# Games: listing yours on the Games tab The *Games* tab lists every game anyone has inscribed, on every arcade, ranked by what players say about them. Players can press *Play* to open a game full screen, like or dislike it, comment on it, discuss it and tip its maker. A game gets onto the tab by saying so in its own JSON. There is nothing to register, nobody to ask, and no fee beyond the inscription itself: every arcade reads the same chain, so a game you inscribe appears on all of them. ## What makes an inscription a game Two things, both decided when you inscribe it: 1. **It is a page.** The inscription's content type is `text/html`. That page is what *Play* opens, so it is either the whole game or a small launcher that opens it (see the recipes below). 2. **Its JSON has a `game` object with a name.** The JSON box is on the inscribe form, under the file: *JSON, optional — inscribed with it and never editable*. ```json { "game": { "name": "Moon Miner", "description": "Dig, upgrade the drill, reach the core.", "version": "1.0", "players": "1", "multiplayer": false, "family": "moon-miner", "cover": "", "play": "", "genre": "arcade" } } ``` Only `name` is required. Everything else is optional, and anything that is the wrong shape is simply left out rather than refusing the game. | Field | What it is | Limit | |---|---|---| | `name` | The game's name, shown on its card. **Required.** | 60 characters | | `description` | One or two lines about it. | 280 characters | | `version` | Shown as `v1.0` on the card. | 20 characters | | `players` | How many can play, in your own words: `"1"`, `"2-4"`, `"1-50"`. | 20 characters | | `multiplayer` | `true` puts a *multiplayer* badge on the card. Only a real `true` counts. | — | | `family` | A short id your versions share, such as `moon-miner`: letters, digits, `.` `_` `:` `-`. | 64 characters | | `cover` | The txid of a picture you inscribed. It fills the card; without one, the card shows the name. | a 64-character txid | | `play` | The txid of the page *Play* opens, when this inscription is only the game's card. Counts only if you inscribed both. | a 64-character txid | | `genre` | One word or two: `rpg`, `racing`, `puzzle`. Shown as a tag. | 24 characters | The JSON is inscribed with the page and can never be edited, so check it before you inscribe. Text is trimmed to its limit and extra spaces are folded, and a `cover` that is not a txid is ignored. ## One card per game, and how to update it The tab shows **one card per maker and name**: the newest inscription by the same creator with the same `name` (capital letters do not matter). To release a new version, inscribe the new page with the same name and a new `version`. Its card replaces the old one. * Only you can replace your game. The card belongs to the address that inscribed it, so somebody else's page with the same name is a different game with a card of its own. * Likes, dislikes, comments and tips belong to the inscription they were given to. A new version starts its own count; the old version keeps its history and still plays from its own link. * An older version is not deleted. It is still on the chain and still plays; it just is not the card on the tab any more. ## Removing a game The maker of a game can take its card off the tab, the same way a post's author removes a post from the feed: press *Remove* on your own card. Only the address that inscribed the card sees the button, and only its removal counts. * The card disappears from the *Games* tab on every arcade, and so do older versions with the same name: removing a game does not bring an older one back. * The inscription itself stays on the chain, as everything on a chain does. It still plays from its own link; it is just no longer listed. * To list the game again, inscribe a new version with the same name. ## How the tab ranks games * **Popular** weighs what people said: likes, minus dislikes, plus half a point per comment, with newer games given a head start that fades over time. It is the same ranking the Exchange uses for mintpads. * **Latest** is simply the newest first. Likes, dislikes, comments and tips are ordinary feed actions aimed at your game's txid, the same transactions people use on posts. Nothing about a game's reputation lives anywhere but the chain. ## Tips A tip on a game pays **the address that inscribed it**, in the same transaction that says which game it was for. While the arcade runs on testnet, that is the inscription's creator address on testnet. When games are listed on a chain other than the one names and feed actions live on, a tip goes to the address your own key announcement binds to the creator; if you never published one, nobody can tip you there, so publish your key from the account you inscribe games with. ## Recipes ### A game that is one page Inscribe the game itself as the HTML page, with the `game` JSON. This suits anything that fits in a single inscription: the page loads in the player's viewer, saves with `arcade.storage`, and can pay prizes through prize pools (see the inscription API, prize pools and referee guides). ### A card for a game you already inscribed A game inscribed before the Games tab existed has no `game` JSON, and JSON can never be added afterwards. Give it a card by inscribing a tiny page, from the **same address** that inscribed the game, whose JSON names the game in `play`: ```json {"game": {"name": "Moon Miner", "play": "", "description": "Dig, upgrade the drill, reach the core."}} ``` *Play* and *Details* then open your original game directly, as itself. That matters: everything the viewer does for a page is done for the page it shows, so the game keeps its own `arcade.storage` saves, any prize pools bound to it, and its referee claims, exactly as before. Likes, comments and tips go to the card. The card page itself can be anything small; somebody who opens it directly can be sent on to the game: ```html

Play Moon Miner

``` Avoid a page that only redirects to the game with `location.replace` and no `play` field: the game would run inside the card's frame, so the viewer would answer for the card, not the game. Saves would be kept under the card's id, and anything bound to the game page (prize pools, claims) would not find it. ### A big game made of several inscriptions Inscribe the front page as the game, with the `game` JSON, and have it load its parts from `/content/`. The front page is the game's identity, so bind pools and keep saves under it. ### One page for several games A page that offers several games behind its own menu gets **one** card, because it is one inscription. That is a fine way to publish a collection of small games together. If each game should have its own likes, comments, tips and place in *Popular*, give each one its own card with `play` instead. ## Checklist before you inscribe * The content type is `text/html`. * The JSON is valid and has `"game": {"name": ...}`. * The `cover`, if you use one, is the txid of a picture that is already inscribed (inscribe the picture first). * You are inscribing from the address you want tips to reach, and that address has published its key. * For a card with `play`: inscribed from the same address as the game it names. * For a new version: the same `name`, a new `version`. After the inscription's block lands, the game is on the *Games* tab of every arcade. Press *Latest* to find it straight away.