Recently I was watching a stream by a streamer that doesn't usually play ROM hacks, and I noticed something curious in chat -- people asking how to play BPS file.
The answer is to use Floating IPS, and you probably know that if you are a member of this community. However, let's say you aren't a member of community, and just want to play a ROM hack.
This is the experience so far:
1) Download ROM hack
2) Open zip file
3) Find some files in archive, the biggest one being something "bps"
4) Extract all files
5) Try opening BPS file in emulator
6) ???
This may as well be a point where user may as well give up. But let's say that there is a realization that this is a patch.
7) Open Tools section
8) Search for "BPS"
9) Find nothing
The next step would be trying to search for "bps file" on your favorite search engine, and this does do a job (it provides "beat" for me, somewhat worse, but does its job anyway).
Now, how can this suboptimal experience be fixed? Simple, provide link to patching tool on ROM hack page. Say something like (of course, correct that one to sound better, I don't know English all that well), "This is a ROM hack that needs to be patched to American version of Super Mario World, you can use Floating IPS to get a ROM playable in an emulator."
(also, I'm aware of FAQ, but I still think discoverability of it can be better)
The answer is to use Floating IPS, and you probably know that if you are a member of this community. However, let's say you aren't a member of community, and just want to play a ROM hack.
This is the experience so far:
1) Download ROM hack
2) Open zip file
3) Find some files in archive, the biggest one being something "bps"
4) Extract all files
5) Try opening BPS file in emulator
6) ???
This may as well be a point where user may as well give up. But let's say that there is a realization that this is a patch.
7) Open Tools section
8) Search for "BPS"
9) Find nothing
The next step would be trying to search for "bps file" on your favorite search engine, and this does do a job (it provides "beat" for me, somewhat worse, but does its job anyway).
Now, how can this suboptimal experience be fixed? Simple, provide link to patching tool on ROM hack page. Say something like (of course, correct that one to sound better, I don't know English all that well), "This is a ROM hack that needs to be patched to American version of Super Mario World, you can use Floating IPS to get a ROM playable in an emulator."
(also, I'm aware of FAQ, but I still think discoverability of it can be better)