My first blog since 2009!!!!!!

Date: 18th June 2011 at 11:04 am | Filed under: blog | Author: Sam Burdge

Wow, the time has just flown by!!! Sorry for the lack of recent code and wordpress goodness.

Firstly, I am glad to see that my WP Post Columns Plugin is still going strong!!! Although it has not been updated since 2009 it seems that it is still working (for most people at least) and the comments keep flooding in!

Many of my WordPress plugins, themes and code tutorials are now unfortunately un-supported. But they are still free, and many people add solutions and answers as well as questions in the comments. I am still working with WordPress every day, but can no longer spare the time to provide free support for free plugins and tutorials.

I have had quite a few comments from people saying that they find it hard to read white text on a black background. Some of these comments have been so strongly worded that I was unable to publish them on the site! If you really can't stand it then you could always try getting firebug addon for firefox and changing the colours however you want (yellow text on a pink background looks quite good). I probably won't be changing my theme in the near future. Also, it's probably a good idea not to get into server administration like linux / apache stuff if you don't like light text on a dark background...

Some new wordpress tutorials and goodies coming soon I promise!

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Widgetbox widgets

Date: 25th May 2009 at 1:49 am | Filed under: blog | Author: Sam Burdge

I have just created these two widgets for my plugins feed and Zap Gamez over at Widgetbox. This is the most basic type of widget called a Blidget. Widgets are cool, I will definitely make more!

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The Football Journalist - Blog Customisations

Date: 4th May 2009 at 1:00 pm | Filed under: portfolio | Author: Sam Burdge | Tags: , , ,

tfj-screen

The Football Journalist is a blog site aimed at people who want to become professional sports and football journalists. It features listings of sports journalism courses and jobs within the football industry.

I applied a few basic customisations to the theme, changing the background image and adding in the adsense blocks and job listings widgets. I also used a few of my favourite plugins to apply SEO to the site.

As the site is linked with FootballFanCast (one of the leading football blog and podcasting sites in the UK) I would highly recommend it for anyone who is working towards a carreer in football journalism.

Check it out: www.thefootballjournalist.com

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Bespoke theming for WordPress Arcade sites

Date: 12th March 2009 at 7:00 pm | Filed under: blog, portfolio, themes | Author: Sam Burdge | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

loopy1loopy2loopy4loopy3

Screenshots from the new Loopy Pursuits Arcade Site.

I have recently entered the world of Arade Website webmastering and, being the WordPress geek I clearly am, have chosen WP as the management sytem to drive my arcade sites. I have developed two new plugins WP Games Embed (released) and WP Mochi (so far unreleased) and launched my first arcade site Zap Gamez.

In the past I have had a fair few jobs designing custom / bespoke themes for WordPress blogs and for sites that use WP more as a CMS. These jobs are where most of my plugins originate from, adding custom features to sites when no existing plugin is available to achieve the same functionality.

My most recent custom theme is for the arcade site Loopy Pursuits, for which the games content is also driven by my two plugins WP Games Embed & WP Mochi. The theme is incredibly simple - no sidebar or nav bar as such, 3 basic layouts - Home page, Category/Tag/Search results page & single page view where the game itself is displayed. Apart from the formatting of the comments there is nothing about the theme which suggests it is wordpress. No 'recent posts','blogroll' or 'tag cloud' or any other content that could be associated with standard WP blog design.

The theme incorporates google advertising interspersed with the content. My approach to google advertising with arcade sites is to use predominantly image ads as gaming is very visual, and image ads seem to sit better within a very image based site layout. I also use the standard approach of identifying key placements for ads, sometimes referred to as 'Hot Spots', which are normally adjacent to key areas of the page, such as navigation, main content (i.e. the game), etc.

During the development of Loopy Pursuits the WP Mochi Plugin has come a lot closer to releaseability. It still lacks an options page which it would definitely need, but it now incorporates the Mochi Leaderboard (score board) using the Mochi Publisher Bridge, it also now has the ability to add entire directories of games automatically too!

If you are interested in getting a custom design for your WordPress blog, or if you want an arcade website set up, or if you are trying to do something different / unusual with WordPress please feel free to get in touch. I would be happy to provide a quote for any such jobs. I have been working with WordPress since version 1.2 and have set up many WP blogs in that time, I have never used a theme by someone else, custom built is the only way for me!

8 Responses to “Bespoke theming for WordPress Arcade sites”

  • Comment by العاب
    Date: April 4th, 2009 at 11:16 am

    look at my site
    its an arcade power by wordpress

  • Comment by GameGag
    Date: June 8th, 2009 at 11:18 pm

    Wow what a great looking theams, please keep up your innovative touch.

  • Comment by EnjoySilk
    Date: September 18th, 2009 at 1:22 pm

    It’s so beautiful theme!

  • Comment by Frank
    Date: January 9th, 2010 at 2:13 am

    Great theme. My site looks great with this. Thanks

  • Comment by web rs
    Date: February 1st, 2010 at 8:38 am

    How can I download this theme .. ?

