AltArc

[aids]

Voting: see what people think of my idea above.

Comments: what's threaded mean? so far I'd say the current way.

Visual Style: maybe the newest one, but make an example image including you upgrades and additions.

all my previous suggestions still stand.

[Fraxtil]

"Threaded" means you can reply to others' comments, and others can reply to replies, et cetera.

Also, what do you mean by "hacking techniques"? Are you referring to the browse functions like sort=?

[behappyy]

I'm guessing someone has already said this but editing comments would be helpfull.

[aids]

"Threaded" means you can reply to others' comments, and others can reply to replies, et cetera.

that would be great! that clenches my vote.

[jackass]

This sounds great, when ill this be done? Is their a URL so i can like demo this site sorta or anything? Im just so keen!

[Fraxtil]

It will be done when it's secure and functional enough for the general public. I want it to have a good first impression. You can expect it to be released for beta testing late January or early February.

There's also a new poll available, this time pertaining to "special" maps. Please vote!

[blackson]

A few more.

Public rating at 3 rates.
4,000 character limit for descriptions; sometimes I need to write a novel.
Multiple demo boxes for a single comment (Route 1, Route 2 etc.)

[George]

Also, what do you mean by "hacking techniques"? Are you referring to the browse functions like sort=?

Basically. Stuff like the old sorting functions.

http://n.wikia.com/wiki/NUMA_hacking

[Fraxtil]

George: Hmm... I never considered a "userlevels" function. Perhaps it could be improved?
Blackson: I'll make a new poll soon for the "public rating" threshold. Also, oddly enough, I recently increased the description max size to 4kb (4096 characters), so you're already covered there. Multiple demos will be implemented.
BE_nSPIRED: Perhaps I should add another option to the poll, stating that featured maps should be autogenerated?

[PALEMOON]

A few more.
4,000 character limit for descriptions; sometimes I need to write a novel.

i like this a lot, only with titles too


sometimes an entire map takes more than like six words to name

[Fraxtil]

A few more.
4,000 character limit for descriptions; sometimes I need to write a novel.

i like this a lot, only with titles too


sometimes an entire map takes more than like six words to name

I think the current maximum for titles is 64 characters. If there is a high enough demand, I'll double that.

[otters]

If you need a skin, I'm highly available.

[Ad]

If I asked for anything in an alternative to NUMA, it would be the old stats pages being put back into use. It's good to see which map the users think is the best, and which members do the most voting. Controversial, I know.

[toasters]

I think since this is supposed to be an alternative site, you might as well use "bitesizing" instead of featuring.

[Fraxtil]

If I asked for anything in an alternative to NUMA, it would be the old stats pages being put back into use. It's good to see which map the users think is the best, and which members do the most voting. Controversial, I know.

I've implemented "number of maps", "votes sent", and "votes received" on the user listings, so you're set. :)

Judging by your logic, toasters, AltArc should neither use featuring or bitesizing since those were both used in NUMA at some point. The polls are still running, so we'll see how it turns out.

incluye: I'll contact you about a stylesheet soon.

[aids]

on how the maps should be "featured," I choose the option for user-approving.

[Fraxtil]

Here's proof that stuff is getting done.

Browse: I promise, the tabular design will leave! First I need to get a working screenshot function, then it'll go away forever. Also, the reason some of those maps have up to 90 votes is because I needed to make sure the sort function wouldn't mess up on numeric values.
Map: The design is still in progress and subject to change. I apologize if my color choice isn't good. The map data needs to be styled still, and comments need to be added in.
Preferences: None of these are actually implemented yet; they're just for decoration right now.

Also, if you haven't yet noticed, AltArc now has its own N Wikia article.

[aids]

looking great.

[Nexx]

Goddammit, where have I been!? Gah, this is what I get for relying too much on the "view your posts" feature.

This is so exciting! It's like 1:40 in the morning and I should have been asleep hours ago because I was tired then but this thread has gotten me all excited! Now I won't be able to sleep for at least another hour!

...

Okay, more calmed down now. Wow, I have so many questions and comments for you (GForce) that I feel like I'm going to explode. Okay, first off, I think this is rather divisive. I know you're trying to do your own thing so you can keep it under control, but I really really think cooperation with Arachnid and the current NUMA is the way to go. I suppose some could see it as a way to start fresh, but there's a lot of content that should be transferred over... or something like that. At the very least, this needs Arachnid's blessing. I've sent him a few emails before (I had the idea of attempting to learn Python so I could help him out with the site), so I could let him know about all of this if you want.

Anyway, I really like your focus on functionality. That's friggin' awesome of you.

