Gaming World Forums
General Category => General Talk => Topic started by: Drule on April 16, 2009, 12:57:46 pm
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Welcome to theAstrojone.
(http://junk.drule.net/newaj.png) (http://www.astrojone.net/game/lyle-in-cube-sector/)
Hi friends!
I know posts like these usually don't go in General, but I've gotten special permission from panda, so...
As some of you may know, theAstrojone a site I started working on during the development of GW5. I had some disagreements about how GW should be built and run with whatever group was working on it at the time, so I decided to start my own community instead to see how these ideas would work in practice.
The idea was never realized though. For whatever reason I couldn't find someone to help me code the project, and when I finally did I was too busy with work (but thanks anyway GoldenRatio). The scope of the project was simply too big I think.
I noticed some time ago though that GW has lost a lot of activity, so I felt I should give the Astrojone another try. I did, and it worked. I've been working non-stop on this sucker for weeks now, and yesterday I decided to release the first version of the site.
This site isn't trying to rival GW. The concept is a little different. It's focused around general creativity and isn't as organzied as GW is. I'm just hoping to create a really sweet community with the help of you guys, so if any of this sounds interesting to you you're more than welcome to join us. We have around 70 members right now, and if you registered an account during the first development period you can still use it. Only the topics have been cleared.
So yeah. Come join us!
Update: I've taken comments and criticism into consideration and developed a newer version. It now has:
- A new layout
- Integrated forum functions on the mainsite.
- A blog-like direction
See this post (http://www.gamingw.net/forums/index.php?topic=9853.msg1526935#msg1526935) for more information.
Enjoy!
Visit theAstrojone (http://www.astrojone.net/)!
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Yip yip yip I'm already in the mix.
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what is a jone?
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drule how do embed youtubes on the astrojone?
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You can't, it's not a built-in forum feature on SMF. I'll fix it asap though.
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okay good thanks. that's an important thing for a forum to have i think.
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Naw.
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hey i'm in
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Whats with the name?
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it's astrodome but with jone instead of dome. o_o
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you think you shall but really you shan't
i'm upton sinclair, you're a meat packing plant
my dick i sbigger than a
oh wait what is this new site
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uhhhh... where's all the spinning skulls and flame gifs??
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the nineties
but for real why is it called the astrojone you got my hopes up
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I'm game
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"I'm going to make my own internet community with blackjack and hookers" -- bender
good luck with it, I might join but I already don't like how much time I spend here
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mark you could be out . . . living
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I would but I can only seem to tolerate paying attention to 1 internet forum otherwise I spend too much time on the computer which is just silly.
Looks like you did a pretty good job of it though *msn thumbs up emoticon thingy*
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it looks like a nice site, but there's really nothing there to discuss! i may visit it once it has more members but it's hard holding a conversation with yourself
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website? more like webshite. here's a list of everything that sucks about it: everything. maybe you should open up a book of how to be popular on the internet then you're website wouldn't be as boring. what did you make it in?> frontpage express.... home edition???? it could really do with some jazzing up. or destruction.
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do we have to talk about gamemasterjasper there
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na just kiddin, if the whole of gw eventually goes i may think about going too but i know panda has stuff planned for this site
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na just kiddin, if the whole of gw eventually goes i may think about going too but i know panda has stuff planned for this site
FINALLY some new thread icons
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I am joining solely on the basis of the excellent appearance of the site and the stellar personnel.
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it looks like a nice site, but there's really nothing there to discuss! i may visit it once it has more members but it's hard holding a conversation with yourself
Yeah I don't think there will be too much discussion going on at this point, but it is a good thing if we can raise the member and topic count.
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i like the color scheme and layout, nice work!
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I don't now if you are being ironic but I am just saying that I am not really trying to make this out to be a valid alternative to GW at this point. I am just trying to get the community off the ground, hopefully with the help of you guys.
If not though then thanks!
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i liked the color too whyd you think it was sarcasm?
then again we are literally big babies who like stupid things so maybe ask someone like omeg who knows what a color is.
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I don't now if you are being ironic but I am just saying that I am not really trying to make this out to be a valid alternative to GW at this point. I am just trying to get the community off the ground, hopefully with the help of you guys.
If not though then thanks!
no i'm being sincere! i'm no pro (dada...) but i like the pink/black buttons. it just looks pretty unique compared to a lot of other color schemes (like the one here)
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Awesome site about videogames, the other day I was wondering "man when is there gonna be another videogame website?"
Good thing you made it!
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im sorry i just think videogames are more important than anything really. deal with it
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alot of bitchassness in this topic
relax everyone
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cool site bro A++ would visit again
*registers*
8-)
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Joined. Finally, a site with GAMES.
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then again we are literally big babies who like stupid things so maybe ask someone like omeg who knows what a color is.