  • Comment by WpArcades
    Date: July 4th, 2010 at 4:45 pm

    That looks sweet. Nice job. Wordpress is the best to make arcades on.

  • Comment by SuperGames Fun
    Date: February 14th, 2011 at 3:37 pm

    I Just use a free wordpress theme in my auto post arcade website, I interest with embeded plugin, but I havenot used it cause the mochie games not properly install.

  • Comment by Gladiator Games
    Date: March 6th, 2011 at 4:50 pm

    Great article. WP is has so many options and is super fun to use to create arcades.

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Games Arcade Website powered by WordPress

Date: 28th February 2009 at 4:04 pm | Filed under: blog, portfolio, wordpress | Author: Sam Burdge | Tags: , , , ,

I have recently been working on a highly versatile premium theme for WordPress which is due for release soon. As part of the project I wanted to test how the theme (and WordPress itself) could work with sites of various different genres. My intention was that the theme would be configurable enough via it's Options Menu that it could easily be styled to suit corporate sites such as recruitment, blue chip company, technology site  & product portfolio, media sites such as magazine, news, image & video gallery and also youth oriented sites such as music / band website,  games website.

The theme also features simple integration for banners and advertising,  so creating a couple of  'working example' sites was not only a good way of testing the theme's versatility but also a potential source of a few extra quid!

I had been wanting to do a games & videos website for a while, and I had built the theme's default settings around a 'corporate magazine' look & feel, so I decided the games site would be a great way to test the theme. Here is my wordpress games arcade site so far:  Zap Gamez

I decided to look around and see what articles I could find about creating a games arcade website with wordpress, or if there was a plugin that allowed you to easily insert games into your WordPress blog. I found this article by Emanuele Feronato:

It describes a method of populating your WordPress blog with games via a feed from MochiAds (A source of free games for websites) using custom fields. However, for my site I wanted to be able to integrate games from various free content suppliers and host games on my own server as well as embedding games hosted by content suppliers. What I really wanted was a plugin that could embed games into posts or pages using shortcodes.

THE PLUGIN

The prototype plugin I have built includes the following features:

4 Different views:

  1. Grid view - a grid of thumbnail images linking to each game (can be restricted to a single category or parent category)
  2. Category view - this view includes a medium sized image and a written description of the game
  3. Single page view - the page where you play the game itself
  4. Featured Game view - a page with a list of featured games

Different embedding modes:

  1. iFrame embedding - embed iFrame content using code provided by free games sites, or use this method to display games from your own server where an html file has been provided with the free game download.
  2. Flash embedding - embed Flash content using embed codes provided by other sites, or embed flash games directly from your own site. You can even upload them easily using the wordpress 'Add Media' tool.

The beta version of the WP Game Embed plugin can be found here.

39 Responses to “Games Arcade Website powered by WordPress”

  • Comment by ashish
    Date: March 17th, 2009 at 7:58 am

    good article, thanks for this useful info, I have dug and stumbled this article. I will keep visiting for more useful information.

  • Comment by alex
    Date: March 27th, 2009 at 2:01 pm

    great article. thank

  • Comment by fencze
    Date: April 21st, 2009 at 8:03 am

    this game is so good I have played it several days ago

  • Comment by Budi
    Date: April 23rd, 2009 at 1:34 pm

    Keep it up man! Now, when I need useful info I’ll come here.
    Smarter than an average blog…cheers

  • Comment by Steven
    Date: May 19th, 2009 at 1:52 am

    Nice Kindly visit my site

  • Comment by Games Arcade Website powered by WordPress Sam Burdge | Cast Iron Cookware
    Date: May 26th, 2009 at 8:32 pm

    [...] Games Arcade Website powered by WordPress Sam Burdge Posted by root 19 hours ago (http://www.samburdge.co.uk) 4 responses to games arcade website powered by wordpress comment by ashish date march 17th 2009 at 7 58 am good article thanks for this useful info Discuss  |  Bury |  News | games arcade website powered by wordpress sam burdge [...]

  • Comment by kansas city bbq
    Date: May 29th, 2009 at 3:48 pm

    This is a great game. Great info

  • Comment by Games Arcade Website powered by WordPress Sam Burdge | Paid Surveys
    Date: May 29th, 2009 at 4:34 pm

    [...] Games Arcade Website powered by WordPress Sam Burdge Posted by root 6 hours ago (http://www.samburdge.co.uk) 5 responses to games arcade website powered by wordpress comment by ashish comment by budi date april 23rd 2009 at 1 34 pm keep it up man reliable web hosting linux amp windows hosting starting at just 1 99 per month Discuss  |  Bury |  News | games arcade website powered by wordpress sam burdge [...]

