Castle Paradox

Cube · **Dimensional Traveller** Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 294

Well! Been a while since I've posted, but here I am. If anyone is curious, I've been going to college full time, and now that summer break is here, I've got a bit more free time to worry about CP.

Anyways, IM and me are still plugging away at the site, hoping to get it out asap. We've both had restricting time schedules, which is why it's taking forever and a half for things to happen. Things are moving along, and will eventually be ready.

So while we're not ready to release the site itself yet, we've been thinking we'd at least try to tidy a few things up at least, such as the forum. A few of you discussed back in the Christmas thread about how there were too many forums on CP and things needed to be changed.

So that's what this thread is for. We want to post our thoughts, but also get some more feedback on what people want to see done to the forums. What we've come up with is as follows:

Castle Paradox Community
- The Soapbox
- Castle Paradox Discussion
- Creative Corner
- Video Game Discussion
- Paradox Lounge

OHRRPGCE
- Main OHRRPGCE Discussion
- OHRRPGCE Help

That's it. We plan on getting rid of all the group forums (And groups) as they're pretty much never used and have no real purpose. The following is a description of what the forums are:

The Soapbox: Community Announcements, of course.
Castle Paradox Discussion: We want feedback and discussion on how things are on CP and the feature we will eventually release. This is a forum to tell us what you like, hate, and want changed or added.
Creative Corner: This is a merging of all the "art" type forums, such as story, music and drawings/paintings/whatever else falls under art.
Video Game Discussion: As I've said before in the past, we want CP to move to become more of a video game site that's not only about game creation, but playing games themselves. We want to draw in people who are just here to have a good time, and to give you creators an audience to release your games to.
Paradox Lounge: AKA General Discussion. Talk about almost anything, but being civil and mature while you do it.
OHRRPGCE Discussion: Talk about OHR games and stuff.
OHRRPGCE Help: Help for plotscripts and whatever else people may have trouble with while making a game.

So. Yay? Nay? Add a forum, delete one? Let us know.

Moogle1 · Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 12:14 am Post subject:

This is strictly an improvement from the existing format.

Unfortunately, it's still more forums than the current usage rate will support. Slash, burn. I don't know why you need to separate OHRRPGCE discussion, Video Game discussion, and OHRRPGCE help. At the very least you could combine OHR help and discussion, but separating OHR discussion from VG discussion contradicts the latter's stated purpose: talking about playing games, whether they're made here or not. My suggestion would be one VG discussion board and one Game Design board.

CP Discussion also seems unnecessary. Could easily be combined with the gen disc board. If you're really attached to the idea, at least rename it. "Suggestion Box" is a more intuitive name.
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jabbercat · Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 1:02 am Post subject:

I definitely think there should be one gen discussion board, and video games and OHRRPGCE should be merged (with a definite emphasis on the OHR).
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Mariel · Joined: 15 Oct 2008 Posts: 78 Location: In your dreams

Could something be done about the disjointed connection between the journals and the forums? You can see all the new forum posts from the journal page, but can't see the new journal posts from the forum, and the graphic difference between the areas made me wonder if they were two different sites the first time I saw them.

Also, it may not seem that important, but just having the typical phpbb skin makes the forum look really rough. Even just having a different banner at the top of the page would make it more... homey, you know? Why is it that the games and journals area has a different skin than the forum anyway?

Dis I have always wondered about. If we want to attract more users and community members, we gotta look shiny.
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jabbercat · Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 8:33 am Post subject:

I expect all of that to be taken care of with the new site.
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Bob the Hamster · Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 9:09 am Post subject:

I also agree about merging OHR discussion and help.

Also, I am curious what will happen to the stuff that is currently in the usergroups when those go away? Will it vanish forever, or will it be merged into the archive of other groups?

Gizmog1 · Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 10:49 am Post subject:

I pretty much agree with Moogs. CP Discussion and ParadoxLounge can be merged together, and both OHRRPGCE forums can be merged with the Game Discussion pretty easily. I hate having to check OHR General Discussion, Announcements, and sometimes the Soapbox to find the thread I'm looking for right now.

I'm kind of sad that we're going to lose Story Time. It was almost always a disappointment in terms of content, but I'm sad that we'll never get the cookies and milk it promised. When you and IM finally end the ol' girl, make sure you drink a toast of Oreo and 2%.

Inferior Minion · Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 11:20 am Post subject:

FyreWulff · Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 3:53 am Post subject:

Castle Paradox and Video Game discussion should be removed. CP discussion will be mostly talking about stuff that the Soapbox takes care of anyway, and we already have Slime Salad for video game discussion if people really want a focused forum for it. And if people really want to start a thread about their favorite new RPG, they can post about it in the journals, which will encourage people to use the journals.

You can of course look at my previous posts on this matter to see where I am coming from. It's good to see you two are actually finally taking steps towards doing this.

this is what you have so far.
Castle Paradox Community
- The Soapbox
- Castle Paradox Discussion
- Creative Corner
- Video Game Discussion
- Paradox Lounge

OHRRPGCE
- Main OHRRPGCE Discussion
- OHRRPGCE Help

this is my compromise between my previous proposals and what you guys want:

Castle Paradox Community
- The Soapbox
- Creative Corner (this forum should probably only show up to logged in users, general passerby are not going to really care about a forum based around critique. or at least make it not show up on the index to unregistered users but can still be linked to)
- Paradox Lounge (General discussion. Talk about anything not related directly to front page announcements or the OHRRPGCE.)

OHRRPGCE
- OHRRPGCE General (game announcements, WIPs, demos, discussion)
- OHRRPGCE Help (plotscripting, howto, programmer questions)

This also makes the categories a lot more balanced.

Since it is in fact easier to merge than to split, I would say let the OHR forums be two seperate forums for 2 months. If after two months, if all threads from both forums with a last post within a time threshhold (say, a week) could all fit in on the front page, merge them. If combined it would require you to have almost 3 pages, then keep them seperate.

And if it is in fact determined that they become one forum, all the forums should be under one category in order to kill any sort of clutter. In that case, i would sort them from top to bottom as Soapbox, OHR, Creative Corner, and then Lounge (so that perhaps you can have some room under the Lounge heading to show the top 3 active threads or something)

Either way, the sooner this site gets off phpbb2 the better

Bob the Hamster · Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 7:21 am Post subject:

I like Fyre's trimmed-down list, but I disagree with this point:

Moogle1 · Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 7:27 am Post subject:

Inferior Minion · Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 8:38 am Post subject:

jabbercat · Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 11:04 am Post subject:

Seems sensible, and well though out, I second that.
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Moogle1 · Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 12:22 pm Post subject:

Your scheme looks good for the most part, but...

Inferior Minion · Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 12:57 pm Post subject: