ID:1468572
 
A gaming layout. Not a social networking light bright layout.
take notes @ tom
http://www.newgrounds.com/(good example)
http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/(good example)
http://www.nexon.net/ (lol light bright for kids)
https://www.facebook.com/ (wat)
https://twitter.com/ (wat)

When you gonna step up and kick *** Tom?


The BYOND symbol needs to be surrounded by a black background, while it glows standing out.

This has always been on my mind, just getting it out.
I'm pretty sure Tom has posted somewhere saying that if anyone wanted to do the graphics or design things like this they can send them mock-ups that they will look at. Instead of suggesting it, why don't you make an attempt or find a graphics designer to do it?
Because I cant even find a pixel artist to do stuff for me.

My reputation isn't a good one because the truth hurts. But I can always be a punk and name change into a new person but never despair, my glory is soon.

Not only that, even if I did I'm pretty sure everyone will put a dollar in to get their own design in, no one has sparked up the competition yet, but the new BYOND a one for gamer's would increase the population and everyone would want credit for that.
I could definitely start up a design contest, but i have this weird suspicion my standards are way too high.
In response to EnigmaticGallivanter
EnigmaticGallivanter wrote:
I could definitely start up a design contest, but i have this weird suspicion my standards are way too high.

BYOND needs high standards. For some reason when I look at the site now I think of an old movie like "American Psycho" and think about a file cabinet.

---
And if anyone thinks BYOND doesn't need a more, gaming upgrade, you must not be seeing the donation bar.
Even with mock-ups, I very much doubt we'd see a complete overhaul of the site again so soon. There are more important aspects of the project that they're focusing on currently, I believe.
I do agree the site could be a little more...fluffy. However, as LAndrew said; without something to back up the fluffiness, it's a load of potatoes.
In response to Kboy33
Kboy33 wrote:
I do agree the site could be a little more...fluffy. However, as LAndrew said; without something to back up the fluffiness, it's a load of potatoes.

Needs more nudeness and hot anime babes, not fluffy. Anyway, BYOND is pretty good at where it's at, if 13 year olds can make thousands off of ripped Naruto games, than it's good.

But once again being a good or advanced programmer doesn't make you a good game maker and audience grabber, it's not rocket science to understand that. I agree BYOND needs an upgrade in all aspects, but over 10 years of BYOND and they still don't got a team(ex: Programmer, Graphics Design, etc..) that can focus on their own part of the pie, it's kinda depressing.

I'm done on this post. Someone start a contest or something.
More people on the team would require those people to be unpaid workers, which most people don't want to do.
Mock ups are lame, my contest would involve the person having to make a usable demo hosted on their own domains or BYOND membership file space.

Usable as in the HTML and CSS is valid, no need for scripts or back end.
A social networking approach is and has historically been a dire mistake.

BYOND is a game engine, and hence should try to be that, and not some mismash/hodgepodge social networking experience.
In response to Ter13
Ter13 wrote:
A social networking approach is and has historically been a dire mistake.

BYOND is a game engine, and hence should try to be that, and not some mismash/hodgepodge social networking experience.
^

What this guy said. I remember when the site first changed back in 2011 to this lighter layout, me and a ton of others were complaining about our eyes hurting. *too light*
I agree with many of the facts that have been exposed here.
My point of view to this matter, is that I really believe that Tom and Lummox are way too focused on the actual engine, or at least this the expected situation, to pay attention to such a low-priority task like this one.

@LA: First of all, Hi there since it's been almost a year, if not more, since I last talked to you :)

Secondly, @Albro1, if Tom or Lummox cannot get anyone to work for free for them, is simply because they are not truly interested in having one.

I would myself work for free when it comes to matters of website mangement and development. Truth is that am currently studying web development, and wishin to have some type of project to rely my practice on.
All I know is that everytime we make a new foray into improving the website, it eats up lots of time, people mostly complain, and it has no effect on our revenue. I realize this site is fairly outdated and with some professional help, we could probably make it look a lot better, but it is unclear what the payoff would be, and I think people would prefer that we improve the software. Nowadays many websites are made with templates and more modern web standards so it is easy to swap in different schemes/layouts, but our site is built from the ground up and I suspect integrating an entirely new format would be a lot of work.

