You know how I originally wanted to bring back the old Barbie.com, with its pages, games, and all those little details we used to love? Well, I still do! And that's exactly what I'm working towards. But I've been thinking... why should we have to wait for the entire website to be finished before we can have a little fun?
So I've decided to do something slightly different in the meantime.
I'm preparing a small, temporary games page where you'll be able to play some old Barbie games while the main revival is still being developed!
Nothing too fancy just yet. Think of it as a little waiting room, except instead of sitting around waiting, we get to play Barbie games. Which sounds like a much better arrangement to me!
Now, I should probably explain something about the games I've been choosing.
If you're expecting the most famous Barbie games to appear first, you might find my selection a little... random.
And that's because it actually is!
I've been recovering games from different places, looking through archived files, and trying to figure out which ones still have enough of their original content to work.
Some games are surprisingly well preserved, with most of their files still intact. Others are missing images, sounds, or important pieces that make them much harder to restore.
So rather than starting with a specific list of favorites, I've mostly been working with whatever I could recover in the best condition.
Basically, the games have been choosing themselves!
It's been a funny process, honestly. I'll go looking for one particular game, end up finding files for something completely different, and suddenly that's what I'm working on for the rest of the day.
But I kind of like it that way. Every now and then I come across something I had completely forgotten existed, and it feels like finding a tiny piece of my childhood hiding in an old folder.
Okay, enough talking. Here's a little sneak peek!
These are some of the games and activities I'm hoping to include in the first version of the temporary page.
Do you recognize any of them? Because looking at all these little thumbnails together immediately reminded me of scrolling through the old Barbie.com games section, trying to decide what to play next.
I have to admit, seeing names like Tutu Star, Rock 'n Harmony, Sparkle Chain, and Diary Maker again makes me ridiculously happy.
And there are a few other familiar faces in there too! I wonder how many of these you actually remember playing.
I still need to test things, fix a few problems, and make sure the games can actually be played properly. Some are being much more cooperative than others!
So, what will this temporary page actually look like?
My plan is to keep it pretty simple. A little place where you can browse the available games, choose something you remember, and play directly on the website.
It won't be the full Barbie.com experience yet, and I don't want to pretend that it is. That part of the project needs a lot more time, especially because I'm trying to recreate the original website as faithfully as I can.
For now, I'd rather have a smaller page that actually works than a huge collection of pretty thumbnails that lead nowhere.
And hopefully, once the first games are available, I can gradually add more as I recover and test them.
The temporary page is just a starting point. The bigger dream is still very much alive!
There's one more thing I'd really love your help with.
Which game from the picture would you want to play first?
I'm genuinely curious! Maybe one of these was your absolute favorite, or maybe there's another game you remember that isn't in the picture at all.
Tell me in the comments! I love hearing about the games other people remember, especially the really obscure ones that seem to have disappeared from the internet.
And if you know someone who used to spend their afternoons playing on Barbie.com, feel free to share this little update with them.
I'll keep posting news here on the blog as things progress, including when the temporary games page is ready to open.
I can't wait to finally have something you can all explore and play with, even if it's just a tiny beginning.
That's all for today, girls! Back to digging through old Barbie files for me...
See you in the next update! ♡