New AGS Website

[markbilly]

I couldn't disagree more. It is never a good idea to make things difficult for people. It is just as likely that the site having all the flaws you suggest has filtered out some incredible talent.

Also, your view seems very elitist. Surely we want to encourage people who are struggling to come and get advice and improve?

[Darius Poyer]

Its food for thought, im entertaining the idea and ultimately perhaps ill change my mind. Its nothing i feel very strongly about either but i liked the notion and wanted to project it.

It might be considered elitist but really im just saying that there are people attracted to flash like magpies and having a barrier would save it from instant-gratification types.

Its also the idea that the barrier has upped the class for this forum, allot of good people are here but perhaps im wrong there too, perhaps people of a certain type are drawn to the simple notion of creating and playing adventure games. if that is true then barrier or not, nothing will change.

but like i said, its food for thought mainly.

[Atelier]

I have an inkling to agree with Darius - but then again, I agree with markbilly. The forums should be given more notification, and encourage visitors and AGSers alike to post. I'm pretty sure there's a large proportion of people who've downloaded AGS but have no idea there's this forum here.

On the other hand, I don't think a free-for-all forum should be encouraged. It's pretty tucked away, so if people take their time then they'll post respectably when they feel like it.

[CTxCB]

Ok, so after the previous thread was *ahem* accidentally deleted *ahem*, it's time for a new one.

So, here is the current mockup site:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/newsite/Home.aspx
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/newsite/AGS.aspx
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/newsite/AGS.aspx/Forums
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/newsite/News.aspx

Current discussion was mainly about the top banner image and proposals for replacement images.

Current status:
* Need replacement "Help and Support" graphic for the right-hand column on hte About page
* Need replacement "On the forums" image for the right-hand column of the main page, to replace the cogs with something more forum-related
* Need to decide what to put in the right hand pane on the News page

Can I just Report an Error on the site, in the AGS Section, the Link for SCI Studio Should be Removed, this is also the same for the Main AGS Site in Resources, SCI Studio's Website links nowhere now...

[cosmicr]

I got bored the other day and mocked this up. Its just an idea, not really looking to change the current design but thought someone might like to see it;


View at EasyCaptures.com

The idea was to remove as much as the superfluous info as possible, whilst making it simple and easy to get to where you want to go. The design was heavily inspired by http://www.getfirefox.com

A first time user will want to know what AGS is, or more specifically download AGS, so the link is right there. If they want to know more, the next two links are 'features' and 'download'.

The 'what is ags' section could also be expanded to include 1 or 2 screenshots floating left and right along with the description if necessary.

Someone familiar will want to see games and screenshots, which is why the games showcase will be presented as a timed delay slide show, which the user can loop through using the arrow buttons each side. Clicking the screenshot of course will bring up the games page for that game.

Also at the top of the page is a direct link to the forums, and the games page.

Lastly, current news is shown in a slightly different format.

I reduced the number of fonts to two - Georgia and Franklin Gothic.  I've also limited the font sizes to the default html 4.01 sizes (ie normal, h1, h2, h3)

Wit the logo I was trying to think about how to make the words represent their meaning. I looked up a lot of old adventure movie posters and the popping out main title with the red-orange gradient was popular (eg indiana jones, back to the future, etc), at the same time the fact that its a 'game studio' cant be ignored so I kept that in focus but with a more 'serious' font (ie with serifs) to show that this is more than just an adventure.

I really struggled to think of a decent backdrop, and was still unhappy with the one I used. I wanted to make the top part a montage of AGS scenes and characters with a blue tinge over them, fading to white, but didnt wanna stuff around too much.

The footer I also wanted to make sure the 'big blue cup' wasnt forgotten, and had the intention of rendering the top of a blue cup in 3d in blender but used the image shown that I found on the web.

[Dualnames]

My profile seems to you know cause that weird thing. I want to name the both game I'm going to release as Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and not use an acronym, but you can see that it's hiding the text.

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?action=profile;u=3199

Same happens with Vince. So I'm wondering will this be fixed on the new website? I'd really appreciate it if it was.

[Atelier]

Question: Will the forums change format as well?

[Pumaman]

I really like this mock-up for the Detail page Darth, nice one! I'll see if I can update the test site to match this new design.

[RickJ]

While doing some research for pythonic web hosting I popped into the SMF forum site and saw this portal mod that allows integration of forum and website.   Thought it may be of some interest to the folks following this discussion even if it's not appropriate or helpful with respect to the new website.

http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=1419

[m0ds]

One quick question, will the new design feature perhaps an expandable list of games recently commented on? Checking out new comments is something I do regularly, but only 5 seems a bit limited.

