Thoughts on the forum's new layout?

[Yuoaman]

I was wondering what others who frequent the Game Development forum think about the recent changes made to its layout?

For myself, I am all for the change, as it is far more professional and organizes topics a lot more neatly than the previous layout.

EDIT: If you vote in the poll, be sure to post your reasons for why.

 

[davidthefat]

I like, but the design section will get flooded as always, and I think the the showcase should split into progressing/developing games and another section of finished games... not just beta, also a section in graphics and art just for games (not the art section, sole purpose is for games) and game physics, game AI, and game audio sections, they are so broad topics that need attention, but 1 giant thread wont cut it

You can also argue POKEMON games dont need to focus on AI or Physics, you got to think, this is a forum on GAME development, not POKEMON GAME development, HUGE difference... HUGE


edit: also a Game review section would be great, I mean for the completed ones.

 

[~JV~]

I like, but the design section will get flooded as always, and I think the the showcase should split into progressing/developing games and another section of finished games... not just beta, also a section in graphics and art just for games (not the art section, sole purpose is for games) and game physics, game AI, and game audio sections, they are so broad topics that need attention, but 1 giant thread wont cut it

You can also argue POKEMON games dont need to focus on AI or Physics, you got to think, this is a forum on GAME development, not POKEMON GAME development, HUGE difference... HUGE


edit: also a Game review section would be great, I mean for the completed ones.

Hmm I agree about the part of splitting the showcase, but not a new section for completed games, since there is erh only one. I'm all for that because I think there is still a HUGE difference in quality between various games there.

 

[Yuoaman]

I like, but the design section will get flooded as always, and I think the the showcase should split into progressing/developing games and another section of finished games... not just beta, also a section in graphics and art just for games (not the art section, sole purpose is for games) and game physics, game AI, and game audio sections, they are so broad topics that need attention, but 1 giant thread wont cut it

You can also argue POKEMON games dont need to focus on AI or Physics, you got to think, this is a forum on GAME development, not POKEMON GAME development, HUGE difference... HUGE


edit: also a Game review section would be great, I mean for the completed ones.

All valid points, but you have to consider the size of the community, with the small user base that we have probably end up with several topics spread thin throughout the forum, while the current layout compresses several of those more specialized sections into one larger one.

And, GDW could always be used for reviews. :P

 

[davidthefat]

All valid points, but you have to consider the size of the community, with the small user base that we have probably end up with several topics spread thin throughout the forum, while the current layout compresses several of those more specialized sections into one larger one.

And, GDW could always be used for reviews. :P

I thought this community was big, just lots and lots of lurkers that never post... I see around 500 users online at any given moment. Even more than https://forums.xna.com/forums/ which is the Xbox Live developing community



this site is ranked 290 on big board, LOL thats pretty high... I post on Bodybuilding.com, which is #21, it updates everytime I refresh the board, thats why I have a habit of posting on like every thread I see...

 

[|Maximus|]

Hmm I agree about the part of splitting the showcase, but not a new section for completed games, since there is erh only one. I'm all for that because I think there is still a HUGE difference in quality between various games there.

Actually, there is two. Venom12 released his Crystal Rain about a week or two after Raptor did.

But yeah, once there is more finished games, there shouldnt be a completed games section.

 

[~JV~]

I thought this community was big, just lots and lots of lurkers that never post... I see around 500 users online at any given moment. Even more than https://forums.xna.com/forums/ which is the Xbox Live developing community



this site is ranked 290 on big board, LOL thats pretty high... I post on Bodybuilding.com, which is #21, it updates everytime I refresh the board, thats why I have a habit of posting on like every thread I see...

POkecommunity is a pretty big site, but the game development is small you know, there are normally only 15 users at a time here =/, even less...

 

[Avatar]

I like, but the design section will get flooded as always

The Drawing Board has thread approval activated like The Showcase, which means that we (the moderators) will review the threads before they show up in the section.
This helps keep the poorly written threads at a minimum.

and I think the the showcase should split into progressing/developing games and another section of finished games... not just beta

Unless we see a huge amount of completed games within the next few months then this won't happen.

also a section in graphics and art just for games (not the art section, sole purpose is for games) and game physics, game AI, and game audio sections, they are so broad topics that need attention, but 1 giant thread wont cut it

Not enough demand for this. Won't happen.

edit: also a Game review section would be great, I mean for the completed ones.

See above.

 

[Alexandre]

The new design makes it all very organized, but I thought there was going to be a tools section like the tools sub forum in the ROM hacking section.

 

[Avatar]

The Resource Center serves that purpose as highlighted in its description.

 

[Maruno]

I would suggest that the Showcase and Drawing Board be repurposed into three sections:

• Drawing Board - For any random ideas people have about games. For game projects that haven't yet been started on, or have very little work done on them. Where all games start.
• Progressing Games - For games which show significant progress (subjective, but I think the guideline of a few in-game screenshots and a good plot might work). Requires thread approval.
• Showcase - For the best games around. This doesn't mean completed games, though - just because the author has finished with it doesn't make it great. Has tougher requirements (possibly requires a demo), and some kind of vote/nomination to be taken to decide whether to move a game into here.

