Fangame and fanvideo makers; discussion -

STM · #31 09-15-2009, 01:07 PM

Well, I think you should choose a new fancorner forum moderator because you have said yourself that you fail to tread there, it is in a state of disrepair, not even a sub-forum?

No hard feelings =)

used:) · #32 09-15-2009, 01:20 PM

You're not getting the moderency.

Gretin · #33 09-15-2009, 02:18 PM

:

Well, I think you should choose a new fancorner forum moderator because you have said yourself that you fail to tread there, it is in a state of disrepair, not even a sub-forum?

No hard feelings =)

Where did you get these ideas from? As far as I'm aware Splat still regularly visits the fan corner, and who said fan corner is in a state of disrepair? The fan corner has always had art and stories in the same forum, so why are games and videos so important that we suddenly need sub forums now?

The way fan corner is organised is pretty much fine as it is, apart from the couple of adjustments suggested in this thread (e.g. different icons for different types of fan content, the discussion on sticky threads etc). It's how to handle/moderate the new types of content that are showing up there that needs to be discussed, not whether we need extra sub-forums when there is realistically not actually that many topics in fan corner that are about games/videos.

To sum it up; there are about 6 fangames on the first page in fan corner if you're showing 30 threads per page. That's 20% of the content, and that's only the first page.

One thing I wonder, though, is if it would be very useful/practical to have similar threads to Ajiellyn's Fanfiction Library for other types of content. For instance, links to each artist's art threads, each game designer's games etc. I know it's hardly worthwhile having a seperate thread for EACH, especially with the low number of games and videos at the moment, but I personally would be interested in being able to look in one thread for each person's artwork thread(s). I'd be happy to start on making such a list myself if people think it's worthwhile.

Splat · #34 09-16-2009, 05:07 AM

It's an idea; the only thing that springs to mind is that FC already has too many stickies and I'm looking at ways to reduce the number. Basically I think I'm gonna unsticky things like the oddfont and make one sticky that links to them all.

But if you want you can make a few gallery threads (I wouldn't take on more than one at a time, particularly if you pick art). It's be cool to have them catalogued, too.

Also, I'm planning once we've got some of this organised to try and dig up an old idea of Al the Vykker, my predecessor as FC moderator, that never went anywhere. Any really old members might be able to make some guesses at what I'm thinking of; Otherwise people can wait and see

Gretin · #35 09-16-2009, 02:24 PM

I quite like Max's suggestion for tidying up the sticky threads - just have a few generic sticky threads that link to the more specific ones. We could have the rules and guidelines first, obviously, a galleries sticky which links to a thread with the galleries for each type of content, then maybe a resources sticky which links to things like joshkrz's game developers stuff and odd font etc.

Splat · #36 09-16-2009, 04:45 PM

We shall have three stickies; a rules sticky, an ideas sticky and a links sticky. I started writing stuff out this morning but then my computer crashed and deleted it all.

Splat · #37 09-17-2009, 04:53 PM

Righty-ho, the three stickies are now in place; the updated rules, the ideas thread and the links thread. I did cobble them together today while sitting in a large armchair, so if anyone wishes to check them out and suggest changes or give me any feedback, do so here!

(Also, Oddfont is online again; hooray!)

AlexFili · #38 09-18-2009, 03:02 AM

Apologies for sounding like I hate platform games. This is not the case. Since most people have played AO/AE, I suppose in retrospect this does make more sense. In a similar way, people make Mario and Sonic 2D fangames too.

I still think we should split the Fan Corner. Is it really that big of a deal? It's not like any of them will become ghost towns. I think enough new content could populate each sub-forum.

A list of games right now wouldn't be a good idea. However, I think it would be fair to link to the 'top 5' of each particular category. As soon as something becomes less popular/abandoned, they can be shelved for something else.

With all due respect, we don't want a list of all the incomplete games (like the incomplete fanfiction section (sorry!)). That's my opinion for now. However, if you leave the Fan Corner as it is right now, it'll still be fine. Apologies if I sound a bit paranoid, I'm sure we all want what's best for the FC in our own way.

Edit: Okay, fair enough.

Wings of Fire · #39 09-18-2009, 03:10 AM

That's a bad idea, just because something remains incomplete doesn't mean it doesn't deserve archivage for historical reasons. It'd be the work of five seconds to add (In development) (Completed) or (Abandoned) at the end of their names.

Splat · #40 09-18-2009, 06:20 AM

Yeah Wings, but searching threads to find out what tags are needed (everyone has different ways of organising their threads), making them, keeping them up to date...

Alex, the reason we're not going to split fancorner is because the amount of work needed to do is rather more than what it will achieve; it'd be a completely unnecessary move; I can't see any reason why we should split the forum.

joshkrz · #41 09-18-2009, 10:21 AM

The forum is good as it is.

All work should be added to the links sticky regardless of its completion.

Oh and would it be possible to disable the cut off for editing posts? Being able to update the first post in a thread will make finding information much, much easier.

