There is now one page that lists games from every vbgnt arcade: games.vbgnt.com. It shows what is being played most this week, a ranked list of everything below that, and a search box that finds a game by its title, its description, its style or the arcade it came from. Every game on it is there because its maker starred it. Nothing arrives on its own.
This post covers what the directory is, how a game gets onto it and off it, and how it squares with something we have said more than once on this blog: that vbgnt has no feed.
What is the games directory?
The games directory is a single public page that ranks the games players have chosen to list from their own arcades, across every arcade at once. A game appears in it when three things are true: it has a published web build, its maker has starred it in the studio, and the maker has claimed an arcade name. Two things keep a game out regardless: hiding it from your arcade, which removes it from every public surface, and a new per-game switch that keeps it off the directory only.
Everything on the page plays in place. Click a cover and the game opens in an overlay, the same way it does on an arcade. Each card also links to the arcade it came from, because the arcade is still the home; the directory is the crossroads.
What does it show?
- Most played this week. A row across the top: the ten games with the most plays over the last seven days, numbered. In a quiet week it falls back to all-time plays so the row is never empty.
- The ranked list. Every listed game, ordered by plays this week, then plays of all time, then how recently it was updated. A brand new game with no plays yet sits at the bottom and says new instead of a number.
- Search. Type a word and the list narrows as you type. It matches titles, descriptions, the style of the game, the owner's arcade name, and "online" for multiplayer games. Press / from anywhere on the page to jump to the box. The address bar keeps your search, so a search is a link you can send.
- Filters and sorts. Chips for 2D pixel art, 2D, 3D and Online. Sort by top ranked, trending this week, most played ever, newest, recently updated, or A to Z.
- Play counts. Each card carries its plays this week, or all time if the week is empty. These are the same counts you already see privately in the studio; the directory shows them for the games you chose to list.
The description under each card is the one you wrote, or the agent wrote, for your arcade. If a game has no description, the directory shows the title and the style and nothing else, which is a good reason to spend a sentence on each game you star. Search reads descriptions too, so a game described as "a two-player puzzle about a lighthouse" is found by any of those words.
We said there was no feed. What changed?
Two earlier posts on this blog argue against building a feed: that every feed eventually decides what gets made, and that a public number becomes a ranking. Those arguments still hold, and the directory was built with them in the room. Here is how it differs from the thing we did not want, and where it does not.
It is opt-in, one game at a time. A game is never listed because it exists. It is listed because you starred it, on your own arcade, where the star already meant "this is the one I want people to see first". Unstar it, or flip the directory switch off, and it is gone from the page within a minute. The game you made for your brother's birthday is not measured against strangers unless you decide it should be.
Your arcade is unchanged. It still shows no numbers, it is still in the order you dragged it into, and the link you send still lands on your page and nobody else's. The directory reads from your arcade; it does not reach back into it.
The ranking is a count, not an algorithm. Plays this week, then plays ever, then freshness. There is no engagement model, no promoted slot, nothing tuned to keep anyone scrolling, and no way to buy a position. A game moves up because people started it. The count is the count your own studio panel already shows you.
Where it does not differ: a public ranking is still an incentive, and we would be pretending otherwise to say the directory carries none. What we can say is that the incentive is behind a door you open per game, that the door is closed by default for anything you never starred, and that the games people made for a handful of friends can stay exactly where they were.
The honest reason for building it is the one the earlier post conceded: no feed means no discovery, and some makers want discovery. The studio now has enough arcades that people have started asking where they can see what everyone else is making. The directory answers that without turning every arcade into a storefront.
How do I list a game, or keep it off?
- Star it. On your games grid in the studio, the star on a card moves it to the featured section of your arcade. Starring is also what lists it in the directory.
- Or star it and keep it home. Open the game and look at the header. A button reads In directory for a starred game; click it and it becomes Not in directory. The game stays featured on your arcade and disappears from games.vbgnt.com. Click again to relist. The card in your grid carries a small Not in directory tag while the switch is off.
- Hiding still hides everywhere. The eye on a card, which takes a game off your public arcade, takes it off the directory too. Hidden means hidden.
You also need an arcade name. A game from an account that has not claimed one has no public home to point back to, so the directory leaves it out until the name is claimed.
How are directory plays counted?
A play started from the directory counts toward the game's owner, the same as a play on their arcade. In the studio's traffic panel it appears under its own platform label, games directory, next to arcade, direct link and the desktop and mobile builds, so you can see how much of your traffic the directory is sending. The same rules apply as everywhere else: no cookies, no addresses kept, visitors told apart by a hash that changes daily, and a game never counted twice for one sitting.
For players
The directory needs no account. It works on a phone, a laptop and a television browser, and a game that shows an Online badge can be played with friends: open it, host a room, send the code. Sharing from the overlay copies a link that opens the directory with that game already running, and the Arcade button in the overlay takes you to the maker's own page, where the rest of their games are.
If you make games here, your arcade now has a Browse all games link in its top bar, so a visitor who finishes your games can find more, and a visitor who finds you through the directory can find your arcade. Both directions are one click.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I browse all vbgnt games?
At https://games.vbgnt.com/. It lists every game whose maker starred it in the studio, from every arcade, with the ten most played games of the last seven days across the top and a ranked list below. Search by title, description, style or arcade name, filter by 2D pixel art, 2D, 3D or Online, and play any game in place. No account is needed.
How do I get my game into the games directory?
Star it. In the studio, the star on a game card features it on your arcade, and a starred game with a published build is listed in the directory as long as you have claimed an arcade name. It appears within about a minute. Write a description for it too: the directory shows the description under the cover and search reads it.
Can I star a game without listing it in the directory?
Yes. Open the game in the studio and click the In directory button in the header; it changes to Not in directory. The game stays featured on your own arcade and is removed from games.vbgnt.com. Click again to relist it. Hiding a game with the eye button removes it from both your arcade and the directory.
How is the games directory ranked?
By plays in the last seven days, then plays of all time, then how recently the game was updated. Those are the same play counts the studio already shows the game's owner privately. There is no engagement model, no promoted placement and no paid position. Visitors can re-sort by trending, most played ever, newest, recently updated or alphabetically.
Do plays from the directory count in my arcade stats?
Yes. A play started from the directory counts toward the game's owner, labelled with its own platform, games directory, in the studio's traffic panel alongside arcade, direct link and the desktop and mobile builds. The same privacy rules apply: no cookies, no addresses kept, and a visitor hash that changes every day.