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| Livio's Summer To-Do List Monday, May 17, 2010 1:12 am — Posted by Livio |
ShareThisI've made forum topics similar to this in the past, but I think they were mostly in the staff forum. For a while now, the staff has been trying to make more public our discussions on how things should be run around here, and this is a great exercise in that.
Also note that this list is organized in by content, not by priority. In fact, I wouldn't even know how to prioritize this. There's also a mix between my own stuff, stuff that mainly concerns the staff (as in not me), and some personal goals of mine.
Aeon
- Long Term
- add more tiles
- add music
- add some real artwork?
- make a replay feature??
- learn more ActionScript 3.0
- Short Term
fix crawling-under-terrain glitchfix some mysterious glitches that let you go through tiles.finish upgrading Aeon's general organization (been working on this for the past few days)attemptfigure out how to get this to work: a new idea on how to cut back on load times and may also help in creating checkpoints.fix glitch where object images don't seem to line up with their collision areas- Design a decent pause screen
- Design a decent "win" screen for when you beat the level
- finish level editor
- add HB's spike graphic to the demo.
The Games System
We've been discussing this for a while in the staff forum. We plan to completely get rid of the current games system and replace it with something much more organic.
The Problem: Right now, you have to "submit a game" and wait for the staff to approve it before you can start uploading levels or writing guides or making other content about the game. Not only does this tend to be a super slow process (because the staff is lazy) but we have a lot of "empty games" here, where there is absolutely no content about them on the Interguild.
Solution to be Implemented: Whenever you want to add a level to the database (or add any other kind of content to the other sections of the site) you will have a choice of selecting the game it's for from a list, and if the required game is not among the list, then you should be able to select an "other" option. This option would make you fill out fields for the game's name and a link to the game. This is great because nothing gets in the way of you uploading a level for the game you like, and it means that we actually have to have content for a specific game before it becomes part of the site, so we don't have people suggesting games that "might" get popular.
Even with the revamp, we also have to:
- make new game pages and make sure they are awesome
- make the the GAMES tab on the topbar link to those awesome new game pages instead of the level database
- prune out the "empty" games
Level Database
The level database needs a revamp to go along with the new layout. I actually started working on this as I made the layout, but I decided to give up on the idea so that the layout could be released faster. Some issues that have to be fixed are:
- navigation and search options are not placed well
- favorites system has many glitches, is coded horribly, and is super inefficient.
- downloadable files should be made more secure by making the staff approve them, or something
- Adding some kind of Screenshot feature would be cool
- Finally adding that directory idea
- let people find levels based on awards
- mods should be able to add levels to all series, and also create non-public series for any member
- let people delete levels while still preserving topics
The current guide system stinks. I started working on a revamp around last December, but that was quickly replaced by the construction of the new layout. Since then, I've come up with a much more crazy and much more awesome idea on how to fix the Guides system. I first explored the idea here. I plan to get rid of the guides system entirely, and in its place, I'll give every member their own blog on the Interguild. Then everyone can use their blogs however they want: to write guides on how to use a certain glitch, give advice on good caving design, highlight what you think are this year's best levels so far, etc. It will then be up to the staff to make and maintain "lists" of worthy blog posts and group them into categories, such as "HATPC Tricks and Glitches Guides", or "N Level Design", or whatever. I'm hoping that this results in more information being written down in general and by more people.
Video Archive
Is this thing ever going to get revamped? We all know how horrible and broken this section is, but I seem to be seriously deprioritizing this. Perhaps it's because I haven't been inspired on how to make the video archive better, or maybe it just hasn't annoyed me enough? Anyway, here's what has to be done with regard to the Video Archive:
- show awards that are related to videos
- find motivation to improve video archive
- use motivation to improve video archive
Everything Else in no real order:
improve GAMES tabusing some kind of javascript to delay the Mouse-Out effect- learn javascript to accomplish the above item along with several other ideas mentioned later
- fix all the bugs on bug reports
- create a super cool, super new PM system that accomplishes the following:
- is coded much better than the current one
- be structured similar to a forum topic, where you can see all the past posts related to the conversation, instead of just the most immediately previous post.
