The latest articles on DEV Community by Frank (@zentaolabs). https://dev.to/zentaolabs https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4238227%2F48478e3f-0534-4078-9e08-b840707f5cd6.png https://dev.to/zentaolabs en Frank Wed, 11 Nov 2026 03:39:06 +0000 https://dev.to/zentaolabs/building-a-no-ad-gate-catalogue-of-4000-osu-skins-5fd1 https://dev.to/zentaolabs/building-a-no-ad-gate-catalogue-of-4000-osu-skins-5fd1 <p>If you've ever looked for an osu! skin, you know the usual experience: a forum thread with a dead MediaFire link, a mirror site wrapped in three layers of ads, or a "download" button that turns out to be a link shortener. Finding out who actually made the skin is often harder than finding the skin itself.</p> <p>We built <a href="https://osuskins.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer">osuskins.org</a> to fix that for ourselves, and it now lists 4,124 skins.</p> <h2> What it does differently </h2> <p><strong>Ranked by real usage, not by clicks.</strong> Instead of sorting by page views, skins are ranked by how often they actually show up in replays rendered with o!rdr, the community replay renderer. That's a much better signal of what players really use than a like button.</p> <p><strong>Every creator credited.</strong> Each skin page names the skinner and links back to the original release. The catalogue points you to the source; it doesn't rehost other people's work as its own.</p> <p><strong>Dead links get checked.</strong> Download links are checked so you don't land on an expired file host.</p> <p><strong>No ad-gate, no login.</strong> You can browse, preview and jump straight to the original download without signing up or sitting through an ad wall.</p> <h2> Why we think this matters </h2> <p>Skins are a huge part of osu! culture, and skinners put a lot of work into them. A catalogue that sends traffic back to the creators, and that ranks skins by what people actually play with, felt like the right way to do it.</p> <p>If you play osu!, give it a try and tell us what's missing: <a href="https://osuskins.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer">osuskins.org</a>.</p> gamedev webdev showdev