I actually think you're on to something, to an extent. I've noticed an increased amount of video based promotion and hype ups online with things like this, and that makes me wonder if the home page needs something like a video featuring some good game play from some of the best games on BYOND.
The community could easily create such a thing, and if the home page was updated to a much more eye catching design that included the video then it might be much easier to lure people in. It may even be effective to include one for developers, too.
The developer one could do something like show a file with just a few lines of code, then show the game being run and the player running around. You know, put emphasis on the just a few lines of code and your game is up and running!
If the videos are short, sweet, straight to the point, and preferably as stunning as they can be I think it would work well. It has been far too long since the home page got updated, in my opinion.
I think anyone reading this who likes this idea should design the videos and then post a feature request asking for the home page to be redesigned and use them. I do not recommend just waiting and hoping for Tom or Lummox to see this post and then get on it. This is a time consuming thing that could be done by the community, and then implemented with very little time taken away from Tom or Lummox; which is ideal since they're so busy with bug fixes and toolkit updates.
I say get rid of rips way to many games using stolen sources (naruto exodus, eternal memories, and the other 30+ rips)
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Zagros5000 wrote:
I say get rid of rips way to many games using stolen sources (naruto exodus, eternal memories, and the other 30+ rips) There seems to be an obsession with getting rid of rips. While I am not saying they should be celebrated, what use does it make removing all the rips? Will there suddenly be 10x more players? Will swarms of developers glance over the game list suddenly and say "Yup this is a nice 10:1 original to rip development ratio, time for me to jump into DM". | |
Zagros5000 wrote:
I say get rid of rips way to many games using stolen sources (naruto exodus, eternal memories, and the other 30+ rips) Are you saying Naruto: Eternal Memories is a RIP? You can say there a rips of it, because the source got leaked in the past, but NEM was created using Forum_Account's Sidescroller Library, nothing else was used, so think twice before posting comments like that. | |
This is so old. If you remove rips, you basically remove almost all their players, and then the player base is way lower. There isn't enough original games to justify removing every rip, or fan game or anything. The handling is good enough. Now this is pretty off topic, so can everyone just get back on topic please? lol
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Zagros5000 wrote:
lol common lets be honest u used moo moo source and there is 0 percent orig art and removing rips would encourage others to make NEW games and not boring recycled old ones which causes people to leave of boredom 1) The art used on NEM, COSAB, Moo Moo, or whatever you want, is from Naruto Ninja Councils 3 (Google it), therefore nobody's using ripped content from each other, as even MUGEN Games use those graphics. Moo Moo wasn't the first Naruto Sidescroller either, just because you're a loyal fan of it it doesn't mean Ashley's words are right, she always said my game was a rip of hers because she couldn't stop her playerbase decrease. Your comment doesn't make any sense, this thread was cleared years ago when NEM was created, anybody who tests both games would realize they use different sources, and as I stated before, I never used ripped content from any game. 2) Removing RIPs wouldn't encourage people to create new games, are you new to BYOND? Because years ago they didn't show fan-games, and nobody even bothered at creating a new game. Your points are so invalid that you're making fun of yourself. | |
Why would there be a Hub limit? Stupidest thing I ever heard. This is a game engine to create games why should I be limited to only have 5 games submitted. (Unless only non-members are limited.)
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Ganite wrote:
(Unless only non-members are limited.) That was the point. I highly doubt it's the stupidest thing you've ever heard either. Edit: I noticed I typo'd on the OP and said "members" are limited. My fault. | |
True its not the stupidest thing lol. Not even the stupidest thing I've seen on BYOND. But it was stupid!
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Blogs:
I was upset with the removal of blogs, for a start, it was a paid feature and I was happy to have it that way. If it was reintroduced I probably wouldn't bother though, I mean it might just disappear again so what is the point? Hub Creation I'm fine with non-paid members not getting any hubs at all (shrugs) but it is nice if they could. Hub Limits /One/ of the dumbest things ever. Maybe for non-paid users to nudge them into paying. Social Network integration Should be happening already, not that I like facebook icons all over the place. I installed a toolbar before to remove any trace of it because I got so fed up of seeing it everywhere, online or not. Better Website I like the current website, certainly better than most of the previous versions. It will always need updating from time to time, but unless there is some new feature they intend to implent it can be held back. Remove rips completely I don't think its the job of BYOND staff to teach kids about not giving their files to other kids they can't trust not to send it to every other kid, in fact its a life lesson. So, keep the rips, but if it goes under yank cease and desist orders then fine, get rid of it. More bloggers I liked these semi-official blogs, but oh well. Cleanup I think its fine what it is, maybe a front end site with only the 'presentable' stuff which then links to the current site. Meh. BYOND youtube submissions This would be a nice idea, but there is nothing stopping users doing it on their own youtube accounts and BYOND adding them to playlists or whatever. | |
I don't want any of this. I just want BYOND's barebones to be networking and standalone, dammit.
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I'd like to be able to save pager/chat logs as well as be able to select and copy pager/friend chat.
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About to graduate with my marketing degree so I may be a little biased when I says suggestions should be supported by statistics. However if I were to ignore actually researching the changes my gut feelings are that community growth is currently being stunted by two things:
* Lessening or an inadequate supply of quality developers to release new games.
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* Lower amount of players than the service should actually be attracting (Did anyone say FREE ONLINE GAMES?! :P )
When I think of the first problem I think about the thought process of myself when I recently came to develop the game I am working on now. "Hmm this seems very intuitive....Ahh and they even handle the networking part that confused me when dealing with flash/html5 by using their own community system.....*Takes look at community system, eyes go to most popular game by far .... 200 players online everything else 10 or 5*"
I think that scares would be developers because everyone dreams of having 2000+ players packed in and out of their "definitely going to be a hit" game upon release and even though that is a fantasy in 99% of the cases you still need people who even think that way in order to have a healthy supply of new developers. That is your target market, those struggling with traditional means or looking for a simpler way to do what they want. Anybody else is either uninterested or can just make their online game with the knowledge they already have.
Soooo... with the player count being mentioned it brings me to problem #2, why isn't BYOND packed to the brim as it deserves to be? Well, if I put on my online-gamer-glasses I can't help but see BYOND's target market for players are those who want to play online (even if it isn't streaming from the browser they want to feel it is) for whatever reason. This group of players is not looking to "download" a game and play it and that is certainly a mammoth sized competition should BYOND continue that route of getting players as that puts them head to head with Steam and Steam is going to win that fight hands down - no offense meant.
So, that means BYOND is more up the Newground's & Addictinggames stream when it comes to player expectations. Buttons on the games labeled "Download" clashes with that player base. A simple switch to "Play Now" is not deceptive and takes away the source of pain. Another quick switch is to make the front page focused on the actual games as has been suggested before, perhaps save a 200x200 corner to say "Developers click here to learn more". I think this could go a long way. Remember, the pager is beautiful and will keep the players there but you have to lure them in first to see how great BYOND really is.
tl;dr: Another naive suggester puts out some ideas.