- maybe also allow for private conversations among more than two people
- make more things around the site track IPs (useful for us staff)
- get more members by:
- creating link-back buttons and forum sig banners for members to use
further publicizing our facebook and twitter pages- doing stuff with other related sites, maybe some partnerships with other databases
Finish working with staff on how to reorganize our forum boards, and finally implement these plans- write more guides (or hopefully blogs) on more HATPC glitches that have yet to be written on
Make competition pages look better? At least have the new-comp and comp-results posts automatically link to each other.- get the staff to give out awards for those old "Best of 2007" awards, also known as the Caving Elections from the old site.
delete all the forum topics moved over from the old site, which are just sitting in a secret board, and have been plagued by name-changing glitches.decide whether we want to move over all those topics again. We may decide that it's not worth it, no one cares, and that it's embarrassing to see how bad our posts used to be.did I ever finish making all the forms around the site more secure? did I ever start?- Reported-PM page is a big mess, but no one cares about that.
- Comp-Judging page is just horrible.
- automatically refreshing chatbox? Maybe make it cool like dekudude's site where the refreshing is done subtly using javascript, unlike IceCaves' uncool every-five-seconds page reload. In fact, this shouldn't just be for the chatbox but also for all that other stuff in that area, which means it's finally a way to refresh the online members box without reloading the page
- Make a preview generator for Free Rider 2
- Make a preview generator for N
finally reachhold onto 100 karma.Or just getting past 90 would be good...- Let staff split topics
- Allow forum boards to be locked
- Allow forum boards to be semi-locked, where you may post, but not create new topics
- Make better, on-time weekly updates
Create a page that will let the staff edit the Featured Content- On the top bar where it says "Search Levels", make it so that when you roll over it, options will come up for searching through videos, guides, or whatever. Probably with javascript.
- FORUM SEARCH!
link-to-any-post page (give the id of any post and it'll redirect you straight to it)Make a page that will let users find out which of their posts is affecting their karma- Member Rankings page needs some more stuff, better organization, and add this secret thing that the staff has planned for since like December or something.
Get our Overlord D52 to return to us?- Play more levels
- Make more levels
- Fix all the glitches that are still around from the new layout. I just spotted some in the video archive today.
make an about-us page- organize to-do list with jell's advice
Add email confirmation to the register system.Add a karma-lock feature that stops people from rating certain users' karma.- Make the number of posts per page customizable.
- Ambitious idea: rebuild the structure of the site with more efficient database tables.
- Allow you to preview posts before you make them.
Allow for multiple authors of blog posts- Allow you to save a draft of a blog post so that you can save it on the site as you work on it.
- Add something that points out upcoming and current birthdays
- Add daily post limits on neezles's account.
- Make a map generator for Super Mario Flash
- Make something that will automatically remove the extra spaces at the end of HATPC level codes
- Karma-graph to let us see how users' karma has changed over time.
- Add a queue feature to the level database
- Add a feature that lets us mark posts/topics as unread.
- Let users order levels in their series
- Maybe let users feature their own levels in their profiles.
- Make a mobile version of the site.
