Show HN: I made a platform for free-to-play games | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: I made a platform for free-to-play games

freetogame.com

64 pointsldobreira46 comments

Unfortunately not for me. Cloudflare + Google in the site. Have to make an account for "free" games. "score free premium loot, earn ranks, unlock exclusive rewards" uhh.... why gamify the system?

About: We built FreeToGame to create an ecosystem that brings all the best Free-to-Play Games and MMO Games into one place . Our vision is to create the most exciting and rewarding gaming experience by breaking the inflexible concept of digital storefronts. You get more value... and it's all still completely free.

>brings all the best Free-to-Play Games and MMO Games into one place

So a list?

>while rewarding gamers with free premium in-game loot, special offers and exclusive perks

I don't need a list to do that to me.

>by breaking the inflexible concept of digital storefronts

How has this done that?

>You get more value...

Is the value the collection in one place? Or is it the little treats to hand out.

I'm not really sure what this is for. I reckon about 100% of those games require an account first. So this account is just for your "exclusive rewards".

Please note you still can use the site without the need to create an account... But the account unlocks more features like for example special offers: https://www.freetogame.com/giveaways

So this does seem to be the best part of the whole thing. The aggregated, filed, and described collection of games.

I can't use it because "Play now" links lead to server.cpmstar.com ("real-time bidding advertising platform and monetization solution leveraging machine learning and code generation") which is blocked by Blokada - the software/service I trust.

Please read the FAQ at https://www.freetogame.com/faq

Thanks for replying. I read it but I couldn't find a solution to my problem - "advertising", "monetization", "machine learning" evil standing between me and free games.

Edit: Now I see that some "Play now" links are leading directly to the game's website.

>Unfortunately not for me. Cloudflare + Google in the site. Have to make an account for "free" games.

Ya, and I clicked on a game and uBlock stopped and warned me about a tracker

I would like to be able to filter out games with in app purchases. Or more specifically, in app purchases that impact gameplay.

I don't mind cosmetics but whenever someone spending money has an advantage, I don't want to touch that game.

I do see your point, the problem is that most free-to-play games do have in-game purchases, and the impact on the gameplay is somewhat discussable since each game have their own mechanics that they keep changing it in each update...

Please keep in mind that games without gameplay-enhancing in app purchases want you addicted as much as possible.

The reason is that they profit with the ones that pay a lot, and those players only stay if there are many others that play too.

Then there are the ones that put advertising inside the games as an alternative way of making money. Same thing...

Games that have no in app purchases of any kind and no DLCs either are the best, because they have designed the game without profit being a factor in gameplay.

That does not make them different then any other online games. Trying to be addictive is current trend no matter what monetization model.

The only games that don't need to be addictive are single player one time payment games. And those are very limited in terms of who they attract.

You might enjoy this, IIRC it came up on HN a while ago: https://nobsgames.stavros.io/help/

Good site. Thanks for the link.

I can use it as a list of games to avoid?

I’m too poor to afford free games.

> I’m too poor to afford free games.

I'm stealing that line. (And thus contributing to your continuing to be poor. Sorry.)

You can actually play free games, have fun and never pay.

Steam discounts are much more expensive.

> You can actually play free games, have fun and never pay.

But it will never be as fun as it could be if there were no in-app purchases and no ads. That always sits in the back of my mind and prevents me from even trying a game with in-app purchases.

It is not true. A while ago I moved to free to play games, because pay in advance games were either disappointment or not for me at all. Pay in advance meant that I am paying too much for games that turns up not as advertised, I end up not liking, end up hating or cant possibly continue playing with time limitations I had.

Yeah, I hate the video ads that play randomly and interrupt you... I wish ads were integrated better but I guess some games that isn't as easy maybe...

Then seen some dark patterns where it popups in app purchase prompts randomly, one did that and using Touch ID the exit button is also the buy button...

Only if your time is worth nothing :)

It is time meant for play anyway, you are wasting it playing either way.

Is grinding 3000 more wood planks that you could buy for 0.99 “play” ?

