New Website Features

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MD
Site Admin
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Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2007 2:06 pm

New Website Features

Post by MD »

Hi everyone,

I've been working a lot on the surrounding PHP/HTML (and now Javascript as well) that makes up the gallery and the actual page that contains the game.

There are many changes, if you want to dive in right away here's the link to the test site: http://zf.skylogic.ca
Note: Internet Explorer completely fails with the new site...use a better browser in the meantime.

I'll attempt to list the improvements for you now:
-Login sessions: You can now login to your account through a form on the website, complete with AJAX effects. In this way you will have a noticable presence throughout the site.
-Level Bookmarks: Click "bookmark" and voila you will have easy access to that level through your user's "Account" page. You can even give the bookmark a personal rating seperate from the level's actual rating.
-User profiles: for any given user you can see what levels they have created, levels they have beaten (and in how many lives and how many seconds!)
-Reporting: can report users or levels to the moderator team (i.e. me, though code is in place for that to change) and can give a reason why you are reporting it
-Level profiles: this is where you can bookmark levels. Also has some statistics on the level. In the near future I will be implementing a basic comment system, so you will finally be able to give feedback to users on their levels!
-Cleaner code: Doesn't affect you guys, but it makes me happy :)

For the programming-inclined out there, i'm using the CodeIgniter library on top of PHP, and the JQuery library on top of Javascript.

There's more I have to do still, but the core functionality is in place and ready to be tested. Keeping track of all the plays and wins might put a lot of strain on the server, and especially the database, so I need to make sure it continues to run smoothly with the changes i've made. So I'll be leaving the normal zetaflow subdomain in place for the time being.

Also, if anyone knows of sites looking to do link exchanges or advertise on my site, let me know. It'd be great to be able to work with reputable sites similar to mine rather than, for example, google ads which no one really pays attention to anyway.

That's it for now, enjoy!
~MD
Sasadad
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Re: New Website Features

Post by Sasadad »

Awesome, MD! Good to see another update, it's been a while.
I like a lot of the new updates, especially the bookmark system, user profiles, and level profiles. I've been thinking for a while that we should be able to add comments to levels, so it'll be good when you can implement that. Will there be any changes to the actual appearance of the website? The forums have this new more blue-ish theme with more shading and detail, while the gallery and other pages are more plain, so the design is kind of mismatched. On another note, the user profiles kind of give Zeta Flow a point, because now you can compete with others to beat levels fastest or with fewer lives lost. This is going to be a good update when you can actually implement it. :)
swartzer
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2007 1:38 pm

Re: New Website Features

Post by swartzer »

This is cool. I like the statistics, and the bookmarks will be useful. About the report function, is that meant solely as a negative thing or can we use it to point out levels that are especially good and deserve notice?

Also, I'm really looking forward to being able to comment on levels!
Mouzi
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Re: New Website Features

Post by Mouzi »

Could you add an option to hide the plays/lives/time from user profile?

Also, there could be some kind of highscore system if there are going to be stats on fastest times or fewest lives lost. Not sure how it should be implemented though. I mean if it should be level specific or some kind of "global" thing. Anyone else got ideas for a highscore system? :P
Fruktfisk
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Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2008 3:16 am

Re: New Website Features

Post by Fruktfisk »

Nice, looks good to me! :)
For a highscore system I'm not sure how it would work out, I might just play the same really easy level again and again and be no. 1 on the list.
swartzer
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Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2007 1:38 pm

Re: New Website Features

Post by swartzer »

I think highscores should either be per-level only, or else only take into account your best performance on any one level. Otherwise, like Fruktfisk said, someone could cheat by playing the same easy level over and over. Also, people like me who often go back and play the same levels over and over again wouldn't have an artificially inflated score.

I guess someone could still find a ton of different easy levels and beat them to inflate their score, though. Maybe levels could be weighted somehow by the average amount of time and lives they take? That way easy levels wouldn't count as much. That sounds like a feature for later, though.

Also, I like Mouzi's idea of being able to opt out of the statistics if you don't want other people to see your records. (That was what you meant, right?) If that gets implemented, I hope we'll still be able to see our own stats, though.

