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The Evervamp

preview games page

Posted April 21, 2013 by Xhin



First of all, yes this is a realistic amount of forums. I want to bring the site back to its roots, whether forums will be initially dead or not. My one stipulation is that all new games forums have to be current-gen.

  • The "Console Menu" has images that are black-and-white until they're clicked-on, when they turn full-color. Whichever console you click on will open up a submenu in the cyan area.

  • The submenu will show the eight hottest forums for the console. The top two will be full-sized while the others will be a third the size.

  • hovering over a forum will make the gray bar under it turn cyan and if it's small-sized, it'll get a white/red border. Forum information will show up in the cyan part of the submenu, while clicking it will take you to the forum.

  • There is a search bar to look for a specific game for the console.

  • To the right is a list of franchises. This should ideally be longer, but it will depend on the amount of forums we have. When it hits its height limit, there will be a "Full list" somewhere near the bottom.

    • There are 10 Replies

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    My one stipulation is that all new games forums have to be current-gen.


    not sure what you mean. no forums for older games?

    also, with games that are multi-platform, will there be just one forum for them or a separate forum for each platform?

    April 21, 2013
    Edit
    Vandy

    not sure what you mean. no forums for older games?

    Yeah, basically. I figure there will be more interest in newer games in general on the internet than older ones. Anything that has a community can stay around though. The idea is to have forums that will bring in outside traffic.

    Also, with games that are multi-platform, will there be just one forum for them or a separate forum for each platform?

    One forum definitely, although it can appear in multiple lists.

    April 21, 2013
    Edit
    Xhin
    Sky's the limit

    The layout could look a bit more professional. I guess what I mean by that is it could be more glossy, a more standard text, and maybe something about the overall layout.

    How are you going to market this? Are you going to do work on doing Search Engine Optimization? How are you going to work on advertising? It would be a shame to have a revamped site only to have the same 20ish people on here.

    April 21, 2013
    Edit
    Rekkaken

    What do you mean by "glossy"? Can you give some examples?

    The font admittedly does need some work in this preview, but it works great with longer text and a slightly darker color. What fonts would you recommend?

    How are you going to market this? Are you going to do work on doing Search Engine Optimization? How are you going to work on advertising? It would be a shame to have a revamped site only to have the same 20ish people on here.

    Getting traffic through search engines initially is a huge waste of money and completely unrealistic. My initial focus will be advertising to people who will want to generate content and going from there. I'll be setting up a "marketing" section of the site and hiring people to help advertise the site through those plans.

    April 21, 2013
    Edit
    Xhin
    Sky's the limit

    I've quite liked all your precious designs for areas of the site...

    But this one. It doesn't sit well with me. I'm not really sure what it is, but I don't like this.

    Also I don't think you should limit forums to current gen only. By all means make that be the focus and where most of the forums are, but a lot of people still like their older games from previous gens and will have long conversations about them.

    April 22, 2013
    Edit
    Redack

    But this one. It doesn't sit well with me. I'm not really sure what it is, but I don't like this.

    If you can find something specific, I'll incorporate it into a mach 2. Maybe go over each section to see what it is.

    By all means make that be the focus and where most of the forums are, but a lot of people still like their older games from previous gens and will have long conversations about them.

    Who? Name me one active game-specific forum that isn't current-gen. It's not like they've never existed; the site's been around for four years but for some reason all of those old game forums died.

    April 22, 2013
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    Xhin
    Sky's the limit

    Name me an active current gen forum... ;)

    As for the image, I think it's because it's a static image... Because I like the idea behind it but when I look at that image I don't feel like I like it.

    April 22, 2013
    Edit
    Redack

    Sorry I'm not going to be much help. I think you should speak with some graphic designers. I will try and attempt to help you out though.

    The font just seems a bit off for some reason, but I think your font is listed amongst the 21 most used fonts for professional designers so I'll adapt to it.
    http://www.instantshift.com/2008/10/05/21-most-used-fonts-by-professional-designers/
    If you can find something specific
    I dunno. Maybe like the Xbox live home screen, Playstation home screen, slightly like Wii U's home screen? Those have a similar approach to yours, but theirs looks a lot more professional, which is to be expected.

    My initial focus will be advertising to people who will want to generate content and going from there

    Good idea. Any thoughts on social media with facebook and twitter? I know you have accounts on there, but it really doesn't market the site.

    I think it's because it's a static image...
    I think that's it too.

    April 22, 2013
    Edit
    Rekkaken


    I think the real problem is a lack of content. I'm going to try a completely different approach for mach

    Actually cancel that, I just got additional opinions.

    As for social media, yeah there will be sharing options out the wazoo. What's more important than that is actually having content people would *want* to share, so that's my first priority.

    April 24, 2013
    Edit
    Xhin
    Sky's the limit

    1. Remove Wii Nintendo icon because it looks off, replace it with just Wii Nintendo without the controllers in the background (I think that’s what throws it off)

    2. Search bar should be displayed properly at the top of the page not in the middle as that disrupts the flow of the page.

    3. You could move the Popular franchises to the left and allow for a more interactive search feature there in it’s place.

    4. We should really work on having a uniformed font for the entire site. The problem with different fonts from a visual point of view is that its distracting.

    5. The other problem with the page is that there is a lack of balance between elements. You have the notification and joystick icon on the top right of the page, but there is an imbalance of icons on the top left compared to the right.

    6. You could also move that entire PS3 Chat and All PS3 Forums to the right with the search

    7. It might be pertinent to add ratings for the game among GT users so that way we can weed out unpopular franchises, but that would need to show up in your posts, articles section.

    8. If you’re going to do the forum bar, you might want to think of ways to divide the sections because if you have it set up the way it is… it’ll look messy. Of course, you’re going to have to find out what the actual information will be before you can actually consider that.

    April 27, 2013
    Edit
    Helius

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