SDHawk wrote:2012's thread is loaded with dead images, though I kept backups
Can you upload them somewhere? Which threads should we be backing up right now?
Also, on testing attachments I'm disappointed to see that they are scaled to a maximum of 320x200. It seems that I'm going to stick to uploading them elsewhere, or using the PM attachments trick.
More user ranks is finished. I feel like I may have underestimated the average post count, but it will be a long time before anyone reaches the final rank. (Slimehold would have reached it ages ago, but he has a custom rank.)
Gamelist tagging is underway, but it will be some time still before it's finished.
I'd like to request a dice rolling or otherwise random number generating command for the forum. Not just useful for roleplaying, but also for randomly assigning or choosing things.
Spoonweaver wrote:I'd like to request a dice rolling or otherwise random number generating command for the forum. Not just useful for roleplaying, but also for randomly assigning or choosing things.
The dicebot would randomly pick one of the comma-delimited words
Bonus points if the dicebot's posts could be styled to be much more compact than normal posts, so a thread could include a bunch of rolls without looking too cluttered
I would spend my 4108 slimebucks towards this if it was doable :)
Referring to my post in BMR's Slice Tutorial thread, I would like to see a new subforum, under Reviews, for Articles and Tutorials (or just Articles for short).
This will accomplish two things (or three depending on how it's used):
1. It will fill the void left behind by the closing of HamsterSpeak.
2. It will greatly lessen the time it would take new users, or old users trying new tricks, to find information on the feature, design trick, etc. they want to learn about and practice using.
3. (Optional) It can also serve as a linking hub to every external article (HamsterSpeak, RPG Online, Operation: OHR, The Moglery, etc.) still available.
If this subforum is made reality, part of the cost should go into seeking for and moving any previous thread devoted to "teaching," like BMR's slice tutorial, to the new forum.
Any post set up as a general discussion (like the Good/Evil Points thread) probably doesn't need to become part of this subforum. It should be limited to posts that are structured and intended to serve as articles (a la something that would've gone into HamsterSpeak had it continued on into today).
Note: I'd be fine with helping you hunt for the older posts that would be appropriate for a forum like this and listing the names and locations of the ones I find.
It'd be interesting, yeah. I know where my articles are, so it wouldn't be too much trouble for me to hunt them down and move them if need be.
Also, I agree that it would indeed be useful to new users trying to figure things out. Frequently sough-after stuff like larger sprites (Bob's walktall thing) could also be stickied, making it easy to get at those how-tos.
Being from the third world, I reserve the right to speak in the third person.
Using Editor version wip 20170527 gfx_sdl+fb music_sdl
I don't really see why this couldn't be accomplished on the wiki, though. It sounds like you're suggesting a list which is a mix of external links and internal links to existing threads. Where is the value added by SS?
On thing is sure, posting articles on the wiki is better than posting them elsewhere, because then other people can improve or update them.
Well, no, not so much a list of links, even though there could be one stickied thread that does have that list. It's more cut and dry than that.
Basically, if BMR wants to write an article on how to use slices, he could post it in the Articles and Tutorials forum, where it's feasibly less cluttered than Game Discussion, rather than in the Game Discussion forum where announcements for contests, game hype, and other things are burying it under piles and no one will ever find it again.
I'm less in favor of pushing everything off solely onto a wiki because people often forget we have one (myself included), and nearly everyone in the OHR community comes here, including newbies, asking for advice or looking for information on how to do things.
Also, some people, like myself, miss what HamsterSpeak brought to the community, and even though wikis are good for information on the fly, they don't account for the kind of off-shoot topics that one might find in HamsterSpeak (i.e. "Reasons You Should Use Flavor Text"). The wiki is used almost exclusively for How-To articles, and doesn't really encourage game philosophy, fancy new tricks, and all the other niche topics we'd find in the old magazine. A forum for Articles and Tutorials could give them a place to write about those topics (in magazine article format, of course).
And, less important, yet still matters: a wiki doesn't credit an author like a feature article would. I think ownership of an article is important because it gives the reader early information on what sort of tone or style or viewpoint or credibility to expect from the article he's about to read. For example, if I see two articles about economy from msw188 and the Wobbler respectively, I know msw188's article will be more academic and thorough (and will probably come with an index), whereas the Wobbler's might be more philosophical and conceptual with less hand-holding and more inspiration. Personally, I prefer the Wobbler's style, so I'd be more inclined to read his article first. Someone looking for clear direction might rather go with msw188's article. Likewise, if I wanted to learn about how to make a sidescroller, I'd rather read one of Mogri's or Spoonweaver's articles than I would my own, since the best I can do with a sidescroller is to talk about why I don't want to make one. If I see two uncredited articles in the wiki based on the same general topic, how could I be sure they're both credible? I'd hate to get halfway through a tutorial on how best to start a sidescroller just to find out that the author has no idea what he's talking about, and now I'm having to bugfix like crazy to untangle the mess I've made in following his advice. (I know, that's a far-reaching example, but a wiki still makes it possible.)
This isn't to say that I think we should abandon the wiki, far from it. The advantage a wiki has over Slime Salad is alphabetizing (we can alphabetically search for games, but not for anything else--that drop-down box under the Slime Salad logo automatically transports you to the Games forum if you select it), but people offering advice will still come here posting their occasional How-To's and gaming philosophies, and I think it's smarter to give those people an appropriate forum to post to. After all, BMR could've posted his article solely to the wiki, but he posted here instead. Without an Articles and Tutorials forum, that article will be lost in the shuffle by next month. Then who's gonna find it, and why did he bother to write it?
I know this unveils a fine line between general gaming discussion and feature-style topics, and a forum like this would lack quality control, whereas a true magazine like HamsterSpeak has an editor who can reject work. That's the main risk in putting this together. But if it gives people a wealth of new ideas for making their games better, then I think it's worth having anyway.
I'm skeptical as well. I don't think there are enough articles on the site currently to warrant their own subforum (although I could be wrong), and I doubt creating the subforum would increase the demand, Field of Dreams-style.
Ideally, half the point of Game Discussion would be articles like what you're describing (the other half being discussion of games made by our users). I think that at the bare minimum, a sticky with links to articles would be a great idea. If you can convince me that there's a critical mass of threads, then I'll be happy to create the subforum.