I could use that time to go through creative content instead of mindless repetitive grinding.

Why do you assume I am grinding 3000 more wood planks? Or that they could bought for 0.99?

That is like arguing that your games are 40$ for a game that gets boring and annoying in 15 minutes or impossible to play unless one has 20 hours a week of free time.

Because you're talking about free games? They're all designed to have some grinding element that you can skip for IAPs.

And pay once games can be boring and annoying, that's why you don't preorder or buy something without looking at reviews.

Impossible to play unless you can put in 20 hours a week sounds like the free games you're defending though :)

Yep, as others said - no way to get to the actual game without going through 3rd party trackers.

And that's without getting into the actual idea of promoting the worst type of games possible. F2P is an plague.

I can only guess that the commission on all these referral links pays well enough to not bother with any ethics.

Free to play is not all a plague.

A significant chunk of the world's largest games right now are free to play.

As an example, I can play Fortnite with my friends on other platforms for free. That's impressive.

Yeah, not all. But OP's site is packed with "traditional" F2P games that sell expendable resources to negate the effects of artificial progress delays or generally subpar free playing experience. No pain points = no sales. So the gameplay is rigged or screwed to create said points where none needed.

Fortnite is an exception. It pioneered the model of selling cosmetic and vanity items that have no direct effect on the gameplay. Good on them.

Similarly, New Destiny 2 is a repackaged shareware model - a demo for free with the full game for $. Again, it's a fair arrangement.

Not so with the pay-to-dominate and pay-to-accelerate games that OP's site is peddling.

That means they are not for you. Games for people that are not you are not plague.

These games are exploitative and unethical by design, but, yes, you are right there are people who play them.

They are however not the kind of games that makes people addicted, sleep deprived, getting in trouble in school or neglect family. The games that have worst consequences on people who don't manage them well are not free to play category. They tend to be big online games.

I do absolutely agree with you regarding the game that sell expandable resources. Where you can earn coins in game normally but also purchase currency which progresses the game ever so further.

So many F2P games on mobile devices are like that and its crap.

Unfortunately tracking the links is only way to keep everything free, without selling anything and without ads. All free-to-play games get featured regardless if I get commission or not. And no, F2P it's not really a plague, there is some great F2P games out there.

Nice! I have some suggestions.

- Allow search games by name, description and tags.

- Filter by game genre would be nice.

- Add a section to show paid games that are being sold by 0 money. Like the free games of the week from Epic Games. When the game is no more free, it can be removed from the site.

- Allow users to suggest games (this can even help you).

llagerlof you can already select the genre/tag at https://www.freetogame.com/games

Thank you for your suggestions :)

Oops, now I found it. I briefly checked this page but didn't immediately saw the filters. Maybe put them on top, below de navigation bar, above the "Best Free to Play Games for PC and Browser in 2020!" section?

Thank you!

I applaud your efforts, but the selection of games I see (at first glance to be honest) does not seem to appeal to me.

Is it a coincidence the first games I see are all 'scantily-clad-chesty-wizard-princesses' themed games?

Wishing you all the luck, it's a nice platform!

Thanks kelvin0 :)

This looks really awesome. Great design, loads super fast, and has a ton of good information.

Where are you getting reviews from? Some of them are many weeks ago; did you source them from somewhere or are these all from people using the platform already?

Thanks :) Most reviews are from current users, but there is some old reviews that I moved from my old blog.

Nice! Really pleasant interface.

However, everything returns MMOs and Strategy returns RPGs for some reason. Steam does this as well and I think if filtering is fixed it can really set the site apart.

Thanks for the feedback. Can you send me the link with the issue? Please note some RPGs have strategy elements...

I entered hoping I could filter the list. I wanted to find browser based games that don't require third party account creation (or any other account creation). I couldn't figure out how to do it, so I left.

If filtering is possible, please make that more visible in the UI (assuming you want to target users like me).

Thank you for your suggestion :)

Congrats on the launch! Although these are games I wouldn't normally play, the site looks very professional and stylish. Well done.

Nicely done. Clean and fast.

I'm glad you like it :)

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