?p=264 This is the first post on how to make a simple game site using PHP. Coding in PHP is as simple as coding in html, assuming you are only using a text editor. The only difference is that you name file .php, instead of .html.

The tutorial will be based on the creation of my site, TopFiveGames.com, go have a look now, and follow us on Facebook if you like.

A few things to get you excited about this tutorial series. First, you will not need to make a SQL database. The database will be made on one text file in php. Only including the names of each games.Second, you will only need to create folders, one to house your images and another to house your flash files.

Third, when you upload a new game, you will only have to do 3 simple steps and then you are done. First upload image and flash file. Second copy a template file and rename it to match game files. Third add name of game to top of the database.

Forth, this simple game site will be seo friendly, having a long text list of your games on the bottom, no weird ?s195 in your url, simple the game name you choose, and in the title, and this will all be done automatically using your code.

Fifth, the place ment of the google adsense add is in the hottest click location, right above the game.

sixth, share features are already set-up, but feel free to change.

How to Make a Simple Game Site using PHP – Step 1 … coming soon

]]> http://mikeedla.com/how-to-make-a-simple-game-site-using-php-introduction/feed/ 3 Free Games for Your Site http://mikeedla.com/free-games-for-your-site/ http://mikeedla.com/free-games-for-your-site/#comments Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:40:22 +0000 Michael http://mikeedla.com/?p=261 I just stumbled upon this page by Spil Games, Since Spil Games is one of the largest if not the largest arcade publishers, I believe this is a pretty large collection.

http://publishers.spilgames.com/?utm_medium=brandedgames_external&utm_campaign=Snoring&utm_source=gameshot.org&utm_content=Branding_Link

]]> http://mikeedla.com/free-games-for-your-site/feed/ 0 Using your Facebook Page to feed your Blog posts. http://mikeedla.com/using-your-facebook-page-to-feed-your-blog-posts/ http://mikeedla.com/using-your-facebook-page-to-feed-your-blog-posts/#comments Thu, 18 Aug 2011 17:42:21 +0000 Michael http://mikeedla.com/?p=246 In this article I will show you the steps I took to feed my Facebook page to the blog on my website. Items you will need for this tutorial: 1) Facebook fan page, 2)feedburner account, 3)an html page on your website where you would like to place the feed.)

Step 1:

  1. Go to your Facebook Fan Page
  2. On the lower left side click on “Subscribe via RSS”
  3. Inside the URL that shows up copy or write down your ID# (i.e. id=105481499496501)

Step 2:

  1. Go to your Google feedburner account and in the “Burn a feed right this instant” form place http://www.facebook.com/feeds/page.php?format=atom10&id=105481499496501 , replace my top five games id, with yours of course
  2. Click “Next”
  3. Feed Title and Address are automatically filled in, feel free to change the Title or the Subfolder of the URL, do not change the root URL.
  4. Click “Next”
  5. Click on the link that shows up for your feed
  6. in the “Subscribe Now” box click on “View Feed XML”
  7. Copy or write down this URL (i.e. http://feeds.feedburner.com/TopFiveGamessFacebookWall?format=xml”)

Step 3:

  1. Now on one of your pages, probably your blog page, include the code:
<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file(‘http://feeds.feedburner.com/HoodaMathsFacebookWall?format=xml’);
foreach ($xml->entry as $entry)
{
print “<p>”;
$date = substr($entry->published,0,10);
$date = strtotime($date);
print date(‘F d, Y’,$date);
print “<br \>{$entry->content}</p><br \>”;
}?>
2. you have to save your page with a .php tag instead of .html
3. If you copied and pasted the code, you may need to delete and retype the single and double quotes, because they came across stylized.
4. don’t forget to switch out my xml url (i.e. http://feeds.feedburner.com/HoodaMathsFacebookWall?format=xml) for your own.
]]> http://mikeedla.com/using-your-facebook-page-to-feed-your-blog-posts/feed/ 1 Arcade Growth in 4 stages of game licensing http://mikeedla.com/arcade-growth-in-4-stages-of-game-licensing/ http://mikeedla.com/arcade-growth-in-4-stages-of-game-licensing/#comments Fri, 12 Aug 2011 11:58:53 +0000 Michael http://mikeedla.com/arcade-growth-in-4-stages-of-game-licensing/ Arcade growth can be determined by 4 stages: in-house games distribution, sponsorships, site-locks, and exclusively hosted. Read my guest post on Emanuele Feranato’s Blog @ http://www.emanueleferonato.com/2011/08/10/4-steps-to-turn-your-flash-arcade-site-into-a-two-million-visitorsmonth-portal/

]]> http://mikeedla.com/arcade-growth-in-4-stages-of-game-licensing/feed/ 0 3 Sites Arcade Owners Should Know About http://mikeedla.com/3-sites-arcade-owners-should-know-about/ http://mikeedla.com/3-sites-arcade-owners-should-know-about/#comments Sun, 24 Jul 2011 01:06:47 +0000 Michael http://mikeedla.com/?p=238 I find myself often recommending several sites to new Arcade Owners. So I’m going to list 3 of them here:

1st – Talk Arcades – This site has a number of different forums on most of the important arcade owner topics, including help on different arcade software. Also they now have a game feed that I easily implemented.

2nd – Flash Game License – This is where Arcade Owners go to browse games made by developers, and for lots of free advice visit the chat room and ask for Benny.

3rd – New Grounds –  A lot of people would say what about Kongregate? Well as far as I can tell New Grounds hasn’t gone corporate yet. Though they both serve the same purpose to arcade owners, fresh games and ratings.

Oh and I can’t believe I forgot

4th – JayisGames – Looking for only quality new games, good enough to be reviewed and an article written about them, then check out this site. Also a great place to look up old games you might have missed.

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