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A few days ago I asked this question...

https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/49668/what-framework-tools-are-available-for-making-web-based-games-like-game-dev-st

I'm a long time stack overflow user, and of course I understand subjective questions are not allowed. I tried to make it clear I was aware that it could be seen as subjective, and that I was looking for what the options are as opposed to which is the best, which does have an answer and is not subjective.

If asking any "what can I use for x?" questions are off topic here, where does someone go to get those sorts of questions answered? I've spent roughly 10 hours searching for what options are out there, but I seem to always end up at dead links or something that doesn't meet my requirements.

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    \$\begingroup\$ As an experiment, I tried reframing this type of question a few days ago. My version doesn't yield a list of libraries as answers (which would quickly go out of date and become dead weight in our Q&A archive as technologies come and go), but it does give answers about how to pick a library to use (which remains accurate even when new libraries appear and old ones go away). Seems like this formulation of the question is less problematic for people. \$\endgroup\$
    – Trevor Powell
    Commented Feb 24, 2013 at 1:06

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I'm sympathetic to this issue. Often I'm in need of a good list of all the excellent resources on a topic. Sometimes that sort of question sneaks through the review process and, due to some quality answers, they inevitably end up getting bookmarked and become top voted questions. Some examples:

How do I get started making Android games? (64 votes)

2D Gaming Libraries/ Frameworks/ Engines for Android (40 votes)

What are typical pitfalls when writing games with a managed Language like C#? (53 votes)

And so on.

My feeling is, while we all encounter this sort of research issue from time to time, StackExchange can't become a provider of all services for all needs. In other words, we just have to bite the bullet and accept that the utility of a quality Q&A service that results from strictly enforced protocols outweighs not having a quality "discussion" area here.

Try reddit? :)

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I think you're right. Maybe a note should be added that these sort of questions will not be allowed in the future. \$\endgroup\$
    – Relequestual
    Commented Feb 21, 2013 at 10:27
  • \$\begingroup\$ Number of up votes does not indicate conformity to the standards of the site. It just means the question was easy to understand, or easy to answer. As list questions typically are since they don't take much thought to answer, understand or ask. \$\endgroup\$
    – House
    Commented Feb 22, 2013 at 21:03
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Byte56 I don't think we're saying different things here. My comment about such questions getting upvoted was really more of a sidenote observation. (I've been guilty of upvoting or bookmarking Q&A's like that when the subject matter is handy to me.) \$\endgroup\$
    – Cameron Fredman
    Commented Feb 22, 2013 at 21:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ @CameronFredman Yeah, I was pretty much agreeing with you and describing my reasoning for those questions having high up votes. \$\endgroup\$
    – House
    Commented Feb 22, 2013 at 21:26
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I would try the chat room or a forum somewhere.

Alternatively, loosen your requirements. If you've searched for "10 hours" and not found anything my guess is that there isn't anything out there (at least not with an active enough development community to make using it worth the risk), or you're being to stringent.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I think the problem is I didn't really know what to search for. I asked on twitter (again) and someone pointed me towards github.com/cocos2d/cocos2d-html5 which looks like what I needed. Never found that in my search results. \$\endgroup\$
    – Relequestual
    Commented Feb 21, 2013 at 10:26
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Gamedev.SE's FAQ has a whole section dealing with where this sort of question can be asked.

And I just realised that the 'direct-link-to-the-section' link that I've been using for the past few days doesn't actually take people directly to that section. :/

It's the "Where can I ask subjective discussion and other questions not fit for this site" section; the third section on the page.

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