Edit: One more thing, I think the "Best lives" in the stats should also show the number of lives the level gives you to start with. Something like "4 out of 10" or just "4/10" rather than simply "4".
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NARFNra
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Re: New Website Features

Post by NARFNra »

COMMENTS!!! YES!! HAHAHA!!! NOW I CAN TELL WHO'S HATE RATING AND WHO ISN'T!
I am of open mind and willing to hear criticism. Also: That's stupid and you're stupid. ~ 8Bit Theater

Ye who runs needlessly,
Thou art a fool,
Thou art a fool,
Thou art a fool,
Thou art a fool,
~La Mulana, Endless Corridor Tablet
MD
Site Admin
Posts: 195
Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2007 2:06 pm

Re: New Website Features

Post by MD »

ya, I'm hoping to create a little bit more competition, just enough to give some purpose.
Sasadad wrote:Will there be any changes to the actual appearance of the website?
Hopefully, when I have time. I'm not very graphic design oriented so I typically procrastinate in that area.
swartzer wrote:About the report function, is that meant solely as a negative thing or can we use it to point out levels that are especially good and deserve notice?
I'm intending it to be negative, though I suppose you could use it in a positive manner...but then I'm not really sure what i'd do with that information. If I hear about a really good level, what then?

I'm hoping the bookmark system will be able to spotlight good levels. Though i still need to find a way to bring attention to the good levels that get burried away. I'm thinking some sort of "playlist" idea might work - user created and public. Thoughts?
Mouzi wrote:Could you add an option to hide the plays/lives/time from user profile?
That's another thing I've been thinking about, at first I had the levels played visible to the public too, but then i realised that was simply too much information...a little bit creepy knowing the every move of someone right. So is listing the wins too much too? I intend to have the best time/lives in the level profiles as well, i could turn that into a Top 10 sort of deal, would that be good enough?
swartzer wrote:I hope we'll still be able to see our own stats, though.
Did you notice the "Account" button? it's pretty much the same as the profile page only with more information and for private viewing only.

~MD
swartzer
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2007 1:38 pm

Re: New Website Features

Post by swartzer »

I was thinking the level report feature could somehow be used to point out good levels that were forgotten deep in the archives. But bookmarking a level might have that same effect.

And I had seen the account page; what I had not seen yet was the public profile, having assumed that it was the same as the account page. I agree it's too much to show every level you've ever played, but showing the best win for each level seems like a good compromise to me. However, not everybody will agree with that, so it might be good to let people choose if they want their list of wins visible on their public profile.

Edited to add: I just noticed I'm having problems rating levels; I click the stars in the right place, and it never says "Rating submitted", though the stars are locked as though the rating was set. This happens in Firefox 3 in both Windows and Linux. I tried going back and rating the same level again to see if it says "You've already rated this level" but it didn't show that either; it still just says "Click to rate this level." I can't remember if it was doing this last night or not.
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NARFNra
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Location: Laughing evilly as he manipulates the government on Zeta Flolan.
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Re: New Website Features

Post by NARFNra »

Did you have cookies enabled for that site? If you were blocking them, that could be why it saves them.
I am of open mind and willing to hear criticism. Also: That's stupid and you're stupid. ~ 8Bit Theater

Ye who runs needlessly,
Thou art a fool,
Thou art a fool,
Thou art a fool,
Thou art a fool,
~La Mulana, Endless Corridor Tablet
swartzer
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2007 1:38 pm

Re: New Website Features

Post by swartzer »

Good question; I forgot to mention that I don't block cookies from anywhere on skylogic.ca.

I also noticed the Search or Filter function doesn't seem to be on the new site; has it been moved someplace? Or not implemented yet? I use it pretty often.
swartzer
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2007 1:38 pm

Re: New Website Features

Post by swartzer »

Woo-hoo, comments are live! Thanks, MD! I also like the new design of the level profile page.
MD
Site Admin
Posts: 195
Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2007 2:06 pm

Re: New Website Features

Post by MD »

The search button just hasnt been implemented yet, cause the code is a bit different now that im not using query strings anymore (i.e. the "url.php?variable=123" style)

Fixed the rating function. It doesn't like it when scripts are on a different subdomain (zf instead of zetaflow), i had fixed everything else but forgot about the rating piece.

Everything's still a work in progress btw.
Oh and I blatantly took the background from the forum template and threw it in the site...hehe

~MD
swartzer
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2007 1:38 pm

Re: New Website Features

Post by swartzer »

This gets better and better every day. I've been pounding the heck out of it, even though it's beta. And don't worry; I won't throw a hissy if my comments disappear or something. 8)
MD
Site Admin
Posts: 195
Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2007 2:06 pm

Re: New Website Features

Post by MD »

The frequent updates is because of summer break from school and unemployment...so i've had lots of time on my hands. I'm hoping to get a job soon though, when that happens the progress will probably come to a halt again.

I noticed my comments table and bookmarks table have started to fill up...by 1 user...haha. But it's good that your using it, it means the system works.

ps. I am once again reminded how much I dislike Internet Explorer....a programmer's nightmare seriously. Formatting issues galore and super slow.

~MD
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