User Comments (65)
| Livio | ||
Age: 31 Karma: 470 Posts: 9620 Gender: Male Location: Arizona, USA pm | email |
'Dando' said: That's a very comprehensive list... Did you ever finish the stuff on your original to-do list?  But yeah, it's clearly not possible to get all this done, but since I have no real means of prioritizing, it's good to have everything in all one big pile so that I can pick what I want to do when I feel like it.Actually, you guys can help influence what gets done first by promoting the items you like best | |
| Sefro | ||
Karma: 313 Posts: 1136 Gender: Male Location: Canada pm | email |
I like the idea of an automatically-updating chatbox. Also, I've come across a lot of typos on this site. I'm probably the only anal-retentive spelling/grammar freak here, but maybe I'll start keeping track of them so you can fix them. | |
| canadianstickdeath | ||
Age: 35 Karma: 350 Posts: 2990 Gender: Male pm | email |
"I like the idea of an automatically-updating chatbox."  Please, no? | |
| shos | ||
| ~Jack of all trades~ Age: 31 Karma: 389 Posts: 8273 Gender: Male Location: Israel pm | email |
'canadianstickdeath' said: "I like the idea of an automatically-updating chatbox." Please, no? good luck livio, if there's anything we can help you with, pm us, and we'll probably ignore it  | |
| jellsprout | ||
| Lord of Sprout Tower Karma: -2147482799 Posts: 6445 Gender: Male pm | email |
Order these fixes into several large core groups, such as: -Aeon -Sections -Site and Forums Now organize these core groups into smaller subgroups, such as: -Aeon --Core Gameplay Coding --Bonus Gameplay Coding --Menu and Bonus Coding --Cavemaker Coding --Graphics --Music --New Features -Sections --Games Database --Level Database --Video Database --Guides and Articles --Competitions --Forum Organization -Site and Forums --New Forum Features --New Site Features --Current Feature Improvement --Debugging Give each core group, subgroup and item a number to keep everything organized. You could possibly add another subgroup if you feel its needed. Something like "fix crawling-under-terrain glitch" under your short-term Aeon stuff would be under: -Aeon --Core Gameplay ---Collision Detection Or a part of item 1.1.1. Each update you make to this could be shown with a letter. Like if you fix the crawling-under-terrain glitch, you would change it to 1.1.1a. Keep the full list in this topic and update it at the end of each day or whenever you fix something. This will give you some structure to fall back on and show us that actual progress is made. It will also make it far easier to see how far you're actually in the progress. And one final suggestion is to work on a different core group each day instead of focusing on one of the groups for a long time. This will make everything less stale and if you spread the progress out across the board it will satisfy more people. Perhaps I should also do one of these lists for what I'm supposed to do for the articles, Aeon graphics and other staff stuff I have to do. Spoiler: | |
| Quirvy | ||
| Â Â Karma: 655 Posts: 7753 Gender: Male pm | email |
'canadianstickdeath' said: "I like the idea of an automatically-updating chatbox." Please, no?  spooky secret | |
| Livio | ||
Age: 31 Karma: 470 Posts: 9620 Gender: Male Location: Arizona, USA pm | email |
Just finished: - - - Just added a new item: -make an about-us page. 'jellsprout' said: Perhaps I should also do one of these lists for what I'm supposed to do for the articles, Aeon graphics and other staff stuff I have to do. Those are really great organizational suggestions. I'm not really interested in putting more effort into organizing all this, or maybe I should add that to my to-do list New Item: -organize to-do list. the next thing I plan to do with Aeon is to investigate that new idea on how to cut back on load times, and that may also result in a method to achieve checkpoints later on. | |
| Livio | ||
Age: 31 Karma: 470 Posts: 9620 Gender: Male Location: Arizona, USA pm | email |
now I can cross this one off: also added a few more items for Aeon for the short run | |
| Livio | ||
Age: 31 Karma: 470 Posts: 9620 Gender: Male Location: Arizona, USA pm | email |
changed some more stuff in the Aeon list yesterday, I began working on the level editor, and today I actually got a grid to work, with scrollbars and everything. I even made it so that when you roll over it, it tells you the coordinate of the tile. I have so many files of code by now that Flash takes a considerably longer amount of time to export the game every time I want to do a test, and I have the really bad habit of wanting to test every single little edit. | |
| jazz | ||
Karma: 108 Posts: 3050 pm | email |
I hope you don't expect to get everything done at the end of summer. Judging by your previous attempts to get things done, I think we can safely assume that you will not finish all of this before the end of summer. | |
| FlashMarsh | ||
Age: 25 Karma: 99 Posts: 2727 Gender: Male Location: UK pm | email |
Do FORUM SEARCH! lol | |
| Silver | ||
Karma: 121 Posts: 3581 Gender: Female pm | email |
Have you done anything on this list yet, Liv? | |
| jazz | ||
Karma: 108 Posts: 3050 pm | email |
