About the project
Console Plays is my own gaming web project that I am building from scratch while publicly documenting its development.
The original idea was a simple retro game catalog, but the project gradually became much broader. Today Console Plays combines a game database, guides, videos, Shorts and search-oriented content.
For me, it is more than just a gaming website. It is a public case study where I can document the entire process of building and growing a real web project.
What's inside Console Plays
The project is gradually developing around several areas:
- classic and modern game catalog;
- individual game pages;
- platforms and genres;
- guides and puzzle solutions;
- short videos and YouTube Shorts;
- full gameplay videos;
- search;
- SEO landing pages;
- custom content management system.
Content is added gradually as the project itself develops.
Custom CMS
Console Plays does not use an off-the-shelf CMS.
The website runs on a lightweight custom engine built with PHP and SQLite.
The admin panel manages games, platforms, guides, videos and other parts of the website without requiring manual page editing.
This gives me the freedom to change the structure as the project evolves.
YouTube as part of the project
YouTube is another important part of Console Plays.
Video is not treated simply as an additional traffic source. It is integrated directly into the website and its content strategy.
A single game can gradually receive:
- a catalog page;
- screenshots;
- Shorts;
- gameplay videos;
- guides;
- additional search content.
This allows one subject to work across several different content formats.
SEO and analytics
The website is connected to Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
I monitor indexing, organic search traffic, YouTube referrals and user behavior.
The goal is to see whether a small independent project can gradually build sustainable organic traffic.
Why I am building it
Console Plays is simultaneously a web project, a hobby and a practical experiment.
I want to go through the entire process myself:
idea → development → content → YouTube → SEO → traffic → monetization.
Without a large team or a large starting budget.
I document the results, mistakes and changes on Vakilovich.
