[Dev Thread] Enhanced Thief Fan Missions Archive (Last update: 2017/12/24) - by EnYB0La
FenPhoenix on 12/12/2017 at 21:08
I bet one could write a program to scan through FM zip files and generate entries with a significant portion (though perhaps not all) of their fields filled out. I'd be interested in giving it a shot. Also in doing some manual work like maybe screenshots or whatever else can't be automated. That is one beautiful layout.
PinkDot on 12/12/2017 at 21:39
I really like the idea and the shape it's taking. Consider the dark theme for the website however, as Thief screenshots are easier for the eyes on a dark background.
Are you going to do some search engine as well? By author, numbers of missions, themes, year, contest etc..
Tagging missions for the themes would be handy as well: undead, hammerites, cathedral, catacombs etc...
If the missions are related (e.g. a 'campaign' that was released mission by mission every couple of years, or a re-make of an old fanmission), there should be links to the other ones.
Places that missions were in 'Best FM of the year' polls.
Places in the Contests too.
Speaking of contests - it would be good to have a history of all the contests in one place too. Things like date, rules, organizer, participants etc... and with links to the entry fanmissions pages of course.
gamophyte on 12/12/2017 at 21:45
Hrm, I like the layout too but not the screenshots at the top, which I thought was just a stylized header, to the point I was going to suggest making it thinner. But this is just going into the arena of design, which I may not want to get into.
@Fen, cool idea yeah, also, didn't know you could program. I learn something evra day, hoypadoyp!
trefoilknot on 12/12/2017 at 21:50
What would be really nice would be an infrastructure that allows user-specific FM ratings. Once a critical mass of people had played, it could learn each users preferences, and be able to recommend missions based on them. Sort of like pandora for FMs :)
FenPhoenix on 12/12/2017 at 22:24
Quote Posted by gamophyte
@Fen, cool idea yeah, also, didn't know you could program. I learn something evra day, hoypadoyp!
You didn't think I was copying that description text and making all those thumbnails (and formerly "previous / next" annotations)
manually, did you? :sly:
I love to code (~6.5 years since I started coding regularly, but learned the basics as a kid), and since my main project Autovid is not of much use to anyone else, I'd like to see if I can't create something that'd be helpful. :)
gamophyte on 12/12/2017 at 23:11
Quote Posted by FenPhoenix
You didn't think I was copying that description text and making all those thumbnails (and formerly "previous / next" annotations)
manually, did you? :sly:
I love to code (~6.5 years since I started coding regularly, but learned the basics as a kid), and since my main project Autovid is not of much use to anyone else, I'd like to see if I can't create something that'd be helpful. :)
I am unaware of what youtube gives you to work with, never delve into, so yeah much respect for doing all of that. I knew you must have made your thumbnails though as they look well made. Yeah anything would be helpful in this regard. This site is going to help remind me of what I have already played, and or need to play. I have a master list of FMs with context as to what interested me about it, but hasn't been updated in awhile.
fortuni on 13/12/2017 at 04:35
Athalle at Lady Jo is doing something rather neat with screenshots, a continual montage of loaded screenies. It's very effective and looks seriously professional, but you would need to ask her how to set it up.
(
http://ladyjo1.free.fr/thief/spip.php?article1088)
EnYB0La on 13/12/2017 at 13:49
Quote Posted by FenPhoenix
I bet one could write a program to scan through FM zip files and generate entries with a significant portion (though perhaps not all) of their fields filled out. I'd be interested in giving it a shot. Also in doing some manual work like maybe screenshots or whatever else can't be automated. That is one beautiful layout.
That's a real great idea. You could maybe base your script on the DarkLoader source code because this one scans through FM zip files too and retrieves details.
Quote Posted by PinkDot
I really like the idea and the shape it's taking. Consider the dark theme for the website however, as Thief screenshots are easier for the eyes on a dark background.
Are you going to do some search engine as well? By author, numbers of missions, themes, year, contest etc..
Tagging missions for the themes would be handy as well: undead, hammerites, cathedral, catacombs etc...
If the missions are related (e.g. a 'campaign' that was released mission by mission every couple of years, or a re-make of an old fanmission), there should be links to the other ones.
Places that missions were in 'Best FM of the year' polls.
Places in the Contests too.
Speaking of contests - it would be good to have a history of all the contests in one place too. Things like date, rules, organizer, participants etc... and with links to the entry fanmissions pages of course.
I don't know if implementing a dark theme could be a visual improvement. I think the layout should be better designed in order to expose the FMs details. I should investigate a visual change in the future maybe as an optional feature for the user.
I'll integrate an external search engine called Algolia ((
https://www.algolia.com/)), which is the best option to be used with a static website generator as Hugo.
When you are talking about "themes", do you refer to "categories" or "tags"?
I'll investigate the way how to link Fan Missions that are part of the same campaign.
Where can I know what are the "Best FM of the year"? Is there an official TTLG thread?
Same as the "Best FM of the year". Where can I get this information? The most updated one, I mean...
Quote Posted by gamophyte
Hrm, I like the layout too but not the screenshots at the top, which I thought was just a stylized header, to the point I was going to suggest making it thinner. But this is just going into the arena of design, which I may not want to get into.
I should design an alternative to this case, a thinner option :D
Quote Posted by trefoilknot
What would be really nice would be an infrastructure that allows user-specific FM ratings. Once a critical mass of people had played, it could learn each users preferences, and be able to recommend missions based on them. Sort of like pandora for FMs
Unfortunately, there is no way to allow user-specific FM ratings using a static website generator.
Quote Posted by fortuni
Athalle at Lady Jo is doing something rather neat with screenshots, a continual montage of loaded screenies. It's very effective and looks seriously professional, but you would need to ask her how to set it up.
(
http://ladyjo1.free.fr/thief/spip.php?article1088)
The link you sent me doesn't show any example with screenshots..?
fortuni on 13/12/2017 at 15:29
Quote Posted by EnYB0La
The link you sent me doesn't show any example with screenshots..?
The link works.
Are you using windows to connect to the Lady Jo site, as for some reason that link does not work when I use my IPad, but does when I use my laptop.
trefoilknot on 13/12/2017 at 16:11
Worked for me, too. I had to enable flash playback, though.
