The forums and the main site will be the same site

I know. Well they'll be linked if I remember correctly, when it comes to account and posts and so on, but the forums will still be its own thing in a way.

But how would that work?

Well you'd use the same account for the website as the forums because they'd essentially be the same thing. Any comments on the website would be done using the same account as you comment on the forums.

[quote="Kritter"]Well you'd use the same account for the website as the forums because they'd essentially be the same thing. Any comments on the website would be done using the same account as you comment on the forums.[/quote] Okay, but would the avatars be the same on both sites then? Speaking of avatars, there should be a feature to save your avatar history.

I would imagine they would. A better way to think of it would be that they wouldn't be two sites anymore, just one is the hub for resources and the other is the hub for the community but they're both the same place with the same account.

[quote="Kirby's Adventure"]That's extremely difficult to read* and is pretty much the antithesis to what has so far mostly been agreed upon to look nice/a good direction for the future design *It's way too busy. I think i get what you were going for with the angles (to add interest to the design?) but there's just too much and it's just too complex[/quote] Why is it that much of a problem to make it an antithesis of the more popular layout? Exploring different options doesn't really hurt anybody and not everyone's going to like the layout that is proposed. I didn't mention this in my previous post because I don't want to start any trouble, but I feel like the default layout should be unique enough and doesn't try to showcase the talents of a single artist. That's why I was avoiding making the layout look too similar to the VG Resource and only used the official artwork. Anyway, I went back and fixed it up. I feel like the tweaks aren't too harmful and more in line with what you guys had in mind. [img]https://i.imgur.com/RFPgkZq.png[/img]

i agree with kirby's adventure, even now. i mean, it's definitely got personality! but it looks like it'd be a pain to navigate around. there's a lot of flashiness to it which results in both visual and mental clutter since there's very little room to breathe. it's almost like the menu to a game, which could work for a game, but not so much for a website. don't forget, you also need to think about how this would work as a mobile theme. i think mixing all the different art styles makes it come off as very disjointed, and while i get what you mean, i don't really think it's working. [quote="E-Man"]I didn't mention this in my previous post because I don't want to start any trouble, but I feel like the default layout should be unique enough and doesn't try to showcase the talents of a single artist.[/quote] [img]http://i.imgur.com/jRdaz2W.png[/img]

The problem I have with your layout is it hurts my eyes. There's stuff all over the place (admittedly not as bad in your newer revision) and I can't figure out where my eyes are meant to settle. There's absolutely no natural flow to the design, the colours are garish and really bright and the slopes and lines just confuse me. It feels like the kind of design you'd get in a 90's movie when they show a typical "hacker OS" on a computer. I think this is a case of "less is more". I understand wanting to inject more personality into the design which is something I'm still personally trying to do with my take on the whole thing, but I also don't think it needs to rule the absolute design to the point where every image needs to have something Mario related on it. Also MFGG was formerly Bowser Tech over 15 years ago so I don't think it needs mentioning in the header there. Also on the subject of artists and good design, if someone else comes up with a design that works I won't mind if mine isn't used, my idea is one of potentially many and Mors had a design that was fine too. Ultimately it's what's best for the community in the end. I don't even mind if someone takes my design and alters it, like Mit did adding that alert thingy.

Also, it seems like the art style "clashes"...a lot.

Well, you do raise some points, Kritter. If I'm going to be honest, though, it's not like my layouts were universally hated. I'm sure that more than one person likes it and I'll leave it up just in case a few ideas from it are used in the final layout. Despite this, I actually made some heavy adjustments to my layout to reflect on the critiques you have provided. I felt like one of the problems before was that it was too much like a tightly-fit puzzle. Therefor, I added space in a few areas. Sure, some traces from my previous design are still there, but I doubt they are that problematic. [img]https://i.imgur.com/X0Cdgvr.png[/img]

It's much easier to read and brings a few good ideas. For example, I totally forgot to add a submit button! A tip I would suggest is consistency. There's a lot of elements that are different sizes, such as the GO and ADVANCED search buttons, or the SUBMIT, OPTIONS and LOGOUT buttons, as well as the fact that Logout or Advanced aren't capitalized while the others are. Another area lacking consistency is fonts, there's too many different ones being used. I prefer a single font for headers and logos, and a secondary font for text. The good thing about everyone providing their own ideas is it basically turns into a collaborative effort which is practically a necessity when designing a new website.

[quote="E-Man"]Despite this, I actually made some heavy adjustments to my layout to reflect on the critiques you have provided. I felt like one of the problems before was that it was too much like a tightly-fit puzzle. Therefor, I added space in a few areas. Sure, some traces from my previous design are still there, but I doubt they are that problematic.[/quote] It's definitely improving, but I like the one Kritter/Mit did more overall. Your layout for the updates section is way more refined, though. I think that could definitely be adapted to the other one.

[quote="Willsaber"]layout for the updates section is way more refined, though. I think that could definitely be adapted to the other one.[/quote] Yes. As RII said earlier, games need more focus. I do like that sprites have a little preview though. One thing I'm wary of is names vs space available. If your game is called "Super Mario and the Chronicles of the Amazing Sheep" there's no way it'll fit in any of the designs we've shown so far, and I don't like the idea of having it cut off to "Super Mario and the Chron..." or something like that.

