ID:259619
 
For the past couple of months, we've been hard at work updating the BYOND website with a new look and some new functionality. Finally we're ready to do a public beta test of the new site. If all goes well, we'll make the switch in another day or two (those of you who may not check the site between now and then may be in for a surprise!). In the meantime, we'd like to ask anyone who is interested to check out the new site and report any problems you may find.

First, a brief list of changes and added features:
  • BYOND now has two sites: BYOND Games and BYOND Developer Central.
  • Games site is geared towards players, people who come primarily to play games and (hopefully) pay for them too! There are some fairly obvious links to the developer site, but other than that, it removes all developer content to avoid confusion people who are not interested in that.
  • If you're reading this, you'll probably spend most of your BYOND website time at BYOND Developer Central. All current developer content is there, and hopefully a little easier to find. One item of note is that all hub publishing is done through the developer site (indeed, a player would not want or need to publish; only a developer would).
  • Additionally, these forums are only available at the developer site. These are the developer forums, after all. Eventually we'll add some general game forums to complement the individual game hub forums.
  • Completely new layout, with new, brighter color schemes.
  • More useful and neat information, such as total games live and players live at any given moment!
  • Internal changes to the login system. It will work essentially the same to you, but it could cause some minor glitches during the beta test period. When we do away with the old site, everything should work seamlessly. If you have any trouble logging in or out during the beta test, try this link to clear everything. Then login again.

Please report any problems at this forum (or this link at the old site in case you have login problems at the new site). Include as much detail as possible, including the approxite time (BYOND Standard Time), the key you were using (if different from the key you post under), your web browser version, and any detail about the situation. What happened, what went wrong, what exactly did you see on the screen, etc.

Colors! We still need help with the developer forum colors -- they're just not quite right. Please also post any suggestions at the above link. They need to go well with the new developer site color scheme which uses #f0f0f0, #cccccc, #0017b2, and #000060. We need colors for message header background, message header text, message background, message text, link color, unread message color, and admin color. Hex values are most appreciated. We may even throw in a little prize for anyone who suggests a good set of specific colors, and you'll definitely get into our credits page if we use yours!

And now, finally:

http://games.byond.com/
http://developer.byond.com/

The sites are fully functional and connected to the live database, so have fun! If you find that everything works well, you can begin using the new site in place of the old right away.

I should also note that we have a number of new features planned for the new site as time permits. For now it simply replicates the functionality of the old site with a few enhancements. If you have any suggestions, please also post them at the above feedback link. Thanks!