personally I always liked the hub pagesRemoving that would remove the hub functionality in the BYOND pager...
but maybe you could remove the tables and the download now, forum links etc...
Soil wrote:
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Here's yet one more vote for showing the channels/guilds that a hub entry is listed in.
As Crispy mentioned, I would also like to be able to edit the colors (and maybe the borders) of a hub page. | |
Pay pal support. *cough*
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Soil wrote:
BYOND Members should be allowed to edit their hub any way they want with html/php etc.. Not necessarily for BYOND Members here, but I think they should allow us to link the entire hub entry to another site. By that, I mean a simple textbox we can input a URL in. When we then view the hub entry, it will just create an iFrame with acceptable size and load up the URL to it and such. The border of the iFrame could be removed too, making it look nice. The purpose of this would be to create websites of the game within the hub entry itself, which I think would be awesome. Of course, the ?format=text method should still work so we can obtain information from the hub entry the old fashioned way. | |
Thanks for the comments, and keep them coming.
I think it would be great to create a standard screenshots section. That may have to come later, though, as it probably involves changing the hub editing functionality, which isn't in my short-term plans. Similarly, allowing CSS customization as we do for Member sites seems like a good idea, but might have to come in the second stage for the same reason. I highly doubt we're going to allow the importing of an external web page/site. We'd love to provide that level of flexibility, but for security reasons we just can't. People consistently abuse features like that to try and scam users through JavaScript phishing schemes and the like. For this round I'd like to focus on ways we can integrate guild info and the like into the page... | |
I've had an idea. How about something that checks members favourites, and then on the main hub index, it has a little list of other games that might interest them.
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Oh, that reminds me, a list of people who've added your game to their favorites.
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I like the idea of prompting users to enter links for screenshots... I personally am less likely to play a game unless I can see a screenshot of it, and maybe other people are too. So I think it'd be good to officially encourage people to post 'em.
I don't like the idea of customizable hub pages though... I'm afraid of overdesigned pages (and the lack of standardization) being off-putting to people who just want to be able to see at a glance what a game is about. I'd rather have every hub page have the same look and layout so users don't have to hunt for information. I mean, people pretty much *have* to use the hub to find games... I'd leave the customization to more optional stuff. There could be a compromise, of course... have the top of the hub page (containing important info like a basic description, download & subscription info) look the same for every game, and allow users to customize the bottom. You've heard my other suggestions, which basically go along the line of what Crispy said: Ideas for additional drop-in bits of content: Guilds this game is in. Other games by this author. Related games (i.e. what other games are in the same guild as this game). Definitely. The idea is to link everything up into a huge web of interconnectedness, which will hopefully keep people at the site longer as they keep seeing another link to something that looks interesting on every page they load. Semi-related idea... I would love a "random game" link somewhere that, well, takes you to a random game. | |
Just a quick question about this Perl transformation. Will all of BYOND be changed, including the forums?
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I agree on the screen shots, Zilal, and the other items too. The interconnectedness stuff is extremely important. I'd also add: "People who like this game also like..." based on rankings.
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*cough* hub filters *cough*
The screen shot page sounds like an awesome idea! Maybe you could tab the hub page like the new www.byond.com page. Also, although this is a bit out there, what about a review section? Where players can post their ideas on the game and maybe score it? Most other sites have something like this. I suppose a member could just make a forum section for it in the mean time, though. Also, what about some form of awards given out by the official guilds? I suppose they could just post a picture of the award linked to the guild, but some official way would be nice. Hmmm, I'm really bad at suggesting ideas and not pointing out their unnecessarilyness.. ..Hub filter! | |
How about something that checks members favourites, and then on the main hub index, it has a little list of other games that might interest them.
It's a good idea; don't know if we'll do it for the first pass. Oh, that reminds me, a list of people who've added your game to their favorites. That will definitely be there. Ideas for additional drop-in bits of content: Guilds this game is in. Other games by this author. Related games (i.e. what other games are in the same guild as this game). Yeah, at least some of this will be there. It should be easy to click around and discover related games. Just a quick question about this Perl transformation. Will all of BYOND be changed, including the forums? Over time I think most of the websites will be moved over. The forums are an exception -- they have years of high-performance development in their current codebase that would take a lot of time to replicate, possibly for little benefit. We have set it up so that the Perl code can access forum information, though, so there'll be more forum info popping up throughout the site. Also, although this is a bit out there, what about a review section? We have an idea of how to easily integrate reviews into the existing system, and I think you'll see them soon. | |
Deadron wrote:
How about something that checks members favourites, and then on the main hub index, it has a little list of other games that might interest them. What if I don't want to advertise my competition on my hub entry? "Like this Pokemon game? Well, then you'll really want to abandon it and play this Pokemon game!" | |
IainPeregrine wrote:
Deadron wrote: Then <s>make your game better</s> lace it with heroine so that they don't want to leave ;] | |
Airjoe wrote:
lace it with heroine so that they don't want to leave ;] So, like this? http://members.byond.com/Crispy/files/firiona.jpg ;-) | |
What if I don't want to advertise my competition on my hub entry? "Like this Pokemon game? Well, then you'll really want to abandon it and play this Pokemon game!"
Of course, this also means your competition would be advertising for you...goes both ways. And a rising tide floats all boats -- the more people playing all BYOND games, the more players we all get. We'll take the argument into consideration, but following it to it's logical conclusion, we wouldn't have guilds promoting multiple games or the ability to search for games. | |
DarkCampainger wrote:
Also, what about some form of awards given out by the official guilds? I suppose they could just post a picture of the award linked to the guild, but some official way would be nice. In my experience online awards are little more than a form of link-whoring on the part of the giver. Back when I ran the Norn Underground, I got bombarded with awards from sites that just made them up out of the blue, including one that sent me a horrible .bmp made in Paint and then gave me specific instructions on how to display it. (I didn't.) What would be more interesting would be allowing guilds to feature a game of the day/week/month, with the option of either setting up a pipeline of upcoming honorees or choosing them at random from the list of games in the guild. | |
that way if they do abuse it, their membership can be taken away or restricted or something