I can't remember if you've already talked about changing this or not... I'd make the Overview page (or something like it) the first page people see when they come to a site. Quite frequently when I visit websites for programs I'm interested in, I'm first presented with a news page, and if I have to click around just to find out what the heck SuperGameMaker IS, I sometimes get frustrated and give up.

Here we have a prominent link nicely labeled "Overview," but I think it'd be even better if that were the first page loaded. It's not hassle at all for me to click a separate link to find out what's new. I always go straight to the forums when I enter the site anyway.

The links on the left I would put in the order of likely importance for a brand-new visitor. For me that would be Overview, Download, BYOND Hub, DM InfoCenter, Forum, What's New?, and Products. A new visitor may not have any idea what "BYOND Hub" or "DM InfoCenter" means and I don't think they're very likely to explore those right away. I'd put a clear description of what the hub is on the Hub page and on the Overview page. (Oh, and the white links in the lavender block on the Hub page are quite hard to read.)

Next, the forum. How hard would it be to change the titles of the various topics? The descriptions of what's supposed to go on in each topic are overlooked with regularity; even I thought "Code and Demos" was about coding problems for a long time. There are posts from people struggling to figure out what's wrong with their code in every topic.

If it's not a real hassle to change topic names, I'd suggest something like:

Newbie Central - Drop in to say Hi, get the latest FAQ and ask questions to the oldbies.
Code Problems - Get help with making your program do what you want.
Design Philosophy - Banter about the techniques and components of world design.
Creations - Post code snippets or direct others to your new worlds.
Report & Request - Discuss BYOND, report BYOND bugs and request new features.
Babble - Babble about anything you want!

I also think the menu (for the site, not the forum) makes the site look industrial and utilitarian; it doesn't say, "This is a fun and exciting program for game lovers!" as much as, "This is a competent accounting program suitable for small businesses."

Anyone who reads the overview page will see what BYOND really is, but I want them to get the idea right off the bat. I think I remember you saying you liked the background on the menu page, but I'd experiment... try flipping it upside-down or switching to simple blue or black. Try changing the font and spacing the menu items out so they aren't all crowded at the top. And make some excitingly chunky graphics with whatever you used to make the BYOND logo, and put them in there. (If smaller letters look as good as the big ones in the logo do, you could even do the menu items with it.)

I think more screenshots from actual games would be nice for the Overview page... maybe you've already talked about that too, I dunno. The old DO pics are still awesome. I can get a shot of Backgammon if you like. Well, anyone can do that, I guess. Oh, I'd also make it clear on the Overview page that BYOND is great for making text-only games too... there's a lot of people out there like me who want to make MUDs, and not a lot of systems to work with. Occasionally I check other systems like BYOND and I haven't found a one that's clear about being able to do this.

The rest of us can work hard on making sure the info in the InfoCenter is up to date, and providing links where people can get free sound effects and graphics and midi, if you like. And... how's the referral system coming along?

Z