Why don't we get an App store?

[Cammy]

For years we've wanted to make an online store like this but focused on games, kind of like Steam or XBox Live, and we want to call it Underground Arcade. It would host free and commercial games, updates, graphical information about the games with screenshots (Aminet STILL doesn't have screenshots), and would be free to use for hosting your games, free to use to browse, you would only ever pay for the registered and commercial games, demos and freeware games would be free. Commercial games would have the option for a cheap download, or a full price boxed version which would be mailed to you, and in the mean time the full version would be available to download for you while you wait for the physical package.

It's just a dream though, I don't know ANYONE who would want to help set something like this up, I've been bugging people on Amiga forums for years about it (before the App Store became popular). I'm sure if we have a place like this, we will see more Amiga game releases. For example, the authors of Babylonian Twins have been trying to work out a way to digitally distribute their A500 game for ages but nothing exists for them to use. If Underground Arcade was up and running, we could host it there. We also want to have a game developer forum there for anyone interested in making new Amiga games to join in, learn and produce something with a supportive team, instead of trying to go about it alone. Underground Arcade would be for all Amiga flavours, not just OS4 like OS4Depot and AmiBoing.

The problem is I can't set all of this up at the same time as continuing on the massive load of other Amiga projects I'm working on, including a really good game which I hope to distribute from the Underground Arcade site some day.

[Cammy]

Kolla, please show me how to upload screenshots to Aminet. The "feature" has indeed been there for quite some time, but as far as I'm aware it has never been implemented, and there is no way to upload a screenshot with your software and readme file.

Don't tell me I'm wrong unless you can prove otherwise.

[Cammy]

Correct. And this won't change anytime soon if everybody who dislikes something about Aminet just runs to the next forum, complains about it and announces his own competing service because Aminet STILL sucks so much.

Please don't go getting yourself worked up over nothing. I never said Aminet sucks, I never ran to a forum to complain about it. I simply stated a fact which contributes to my reasoning for a newer site with a different approach to Aminet, not a replacement for it.

We need Aminet to keep running forever. But Aminet doesn't have to remain the only centralised location for downloading new games and applications if people would prefer a modern, visual front-end with screenshots, user reviews/feedback/ratings, and the ability to click on a "BUY NOW/REGISTER NOW" button directly from the website/client application so the user doesn't have to hunt down the personal web page of the author of the software they're using and figure out their individual method of payment.

I am all for a new application, preferably with a MUI GUI, that can connect to a database of available/approved applications and games, download and install them with one click, and offer options for registering or paying for the software directly from the same service using PayPal or Credit Card.

A service like this should be free to use and never charge anyone for downloading free software, I don't know where anyone got the impression that us dedicated Amigans would ever want to milk the community like that. Maybe you think we're Apple lovers? I'll gladly live the rest of my life in miserable poverty as long as I can help keep the Amiga spirit alive in some way, and if that includes modernising the way we download and install new software then I'm all for it!

I used to love the way AmiBench consisted of a website and an Amiga application that both worked on the same database. I'm sure it can be done for software downloads and information.

I really hope this new Marketplace application being developed on Aros will be the perfect solution for us all once it's finished. I'd gladly share the ideas I've had over the last few years about the subject.

Instead of people coming in here and telling us why we should NOT do this, how about we limit ourselves to just coming up with ideas on how we CAN get this done? Do we WANT the Amiga to continue, and for developers to be encouraged to join the platform? Then we need something like this. It's 2010 already!

Please stop being so negative and try helping out for once, people!

[Cammy]

Kolla, you say that as if you know for sure, but you're just making it up. You don't know if an Amiga "app store" would be a failure, but you seem like you don't want us to try.

This is a very common attitude here. "You can't do this" "Don't even bother trying" "I know everything, and I say it's a bad idea"

What are you trying to accomplish by preventing us from forming ideas that could help us develop a new software distribution and advertising method for Amiga platforms? Why does it have to cost so much to set up such a system? How many developers have you asked who have said they wouldn't be interested in a better way for their product to reach its target audience?

We are seeing new users signing up on Amiga forums every week, either coming back to the computer system they love, or trying it out for the first time. Many are finding out about Amiga through YouTube where they see Amigas running software they never assumed they could run. Lots of people are starting to prefer using pre-installed Workbench packs like AmigaSys, ClassicWB and AmiKit. You can't see the potential that including this "app store" in these packs could have?

The applications included in the store don't all have to be new and current. We could include good software that is already available, essential shareware that's been around for a while and still requires registration to get the most out of (MUI, WHDLoad), shareware that's still in development and isn't hosted on Aminet (SabreMSN, AmiGift), commercial software and games whose authors are searching for an Amiga-based distribution method (Babylonian Twins), or software that hasn't been developed for a little while, but is still not available on Aminet (AmiNetRadio, Dynamite). Hosting software like this might stir up new interest in it and maybe even convince the authors to come back and update their programs, or open source them. I'm pretty sure a lot of Amiga users aren't as aware about how much good, recent software really is out there, because there's just no easy way for them to see what's available. Browsing Aminet's recent page only shows what's been released in the last couple of weeks, but after that it goes unnoticed unless someone goes searching for it.

I think Ubuntu's Software Center is an alright example of an online marketplace/app store, although I would prefer to have user ratings and reviews, and of course the ability to purchase or register software directly through the program if it's required.

I hope more people can help contribute positively to this thread instead of trying to drag it down and prevent the Amiga platform from progressing and evolving.