[SSH]

An RSS/Atom feed of all game comments would  be cool. Similarly for PoTM, committee ratings, etc.

[SinSin]

In relation to Darth's mock-up
Is there any way that the comments section at the base could be made to like a book whereas you turn the pages to read more comments, just a thought or is that too flash?

also I think that the team involved is being overlooked here, I kinda dont like the fact that the team can only be viewed thru a link ..

[Ryan Timothy B]

also I think that the team involved is being overlooked here, I kinda dont like the fact that the team can only be viewed thru a link ..

Yes, I agree with that.  I was the one who suggested to CJ to have the names expandable, but I meant for the individual works per name to be collapsed instead of all of them.  But I don't know enough about that collapsing and expanding code to know if it's a big pain in the arse to implement.
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=37297.msg521845#msg521845

But in games like that (A tale of two kingdoms) shown there can be a pretty massive list, which is why I understand the entire thing being collapsed.  Argh.  It's a tough call because it can make the vertical height quite large.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

You could always limit it to some maximum y size and add a scrollbar so people can look up and down through the contributors.

[Pumaman]

One quick question, will the new design feature perhaps an expandable list of games recently commented on? Checking out new comments is something I do regularly, but only 5 seems a bit limited.

Not sure about this, some people seem to think the Recent Comments shouldn't be featured at all, others want a bigger list. Maybe an expandable list is the answer, as you suggest.

also I think that the team involved is being overlooked here, I kinda dont like the fact that the team can only be viewed thru a link ..

Well, from the point of view of the casual player coming to the Games page, they probably don't care who made the game, they just care about the game itself. Once they've played the game, if they liked it and want to know more, they can come back and click the expandable link to see who made it.
So I think bearing in mind the target audience of the page, it makes sense this way.

[Stupot]

I was thinking the new website should have a section devoted to modules (and plug-ins?).  Currently we have link to the AGSWiki page, whose entries are pretty sparse and lack any information or screenshots.  Or else there are links to the forum posts for each module, but they're all rather technical and you have to read through reams of ancient messages.

It would be nice if there was a nice section in the website that gives a list of each of the modules.  and a short summary of what each module actually does, in laymans terms (perhaps each entry could have a 'more' button which expands the box revealing some more technical information for those interested). And also a screenshot or two of the module in action.

It would also be a nice bonus if you could click on something to switch between an 'alphabetical' list and a 'most recent' list, or something like that.

Also handy would be an option to Add new modules to the list, so that the list doesn't have to me manually updated by one man.  Infact, to keep things tidy, it could just be exactly the same as the games section... this way, modules can be reviewed and commented on in the same way as the games.

Anyway, something worth thinking about perhaps?

[Pumaman]

I was thinking the new website should have a section devoted to modules (and plug-ins?).  Currently we have link to the AGSWiki page, whose entries are pretty sparse and lack any information or screenshots.  Or else there are links to the forum posts for each module, but they're all rather technical and you have to read through reams of ancient messages.

There used to be a modules/plugins section on the website, but people never kept it up to date so in the end it was removed. I think the Modules & Plugins Forum is a good place to see what modules are available, and allows the info to easily be updated and commented on by people.


Now, I've finally had a bit of time to update the Game Detail page to match Darth's latest mockup, so here it is:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/Newsite/Games.aspx/Detail/860/Nelly_Cootalot_Spoonbeaks_Ahoy

I think it looks a lot better like this, any comments?

[Questionable]

Not a huge fan of the font used for AGS, or the subtitle sitting ontop of it.... Other than that it's sexy as hell!

[Ali]

Looks great!

The aspect ratio isn't correct for the screenshot though -  sorry to be picky, but if the site is being revamped it'd be nice to get it right! Also, the formatting of the text has changed -  instead of adding a line's gap between "Meeth." and "This" it has removed all the spaces and the lines run together.

I don't know if the "Adventure Game Studio" title is up for comments, but the yellow text is difficult to read and a bit tacky and... I think I've said enough about Larry Vales! This stylish new mockup really shows that the site could benefit from a more classical design.

[LimpingFish]

I like it a lot. I like the new comments layout - especially the highlighted comments for team members.

I'd like to see the AGS panel comments sitting snugly between the "Awards Won" section and the start of the user comments.

I don't know if the "Adventure Game Studio" title is up for comments...

I'm not sure if that's the finished logo. Regardless, looking at how the logo works in relation to the overall site design, it seems like it could easily be substituted for a different one.