Fact is, we are struggling right now. You can see it right there with the fundraiser. We met the goal last month thanks to some very generous contributors, but that is only the third time we've done so (and the goal is pretty much a bare minimum to keep things going). We have lost a lot of traffic in the last year and are trying to make some improvements to reclaim that. but it mostly starts with the games. We really can't go another year with the only thing to show being a nicer website.
You should give more power to members again such as guilds etc...

That'll give me a reason to be one.
In response to Tom
Tom wrote:
Fact is, we are struggling right now.

Why not stop supporting older games?

I will myself admit, a break of precedent and forgetting about backward-compatibility of the client for the sake of wiggle room for a brighter BYOND without dragging ten years of legacy code into the modern era was what I was hoping 500 would be.

Ultimately, Santa didn't bring me coal, though, and I'm grateful for that.
In response to Kozuma3
Kozuma3 wrote:
Tom wrote:
Fact is, we are struggling right now.

Why not stop supporting older games?

This. we don't need to support them, they *may* work on the current stable or releases before that and those releases are available to download. most of the releases provide a "portable" version in a ZIP file so you can still have the stable/beta installed, extract that ZIP launch BYOND and BAM you are now sporting an older version....
As much as I would like BYOND to improve, it angers me whenever I hear people talking about how BYOND should "move on" and "stop supporting older games".

That would be the equivalent of attempting to remove the foundation from a house, and expecting the structure to float in the air. In other words, it would be a complete and total failure. BYOND's connection to its past may be the only thing that has held it together over the years, and attempting to bury it and start over is likely to have some bad consequences.

Too many businesses, while on the verge of shutting down, have made the mistake of desperately reaching too far, to make that last risky investment. It's kind of like someone who can't swim, struggling to breathe in deep water. We certainly wouldn't want that to happen to BYOND.

The only thing that can save BYOND is the power that already lies within BYOND itself. It's just up to us to make proper use of that power. Trying to reinvent BYOND is not going to change that. It will only worsen the situation. At this point, BYOND has a kind of "fuel efficiency". It can either use the fuel up quickly, and die out faster, or it can try to keep moving forward at a steady pace, until it lasts long enough for potential game developments to crop up, go viral, and support BYOND indefinitely.

Hopefully you understand the point that I'm trying to make here. Everyone seems to blame the current status quo on the BYOND engine itself, yet I don't think anyone has any idea of what great potential it has for making excellent games, nor have its full capabilities ever been witnessed in any game since the beginning of its history. So, would dumping compatibility for older games in favor of more modern features really help expected game developers in making great games? The answer is NO!

If you really want BYOND to succeed, then make great games, tell the whole world about them, and make them go viral. While the fate of BYOND ultimately rests with this community, I still believe in the potential of the flash client, assuming that people make use of it. We can make games here, and the flash client can help them go viral. Sure, we might have the standalone client, but the problem is, many people are just too lazy and paranoid to download things, and the flash client would not only solve that problem, but make games infinitely more visible, by being embedded directly in popular websites. I think the flash client is a reasonable investment that should take priority over remodeling the website.

As for when and if the website is restructured, I think the best place to start would be by repairing whatever happened to the nicer, easier to use DM reference, and linking it directly from both the main page and the developer section, as it is by far the most important resource for any DM developer. Sure, we all know about the F1 help. Where would we be without it? The thing is new people probably won't find it right away, so one of the first things they need is a nice first impression, from a nice online reference.

I hope all of this makes sense. It's hard to tell which is worse; BYOND's current problems, or the misunderstanding of the problems!
In response to Multiverse7
Multiverse7 wrote:
That would be the equivalent of attempting to remove the foundation from a house, and expecting the structure to float in the air.

Anything is possible as long as you believe.
Page: 1 2