Metanet Forums

Hi there. I'm Mat. You might know me from such places as: The Internet, The IRL, The Beyond, et cetera. It's been a long time since this community has had a stable space to share their maps, and the arrival of N2.0 led to a branching of the community into steadfast old-timers and young fresh-eyed beginners. I was rather saddened by M&R's decision to exclude N2.0 from certain features, like commenting on maps and having any sort of user profiles. So I decided to try my had at web design, and this is what I ended up with:
Unlike all of the former attempts at making a new site, I am not below paying somebody to help / make it. I know basically nothing about databases and implementation, so I cannot be the one who codes a new site. But I was able to work out how to use Bootstrap to make a functional example. So this is where you come in. Below are three lists: Spec Stuff, Tech Stuff, and Stuff Stuff. Make sure you check them before requesting a new feature to see if they've already been suggested, or read a response to why a certain feature won't be included.

• Spec Stuff: desired edits to the current site, either described with text or (the better option) images
• Tech Stuff: bits of code or programming the site needs
• Stuff Stuff: new features you want or old ones you want back (but no guarantees)

Obviously, I'm not making this site for myself. I'm making it with you guys in mind, which is why feedback is so important. Almost all of the site can be modified, and most of it has nonsense example text, from profile names to map titles to Lorem Ipsum all in the hizzy. After you watch the walk-through I made, and if you have any suggestions or comments, do not hesitate to share them. I've already prodded through the old threads regarding NARC, and I've tried to include as many features as I can. But new ones are always good too, so join the discussion. Also, if you know any coding and can lend a hand, that would be awesome.

And finally, if, a year from now, we're in the same goddamn place we are today, I'm sorry. I assume I tried really hard, and the devastation is quite real. But that's a year from now, and a lot can happen in a year. But not without your help. Yeeeeeeaaaaahhh booooiiiii!

I don't get it, to be honest. You're not paying anyone to make it and you can't code it yourself, so... who's making this? And why? What role is this site aiming to fill? We already have a site, NUMA. It's falling apart but apparently that's the way people like it. We had another site, NARC. Nobody was interested in using that, even when NUMA was completely offline for months. I think any new attempt at a new Newma would be better off reviving that codebase. But there's another question, if you do come up with a new site, how are you going to get people to use it? That's an even tougher challenge if you're aiming to in some way unify the two communities.

If I were thinking about doing a new Newma, as the first order of business I'd focus entirely on determining what people actually would want out of it before anything else. A comprehensive review and survey of the community. I'm too out of the mapmaking loop to assume I know best, but I'm not sure the orthodoxy--a replacement NUMA with some extra bells-and-whistles--is necessarily what we need. I'd be interested in your thoughts on this point, the what and why of it all.

Spotlight's a cute idea though.

ℕipply ℙuffs® wrote:We already have a site, NUMA. It's falling apart but apparently that's the way people like it.

• I don't think "like" is the term I would use. If it's your only option, that's more of an obligation.

ℕipply ℙuffs® wrote:We had another site, NARC. Nobody was interested in using that, even when NUMA was completely offline for months.

• Yeah, I think flag didn't push NARC hard enough to get it off the ground. Which is sad, given all the effort that went into it.

ℕipply ℙuffs® wrote:I think any new attempt at a new Newma would be better off reviving that codebase. But there's another question, if you do come up with a new site, how are you going to get people to use it? That's an even tougher challenge if you're aiming to in some way unify the two communities.

• I'm not looking for flocks of new members to join, I'm looking for the current ones on NUMA to migrate over. And I want to give the 2.0 community a better place to share their maps. If things go well, I'm gonna show M&R and ask them if later on I can tap into their map database. Not to be a depressing Dave, but NUMA needs to be updated. You can't really understand this unless you used NUMA every day and saw the sorry state it's in.

ℕipply ℙuffs® wrote:If I were thinking about doing a new Newma, as the first order of business I'd focus entirely on determining what people actually would want out of it before anything else. A comprehensive review and survey of the community. I'm too out of the mapmaking loop to assume I know best, but I'm not sure the orthodoxy--a replacement NUMA with some extra bells-and-whistles--is necessarily what we need. I'd be interested in your thoughts on this point, the what and why of it all.