It's a kind of ranking system. Random idea -> progress -> great game. The only problems I see here are spamming to try to get a game bumped into the top tier, and people being upset that their game is refused entry to the top tier.

 

[Wichu]

So basically, you want to copy the ROM Hacking area, which is also reorganising soon (as the above scheme didn't work too well)?

 

[Neo-Dragon]

I don't want us to be too similar to the hack section. I made that very clear to Avatar and he agrees. So that won't happen with us spliting up the showcase.

So generally, if your thread is already in The Showcase before the change, your fine, but if you see a new project in there, you can assume that a Mod thought that game is really good and will amount to something.

Moderation is also on in The Drawing Board, and if you look at the rules for the Drawing Board you'll notice that it's like the old Game Showcase section, so you'll see some good projects in there rather then just threads with a few lines of text like the old plot and idea space.

This revamp will hopefully increase the quality of the threads you read here. That's the aim.

 

[Wichu]

If the Drawing Board is like the old Showcase, shouldn't we also have a thread for plot and story ideas (i.e. like the old forum, but as a single thread)? There's nowhere for people to get feedback on early ideas anymore.

 

[Maruno]

So basically, you want to copy the ROM Hacking area, which is also reorganising soon (as the above scheme didn't work too well)?

I don't know what the Hacking area looks like. Why didn't its layout work that well?

 

[Wichu]

It was like (well, still is, but not for long) this:
Scrapbox
Progressing Hacks
Hacks Showcase
The Scrapbox ended up being flooded with horrible hack ideas that weren't going to get anywhere (most of the time). See this post for more info.
So now, it looks like the hacking section and this section are going to be pretty similar (one showcase forum, and one for games which don't have quite enough progress made quite yet, but are pretty advanced already).

 

[Maruno]

It was like (well, still is, but not for long) this:
Scrapbox
Progressing Hacks
Hacks Showcase
The Scrapbox ended up being flooded with horrible hack ideas that weren't going to get anywhere (most of the time). See this post for more info.
So now, it looks like the hacking section and this section are going to be pretty similar (one showcase forum, and one for games which don't have quite enough progress made quite yet, but are pretty advanced already).

So much for wanting the two to be different, then.

If the Drawing Board is like the old Showcase, shouldn't we also have a thread for plot and story ideas (i.e. like the old forum, but as a single thread)? There's nowhere for people to get feedback on early ideas anymore.

This is really what I was thinking of when I suggested the "random ideas" place. There should be a place for them. But I'm not convinced a single thread would be the best way to handle it (several ideas can be overlooked/ignored, like some questions are in the Essentials thread, etc.), and if a discussion pops up about a particular idea, it'll either dominate everything else or be lost amongst the others.

Perhaps threads for different idea aspects? Plot, pokémon, interface, etc. This sounds more like an idea free-for-all now, but perhaps it'd work? I'd imagine they'd get more traffic than the average game thread, so there'd be more possible feedback on the "what do you think of X control system?" thoughts. I suppose these threads would be more of a showcase for individual aspects of a game, rather than a game as a whole. A kind of spare parts box for random ideas, if you will (assuming people can be nice enough to not hog them all to themselves, and put them up to help inspire others). And themed threads would mean any discussions are at least vaguely relevant to other ideas in them.

I just can't decide whether they would be redundant or not, given anyone with a game thread already would probably want to use that for their ideas instead. But then, as far as I can tell the game threads are only used for announcing new features rather than discussing them with a view of developing them. It seems they're not so much a community thing as a Q&A. I don't recall any game thread asking a question like: "What would you think if I did this?"

I'm rambling. You've probably noticed.

 

[Involuntary Twitch]

I propose we make a section for game/team requests, so as to have a legitimate place to put all the "pokemon xyz version NEED TEAM/SPRITERS/SCRIPTERS" threads that fill up the main area currently. Yeah, I know we already have a team recruitment thread, but this would be a good place for people to propose their fruitless projects so that we may ignore them. ;D

Also, for graphics requests. "Hi guys, I have a project that's under work, but you see I'm no good with graphics and I really really need a titlescreen/set of overworlds/banner for my game/this one fakemon sprite/etc." It'd be a good opportunity for people of diverse talents to contribute to the community.

 

[KingCharizard]

I Gotta be honest the forum doesn't really seem to have changed to me it is still basically the same with a few new forums... Gotta say I liked the layout b4

 

[Neo-Dragon]

The Scrapbox ended up being flooded with horrible hack ideas that weren't going to get anywhere (most of the time).

That is why we don't have a forum for early ideas.
The plot and idea space was flooded with bad threads. It got to the point where me and Avatar found it hard to sort out the junk from something worth while.