New AGS Website

[SSH]

Hmm, what is this?  

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/Newsite/Games.aspx/Detail/332/Tall_man_from_Trilbys_Notes

Could not find it on the current website.

EDIT: The recent posts in "From the Forums" show threads that are off-limits.

Due to the way the voting script for the awards works there are some "games" in the DB that are actually the best supporting characters nominations... these are normally hidden!

[Ryan Timothy B]

I was thinking again about the ratings per game.  You have a variable or whatever the checks if a person has already rated a game, correct?  At least I don't believe you can rate more than once, or at least I haven't tried.  It would be cool if you could check for that when a person loads the individual game page, and have it say something like "You haven't rated this game yet, click here to rate this game.".  That would be really nice to have.

One thing I'm happy you've corrected was the image url.  When you were at the current games page (the old one), if you'd click the image it would send you to the enlarged image rather than going to the page for that game.  lol
Every single time I'm in that old games page, I always click the image because I can never seem to remember to click the title in white text.  Yes, I appear to be pretty dense. So thanks for not doing that with the new layout.

Also the new player rating being in cup format is quite wicked.  Thanks for adding that.  
I love seeing the new icons and cups now.  I get a smile going from one random game to the next, just from seeing those graphics.

[Darth Mandarb]

I took a deep look at the games page ... there has just been something about it that didn't jive with me.  I think it wasn't ... polished ... enough.  Not to dredge it up again with more revisions but we've come so far I felt like some more attention to detail was necessary.

I bounced a few ideas/layouts around and this was the one I settled on:


- added more "borders" to the content to separate it more and give it a more structured feel
- moved the download option below the screenshot
- moved the filesize/download count into the ratings/content area
- shifted the "welcome" text to a less stand-out area
- loved the "10 years making games" but it was hard to read so I did some work on that as well

[Ryan Timothy B]

I like it, yet I don't.

What happens if the game description is just simply: "It's a pirate game. Yo Ho".  You'll have a large section of white.
Things won't line up all that well with most games.

Some games don't have Genre or Content Advisory, so that would pop the game description up higher, unless it's in a separate table below the game info and picture.

You're also missing the Panel review, which is the second most important description for me.  I read it all the time.
I realize you fixed the '10 years making games' message, but I find it almost harder or maybe as equally as hard to read.  Perhaps a drop shadow instead of an outer glow?

I'll have to look at the other game page before coming up with any other ideas/suggestions.  I'll get back to ya, Darth.

Edit:
How does something like this look?


If a game doesn't have any awards, your right side would be very empty, or if the game description was very small, the left side would be very empty.
I figured this way, if the game doesn't have any trophies, the "this game was brought to you by" section could go back to 100% width.
Also the player rating on visuals and such seem like an important part of the games rating, so i figured somewhere up high would be best.

I like what you did with the rounded outlines instead of just empty rectangles as CJ had it.  I also really like the Download button being underneath of the game image.  It really stands out.

[GarageGothic]

A definite improvement, Darth. Still looks a bit too busy for my taste, but I realize there's a lot of information to fit in there, so there's no way around it. However, I think perhaps things could be grouped differently:

* The placement of the Download button seems awkward. I would expect it to be closer to the top, and also near where the file size is specified. Putting it right below the headline might also give some (in my opinion) needed spacing between the headline and the screenshot.

*The name in the "This game was brought to you by" box, will that always be a single name (individual or team name)? If so, I think it doesn't need a box of its own (it does need some space once you show the expanded credits, but I think not enough people will do this to make a separate box necessary. If the base information is always a single name, I think it could be moved up below the headline ("by Yada Yada Yada") or along with the genre and release date categories ("Developed by: Yada Yada Yada").

* I also second Ryan's suggestion that the panel review needs a prominent placement.

* The 'What did people think of this game' box may be a bit redundant - the summary could be done as a dropdown from the orange cup rating, and the 'vote' link could also be placed below that.