AlexFili · #42 09-20-2009, 01:24 AM

I agree. It it somewhat annoying to find one of your posts is locked at a seemingly random length of time (Although in actuality, it's like... 3 days or something, right?).

***Wil*** · #43 09-20-2009, 03:22 AM

We have had troublemakers in the past who have edited their posts to remove content. This was a contentious issue, and not everyone agreed on how to handle it, but the upshot is that we ended up with the current antitrust policy on editing your own posts.

Havoc · #44 09-21-2009, 12:18 PM

Although I'm no longer a mod for the Fan Corner I do have an idea or two.

Would it maybe be an idea for all game makers to join forces in the Fan Corner and start 'The OWF Fangame Project' with all the individuals who are now flooding FC with ideas for fan games and stuff? I have seen a lot of artists who are good at their own part of creating a game, some are good at programming, some are good at making background, etc. By working together you not only use that skill the right way but also avoid having 16.000 ideas and 32 unfinished fan games scattered around.

And lets be honest, while nicely intended, a lot of the fan games posted in FC are kind of lame and stupid. Don't get me wrong, me and a lot of others appreciate the effort someone puts into making a fan game but 9 out of 10 games posted there people play maybe once before sending it on a one way trip to the trash can. To create a decent fan made game you need a team of people, thinking you can do it alone is kind of naive. So yeah, I think creating a dedicated game project which people can contribute ideas and content to would be a nice way to solve the fan game thing.

As for videos, you could open a new forum for them or start working with prefixes for topics. Something like this:

[Video] Crazy Oddworld 5!!
[Video] Random Video lol!!
[Story] Yayz for Abez!
[Fangame] Omg another one?!

It would take a little bit of enforcing to get everyone doing this all the time but it will work after a while.

EDIT: Also, looking over the thread list a bit, there seem to be some series going on (such as Crazy Oddworld videos or stories) that could easily be thrown together in one topic instead of opening a new topic for every new video or question.

T-nex · #45 09-21-2009, 12:28 PM

Havoc, you might wanna take a look at this: http://www.oddworldforums.net/showthread.php?t=18522

Probly not exactly what you described, but I think they're getting there

Havoc · #46 09-21-2009, 01:41 PM

Ah I did not see that. Yes, a project like that would quickly clean the mess up if Splat were to decide to make it one big fan project and ban all other fan games all together. Of course that's up to him. For some reason I don't see him doing that, though.

AlexFili · #47 09-21-2009, 01:58 PM

I agree. United we stand, divided we fall.

Splat · #48 09-21-2009, 04:34 PM

I wouldn't want to ban stand-alone games but I do like the idea of a big group-game. Hope the project goes well! To be honest I don't think I've ever downloaded any games from the forums, mainly cus of my dodgy laptop. But if the project gets done I might play it!

Oh, and the announcement's out: OWF's first fanfiction competition (discounting Al the Vykker's, cus that one was never judged) will begin on October the 1st! Huzzah!!!

AlexFili · #49 09-21-2009, 11:57 PM

Oh my gosh! I hope it's a good fanfic competition. I have lots of ideas for stories

By the way Splat, most of my games are Flash games... so your laptop should be able to run them

Don't ban stand-alone games. But consider calling them "abandoned" when no work has been done on them for a long period; 14-21 days (Give them a red text and perhaps a special icon).

EDIT: Okay, perhaps that's a bit harsh

T-nex · #50 09-22-2009, 05:12 AM

:

Don't ban stand-alone games. But consider calling them "abandoned" when no work has been done on them for a long period; 14-21 days (Give them a red text and perhaps a special icon).

'abandoned' games will naturally flow down the thread-list and onto the next page. SO a red text isn't really necessary as they don't really take up space or confuse things. Also I think it would be a bit cruel. No one gives any unfinished fanfics a red text.

AlexFili · #51 09-22-2009, 01:03 PM

It would be great if we had a different Fan Corner competition every month. Might I suggest a rota of fiction, fanart and fangames?

Splat · #52 09-22-2009, 04:51 PM

Probably gonna have three competitions a year if this goes off well, starting next year; one for Art in January, one for something else in May and one for fiction in September. The middle one will probably be for games one year and video the next, though nothing is set in stone at this stage.
We can't have them monthly cus firstly as I have them planned they'd each run for over a month (with time for making the entries, judging them and announcing the results), and secondly because there's such a thing as too much of a good thing, and I don't want to kill the idea after six months. Also, can you see people making a decent game in under a month?

AlexFili · #53 09-23-2009, 02:51 AM

Okay, but alternating between games and video isn't a good idea. A year is a VERY very long time. I'd suggest FanArt,Fanfic,Games and Video as the four categories and just have 4 competitions (one for each) a year.

Splat · #54 09-23-2009, 05:52 AM

As I say, nothing is set in stone. We'll see how next year goes.

T-nex · #55 09-23-2009, 06:43 AM

I think too many competitions would get tiring over time.. And make it less special. I think instead of competitions all the time, there could be differen't types of larger events. Like the "make a comic"-thing.