RetroHub 🎮

RetroHub is a browser-based retro gaming platform built with PHP, MySQL, and vanilla HTML/CSS/JS. It lets players browse classic-console libraries, launch games directly in the browser, and gives admins a dashboard to manage consoles, ROMs, users, and inbound messages.

What’s Inside

• 🚀 Landing & marketing pages (index.html, about.html, support.html) with CTA to browse/login.
• 🕹️ Authenticated game library (library.php + library.html) that lists consoles/games from MySQL.
• ▶️ In-browser play view (play.php) that loads ROMs via JS emulator (js/nds-emulator.js) with touch controls for mobile.
• 🔐 User auth (login.php, config/user_auth.php) with session-based access control and redirect-after-login.
• 🛠️ Admin panel (admin/*) for dashboards, games/consoles/users CRUD, ROM/image upload, newsletters, and contact-message triage.
• 🗄️ MySQL schema & seed data (database.sql) with default consoles and an admin user.

Quick Start

Step	Action
1️⃣	Install PHP 8+, MySQL 5.7+/8+, and a web server (Apache via XAMPP/LAMP/WAMP).
2️⃣	Create database: CREATE DATABASE retrohub; then import database.sql.
3️⃣	Configure DB creds in config/database.php (defaults: host localhost, db retrohub, user root, pass empty).
4️⃣	Place the repo in your web root (e.g., htdocs/RT) and ensure PHP can write to uploads/ and uploads/covers/.
5️⃣	Browse to http://localhost/RT/index.html (public site) or http://localhost/RT/login.php (user login).
6️⃣	Admin portal: http://localhost/RT/admin/ (default login admin / admin123 from database.sql — change immediately).

Directory Map

RT/
├─ admin/             # Admin dashboard (games, consoles, users, uploads, messages)
├─ config/            # DB connection + auth helpers
├─ css/, js/          # Front-end styling and behavior
├─ images/, uploads/  # Assets and uploaded covers/ROMs
├─ *.html / *.php     # Public pages (home, about, support, library, play)
└─ database.sql       # Schema + seed data (consoles, default admin)

Key Flows

• User login → library → play: login.php sets session → library.php (requires login) fetches consoles/games → play.php loads ROM (roms/<file>) into the JS emulator with keyboard + touch controls.
• Admin management: admin/index.php (login) → dashboard.php shows stats, top/recent games, unread messages → navigate to games/consoles/users CRUD, ROM/image uploads (upload.php, upload_image.php), newsletter, and settings.
• Contact/newsletter: Public forms post to process_contact.php / process_newsletter.php; admins read/respond in admin/messages.php and admin/newsletter.php.

Database Snapshot

• consoles — catalog of supported systems (name, short_code, release_year, metadata).
• games — title, console_id, rom file path, cover, metadata (genre, region, rating, play_count, featured flag).
• users — auth table with is_admin and last_login.
• game_saves — user save data blobs (per game).
• Seeded data: 6 sample consoles + default admin (admin / admin123, hashed in SQL).

Configuration Notes

• Update DB credentials in config/database.php.
• Session helpers:
  • Admin: config/auth.php (isAdmin(), requireAdmin(), logout()).
  • User: config/user_auth.php (isLoggedIn(), requireLogin(), redirect preservation).
• ROMs/Covers:
  • Default ROM fetch path in play.php: roms/<rom_file>; ensure files exist and are web-readable.
  • Uploaded covers/ROMs land under uploads/ and uploads/covers/ (ensure write perms).

Running Locally (example: XAMPP on Windows)

1. Copy repo to C:\xampp\htdocs\RT.
2. Start Apache + MySQL in XAMPP.
3. Import database.sql into MySQL (e.g., via phpMyAdmin or mysql -u root retrohub < database.sql).
4. Visit http://localhost/RT/index.html.

Security & Production Hardening

• 🔑 Change the default admin password immediately after import.
• 🔒 Set a strong MySQL user/password and update config/database.php.
• 🧹 Validate ROM uploads and limit allowed types/sizes in admin/upload.php and related handlers.
• 🛡️ Serve over HTTPS; set secure cookies and sane session lifetimes for production.
• 📜 Respect licensing: only host ROMs you are legally permitted to distribute/use.

Troubleshooting

• Blank page / DB errors: Check credentials in config/database.php; confirm DB is running and retrohub exists.
• 404 on ROM load: Verify files under roms/ (or uploads/) match the games.file_path/rom_file fields.
• Permission denied on upload: Grant webserver write access to uploads/ and uploads/covers/.
• Stuck redirect to login: Session may be missing; ensure cookies are enabled and PHP sessions are writable.

Roadmap Ideas

• Cloud/object storage for ROMs and covers.
• Role-based permissions (moderators vs. admins).
• Better game search/filtering + ratings/reviews.
• Multi-console emulator support beyond NDS/PS2/PSP/SNES.

Acknowledgements

• Built for educational purposes; honors the preservation spirit of retro gaming.
• Front-end styling uses Bootstrap 5 + Font Awesome; animations via AOS.