Overhaul

Meatballsub · Post by **Meatballsub** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 4:48 pm

http://thehamsterwheel.net/

The Hamster Wheel has received a facelift and is now completely in PHP. Information from the old site is not up just yet, but will be soon. In the meantime, information from the previous version of the site is still accessible by going to http://thehamsterwheel.net/games.html , although will look a bit funky.

With that being said, there is still a lot of work to be done, information to be submitted, and features to be coded. Continue to bear with me and check back often for new features and updates.

I have contacted many of you regarding your games, though some of you I may have not reached.

With that being said, if you happen to run across a game on the list that you would not like me hosting and/or listing period, please let me know. I already have a "blacklist" of games just for that reason.

Any feedback or critique is much appreciated. I've only be coding PHP/mysql for a couple of weeks, and have never been good at graphic design. I must say, though, that I am proud of what the Hamster Wheel has become.

Post by **Mogri** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 6:13 pm

Is it supposed to look like this?

Because it is rather hard on the eyes. (The navbars specifically.)

Additionally, it's counter-intuitive for the front page of "Games" to just show the # section. Maybe it could have a list of the most recent updates or something. I always end up wondering where the rest of the content is.

Meatballsub · Post by **Meatballsub** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 6:19 pm

Nope, that is the old site with new CSS (hence the hackiness look of it).

Try clearing cache/internet files and try again. It is redirecting just fine for me. If that still doesn't work, goto http://thehamsterwheel.net/index.php

And please let me know if you can't get it to work, because that could be a big problem.

Post by **Mogri** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 6:54 pm

Oh, your link works just fine! Thanks.

Mystic · Post by **Mystic** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 11:33 am

looks neat, though the black and white grid look still sort of hurts my eyes

also, how embarassing - there's something up by someone with my name - and it's not very good

probably won't be so sweet when i eventually* release my first game

*never

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 4:08 pm

I agree. The grid sucks. Also orange with blue text is pretty bad too. Why must you hurt our eyes so?!

Meatballsub · Post by **Meatballsub** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 5:02 pm

I couldn't color-coordinate something if my life depended on it. I have made some adjustments though, and will continue to tweak the color settings, but I think it is a bit better than before. Oh, and the grid has been removed!

I appreciate the feedback.

Mystic · Post by **Mystic** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 6:24 pm

much, much better

the only suggestion i have is to change the white on the yellow tabs, you can't read it

and of course, i wish it were fluid, but it's not a huge issue

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 8:46 pm

The new color scheme is really clean. I like it.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 2:03 am

Don't have anything to add to the design discussion, but I just want to say I'm impressed and a little amazed that you found my old Star Fighter demo. God almighty is it awful! Very historically amusing, though.

Meatballsub · Post by **Meatballsub** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 9:47 pm

I don't know where I found it either. Hmm, maybe I should review it for this Hamsterspeak?

I've added a few new features to The Hamster Wheel:

- Top downloads (on front page)
- Random game, author, composer, and contest (on front page)
- Increased image resolution to 640x400 (only works on three games right now, give me time!)

Also, the initial page of the games section shows the 10 most recently changed game sections instead of the entire game list now. I think this makes more sense.

I have also began to change over the old game content to the new site. I have only done three games so far, but it is a start I suppose.

I am really in a bind right now. I need to work on my game for the FYDG contest, but I also am dying to work on THW. Unfortunately, I do not have time for both.