• Everything (well the large majority) of things on that site are options and features and additions and subtractions which I have culled from A. using the site every few days for the past 8 years, and B. requests I have found whilst browsing through the NARC threads and such. All the decrepit parts of NUMA -- broken featured queue, static thumbnails, unviewable profiles, the whole nine yards -- have been taken into account and edited accordingly. I wouldn't've published this unless I was sure that it is what people would want (minus the new features I've introduced). I truly don't understand why you think we should be still be using this outdated, limited, and horribly broken site.

ℕipply ℙuffs® wrote:Spotlight's a cute idea though.

• Thank you, I'm hoping it will be a good successor to Bitesizing. Provide more commentary if you'd like.

Also, this works out rather nicely. If you can't watch the stream live, ask your questions now and I'll answer them during the stream.

▲▪►▪▼◄▲ wrote:I truly don't understand why you think we should be still be using this outdated, limited, and horribly broken site.

I don't. I think we should have changed over to NARC three years ago. What I'm getting at is, the way I see it, that had more momentum behind it than this ever will. I believe your enthusiasm but I don't rate your chances of getting this off the ground.

[align=center]VIDEO TOUR[/align][/color]

Questions go below.

ℕipply ℙuffs® wrote:I don't. I think we should have changed over to NARC three years ago. What I'm getting at is, the way I see it, that had more momentum behind it than this ever will. I believe your enthusiasm but I don't rate your chances of getting this off the ground.

I think the only thing needed to get this off the ground, and indeed the only thing NARC needed, is official endorsement. If it's an alternative to NUMA, it will never be popularly used. If it -is- the only official N User Maps Archive, then it will be used. Especially if M&R actually put a link to it in the game.

think it's an obvious remark, but it would be nice if the new site was themed similarily to numa. I mean, numa may be obsolete but it has character; this new site stylistically looks like a thousand different ones. this can be changed in no time, though, I'm aware of that. nevertheless, I like the ideas and the layout is pretty nice, profile comments, spotlight and the workshop are cool ideas. not a fan of the profile likes tho

oh, and the division between the N versions is neat

If it -is- the only official N User Maps Archive, then it will be used

also this

lsudny wrote:think it's an obvious remark, but it would be nice if the new site was themed similarily to numa. I mean, numa may be obsolete but it has character; this new site stylistically looks like a thousand different ones. this can be changed in no time, though, I'm aware of that. nevertheless, I like the ideas and the layout is pretty nice, profile comments, spotlight and the workshop are cool ideas. not a fan of the profile likes tho

oh, and the division between the N versions is neat

If it -is- the only official N User Maps Archive, then it will be used

also this

Grey and orange is a very peculiar color scheme. I forgot to mention that themes are available and I'm going to include a few of them.

And if by "profile likes" you mean these:



That's fine. Some people might want them, so let's see what others think about them.

V1 is up. http://cxcvc.com/

Changelog (incomplete):

• Consolidated CSS code
• Overhaul of the Dashboard
• Navbar has proper Activity dropdown
• Prettified map page (did not update NUMA/N2 pages)
• Added Feeback, Playlists, QQ, Egosearch, Calendar, plus tweaks to other pages
• A bit of interactivity now

To-Do:

• Reorganize site scripts
• More things?

This is just a template. You cannot join or comment or things like that. Just thought you should know.

▲▪►▪▼◄▲ wrote:

lsudny wrote:think it's an obvious remark, but it would be nice if the new site was themed similarily to numa. I mean, numa may be obsolete but it has character; this new site stylistically looks like a thousand different ones. this can be changed in no time, though, I'm aware of that. nevertheless, I like the ideas and the layout is pretty nice, profile comments, spotlight and the workshop are cool ideas. not a fan of the profile likes tho

oh, and the division between the N versions is neat

If it -is- the only official N User Maps Archive, then it will be used

also this

Grey and orange is a very peculiar color scheme. I forgot to mention that themes are available and I'm going to include a few of them.

And if by "profile likes" you mean these:



That's fine. Some people might want them, so let's see what others think about them.

But would this like thingy compensate for rates or would you still have that X number of running N's?

Well, if we approve of likes as a substitute for ratings, then yes. They could be very similar. But choosing likes also means they I won't have a ranking system like "Hot Maps" which lists new maps according to their ratings. So splitting it into two groups (Newest Maps and the Spotlight Section) is a way to get around removing ratings. So it would be very easy to take a user's Likes total and move it to a separate section (like Most-Liked), or we could ignore them and just focus on the Likes for each map.