Oh and Unreality would love to hear about this. I've chatted with him a bit and he says that he can already allow people to basically use NUMA through NReality. Well, that description might be stretching it a little, but he told me that if Arachnid would only upload some XML file, it would allow users to rate (and post on?) NUMA maps through NReality. I don't think Arachnid is opposed to it, though. I think he just never got around to bothering with it, or didn't see any reason to. Hm. But yeah, Unreality would love the idea.

Also, what are you coding this with? And how will server space and bandwidth work out? Oh and amazingly I haven't yet mentioned how I would totally like to help out with this thing. :)

One more thing: a "view your posts" option would rock. And I want that old rate counter back. Pretty much all the stat collecting and sharing you can incorporate, incorporate it. Like be able to see how many users have faved a map, and who those users are. Top-rated, all authors, it's all good.

Okay okay, NOW one more thing: Bringing back a top-rated is great and all (as is implementing .1's for average ratings), but I honestly don't think it's too realistic for when this site gets off its feet. People may disagree with the .1 increments thing, but basically the idea is that most maps get <10 rates, and those .1 increments don't mean a thing at that resolution. Furthermore, top-rated WILL at some point because sniping heaven. You're kidding yourself if you think some mods keeping track of who rated what will be able to keep that under wraps. You will need a more permanent solution. And I'm not just here to criticize - this problem has long been on my mind, and I will really try to think up a solution now that I know about this site.

Sorry for the long post, all. :\

[Fraxtil]

Don't be sorry about the long post! I enjoy reading stuff like that.

First, it seems that you're not alone in your statement about AltArc being too divisive. I'm going to see if I can allow users to submit maps to AltArc and NUMA (through the former) simultaneously. I've also considered an "import maps from NUMA" concept, but that would lead to one user's maps flooding the system with his old maps, and that would be no good.

Second, thanks for the comment on functionality. ^_^

Third, I have taken NReality into major consideration here, and I'll probably talk to Unreality soon about a "submit to AltArc" function from the Neditor, or some sort of map metadata that allows users to find maps from the userlevels menu. I still need to ask him about that, though.

Fourth: PHP/Apache, and it's still being determined where it will be hosted. Right now I'm testing it on my PC and even considered running it entirely from there, but I don't think that will be the case as my ISP isn't designed with servers in mind.

Fifth: "View sent comments" will be a part of AltArc.

Sixth: I'm not expecting there to be much traffic on AltArc, at least for the first few months, so tracking down snipers shouldn't be a problem, even for just one person. .1 increments may not have any literal meaning when it comes to the quality of the map, but it helps sort out maps by rating a little better, and some people (myself included) prefer high-precision numbers to generalized numbers, such as the integer-based ratings on NUMA. I'd be glad to hear back from you on this issue, and any of the previous ones mentioned.

Again, Avarin: Thank you for your input, and don't feel bad about writing a long post, because it's messages like that that motivate me to put my fullest efforts into AltArc. :)

To everybody: here's a Twitter account if you'd like to be notified of my progress via Twitter. I doubt many will use this, but maybe there's somebody out there...

[LittleViking]

FEATURE REQUEST!!!!!!!!!

Websites like Flickr, and now MySpace and Facebook, allow you to comment on specific regions of an image. Maybe you're looking at a picture of a bee on a rose, and you want to put a little box around the rose's thorn that says, "Look, it's got a stinger too!" I think comments like these should be available on an N map archive as well. The best advice I got early on in mapping was about what parts of the level were good, and which were overdone. If everyone could give and receive comments like that, mapping would evolve in new and exciting ways. I considered suggesting ratings for sections of the map too, but it would add complications about how they would factor into the map's rating, if at all, and I also don't think it would be needed as people could just comment "loved this" or "awful" in the same amount of time.

I'm not a big Flickr user, so I can't say exactly how the regional comments are added there, but I'm sure it has to do with Javascript grabbing a mouse coordinate on mousedown and then a second on mouseup. From there, you'd save the map id, user id, comment, top, left, width and height of the box. Pretty lightweight in terms of storage. And to call them back, you'd simply have a script add absolute positioned divs with the top, left, width and height values saved. I'd recommend putting this on a different page or loading it with AJAX when the viewer wants to see it since you'd have to use the full image it make it work well.

And of course, if you like the idea and need help implementing it, I'm around most days.

[Fraxtil]

That would be a very cool idea, and I'll look into the Javascript that does that. I'm not going to say for sure whether or not I'm going to use it yet.

[otters~1]

This is very cool. I would, however, like to know more about mappack integration. Will users be able to submit a mappack in its entirety, all at once?

Also I would like to echo Nexx's statement: "Where have I been!". I should never have neglected the nmaps.net forum.

[behappyy]

I think bitesizing would be good again but It would be nice if you could see who bitesized it.

[Turtle]

I think bitesizing would be good again but It would be nice if you could see who bitesized it.

No. Anonymity was a good thing about being able to bitesize. At least for me.