I like the colors! To be honest, I don't like the layout very much, but that's for other reasons. I think it's too hefty and overstated. Font sizes are gigantic, you use Impact as heading font (hello 1998) and every element is separated by a huge amount of padding. Nothing wrong with the colors, though. So I definitely think that the layout needs work in the future, but personally I'd just make a whole new theme at some point instead of continually tweaking this one. The site works, though, and it's very easy to find your way around, so it has good usability. Too bad the forum uses a separate codebase.
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So... Because nobody could take the time to make GW into what you wanted it to be, you tried making this site so that it could become that.
Then... after realising that that aspiration was way too far out of scope (as in: it would take too much time), you made it anyhow, but only retaining the features that GW had already.
Although to your credit, I do like how you organized it. Splitting the classifications among the same games and listing them on the main page so they are easy to see is a good design choice. The garish colors help emphasize it, so I have no qualms about that either.
This summer, I should have some free time and I'd love to have web-design type programming type stuff to work out on that time. If you'd have me, I'd love to take a crack at pushing the functionality of that site. Although with enough games, I have a feeling it can work out anyhow. (If nothing else, I will post games to it because I like how accessable they'd be based on those classifactions of player-interest listed)
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So... Because nobody could take the time to make GW into what you wanted it to be, you tried making this site so that it could become that.
Then... after realising that that aspiration was way too far out of scope (as in: it would take too much time), you made it anyhow, but only retaining the features that GW had already.
I never said this. The Astrojone incorporates a lot of the ideas I originally had for the community, I just decided to start out small so I could manage the backend myself and not have to rely on the help of others.
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Makes sense. Just let me know when it gets to a point where you are open to other people's help. It's looking good so far.
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Illegal bump!
The site went through some major changes to make the community more appealing to the public. We got rid of the wacky layout and replaced it with something more streamlined, and the focus was shifted from indie listing to indie/video/retro gaming news as well as game development. We are doing really well right now with several editors, and the site is gradually improving in both content and activity.
So yeah, if this sounds interesting to you then you should definitely join up!
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I like THE IDEA and it seems you are actually dedicated to this, but I am still really not a huge fan of the aesthetic
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I intend to gradually improve it based on user input. I think it looks very good as a base layout, but I intend to touch up the colors, corners and headers a bit. It's not top priority right now though, and I intend to wait until we've gotten more user input.
Also, the background theme can easily be modified (and probably will depending on current events/competitions/holidays etc.)
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I like the way it looks.
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dude, a main page... with articles! with interesting articles about interesting and good games!
i'm sold. i'll be checking out your astrojone more often. maybe even making a bookmark out of it. maybe.
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Joined up on the forums! The background is downright atrocious and the purple header for the articles is lolwut but otherwise this is pretty neat, seems kind of like TIGSource.
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Yeah, the layout is a work in progress. In the end it will look a lot nicer I think, and more like a regular gaming site.
Also, good to have you guys there. :)
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I know you said it's not "top priority" but I just find it really hard to take the site seriously as it looks. This maybe wouldn't be a determining factor for someone familiar, but if you want to appeal to a wider community I'd bump that up a few notches. I imagine if I were browsing around and I stumbled into the site my thirst thought would be lolgeocitiesgaemsite.
JUST SAYIN'
edit: The actual Astrojone logo looks fine, though. Maybe do something with a blue and white theme.. oh wait..
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lolgeocitiesgaemsite.
I think you're exaggerating. I don't think the background is that bad. It's supposed to give off that RETRO GAMING feel, plus it goes well with the banner.
My biggest gripe is the white content background, which I've told Drule I think should be a light shade of blue, imo
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What is wrong with the way it looks? I really don't get it. I think it looks appealing, it's got it's own aesthetic going.
Whaddya want? Gradients? Flash logos?!?>!
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flame effectrs
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aaaah that new background looks positively dapper
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I was originally satisfied the layout, but looking at it now there are some things I'd like to change. I said it wasn't on my priority list because I just recently redesigned it. Doing it again would give people a weird impression I think, so I am going to wait for a while.
I do like the background though. It's a typical Web 2.0 pattern with overlayed ATARI-esque pixels, which I think adds a nice gaming aspect to an otherwise standard backdrop.
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I signed up BTW. I don't like the style of the forum, I find some of the text on it a bit hard to read
speedy the rat is a featured thingy... I think it should have been a featured thingy on gw. gw doesn't have enough featured community things (when people were doign things)
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I feel bad for not working on the next episode of that. I really need to get on that. That's a promise that I will.
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I think the looks of it as of now are really great. It's got a smooth and colorful look to it. Also, you should never change the logo. That shooting star effect reminds me of those "The More You Know" commercials.
More importantly, I'm loving the content. There's a very good taste in games going on here, and a definite interest in the game-making community.
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I think this place has alot of potential, Drule is doing a good job.