In my opinion If you want to have better recognition for GD, in first place you should make sure it easy to find. In google whatever I search for, Game Develop never pops up. I don’t even remember how did I found GD, I just can’t find in google any more. To fix this, need to add better keywords and flags to the site to make it easier for search engines to find and crawl the site.
What I would do:
Register compilgames.net on google webmaster tool, and add sitemap to help google find and crawl the site easier.
Add Keywords to help google crawl the website easier for many search types:
compilgames.net, GameDevelop, Game Develop, game development tool, game engine , 2D game engine, html5 game engine, Linux game, engine, windows game engine, 2D, Linux, Windows, Html5, isometrick, 2.5D, game development tool, html5 game development tool, Linux, game development tool, windows game development tool, free, free game engine, free game development tool, easy, easy game, development tool, no programming required, event system, beginner, advanced, system tool, engine, built in scene editor…etc
Add everything however you would search for game engine and the same in French too.
More variations you add, makes more easier for search engines to find and crawl the site especially for google.
Maybe also worth to make a BlogSpot blog about Game Develop and add as many details, keywords, flags as possible to have even better chance of search engines and people find details about GD.
Second thing I would do.
I found some sites that list game engines, but Game Develop is not listed. Try to find sites that makes list of game engines, and try to contact the webmaster and ask him to add Game Develop to the list. What I have found so far:
html5gameengine.com/ - Sent a mail to the webmaster
mobilegameengines.com/html5/2d_game_engines - Submitted and added
makegames.pixelprospector.com/ - Submitted
freegamedev.net/wiki/Free%2C_cro … me_engines
devmaster.net/devdb/engines - Submitted
html5gameengines.com/game-engine-overview/ - Submitted
developer.mozilla.org/en-US/doc … _and_tools - Added
jster.net/library/game-develop )[/i]
html5gamer.net/site/resources - Submitted
html5gamedevelopment.com/html5-engines
I don’t know how much it cost, but maybe also worth it to upload GD to Desura
desura.com/engines/ - Need a game published on Desura made with GD
I know that steam cost money and users need to vote to be able release it, but can be a good investment for sure.
But I would like to mention that, to get recognition is one thing, to keep interested every user who come across GD is the main thing in my opinion, and to achieve this, from my point of view as a user, all existing features need to be solid because crap features makes worst impression than missing feature.
Features I have problem with so far and I recommend to improve:
-pathfinding is not smooth enough looks horrible the movement
-we can’t zoom in and out in collision mask editor, makes difficult to fit collision mask perfectly in some cases
-objects doesn’t shown in physics collision mask editor makes it impossible to fit collision mask perfectly. Sure everything should fit inside a square or sphere but sometime need to be more accurate
-we should be able to use more type of dynamic lights and also every light should be able to cast shadow
-we cant change canvas size, you promised it going to be fixed, fine, but also would be great if the canvas is can be stretched on y axis to fit browser window and make sure the game stay inside browser no matter what is the window and canvas size. I mean stretch canvas automatically to browser window.