A Small Request.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Tue 02/08/2011 08:50:01

As some of you may know, for awhile now I've been trying to put the finishing touches on my website and it has been, to say the least, a rocky road. Some of the features I wanted proved unrealistic while others just time consuming, though the site in general is very very near the finish line. And I need your help.

No, I don't need any money, just a bit of your time to read the news post on my site and a few encouraging words for my web guy Paul, if you would. He's one of those guys who has very low motivation and needs reinforcement every so often, so help me get him back in action so I can finally call this fucking albatross I've created complete and focus on what I really want to do: make games!

http://www.pixelgeddon.com/

And then, if you like, please join the forum. The first 5 to register a new account (no Vince, you can't register another account just to get in on this! ) and send me a PM asking for '1337 access' will be upgraded to have immediate access to a growing store of hidden content about some of my secret projects, unreleased betas and even insider stories and bloopers. Note: I'm not farming for accounts, this is just my way of rewarding some of you for being good sports and helping me to motivate Paul to action.

Thanks!

Babar · Tue 02/08/2011 10:03:21

Heh...turns out I've been a member since Oct 2009. At least it's been spruced up a bit since then...

Wyz · Tue 02/08/2011 12:52:08

Jeez, that quiz was brutal: What do we exhale? I had to try 5 different things before I got it right.

Sam. · Tue 02/08/2011 13:11:18

What 5 did you try?

Ponch · Tue 02/08/2011 19:17:38

I tried to leave a comment on the front page (the news pop-up), but got an error when I tried to post. Looks like a nice site, but that font is a bit hard to read.

Tabata · Tue 02/08/2011 19:47:07

Same happened to me

tzachs · Tue 02/08/2011 22:27:35

Same here...

What I wrote was:

Wow, this is a really good looking website!
I'm impressed...

The error I got was:

You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'm impressed...','293','10')' at line 3

Looks good though...

arj0n · Tue 02/08/2011 22:37:28

I had no problem posting a comment at the Pixelgeddon News popup page at 08-02-2011 01:09AM.

Tabata · Tue 02/08/2011 22:58:52

This is, how it looks for me including the error, when I try to submit a comment $:-\$

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Wed 03/08/2011 00:11:03

Weird error, I'll have to file that along with all the other weird things that happen randomly with different browsers. BTW, the site should be 100% vetted for Firefox, Internet Exploder, and (I think) Chrome. I'm not so sure about Opera; the last time I had a look it was forcing all the fonts to be some weird large-scaled default.

It's good in a way that this came up now since comments haven't been thoroughly tested, so I'll be sure and pass this information along to Paul (along with your encouragement). I'm sure it's something fairly minor on our end.

For those of you unable to leave a comment, would you please:

1. Send me a pm with the error message, if any, and the browser you're using.

Also, if you're not seeing a smallish, custom font, could you also let me know what browser you're using? I thought we had actually ironed this one out but it appears not from Tabata's screenshot.

For now, if you have firefox I recommend using that as that is what we have tested most extensively with, along with IE.

Thanks again!

Armageddon · Wed 03/08/2011 01:29:10

I don't know the first thing about making a website but you're looks cool. How do you make wide pixel art? do you just do it by hand and hope you don't mess up? Or sue a certain program that restricts color and automatically makes two pixel wide pixels?

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Wed 03/08/2011 01:51:37

The program I use allows you to draw with a brush, so what I do is make a two-pixel wide brush and then set the screen grid to draw in increments of 2 horizontal to 1 vertical, this allows me to create the double-wide c-64 look without extreme effort.

Peder 🚀 · Wed 03/08/2011 03:01:34

The reason for this error is VERY simple.

Quote from: tzachs on Tue 02/08/2011 22:27:35
You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'm impressed...','293','10')' at line 3

As you can see it tells you there is an error near "m impressed..." so clearly the comment script doesn't like the apostrophe ('). Should not be hard to fix..

monkey0506 · Wed 03/08/2011 05:58:48

Yes, you should always be encoding user comments and such when working with MySQL. I believe there are PHP functions like "addslashes" (for inserting it into the database) and "stripslashes" (when reading and displaying it from the database) or something, or you could use "urlencode" and "urldecode" or various other options, but you should never pass raw user input into a MySQL database. That's how people inject things and steal your other user's data! :o

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Wed 03/08/2011 06:12:08

Peder setup the base comment system, but it has not really been tested up to now so there's really no need to fearmonger or worry. Paul designs security software for a living so I have no doubt that since he has a reason to look at the comments he'll make them secure. Thanks for bringing this error to my attention! An unexpected bonus!

Also, there is (1) more forum slot available if someone wants to send me a pm on the forums after leaving a comment (just don't use apostrophes for now).

Oh, and I'll be fixing the missing @ symbol in the font and improving it as I go. For those of you who have difficulty reading it, are there specific letters you're having trouble with, or is it just too small generally? I'm viewing the site at 1600x1200 and can read it all perfectly, but then I've also been staring at it for two years. Shit, maybe I'll just setup a CL thread with some different fonts and let you guys pick the nicest one, though that will have to wait awhile.

Also, I've confirmed that the font displays properly in IE with compatibility mode on, Firefox, Chrome, and Opera, though for some reason both Firefox and Opera apply a slight filter to the font, smoothing it and reducing some of the crispness. I've been looking through google for a way to turn this effect off but haven't found anything yet, so that may help with readability for some people as well when I do.

monkey0506 · Wed 03/08/2011 06:18:26

I wasn't trying to be a "fearmonger", I was just explaining the most common reason for that error. It's actually something that a lot of people forget about. I didn't mean to imply anything by it.

I can't comment on the page because my phone reception is too spotty for me to view it on the PC (data tethering), and my phone screen is too small to really be useful in critiquing anything like that.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Wed 03/08/2011 06:26:04

No worries, and I appreciate the heads-up. As I said, Paul knows this stuff (so I don't have to

), giving me time to focus on the site aesthetic and functionality.

Thanks again for the help so far, you've already surpassed my expectations!

voh · Thu 04/08/2011 01:20:56

The escaping of the apostrophes is fixed, though they still need to be taken out when showing the comments.

But srsly, I love it, and yes, it works fine in Opera 11.50 (looks the same as in Chrome 12.0.742.122 and Firefox 5.0).

Doesn't display properly in IE9, however :/ Without compatibility mode, the font doesn't show. With compatibility mode, I get two scrollbars, of which one constantly flickers. I can make a screenshot if you want it.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Thu 04/08/2011 07:37:02

I know about the IE issue with/without compatibility. I'm not really sure what the deal with it is since it worked fine up until the last few IE updates, though. ;(.

Glad you like the site, though!

And all 5 insider forum accounts have been awarded, so if you wanted to see some of the internal stuff going on with my games you'll have to make a regular forum account and work your way up!

Thanks again for the help, guys and gals.