I realize you fixed the '10 years making games' message, but I find it almost harder or maybe as equally as hard to read.  Perhaps a drop shadow instead of an outer glow?

I keep reading it as '10 year olds making games' . I'm not too fond of the font, and the yellowish color clashes a bit with the orange on the rest of the site - too bright on the white background. A drop shadow could help I guess, I'm just afraid that it will dominate even more over the words 'Game Studio'.

[SSH]

WHY DOES DARTH RATE NELLY AS ONLY 3 CUPS. I DEMAND A RECOUNT!

Oh, sorry, wrong thread

[Darth Mandarb]

I'm big on symmetry so I like to keep things "in-line" ... so the way the "what do people think" is off in alignment with the screenshot box jumps out at me!  I think we're moving in the right direction though.  I restructured a bit, moved some stuff around, etc.


- cleaned up the "10 years..." part
- moved the "brought to you by" part under the [now] centered game title
- moved the screenshot/download to the left to balance the large white box on the right (originally had the download button above the screenshot(s) but just didn't feel right to me)
- changed "what do people think.." to "public opinion" (wasn't so long) and moved it under the rating/content stuff
- aligned the rest under them

I think this streamlines it a bit and better organizes the [great amount of] information

[GarageGothic]

Wow, me likes, a lot. I think the new organization of the screenshot, download links and file information on the left is brilliant, also the wider download button makes it harder to miss. I think the placement of the public opinion box is very fitting too. I think this time around you really managed to organize the info in order of importance.

Two minor aesthetic issues:

1) The yellow of the "Celebrating 10 Years of Game Making" banner still irks me. If orange doesn't look good I'd at least settle for a more golden finish to it than that the very bright yellow, which in my opinion cheapens the look of the site.

2) I'd much prefer the game title and credits to be left aligned than centered. Centered text, especially as the top item on the page, really disturbs the flow of reading when there's so much other text surrounding it and makes it even harder to identify the text field divisions.

Other than that, awesome work again, Darth. You've really aced this restyling of the AGS website.

[ThreeOhFour]

I think it looks great, but agree with this:

1) The yellow of the "Celebrating 10 Years of Game Making" banner still irks me. If orange doesn't look good I'd at least settle for a more golden finish to it than that the very bright yellow, which in my opinion cheapens the look of the site.

That yellow mixes with the blue in a way that is slightly reminiscent of the colour of bile 

[Layabout]

One thing I don't like from a user interface standpoint is the find games selection. Tabular list is pretty unhelpful in both wording and function. Perhaps 'categories' would be better, and allow people to list 'all' or by certain selectable criteria.

In addition, having the panel rating cup and not both panel and user cups on the list is a bit pretentious in my opinion. The user rating should not be disregarded at all, as this is many peoples opinions over just one.

One more thing, would it be possible to include a way of 'people who downloaded this also downloaded these...' much like on amazon or something similar. Another possiblility would be 'if you enjoyed this, you may also enjoy...' This would be a cool little feature if it were implemented.

But I love the design. Very swish.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

How about placing the public opinion percentages as a tooltip when you mouseover the player score?  They're a part of the player score, anyway.

That would leave that public opinion area perfect for listing any/all rewards as a series of same-size graphics.  And how about restructuring the 'play games' frame to be horizontal rather than vertical and having it either above (or below) the game entry?  Right now there's a big chunk of wasted vertical space there that could be avoided by doing this and also give you more room to align the different game page elements.

[GarageGothic]

As for reserving the "public opinion" area for awards, keep in mind that the majority of games don't have a single award, and most of those who do only a single nomination/award.

[Darth Mandarb]

1) The yellow of the "Celebrating 10 Years of Game Making" banner still irks me. If orange doesn't look good I'd at least settle for a more golden finish to it than that the very bright yellow, which in my opinion cheapens the look of the site.

That yellow mixes with the blue in a way that is slightly reminiscent of the colour of bile

Yeah ... I struggled with that a bit.  To be honest I don't really like it overlapping like that anyway.  I'll mess around with it a bit more this evening (at work right now and the development file is on my laptop at home)  There's plenty of room up there to do something a little more ... catchy ... with it I think.