[quote="Kritter"][quote="Willsaber"]layout for the updates section is way more refined, though. I think that could definitely be adapted to the other one.[/quote] Yes. As RII said earlier, games need more focus. I do like that sprites have a little preview though. One thing I'm wary of is names vs space available. If your game is called "Super Mario and the Chronicles of the Amazing Sheep" there's no way it'll fit in any of the designs we've shown so far, and I don't like the idea of having it cut off to "Super Mario and the Chron..." or something like that.[/quote] Maybe this should be organized into columns instead of rows, like the current updates section is?

V4. I've organised games into rows rather than a grid. Sprites are still in a grid but I've included a toggle button to toggle between grid and list view. Whether or not that's feasible anyway. I've also added tags to games as a general idea. Rather than games simply being classed under a single group like "Platformer" or "Adventure", I suggested a while ago that we include tags for games and HylianDev confirmed it was in the works. I've added reviews which are largely untouched but include the name of the person who made the game. I'm toying with the idea of adding a 5-star rating to the review on the page there, so people can see at a glance that a game got a 5/5 or 2/5 and it might intrigue them to check out the review / game. Open to critique or revisions, feel free. [spoiler][img]http://i.imgur.com/cCLXZGT.png[/img][/spoiler]

I absolutely love it. I think adding a faint drop shadow to the text in the navigation bar would make it more readable, especially in the lower part with the lighter background color. [img]http://i.imgur.com/pDak7GK.png[/img] I'm aware of how bad it looks about 1px around all letters, but this is the best I could do without your files.

@E-Man: one issue with your design, as well as the designs of some others, is that they don't really work super well in web design. Basically, shapes that aren't rectangles (ie, two sets of parallel & perpendicular lines) are much more difficult and problematic to work with. When you create something in web design, try your best to make it look good while also being a rectangle. Kritter's design is great because everything is a rectangle (except the chevron under the banner at the top, but that can be done with some clever image placement; though it would be fantastic if there was a solid line down the middle of the chevron). And not only is it rectangular, it also follows other web design trends, and looks great. There are some things I'm not ultra fond of -- the update boxes feel off, maybe it's how thin the border is, small amount of padding, no header bar, etc -- but in general I want to go through with this layout.

Looks great, Kritter! Love it. My only issue is intensity of the pipes -- you've got something of a radioactive glow going on there. You might want to tone down the darkened part of the pipe's bottom half. Really, the green you have going on in the "G" would be perfect -- it would be nice if the pipe could match that "G."

[quote="HylianDev"]@E-Man: one issue with your design, as well as the designs of some others, is that they don't really work super well in web design. Basically, shapes that aren't rectangles (ie, two sets of parallel & perpendicular lines) are much more difficult and problematic to work with. When you create something in web design, try your best to make it look good while also being a rectangle. Kritter's design is great because everything is a rectangle (except the chevron under the banner at the top, but that can be done with some clever image placement; though it would be fantastic if there was a solid line down the middle of the chevron). And not only is it rectangular, it also follows other web design trends, and looks great. There are some things I'm not ultra fond of -- the update boxes feel off, maybe it's how thin the border is, small amount of padding, no header bar, etc -- but in general I want to go through with this layout.[/quote] I was trying to make a layout that would differentiate from the VG Resource as best as I can. I thought that if I could make some deviations from the current trends in web design, I would achieve that. Still, if you want to go with Kritter's layout instead, I at least understand. All I ask is if you guys keep looking for ways to make the layout more unique and try to avoid the use of custom artwork as much as possible. [quote="Kritter"]A tip I would suggest is consistency. There's a lot of elements that are different sizes, such as the GO and ADVANCED search buttons, or the SUBMIT, OPTIONS and LOGOUT buttons, as well as the fact that Logout or Advanced aren't capitalized while the others are. Another area lacking consistency is fonts, there's too many different ones being used. I prefer a single font for headers and logos, and a secondary font for text. [/quote] I get what you mean, but there is a reason behind that. From what I understand, there is a four font limit on a web site. The logo alone uses two, while I have to use Arial for the sake of readability. For the buttons, I drew inspiration from the A Button of the Gamecube's controller. To draw attention to the more important buttons, I made them pretty large and used a Mario font. For the less important buttons, I used the other font from the logo and made them smaller. As for "Advanced" and "Log out," they aren't quite as important, so I opted for them to draw the least amount of attention. You see where I was going with it, right? [quote="Kritter"] Yes. As RII said earlier, games need more focus. I do like that sprites have a little preview though. One thing I'm wary of is names vs space available. If your game is called "Super Mario and the Chronicles of the Amazing Sheep" there's no way it'll fit in any of the designs we've shown so far, and I don't like the idea of having it cut off to "Super Mario and the Chron..." or something like that.[/quote] I think you guys already settled on this, but an idea is to only organize the game submissions vertically. I also considered an option of switching between text and image view much like you, Kritter, but I couldn't exactly implement it that well in my eye. On top of that, I thought that the scroll bars in the first draft would suffice enough. As for the second and third drafts, I went for a concept that the boxed would stretch vertically to accommodate the amount of submissions in an update. It wasn't feasible with the scan-line box, but something of a more solid color actually helped. By the way, Thunder Dragon mentioned to me over Skype that my buttons were a bit plain. He mentioned that giving them a scan-line and galaxy backdrop, like the one in the logo, would help with that.