Yes, He did. | |
| Livio | ||
Age: 31 Karma: 470 Posts: 9620 Gender: Male Location: Arizona, USA pm | email |
Good news! I'm moving the level editor from the long term list the short term list! I also don't know if I should take these last posts as sarcasm or what | |
| Dekudude | ||
| Dekudude Age: 31 Karma: 64 Posts: 617 Gender: Male pm | email |
I can definitely help you with the refreshing chat box, if you want. I made one for my site.  I can also help with music, and to a degree, graphic design (for Aeon) over the summer.Let me know if you have any specific requests! NP Username: xaantan | |
| Livio | ||
Age: 31 Karma: 470 Posts: 9620 Gender: Male Location: Arizona, USA pm | email |
I was kinda planning on stealing that chatbox code from you  But I'm really excited about the level editor. I finished drawing a design for the user interface the other day and I wanted to post it. I also wanted to create a new topic on the editor's design and layout, but all my stuff is on a laptop at home and I don't get home until tomorrow night. Maybe ill start that topic anyway and contribute to it later | |
| Dekudude | ||
| Dekudude Age: 31 Karma: 64 Posts: 617 Gender: Male pm | email |
I can't wait! I'm so glad to see you're making progress on this game. It will be a featured game on every website on the planet for sure. Even if you don't share it.  NP Username: xaantan | |
| Livio | ||
Age: 31 Karma: 470 Posts: 9620 Gender: Male Location: Arizona, USA pm | email |
can cross this one off: Make competition pages look better? At least have the new-comp and comp-results posts automatically link to each other. I think the first sentence referred to the comp pages that no longer exists. Right now, if you try to go to them, you'll be redirected to the news posts announcing the comp. And now the new-comp and comp-results posts are finally linking to each other. Also: finally reach 100 karma. Or just getting past 90 would be good... I have finally made it past 90 karma again!  | |
| Livio | ||
Age: 31 Karma: 470 Posts: 9620 Gender: Male Location: Arizona, USA pm | email |
now I can cross this off: make an about-us page (see the topic I made, if you haven't) next, I feel like working on that blog idea to replace the guides system. I'll probably still work on Aeon's level editor from time to time. | |
| Livio | ||
Age: 31 Karma: 470 Posts: 9620 Gender: Male Location: Arizona, USA pm | email |
after I finish putting up the blogs system, my next project will be the level database revamp! Along with that, I'll will also attempt to set it up so that each level has some kind of image to go with it, even if I have to add them all manually? Right now, I'm guessing they'll be the same size as the sub-featured content images, 90x70. Edit: this will inevitably also include the game system reform | |
| canadianstickdeath | ||
Age: 35 Karma: 350 Posts: 2990 Gender: Male pm | email |
Why'd you have to make them a different size from the video archive images? All images and blogs (if you allow HTML) are going to need mod approval... gross. Last I heard, game-system reform had yet to be fully decided... Where did we leave off? Probably should finish that discussion first... | |
| Dekudude | ||
| Dekudude Age: 31 Karma: 64 Posts: 617 Gender: Male pm | email |
I don't think images or blogs should require approval. Sure, check to make sure there aren't boobies or anything, but besides that, just let it flow however people want. You don't need to feature anything with a lame picture. Make that clear, and you're fine. NP Username: xaantan | |
| Livio | ||
Age: 31 Karma: 470 Posts: 9620 Gender: Male Location: Arizona, USA pm | email |
When I was designing the new homepage, I really didn't like the 80x60 size of the video archive, so I made it 90x70. Even though it's not the same aspect ratio, I could just use html to stretch the old video archive images.... And I don't plan on allowing html for blogs. Maybe I could let the staff use html, though. And deku, we're overprotective with this stuff because we got hit by dirty spambots on the old forums. It was probably because we were using phpBB, though.. | |
| canadianstickdeath | ||
Age: 35 Karma: 350 Posts: 2990 Gender: Male pm | email |
Well, there'd be mod approval, not for quality, but to make sure there aren't any "boobies" (or worse). Like with videos... And the only reason we're not being flooded by spambots right now is because of our employment of "security by obscurity". If we ever become well-known, we'll be flooded with garbage. And no HTML in blogs? So what's the difference between a blog and a new topic... | |
| Livio | ||
Age: 31 Karma: 470 Posts: 9620 Gender: Male Location: Arizona, USA pm | email |
I posted this in the chatbox, but blogs are running off of the whole topic system. It's just the pages that are a little different to make them more distinct... And the only reason it's taking so long is because I keep getting distracted. It was a lot easier to work when the Interguild was dead. Maybe I should stay logged out from now on, and resist the urge to log in and post something. Or I could go hidden.... | |
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