Forums » Help » Advice on launching a website dedicated to game?

I'm on the verge of releasing an alpha(sorta working mechanics preview) demo. And I'm studying webdev and other tutorials at the moment im kinda naive in that field. Anyhow I'm looking for some advice and experiences others had launching a website dedicated to their game and what endeavors they came across. I got a feeling that its simple to do, but given the diverse technologies associated to the web today its hard to figure out whats necessary. Also do I really need to take security precautions?

given the diverse technologies associated to the web today its hard to figure out whats necessary

What part do you want to know about? For example:

- How to write an HTML file that contains your game?
- How to host your HTML file on a public server on the internet?
- How to setup a domain name like a .com so people can find your website?

https://www.codecademy.com/learn/make-a-website
https://www.codecademy.com/learn/deploy-a-website

Thanks for reply (and links this has help give me an overview),I'm trying to prioritize my focus on certain web tech that would accommodate just simply for a game site, while distorting things that aren't really necessary for me to implement or a more productive route of doing things.

So perhaps if I were to ask if you(or anyone) were going to build a website dedicated to a game you've built how would you go about doing it: would you use something like WordPress/Drupal or start from a web template or from scratch, what libraries of JavaScript would you use, what design tool for styles (like sass or other frameworks), what domain hosting services would you use, would you bother with server side tech like php or databases, what about web security like protecting the games source code and so on.

Basically personal preferences or recommendations among the libraries,services,frameworks...etc is kinda what I'm looking for. Not really a how-to but i guess more of where-to is what im trying to debate. Something to weigh the benefits against each other and find out whats out there that I'm not aware of. I think i misrepresented my question topic sorry this is kinda my first time reaching out for help "P

Depends on the scope of your site and plan really. If you just want to put a site together that showcases a few games you wrote, then a plan simple HTML site would work with some simple cheap hosting. I know Godaddy runs some sales where you can get hosting for the year for under $40. They also have a WordPress, Drupal, and some other platform builders, so you can try a bunch of stuff out.

I will say, that if you want to host your impact game on WordPress, it's not easy at all if you are just beginning. WP has no easy way to upload an impact game and all the resources and impact expects all the assets to be relative to the page the game is on, so you will spend a bunch of time just getting it to show up. A huge headache.

If you are writing full page games, a simple HTML site, that you can FTP the files into would be easy to get started. You could write a menu for site navigation within your game or wrap it around the game, again, depending on your scope.

If you are going down the path of a simple HTML site, you can start with the HTML Boiler plate and just add your impact files and design to that. It sounds like you are just getting started, and going into frameworks could be too much overhead and prevent you from getting something out there. I personally always think it's better to get something simple out and improve it, then delay for something better, because there will always be something better.

Now if you're thinking you want some type of larger gaming portal with tons of games, highscores, forums etc, thats a huge project scope, and could be broken up into a few different mini projects.

Hope that helps,

@stillen thanks that's the insight i needed, hopefully I can get something up and running without it taking too long I just gotta learn to not be too ambitious.