I wouldn't personally like to use ratings, but if that's what is desired I would incorporate them again. (Probably with re-voting and half ratings.)

I actually like ratings, but I wouldn't sweat their absence.

Fujita Seiko is really positive about this. He keeps uploading his old maps with text you can see here: www.thewayoftheninja.org/nv2.html?l=164685

SpartaX18 wrote:Fujita Seiko is really positive about this. He keeps uploading his old maps with text you can see here: http://www.thewayoftheninja.org/nv2.html?l=164685

Man, I love that guy. Site's still in development, though. Sparta, do you think many N2 mappers would want a site to share comments and such? I don't really have time to ask them myself. I assume that they would at the very least check it out for a bit. A bigger community would be great.

▲▪►▪▼◄▲ wrote:

SpartaX18 wrote:Fujita Seiko is really positive about this. He keeps uploading his old maps with text you can see here: http://www.thewayoftheninja.org/nv2.html?l=164685

Man, I love that guy. Site's still in development, though. Sparta, do you think many N2 mappers would want a site to share comments and such? I don't really have time to ask them myself. I assume that they would at the very least check it out for a bit. A bigger community would be great.

I definitely would. I think that it would also be good in the interests of increasing map quality, which is definitely something we need.
Too bad I know nothing that could help you in terms of progressing this project :/

shomman wrote:

▲▪►▪▼◄▲ wrote:

SpartaX18 wrote:Fujita Seiko is really positive about this. He keeps uploading his old maps with text you can see here: http://www.thewayoftheninja.org/nv2.html?l=164685

Man, I love that guy. Site's still in development, though. Sparta, do you think many N2 mappers would want a site to share comments and such? I don't really have time to ask them myself. I assume that they would at the very least check it out for a bit. A bigger community would be great.

I definitely would. I think that it would also be good in the interests of increasing map quality, which is definitely something we need.
Too bad I know nothing that could help you in terms of progressing this project :/

C'mon shom, when was the last time you even made a map? (like I'm one to talk! XD)
Seriously though, I would also be interested in a site like this. However, I really don't know how many other mappers would. I'm sure a few v2 mappers would be interested in trying it out, but for the most part, v2 players just don't seem all that interested in community involvement.

XandoToaster wrote: C'mon shom, when was the last time you even made a map? (like I'm one to talk! XD)
Seriously though, I would also be interested in a site like this. However, I really don't know how many other mappers would. I'm sure a few v2 mappers would be interested in trying it out, but for the most part, v2 players just don't seem all that interested in community involvement.

Right yeah I'm not much of a mapper, I was just saying I would be interested in giving feedback and ratings etc. Maybe mapping but probably not so much.
Fujita Seiko would (clearly lol) but yeah, the majority of nv2 mappers are a) shit and b) not involved with the community.
However, that said - most good quality mappers /are/ somewhat involved in the community, which is a big bonus.
I'm hoping for the best.

For giving comments and ratings, here I am too. :D
I could make a map occasionally. But that surely won't be van Gogh style. xD

shomman wrote:

▲▪►▪▼◄▲ wrote:

SpartaX18 wrote:Fujita Seiko is really positive about this. He keeps uploading his old maps with text you can see here: http://www.thewayoftheninja.org/nv2.html?l=164685

Yes I am. I did not now it was so long ago. Some people here seem to not be very supportive. Maybe if still interested the OP can make post in http://n-game-v2.forumactif.org/. That the forum only for Nv2. For the one who sad we already got NUMA: Wel Numa dont support NV2 code and even after recoding many levels wont work. I dont care if you farvorite is Nv1 or Nv2. But in My experience the NV1 community is much more unreasonable and giving a hard time on everything ;). Also on NUMA.

Well I made a post in NV2 Forum:
http://n-game-v2.forumactif.org/t321-what-about-newma

Anyway I think NEWma template looks very very nice. I still have hope..

Fujita

Changes to Newma:

• Rearranged navbar links
• updated the Highscore Servers page and included it
• made a comment history page
• tidied up some code
• that's it

I'm gonna have to shelf this for awhile since I need to focus on work. Feel free to post more suggestions or requests, and maybe in the near future we can get a functional demo site running.