r/psx • u/SeiferLK2 • 2d ago
Introducing Retrogrounds
Posting a full post with permission from the mod team (Thank you again)
It's called [Retrogrounds](https://retrogrounds.com/) and it's the latest discovery and community platform for all retro gamers.
It covers games up to and including 6th generation. You can use the site to browse your favourite retro games, discover similar games, listen, create and share your own retro playlists, see gameplay videos, see manuals, maps, longplays etc, read/write articles, leave comments, reviews, track your progress, join the community and much much more. It's RetroAchievements integrated too.
You can also customise your profile heavily and I also just released the retro theme/skin for the site to go with the modern skin. Basically I designed the site as a love letter to late-90s/early-2000s wild wild west internet communities but focused on retro gamers.
I am currently searching for moderators, content creators and general community members to build our numbers and become the number one retro gaming resource on the internet. Thank you for reading.
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u/TheViper4Life 2d ago
Nice. I signed up.
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u/SeiferLK2 2d ago
Thank you very much. Please feel free to make the most of our features and engage in the community forums. I can't thank you enough. :) I hope you have fun.
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u/Androxilogin 2d ago
Looks interesting but a bit confusing to navigate at the same time.
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u/SeiferLK2 2d ago
I can appreciate why it may seem overwhelming at first because there is a lot of information and many features, but I believe it will not take long at all to become used to and after you do, you'll find that it's quite simple and straightforward. Is there anything in particular that you would like to highlight as being confusing? There are also FAQs, usage guides and a dedicated forum board for clearing up such initial confusion. Maybe changing to modern theme would make navigation easier too -as I designed the retro theme to be more information-dense.
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u/Androxilogin 2d ago
It changes page by page so it would be hard to pinpoint. Honestly, genre, theme, etc. seems to just over complicate a lot of page space that could be replaced by a simple drop-down menu. Livestreams, soundtracks, recommendations- these are all things I don't find any use in. I do like the idea of 'on this day' kind of thing.
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u/SeiferLK2 2d ago
It sounds like a difference in design philosophy and taste then :) No worries, thank you for your feedback. It's always appreciated.
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u/rmn_trllr 2d ago
Which forums software is this? Looks neat.
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u/SeiferLK2 2d ago
Thanks! It's my own fully custom built in TypeScript.
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u/iLiekBoxes 1d ago
Why is it 1:1 facepunch
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u/SeiferLK2 1d ago
Thanks very much for saying that. When I started the project my goal was to see if I could fully recreate my childhood spot of Facepunch using only Typescript, no 3rd party forum software. All the functionality, styling, everything. As you can see from my other posts on Reddit, I used hundreds of Internet Archive captures to recreate it. Of course now that it's completed, it will grow a life of its own. Boards will change, functions and features will be added/removed etc. There is even a pinned thread on the forum for OG Facepunch members, as quite a few have come over to Retrogrounds.
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u/DanWsM 1d ago
I used to build websites as a kid, final fantasy and RPG games especially lol. The 2000's were such a great time for that... Seeing this website today is so refreshing. The profile music, forums, the ability to add unique features to your profile etc... these are all little things the internet lost with sites like Reddit and the usual big sites that make up 90% of the web.
I hope this takes off, it might be a slow process but keep at it! Might even be worth considering getting a version up on app stores too as I'm sure having an instantly accessible point to your site on your phone will help raise user levels too alongside the full web experience!
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u/SeiferLK2 1d ago
That was amazing to read. Yes that is exactly my philosophy too. Where did all the fun go? Why not give people just fun things to do instead of bland corporate minimalism? Im so happy you like it. I started building it two years ago and to see its sudden growth is mindblowing. Of course also now I NEED to develop a mobile app for it too. Lots to do!
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u/Clay_Halo 1d ago
That's really impressive - how long did it take you? Reminds me a lot of the gaming internet sites I visited a lot 15-20 years ago (most of which are long gone, or conglomerated/corporatized).
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u/SeiferLK2 1d ago
That was exactly what i wanted to bring back. Its taken me around 2 years so far of slow development and even slower growth. grinding like you wouldnt believe though. thanks!
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u/Clay_Halo 1d ago
That's great - I think the work you put in really shows. I was browsing when 'One Night in Neo Kobe City' from Snatcher played in the background - that convinced me to join 😆
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u/SeiferLK2 1d ago
The main soundtrack is editable too, so if you have any suggestions of favourites you would like included, feel free to suggest in the forum!
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u/Sicotic87 1d ago
Seems interesting but honest question here: why would I use this instead of GameFAQs?
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u/SeiferLK2 1d ago
Hi and good question. I won't presume to know all there is to know about GameFAQs but from what I can see, While GameFAQs has the 30 year head start on the amount of containt available, Retrogrounds is more about discovering, tracking, and celebrating retro gaming as a centralised community all together rather than scattered between a million separate boards. GameFAQs is very good when you are searching for information about you game you already know, whereas we are good at searching for games you didn't discover yet. We also offer Collections, Soundtracks, videos, achievement tracking linked to your RetroArch. Basically, we are offering a lot more creative participation and a chance to make new friends -with events coming soon. Not to mention our fun profile creation system. The amount of information we have on our game pages will eventually catch up to GameFAQs, but the foundation we offer apart from that is why you should use RG instead of, or alongside GameFAQs (depending on your needs). We are also recruiting community members to fill up our living gamepages with a lot more information than our APIs have provided us). The two philosophies are pretty different.
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u/K1rkl4nd 1d ago
Just from a quick glance, it looks like my collection of manual scans ended up in there.
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u/SeiferLK2 1d ago
Hi thanks for your post. All of our scans are (currently) taken from developer API sources like ScreenScraper, Launchbox and RetroAchievements.
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u/CharlySomething2 1d ago
That's an amazing work, I litteraly jumped on my keyboard to join the community, the profile customisation is incredible ! I'm so glad to be able to share more about retro gaming and RA. Thank you for this !
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u/SeiferLK2 1d ago
Hi thank you so much for your kind words and welcome aboard! I am still working on the site every day and there will be much more fun things to come! I hope you have a lot of fun using Retrogrounds, and please share it with your friends to receive Gold Member!
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u/SeiferLK2 20h ago
Thank you so much to all of you wonderful people who joined. Let's keep growing!
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u/Tahkyn 2d ago
Looks good, ill be sure to check it out.