Dark Arrow on 10/5/2007 at 16:47
To be honest, I have visited the front page of TTLG only a couple of times and that was simply because I wanted to get to the forums and wasn't sure whether (
www.ttlg.com/forums) was going to take me there. I have the forum front page bookmarked and I never visit the ttlg front page.
I like HybridVision's idea of tracking devs, but I'm not sure whether such a thing should be on the front page.
If you want to make the news come alive, wouldn't it be possible to allow mods to make news from various thread or posts that are in the forum with a click of a button. An example of the FM forum: That way new FM's could be announced by mods and there would be no need for members to check the forum whether there are new FM's and sort through several threads about "how to find object x in fm y".
As for what I believe that TTLG is: TTLG is about games that have created a new gaming genre or redefined an old one. It is also about people that work on expanding those games (namely the FM/modding forums). Didn't LGS do just this with most of their games and shouldn't this be the purpose of TTLG?
scumble on 10/5/2007 at 17:04
Quote Posted by GBM
And yes, we are strongly attached to the legacy games in a big way. PigLick's comments are bang on the money in that regard. At the moment we manage to pretty artfully straddle the old-school and the new-school... albeit in whatever inexpressible manner lends us to favour Certain Types of Games over others.
This is a quick thought, kind of related to the legacy gaming angle, but possibly more general. I have this feeling that there is a gap for a site that is less occupied with the cutting edge omg this new game is cool material, and more likely to go towards reflection on gaming with the perspective of having been playing on computers for 20 years. Some people like to ditch old stuff and leave it to nostalgia, but many of us play games like people read 19th century novels. They aren't current and don't use a squillion polygons, but after several years we still play them because they provide a unique, never to be repeated experience.
I'm not interested in a bunch of nostalgia articles, but there are few places that look at games with much of a historical perspective. Still, I'm not sure how many interesting (or indeed humorous) articles could be produced on various themes of looking backwards. I suppose it links back to the forums - every so often a discussion starts about an old game that someone has just discovered, or a remake of a classic, and this is something that could spike some kind of article beyond simple news - i.e. why is this game still great fun after 10 years? Why would anyone put the effort into porting/remaking it? Where does it sit in the relatively short history of computer gaming?
This all sounds a bit dry but it's a common kind of topic on legacy games that comes up in General Gaming.
Turtle on 10/5/2007 at 17:11
Of course, one doesn't have to pick only one subject to cover on the front page.
There could easily be an update about a game/dev, an editorial related to some community interest and a link to a popular discussion in the forums all occupying the same hub.
Ziemanskye on 10/5/2007 at 18:08
I have to admit to kind of liking the idea of being able to broadcast forums
posts on the main thread. I know it's technically kind of dumb and gimmicky, but a quick box for a mod to tick and up it goes on the main hub could be a quick way to get "news" broadcast: what goes up just depends on the moderator posting it.
Even better if you could somehow snarf the first screenshot from threads to make the news more dynamic, since that way it'd be more useful/relevant to the fm communities.
And quicker access to the legacy gaming stuff - especially the compatibility issues and fixes would be nice, as might a similar line on the unofficial updates such as texture and model packs.
I'm not looking for a high-turnaround on the news, but having a persistant and useful place to visit for that kind of thing (without having to wade into forum-land, which can be scary for non-members): the seperation between telling someone to check ttlg.com for help, and ttlg.com/forums/forums.php?t=6482016747 or whatever
Mortal Monkey on 10/5/2007 at 18:54
I vote for the Daily GBM Doodle. Now that's frontpage material.
fett on 10/5/2007 at 20:17
I don't have much to add other than I think ditching the hub is a horrible idea - it just needs to...I dunno, work correctly somehow.
Also, there seems to be a consensus that TTLG shouldn't ape other sites, but most game sites use a similar format because it works. We're not going to strike on a totally new brilliant format, but the content is going to be unique no matter what because no one else is going to cover this particular collection of games (no matter how you define them). That said, maybe it would be worth trying out some of these popular formats for the Hub just to see how it works for a bit. Modify along the way.
Schattentänzer on 10/5/2007 at 20:24
I like the idea that mods can pick choice threads for the front page. TTLG is best defined by the community itself, after all. This wouldn't rule out other items like update info or interesting links, it's a good way to keep the front page fresh with little effort, and it's probably the best way to give casual clickers a taste of the place.
Mr.Duck on 10/5/2007 at 21:06
*Ponders for a bit*
Hmmm...
I wonder if a front page for PC gaming news and reviews would be appropiate (I was thinking of gamingtrend.com). Like fett said, it's not about inventing a new format, but rather using a tried-and-true one and making the content be the uniqueness of it all.
Hmmm...
Perhaps having editors and staff members for each area of PC gaming with a strict criteria of what passes off as a good review or not? (humor aside), maybe even allow for member submissions as long as they met the criteria?
My brain's dry these days, being in finals and all....so, just an idea or two...
Schattentänzer on 10/5/2007 at 21:52
Quote Posted by Gingerbread Man
Maybe it
is a fruitless venture to define this TTLGenre. Maybe it's better for us to keep on scouting and hunting out the games as we do... developing a reputation for game appreciation based on quality and maturity instead of genre definitions or other narrowly-constructed criteria is probably a great idea. The only time it really throws a spanner is when someone asks us to define the qualities we look for, and all we can do is try to find a way to say "I dunno...
Good games, games that don't
suck... Games that take some kind of intelligence to appreciate" without sounding like horrible snobs.
I really think that pinning it down with words isn't really neccessary. I mean, places like BoingBoing have also been working for years without a genre fixation as such, because the vistors recognize the underlying... geist... theme.. thingy without having it spelled out for them. Hell, "games that don't suck" is fine enough for me.
Judith on 10/5/2007 at 22:13
Quote Posted by jay pettitt
New releases get announced, but last time I looked there was not a lot of extra supporting info. The reviews fizzled away and died a few years ago, there's no glossy screen shots etc etc. If you're casually interested and pass by once in a while like myself there's not a lot there to help you pick a cool Fan Mission to play of an evening.
So maybe the idea of creating first page for Thief FM's isn't such a bad idea then? I even have the candidate for the Master Reviewer - Nightwalker ;)
If it's too time-consuming then Z's idea is quite fine - let the mods pick threads for the hub, and their choice would be based on defined categories, e.g. new Thief fan mission, gaming news, other news, most hilarious thread of the day, etc. ;)
