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TOPIC: Upcoming Updates

Upcoming Updates 7 years, 5 months ago #4279

It looks like some automatic bot hack was able to modify a couple files in our site. I have managed to fix the issue and block the process that was used to do this. However, this site is built on an aging version of Joomla and I have started investigating how we could proceed with an update to the site (which has been long overdue).

I cannot guarantee that we won't have another hack since this older version of Joomla is hard to support and pretty vulnerable. I do not see any reason to suspect that the infiltrating script did anything other than update the index.php file.

Next week I'm hoping to begin building a new MacScene built on my company's own framework. I figured I'd reach out to the community and see request some feedback on what we can do with the site.

1) Primary features of this site are the emulator database, the forum, and the blog. I can easily rebuild these pieces in our new framework. Any other significant features we might want moving forward?

2) Any suggestions on forum software? We are currently using a heavily modified version of Kunena which is dependent on Joomla. I have used phpBB before, but would be interested in getting some feedback here. I intend to write the upgrade scripts so we shouldn't lose any data. Feel free to show off sites you particularly like or frequent.

3) How can we increase community involvement? Obviously content updates are critical, but are there any other features / directions we can take the site to increase community involvement?

4) This site, as well as the new framework I will use, are built using PHP, MySQL, HTML, and CSS. Creating new content is quite easy if anyone is interested in hosting a series of articles, training takes no time at all. Is there anyone who is interested in contributing time / programming / etc. to the site?
Last Edit: 7 years, 5 months ago by Niemann.

Re: Upcoming Updates 7 years, 5 months ago #4280

Niemann wrote:

1) Primary features of this site are the emulator database, the forum, and the blog. I can easily rebuild these pieces in our new framework. Any other significant features we might want moving forward?

3) How can we increase community involvement? Obviously content updates are critical, but are there any other features / directions we can take the site to increase community involvement?



I think first it should be defined what MacScene is or wants to be. Back in the days it was a resource about emulators running on Macs, with most ports being done by Richard Bannister. Nowadays most emulators are cross platform and this niche isn't needed that much anymore. I think news about new version of emulators could be done automatically for those emulators that don't have a big delay between the release of Win/Linux and the Mac version. Just like planet.scummvm.org automatically displays different blog posts from different sources.
Additional content would be a big plus though. The question is, what would that content be about. And I think that would define what other features could or should be added to MacScene.

Re: Upcoming Updates 7 years, 4 months ago #4291

It is a little rougher to find purpose when the emulation domain itself has largely solidified. If we want to keep the "Mac" side, though, there's probably still some wiggle room. I still check back most notably whenever I get a new mac to see what the going "best practices" are for emulation, and the site hasn't always delivered, at least not without hitting the forums. I wandered back in just now while rummaging for up-to-date Mac audio rip playback solutions (AudioOverload being, while mostly functional, welllll past relevance), and am similarly not-entirely enlightened. One of these months, I may even consider starting some Twitch streaming of dev/play of one of my gaming projects, and I literally do not know where to begin that at the moment. There could definitely still be room for a one-stop "getting started" / "how do I..." section for the Mac-specific setup and caveats for emulation and vintage gaming/media, possibly even expanding into things like capture cards and gamepads, or jumping into iOS. It's not the sort of thing that can be created from scratch, but there could also be room for dedicated Mac development subgroups. This used to be kinda automatic when most of the devs of the going dedicated-Mac emulators were nominally active members, but to the extent that mainstream emulator development has shifted to Win/Linux-for-multiplatform, it might be worth proactively backfilling with projects being made on-Mac-for-* which have a gaming tie-in.
The following user(s) said Thank You: _Em

Re: Upcoming Updates 7 years, 2 months ago #4306

To me the community's the biggest thing about this site that's still kicking. I may only get 1 or 2 replies if I ask a question on here (compared with hundreds on say reddit) but it's a mature, stable-minded community that seems to understand everything in perspective.

The database is good for when I want to find emulators. While I haven't played games for yeeeears, I can't think of another site with a similar database.

TBH even if this was just a forum with an emulators wiki (rather than 'news') I reckon it would be alright.

Re: Upcoming Updates 7 years, 2 months ago #4307

jetboy wrote:

The database is good for when I want to find emulators. While I haven't played games for yeeeears, I can't think of another site with a similar database.

TBH even if this was just a forum with an emulators wiki (rather than 'news') I reckon it would be alright.


Was the Database updated in the last year(s)?
As an emulators wiki I recommend this one: emulation.gametechwiki.com

Re: Upcoming Updates 7 years, 2 months ago #4308

MetalDragon wrote:

Was the Database updated in the last year(s)?


Nope. I think the last update was in 2015. Not a lot of new emulators available on Mac since then, though. Going through and adding an entry for every Mac-compatible emulator there is has been on my to-do list for a couple of years. Will get to it eventually, assuming we keep the database for the new site.

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