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News:

Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

Poll

Do you want an external website for mods?

Yes!
- 11 (61.1%)
No, the forum is enough.
- 7 (38.9%)

Total Members Voted: 18


Author Topic: New Mod website?  (Read 3780 times)

Thaago

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New Mod website?
« on: August 13, 2012, 12:11:33 PM »

Unfortunately the last website (thread: http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=2031.0, starfarerhub.com) is down and the creator hasn't been around in months. I've been playing around with web development using Drupal and, if people want, will volunteer to create a website to replace the old one.

Here are the features I would like to include (I'm rather new, so this will take some time to implement):
-Logged in users can make pages for their complete mods, including pictures and downloads
--A rating system and a page that displays the top rated mods
--Mods sorted by category
-A ship gallery section where people can upload ships sprites (sorted by ship class) and associated ships files and .csv stats
-A weapon gallery similar to the ship gallery
-A mission gallery...
-A tutorial section that collects useful threads from the forum (or just original content)

-I do not intent to implement a forum as that would just be way too confusing, but users can comment on other's pages.

In order to keep the site alive even if I should go awol (which I don't plan on doing, but might happen) I plan on sharing the admin access to the site and to the web hosting as a contingency.

Thoughts? Other features? Telling me to stuff it? :P
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Uomoz

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Re: New Mod website?
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2012, 12:15:14 PM »

Go for it! SFHub was quite cool.
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Hyph_K31

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Re: New Mod website?
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2012, 12:17:17 PM »

Great idea! I never really used the old site, I'll bet you can do a better job!

Although I'm not to sure about the rating system, perhaps something like a feature system would be better?
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Strifen

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Re: New Mod website?
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2012, 12:28:06 PM »

You have any name ideas?

on a sidenote, Thaago Station sounds pretty cool.
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Hyph_K31

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Re: New Mod website?
« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2012, 12:30:03 PM »

I'm liking it already :D

Thaago Station +1
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Thaago

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Re: New Mod website?
« Reply #5 on: August 13, 2012, 06:35:57 PM »

Haha, I was just going to go with 'starfarermods' or something like that.
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keptin

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Re: New Mod website?
« Reply #6 on: August 13, 2012, 07:39:28 PM »

Captain buzzkill here.  I don't understand why every indie game has people who feel the need to create external mod hosting sites.  Firstly, given the small user base of Starfarer, there's no need--why create a whole website to host 15 mods?  Secondly, what does it provide that the forums can't do better?  The forums are accessible, easy to use, automatically sort themselves by activity, their mod OPs contain the latest versions, and are the first place new players are going to check.

If I were looking to host externally, a place like ModDB is a better option for a mod dev because it's a popular and reliable host.  I know it will be around a year from now and that my files will be in tact.  It may not be as game centric, but again, that's what the forums are for.

Spiketail118

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Re: New Mod website?
« Reply #7 on: August 13, 2012, 08:05:18 PM »

we should also start adding ower mods to moddb
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CrashToDesktop

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Re: New Mod website?
« Reply #8 on: August 13, 2012, 08:09:11 PM »

I'd like to add a Moddb page, but no one answered me when I posted about it. -_-
Anyways, I personally find that the forums are enough, but a transition to a more dedicated mod site wouldn't hurt.  +1 for you, Thaago.
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Sweetraveparty

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Re: New Mod website?
« Reply #9 on: August 13, 2012, 08:43:36 PM »

This... would be awesome :D

Do it!
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NightKev

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Re: New Mod website?
« Reply #10 on: August 14, 2012, 02:58:00 AM »

Captain buzzkill here.  I don't understand why every indie game has people who feel the need to create external mod hosting sites.
Many reasons. Practice with web development, for fun, want to be helpful, etc. Is it necessary? Usually not, unless the game reaches Minecraft-level popularity, in which case now your early entry into the "scene" gets you a useful website with good traffic (well, hopefully!).
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Psiyon

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Re: New Mod website?
« Reply #11 on: August 14, 2012, 06:29:32 AM »

Firstly, given the small user base of Starfarer, there's no need--why create a whole website to host 15 mods? 
A: Starfarer's userbase might not be gigantic, but it isn't small by any means. B: 15 mods? Try 50+. There are 48 on the Master Mods List alone, but that, of course, doesn't include everything. C: Starfarer is still in alpha. Its popularity will grow more and more with each subsequent update. One board for modding is not going to suffice.



Secondly, what does it provide that the forums can't do better?  The forums are accessible, easy to use, automatically sort themselves by activity, their mod OPs contain the latest versions, and are the first place new players are going to check.
What does it provide that forums can't do better? I could go on and list potential feature by potential feature, but I'll sum it all up in a few words: organization, ease of use, and convenience. The forums may be accessible and easy to use, but you have to realize that forums aren't built for hosting mods, they're made to host discussions. As far as finding mods go, the current forums are terrible for it: mod project threads are buried in with everything else, and we have to rely on the master mods thread which sometimes goes for long periods without being updated.

However, for the time being, the forums could be made infinitely better by simply adding in a modding projects subforum. It would provide a convenient location to host all the mod project threads without clutter from everything else, and would make the Master Mods List thread obsolete. A full-fledged website will probably be necessary in the future, though--as I said, Starfarer is going to grow a lot in popularity.
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CrashToDesktop

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Re: New Mod website?
« Reply #12 on: August 14, 2012, 06:37:59 AM »

The forums are enough in my mind, believe me.  I just want a more organized place to do it. :)
Larger mods like Caelus, Omega's Minimash, Uomoz's Corvus, and even the Xplo System mod could use a better place to stay organized, get screenshots in, etc.  Moddb would serve well in that function.
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Quote from: Trylobot
I am officially an epoch.
Quote from: Thaago
Note: please sacrifice your goats responsibly, look up the proper pronunciation of Alex's name. We wouldn't want some other project receiving mystic power.