Post what's on your mind about the Rec Room

[aphadeon]

I would be interested too, assuming we can restore the titular topic.

Just throwing this out there - if I can win custom artwork for my projects in a contest, i'm entering.

Another idea: a groups system. indiedb is organized around "companies". Letting people declare and proudly wear group names might encourage better... interactions when it comes to game dev.

just a thought.

 

[Injury]

I would be interested too, assuming we can restore the titular topic.

Just throwing this out there - if I can win custom artwork for my projects in a contest, i'm entering.

Another idea: a groups system. indiedb is organized around "companies". Letting people declare and proudly wear group names might encourage better... interactions when it comes to game dev.

just a thought.

That is a great idea, and a possible foundation for future developments! No indie studio develops their game without some help, so maybe we can cater to that?

Possible structure would be Game Dev Discussion > I have an idea, need a team! > Start "Company"...

So after a company is started, a game would have to be fleshed out so it would attract attention. There could be a possible rating system involved, so the popularity of an idea or project would garner it more attention, fill the slots with talented people and so on...After slots are filled, progress could be tracked on the companies game page, possible social networking integration...

This will lead into another idea: staff based game testers/quality control, producers, potential distribution whatever.

Example: Company is done with a game, wants to publish it to the HBGames Game Page > Submit to HBG Testers > Work out bugs and get things up to par > Release game > Feature games released, etc

Almost like Steam's Greenlight concept, its ground up indie and community involved.

Just and idea...It's exciting!

 

[aphadeon]

if we had a special system for completed/in progress games, that might help too. somewhere they could be voted on, contributed to, rated, featured, etc. Assuming we retrofitted some existing releases, would help spark things up on the showing off front.

 

[Injury]

Exactly. There has to be some reward system in place I guess...Contests are great, but an inherit reward system would probably allow people to work towards something. If we had affiliates, possibly an inter-affiliate contest system that would reward players with free advertising...It costs $100 to get a greenlight account from Valve, $25 for Google Play, I don't know for iTunes Store...

As far as intrinsic rewards for developers go...IDK! Possibly fake site credits/money HBG DOLLAS HB$

IDEAS! WE NEED MORE! AND WE NEED TO FOCUS THEM!

 

[aphadeon]

Seeing as we are called "HBGames", it wouldnt be too much of a stretch if our landing was a bit more of a games portal. (rather than the thread format, perhaps adding specifically sized preview images/brief description, in a panel layout?) Spice that up with a "contest of the week" header across the top, and add some better accomodations for collaboration, and I think it would make a real difference.

Of course, the panel layout could still include new resources etc, it would just allow a lot more viewing "at a glance". And I really think a contest of the week would be an excellent move, even if the prizes were negligable (even if it just amounted to a big spot as "Last Weeks Winner" on the landing).

 

[Injury]

Well I would steal more from Valve's...Separate the content from the creations. Separate the tutorials, programming.

HBG
-News
-HBG Companies
--Companies by Name
--ETCETC
-Published Games
--By Company
--Most Popular
--Latest Release
--Newest Release
-Contests
-Workshop
--Tutorials
---RMXP
---RMVX
---Ruby
---C++
---Java
--Graphics
---3D
---Sub-Content
---2D
----Sub-Content
--Music
---Sub-Content
--ETC (Whatever)
---Sub-Content
---Sub-Content
-Forums
-Chat


Panels would be awesome. Something streamlined and forthright.

I will be honest. I always have thought that the forum's main page is cluttered. The post menu section header is messy as hell.

I want more input on all of this. Especially yours Wyatt!

 

[Ellie]

Thank you so much for the ideas and interest guys, it's invaluable.

Some interesting ideas but I think we need to split it into:

- Things we can do now, with a few small changes (adding boards, moving things, changing wording, things we can post and do)
- Things we need to create functionality for (basically how a new HBGames would look).

Nothing to say it all can't be done, just the short term things are easy and quick and will benefit us right this moment, while the more complicated things need time and discussion to get right.

 

[Injury]

So we have a lot of long term ideas, something we can right now...

Remove clutter. Just take out the pseudo "new" content thing. I don't think it matters right now. The front end of the house was a great idea, but it should just be shifted somewhere else. Games of the year is great, just need new games of the year.

Networking with new affiliates would bring some life back in possibly, just something we can start working on now.

What's the deal with the Arcade? Could it be quickly revamped as a game center for HTML5 developers?

What are we good at now? Discussion, internal projects that mostly sponsors work on...

 

[Xilef]

What's the deal with the Arcade? Could it be quickly revamped as a game center for HTML5 developers?

What are we good at now? Discussion, internal projects that mostly sponsors work on...

I think we should get rid of the Arcade and the resources displayed at the top, they just aren't used. And Gamemaker Downloads? Feels like that should be a link to a stickied topic where people can post new engines to be updated onto the first post on approval.

I'd like to see more experimental stuff, things like "I wonder if I can do X with Y while under the influence of Z", the Script Ideas thread I feel captured that essence well, there is a lot of inspiration to be had from just browsing over that.

Wyatt's Netplay 3 thread would have been a great discussion on the shortcomings of Netplay 1 and 2 and where they could have been improved, in fact that thread directly inspired my networking engine which is now used in 3 of my university projects, those kind of threads I find really handy.

I remember some chatter about 3D lighting in RPG Maker going on, that got me interested, even if I consider RPG Maker a lost cause, it was still quite an inspirational discussion that got me experimenting with some secret programming stuff.