  • Comment by free business advertising
    Date: June 15th, 2009 at 2:42 am

    wow i think wordpress just for blog, but im wrong, good idea bro

  • Comment by pikachu
    Date: June 16th, 2009 at 8:04 pm

    visit mine i have lotz of free games too -yay-

  • Comment by eaonflux
    Date: June 19th, 2009 at 7:05 am

    Nice plugin, made myself also a mochiads wordpress plugin, its still in decelopment.
    i heavily cusomized a video theme for the layout.
    you might wanne check it some times.
    god job…
    grts,

    chris

  • Comment by Dave Smith
    Date: July 10th, 2009 at 5:18 am

    Hey, this is cool free stuff

  • Comment by fred bennett
    Date: July 17th, 2009 at 2:58 am

    Awesome post. Very informative :)

  • Comment by Sam Burdge
    Date: August 3rd, 2009 at 3:49 pm

    This post must contain keywords that are attracting too many spam bots. Sorry but comments are now closed on this post.

  • Comment by Jambo
    Date: August 18th, 2009 at 7:37 pm

    i am new to wordpress but i like this site, good article… and i like the sound od the flash arcade….

  • Comment by bayu
    Date: August 30th, 2009 at 5:00 pm

    i have downloaded your beta plugins, nice plugin mate, thanks

  • Comment by Neo
    Date: September 13th, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    So, this is interesting for me, I will translate it and post to my saite http://grang.info Thanks, Alex

  • Comment by LacnyWebHosting
    Date: October 2nd, 2009 at 2:14 pm

    Great article, adding it to my bookmarks!

  • Comment by blackhatguide
    Date: October 12th, 2009 at 10:28 pm

    Great work with the blog mate let me know if you want to partner up with my blog as well! =]

  • Comment by Jocuri barbie
    Date: October 22nd, 2009 at 3:17 pm

    Nice your beta :) I’ll gonna translate in romanian language this post and i will put a direct link to your site. Thank you

  • Comment by Kwik Games
    Date: November 5th, 2009 at 9:35 pm

    Very cool. I finally got around to changing my own games site, http://www.kwikgames.com over to Wordpress earlier this year. After years of updating static HTML pages it was high time I made the switch and was thoroughly worth it…

    I love your thumbnail “grid”! You might want to use a rating plugin, there are quite a few good ones, so you can show most popular games and encourage more user interaction, but overall it looks great. And to anyone thinking of using WP for a games site I highly recommend it!

  • Comment by kral oyun
    Date: November 6th, 2009 at 2:29 am

    that is what i need :) thanks!

  • Comment by Arcade
    Date: January 29th, 2010 at 10:08 pm

    Very nice articles. Thanks men.

  • Comment by idic
    Date: March 14th, 2010 at 2:16 pm

    Nice article. But there are other sides which are based on wordpress and use mochi games: http://highscoregaming.net
    Cheers idic

  • Comment by Nick
    Date: June 15th, 2010 at 1:16 am

    The wordpress site looks good. I especially like the huge thumbs.

  • Comment by kız oyunları
    Date: June 20th, 2010 at 1:04 pm

    Very cool. I finally got around to changing my own games site

  • Comment by love games
    Date: June 20th, 2010 at 1:05 pm

    i heavily cusomized a video theme for the layout.
    you might wanne check it some times.
    god job…

  • Comment by anime and games
    Date: July 16th, 2010 at 4:09 pm

    I like playing Games..So I make blog and include many games..In order that if I want to play game just open my blog.

    Regard
    Ali Mustika Sari

  • Comment by Ricky Davis
    Date: July 29th, 2010 at 3:18 am

    How has this theme been going? any updates on this one? There has been lots of game themes now and I`m hoping you were successful on this.

  • Comment by kız oyunu
    Date: September 6th, 2010 at 7:15 am

    I love your thumbnail “grid”! You might want to use a rating plugin, there are quite a few good ones, so you can show most popular games and encourage more user interaction, but overall it looks great. And to anyone thinking of using WP for a games site I highly recommend it!

  • Comment by Free WWE Games
    Date: November 23rd, 2010 at 1:34 pm

    I think is a great idea, keep up the great work. Looking forward for some updates on this.
    Thanks.

  • Comment by snooty
    Date: January 1st, 2011 at 8:45 am

    Nice article. But there are other sides which are based on wordpress and use mochi games: http://www.ccymx.com/
    Cheers idic

  • Comment by Jenny Stalker
    Date: January 15th, 2011 at 1:44 pm

    wow, I rarely ever have to scroll down this much just to comment on a post before. Great post, keep them coming!

  • Comment by Tanja Brociner
    Date: January 18th, 2011 at 3:27 pm

    What will they imagine next? In many instances, They’ll guarantee you

  • Comment by cubetz
    Date: January 25th, 2011 at 1:40 pm

    yep. still waiting for some new info. A game theme would be great adition to all of us.

  • Comment by Multiplayers Games
    Date: March 22nd, 2011 at 10:08 am

    Awesome, im testing this on my site, thanks for making it!

  • Comment by Nickelodeon Games
    Date: April 3rd, 2011 at 12:10 pm

    Thanks alot mate, this is a really nice info about WordPress game :) I’m bookmarking this page!!

  • Comment by Play Ms Pacman
    Date: April 21st, 2011 at 7:24 pm

    My website http://playmspacman.net is also powered by Wordpress and I can say that it is doing very well.

  • Comment by Dem Managment
    Date: May 25th, 2011 at 8:23 am

    i love this thing wordprees is now in games also

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