2) I'd much prefer the game title and credits to be left aligned than centered. Centered text, especially as the top item on the page, really disturbs the flow of reading when there's so much other text surrounding it and makes it even harder to identify the text field divisions.

I'm glad you said that!  I originally kept it left-aligned and was going back and forth on it.  I ended on this to try and tie in the centered logo/nav up above it but you're right.  I think it's better suited to the left.  As with the above, I'll tweak it tonight!

[Ryan Timothy B]

Darth, I believe you've done it.

I disagree that the public opinion should be hidden.  It's the only thing that tells you what to expect in the game, other than the cup scores, and the review.  I think it should stay visible like that.  Just as long as whoever makes it in web format makes it so that if the content advisory or whatever isn't visible on some games, that the public opinion always stays aligned to the bottom of the screenshot frame.

The only thing that needs to be changed, is the text visibility of the "Download This Game" button.  It has very tiny spacing and tiny holes/gaps in the letters themselves.  It needs a different font, and possibly a darker blue drop shadow.

The total downloads perhaps would be best if it was written in a sentence without the bold number count.  Like: "Downloaded 19,670 times."  Because having it in the same format as the size of the file is really distracting.  Makes it seem like the download count matters for something.

Anyway, this layout is great.

Edit:
Hopefully the "See the people on the team and other games they've worked on" will pop up a small window instead of doing the drop down.  Otherwise it would destroy the layout in that position.

[Snarky]

This looks really nice, Darth!

I think the best way to do the credits would be to just put the main name below the title, like so:

Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy!
by Alasdair Beckett

And then have the more complete credits further down, like in Ryan's edit, but expanded from the start.

Also, why does it need to say "Celebrating 10 years of Game Making" anyway? Doesn't really seem like something anyone else would care about, and it's hardly the most compelling "selling point" for AGS. But the logo is just a placeholder anyway, right?

[cat]

What I am totally missing is an about page. If a new user comes to the site he is on the first page confronted with pictures of the engine and game screenshots but nowhere is written "AGS is an engine for adventure games". There should be quick access to some kind of faq what this site is actually about.

[Ryan Timothy B]

But it says it right on the front page?

Think you've got what it takes?

Adventure Game Studio provides the tools to make your own adventure, for free! Bring your story and artwork and slot it in, and let AGS do the rest.

AGS provides everything you need from within one easy-to-use application. Create, test and debug your game, all in one place. Why wait? Get cracking on your first game now!

[cat]

Oh, ok, so I was probably referring to some old version of the front page. Hard to keep up to date with all the progress. Keep up the good work!

[Darth Mandarb]

Also, why does it need to say "Celebrating 10 years of Game Making" anyway? Doesn't really seem like something anyone else would care about, and it's hardly the most compelling "selling point" for AGS. But the logo is just a placeholder anyway, right?

I think it's nice to have something that says "celebrating 10 years" but maybe not so prominent?  Just not attached to the logo like that.  I have an idea I'll mock-up later tonight.

As for the logo ... I was kind of hoping that this wasn't the final, FINAL version.  I was never really crazy about the character sticking off the side of it.  I don't dislike the character, just personal preference I'd like just the blue cup next to the logo.  ProgZ, do you have a version of your cup (larger) that is used in the ratings?

I don't dislike the font of the logo but between the logo, the sub-logo, the headers, the nav, the buttons, and the site content/links we're starting to get a little font-crazy with this.  I'm probably one of a very small percentage that would be bothered by this though

[Ryan Timothy B]

ProgZ, do you have a version of your cup (larger) that is used in the ratings?

This is the biggest one that progz had made.

Now are you talking about this pixel art cup?  Or the one that I made by tweaking progz pixel art cup?
Because the size that is there for the shiny blue cup ratings is the biggest I made.  I could possibly resize it if that is what you were asking for (I keep all my photoshop layered files, in case anyone needs them, especially CJ).