 

[coyotecraft]

The forum was at it's best, imo, when everyone was creating tools and resources and just generally exploring and experimenting what they could do with rpg maker. Not exactly making games. Plus the average member age was a lot younger then, idk if that's a good excuse. I feel like I have just as much free time, if not more, than when I was a student. But all the unfinished projects have made me cautious of starting new things because I don't want to waste time on something that doesn't go anywhere, you know?

I'd like to create a set of universal resources the be used across any software. Ideally, it would be something anyone could contribute to like the half-kaiser construction project. But I don't want the responsibility of leading a project like that. Plus, if I went at it alone I'd be conflicted about keeping it a free resource or selling it to lazy people who fancy themselves game designers who pay other people to make their game.

 

[Injury]

Plus, if I went at it alone I'd be conflicted about keeping it a free resource or selling it to lazy people who fancy themselves game designers who pay other people to make their game.

Well if we had a type of credit system, we could offer free resources or charge for certain things. If I made a set of decent backgrounds to use and I wanted some sprites that weren't free, I'd try to sell them and when I made enough credits for the sprites, I'd buy them from someone else...

Is it feasible to create a small framework of economy for the site? Maybe. People sign up, get x credits for free and then have to earn more by making resources, selling games or participating in other events. This can also lead to an alternative ad revenue credit service that would promote other sites, games etc...

 

[aphadeon]

Assuming the credits were oriented around a mutual respect of contribution, rather than "money", I would wholeheartedly agree.

That is, I'd charge credits for something not as a way to earn money, but as a way to offer my work to others that share things as well. I'm almost tempted to suggest keeping it separate from "money", as in, no cash-out option. Start with x credits, can earn more by "donating" to support the site, and otherwise its simply a limited resource to be exchanged as more-or-less a sign of respect.

Of course, I understand why some would disagree with this. Its just my 2 cents.

And obviously, should we become a game portal of sorts, oriented around distribution of wares, that wouldn't really work.

 

[Injury]

I agree, and I may be possibly taking it as far as money, but for the most part these credits would act as a mutual support resource. It may be 1 credit for a simple sheet of sprites someone likes, or 20 for a game. Either way, you would be "supporting" a company in that very real sense of buying their game.

The money aspect was more or less for the site itself. We support the games, the developers and so on, but who supports the site? How does a site pay for itself? Ad revenue? Donations? Charity runs? Contest entry fees? Distribution platforms where companies with popular great games get their game published out to another distribution platform under HBG's name, or someone else would pick it up and publish it?

Wyatt is right, we should focus on the here and now. It's easy to speculate what will be good, but what is good at the present?

Once again, we need to form a more formal futures/planning group. These all seem like great ideas, but we need to build it, and to build we need a plan/blueprint.

 

[coyotecraft]

Making small changes to the site probably won't make a difference unless we get more members. So find ways to make the site more attractive. If I started a resource team, I could advertise on some other art sites and invite people over here to be a base of operations.

 

[aphadeon]

We could just slap up a big banner that says "there are approximately 2 girls on the internetz. and they both live here."

hell, that'd rope me in.

 

[Ellie]

On RPG Maker:

I noticed the rpg maker sections are a bit split up.

Is RPG Maker Scripts better off seperated in the resources section, or should it be a subforum of RPG Maker support?

Perhaps as a board it could be:

RPG Maker (top level)
- Support
- Scripting support
- Tutorials
- Scripts
- Resources (link to resource forum)

Such that the RPG Maker board could then be linked to, and promoted as a Thing. It could perhaps have it's own domain name linking to it to help boost search rankings (if that would help), perhaps rpgmaker.us or something else available.

A sort of RMXP.org within HBGames.org.

My thinking was that coupled with perhaps an RPG Maker special of the eZine, some other articles about the place, maybe a small contest, we could advertise the place about the web and try and draw back what we lost.

 

[Injury]

It's a good idea to start. I think if we had some "fresh" content or at least projects worth looking at featured, it would draw some people in too. I don't know about a subdomain unless it was rpgmaker.hbgames.org, to tie in the site as much as possible. Might be a bit ambitious to go that far, but feature it as a big part of the site.

On that note, I really want to believe that RPG Maker is a good platform to start, but I think we should consider alternatives to it. HBGames shouldn't throw in with a system that doesn't garner as much attention as the alternatives...and the question turns to: Do we have anyone who can support another engine? Provide resources/tutorials/etc?

I'm just happy people are interested in getting things moving again. It's easy to lay under the PWOYM rock and let the sun scorch the Earth...

 

[Ellie]

If nobody has a problem with it I'd like to move the scripts forum tonight - it can easily be moved back without an issue so it's not permanent or anything - just to demonstrate what it'd be like and such.

Under support:

RPG Maker Support (top level dummy forum)
- RPG Maker Support
- RPG Maker Tutorials
- RPG Maker Scripts
- RPG Maker Scripting Support
- RPG Maker Resources (link)

Subforums:

- RPG Maker Scripts
- - Script Requests
- - Script Archive (Doesn't display unless you click RPG Maker Scripts)

 

[Injury]

Sounds good! Maybe Script Support should go in the sub-forum?

 

[Ellie]

How's that: viewforum.php?f=309

We can always change it back.

Weirdly the overall forum list feels longer now... but it's actually a couple of boards shorter. o.O

The main thing now though is we have a solid RPG Maker section that we can link to in the header and elsewhere.