Final calculator RPGs/tools download section update

[DJ Omnimaga]

Tonight, the calculator RPGs & programming tools download section has been updated for the last time. Besides the addition of my own TI-83+/84+/SE RPGs that were only available in the staff games download section in the RPG one, 4 other RPGs I had on my hard drive have been included as well. The new file additions are Imperial and Potter Questfor the TI-83+/84+/SE series, The Search For the Elemental Stones for the older TI-83 and Phantasie Conquest for the even older HP-48 SX (a game we reported on one and half a year ago).

As you could notice in the past few years, this download section have been pretty much abandonned and hard to maintain. Back in the days, I scouted ticalc.org to find the best RPGs available for TI calculators and bring them together in one place. However, once this was done, there wasn't much to add anymore, as good RPGs being released in the calculator world are very rare. As for the tools section, it became a real burden to maintain anymore and file additions there pretty much stopped when the Axe Parser craze started. Basically, until tonight, the last RPG upload in our archives was back in February 2006, with Banchor: The Hellspawn, for the TI-86. Tonight update was supposed to be done almost two years ago, when this incarnation of Omnimaga opened. One month ago, after looking at the old folder with 30 RPGs to test (yes, only 4 were kept), it became clear that after this update, it would be over.

A solution would have been to make the whole section so users can upload files themselves, while keeping a certain quality control, but due to the way this section is setup, this would have caused too much problems. So in other words, the RPG headquarter is officially discontinued, although its entire content will remain online.

On a better note, we may soon open a new TI calculator game and programming tools download section for all genres, setup purposely to allow our active forum members to upload their own calculator games themselves. To keep a certain quality control, files being uploaded would require admin approval  before appearing in our archives and a certain minimum post count may be required to obtain upload privileges. Games would be split by calculator models, language and genre and a new topic may automatically be posted on the forums under Calculator News and Discussion when a file is uploaded, to allow people to discuss about it. This would also make it much easier for our visitors to find Omnimaga members contributions to the community, especially Axe Parser programming utilities. More news will come soon about this.