Topic: Frontpage Update

[Antares]

I'm sure pretty much everyone is aware, there has been some actual progress toward getting a front page ready, as well as a podcast.  There has been a bit of a lull lately, so I thought I'd make a post to keep things moving forward.  I also would like to let everyone know that I am still pending word from the Border Patrol on my application, and my lease runs out at my current apartment on 06/24.  I'll more than likely be staying with some friends until I hear for sure one way or the other.  I have decided that my broken down old computer isn't going to be worth taking with me, and I likely won't be buying a replacement for at least a few weeks.  This means I will have limited or no access to the site for an unknown amount of time in around 2 weeks.


Looking at what we have accomplished this far I think it it completely possible to have a working front page up and going before I have to move.  Here's a refresher on everything going on lately:

Front Page as it exists currently
OW Logo Thread
Podcast Trhead
Brainstorming and Podcast Thread


It appears we are still missing 4 main ingredients before launching the page:

• Finalized Logo  Idol/Que/Beo
• Space on the Frontpage for the Podcast   Ant/Cools
• Creation of Needed forums   Scott/Ant/Cools
• Final consensus/approval on everything

I'm not trying to stick anyone into doing anything they don't want to do, but I've stuck names by items it seems that people have been working toward so far.


Edit: in case anyone is wondering, the downloading of the podcast over the last week or so only resulted in 3.6% of the overall bandwidth use for the site, so essentially a drop in the bucket compared to the overhead for the forums so we have no current issue as far as hosting the podcast is concerned

EDIT by Que - Links were broken, just stepped in to fix them.

[Quemaqua]

My apologies at not working on the logo at all.  To be perfectly honest, I just sort of forgot about it.  I liked a lot of what idol had been doing and just started focusing on the podcast.

Also, have we yet come to any kind of resolution as far as what we want to offer in terms of content, who's going to write it, will anybody edit, standards, formatting or lack thereof, etc.?  I'm sorry if I seem like I'm completely out of it, but I kind of am.  The last week was another week from hell and this one got off to a horrendous start.  I just got back from literally getting into a full on confrontation with my neighbor and his music that's shaking my apartment floor.  I'm feeling a little homicidal right now.

[Ghandi]

I'm willing to edit if need be, I don't have an English degree but I will be getting a journalism degree next year and I'm fairly proficient, despite what may otherwise be presented by my posts

All of those things that you listed seem fairly minor, though. I don't know how long creating the needed forums takes, but it seems that the podcast / creating the logo are the most time-consuming steps. I don't know what I can do in terms of those things but hit me up if you need non-skill related help.

[scottws]

I almost consider creating the necessary forums to be a non-issue.  Tell me what needs to be done and it will be done mere minutes after I read it.

[Antares]

I almost consider creating the necessary forums to be a non-issue.  Tell me what needs to be done and it will be done mere minutes after I read it.

I pretty much assumed this would be the case.


Que, I don't think there has been any final word, although people have definitely kicked around different ideas.  Once everything is running from a technical standpoint it may be easier to tweak all of that as people are starting to generate content.

[idolminds]

I just want to know what people think about the logo stuff. Should I keep messing with "skully" or should I be working on something completely different?

[Quemaqua]

I liked skully and where that pixelated idea was going.  I think that was good stuff.

[Antares]

I personally like both the retro gaming theme as well as skully.  The example you posted was a bit rough, but I think something along those lines would work really well.

[beo]

i thought the skully design was good (i preferred the 3d version), but it looks a lot like metal steve's shirt from popular webcomic diesel sweeties (they also sell a shirt with the design). i don't know if that matters to anyone, but to me the logo will always be associated with afore mentioned comic. also, i know it's pixelated (hence retro), but beyond that the link with gaming is a little tenuous. i don't know, just my opinion - don't mean to be overly critical. if you want to do some more brainstorming with any ideas you have, get me on messenger and i'll be willing to lend input.

scottws edit:  Fixed your link

[scottws]

Here is my submission:



Oh by the way someone owes me $500,000.

[idolminds]

i thought the skully design was good (i preferred the 3d version), but it looks a lot like metal steve's shirt from popular webcomic diesel sweeties (they also sell a shirt with the design). i don't know if that matters to anyone, but to me the logo will always be associated with afore mentioned comic. also, i know it's pixelated (hence retro), but beyond that the link with gaming is a little tenuous. i don't know, just my opinion - don't mean to be overly critical. if you want to do some more brainstorming with any ideas you have, get me on messenger and i'll be willing to lend input.

scottws edit:  Fixed your link

Ah crap...back to the drawing board.

[Quemaqua]

I dunno', skulls are pretty generic.  Plus I've never even heard of that webcomic.  Maybe we could just alter it a little to make it just a bit more unique?  Just take that idea and kind of expand on it?

I was thinking today that we could maybe do something with a gamepad.  I think Beo posted something with a joystick already, didn't he?  But I was thinking a gamepad would be rounder (base it around a generally SNES-ish design, maybe) and easier to make a logo type thing out of.

Damn it.  Okay, I think tonight I'll play with some ideas.  I've totally slacked on this.  I'll try to boot up inkscape later.

Shit, we should do a chat and do this.  Like one of those picture chats.  Just have people draw some stuff as they go, talk about things.  Or we could draw stuff and chat on Teamspeak as we finish ideas and post them, haha.

[NatchDan]

Skype has a whiteboard extra.

[beo]

I dunno', skulls are pretty generic.  Plus I've never even heard of that webcomic.  Maybe we could just alter it a little to make it just a bit more unique?  Just take that idea and kind of expand on it?

I was thinking today that we could maybe do something with a gamepad.  I think Beo posted something with a joystick already, didn't he?  But I was thinking a gamepad would be rounder (base it around a generally SNES-ish design, maybe) and easier to make a logo type thing out of.

Damn it.  Okay, I think tonight I'll play with some ideas.  I've totally slacked on this.  I'll try to boot up inkscape later.

Shit, we should do a chat and do this.  Like one of those picture chats.  Just have people draw some stuff as they go, talk about things.  Or we could draw stuff and chat on Teamspeak as we finish ideas and post them, haha.

yeah, i thought about the gamepad idea before. tried a few things, but really couldn't get any results that i'd consider remotely successful. it's a good idea, but i think it'd be quite difficult to pull off (although i probably just went about it the wrong way).

as for the skully / dieselsweeties thing, i don't want to make it seem like an issue, if you guys all like it, then maybe it's the way to go. i just thought it would be an idea to make you aware that a pixelated skull logo is already in circulation. the comic is one of the bigger webcomics around, but like you que, many will not know what it is - even of those who do, i'm guessing that most wouldn't notice the similarity - or care.

[Quemaqua]

So I doodled in one of my art books for a little while.  It's nothing really usable, but I think sharing ideas fosters creativity, so I'll post them as soon as I get them scanned.  I'll post them over in the logo thread.

[Antares]

The movers will be at my place in 2 hours. I'm going to remove the HDD from my PC and throw it in the dumpster right now.  My laptop should be arriving in a couple weeks so I'll be away until then.