Future of ModDB / IndieDB Thread

INtense! wrote:

To answer all of your questions:

1. No data loss ever. Our aim is to be a DB that hosts and saves all mods. We plan on doing that as long as we can afford to keep the lights on
2. We will make profile customization easier, give you access to more tools to do it as part of the redesign (we are actually planning on allowing custom domains eventually should you wish to run your profile on your own URL).
3. When the time comes to launch we won't just "immediately" turn on the new design. We will give important members a chance to switch between the designs so you can make sure everything is updated and ready for the new design, which may break all existing profile customisation.

Do you have any estimates of when it will be happening? I'm looking at creating a custom stylesheet for my mod page but won't bother if there's an update coming in the next few months.

Looking forward to it!

I'd say it'll be 4 months minimum (probably 6) so it is worth customising now if you want.

INtense! wrote:

To answer all of your questions:

1. No data loss ever. Our aim is to be a DB that hosts and saves all mods. We plan on doing that as long as we can afford to keep the lights on
2. We will make profile customization easier, give you access to more tools to do it as part of the redesign (we are actually planning on allowing custom domains eventually should you wish to run your profile on your own URL).
3. When the time comes to launch we won't just "immediately" turn on the new design. We will give important members a chance to switch between the designs so you can make sure everything is updated and ready for the new design, which may break all existing profile customisation.

This sounds beyond great. The custom domain feature is VERY welcome, as it allows moddb to become a portfolio more than what it is now (which is in many eyes more of a social profile)

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Kevin - TZP Head

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INtense! wrote:

I'd say it'll be 4 months minimum (probably 6) so it is worth customising now if you want.

Ok thanks for the heads up.

Looking forward to it! Will there be some kind of trial before then? I'd be more than happy to help test new stuff.

A trial would be fun, but I'm fine with either decision you guys make.

There will definetly be a trial. We will let our subscribers in first, then modders and those who contribute to the site. So you will get first look.

By the way, I think there's something wrong with the users' avatars. I've noticed that some users have different avatars in different pages. Like some older pages 'remember' their old avatar and can't update it to the new one (obviously noticeable only for users that have changed their avatars).

Has anyone else noticed that? Damn, I didn't keep the instances I've noticed as examples to post here.

I would like to propose one last thing if i may . Within a group the articles need site a admin authorization , would it not be simpler for the group leader to auth them on their own provided they check themselves the article is unique and not a duplicate of another already present on the site ? Also last but not least , could it be possible for a group to have sections within that would allow uploading of media into each respectively for the purpose of not piling up media in the main window of the group only ?

I really cannot wait for the site's change , i wonder how much time is left but i await anxiously

Yeah I noticed that it takes a while until the new avatar is used.

I would like to propose changes and additions to the badge system:
I think that the ones existing today doesn't really cover all the common positions and disciplines that exist within the field of game development. Additionally, some are just plainly bad (such as 3d model - while there is no 3d art -badge).

Suggestions:

Badge - Description

Concept - A developer skilled in concept art, illustrations and traditional drawing.
Designer - A developer skilled in game design, mechanics and theory.
Lead - A developer skilled in leading, directing and mentoring others.
Mobile - A developer skilled in mobile platforms.
QA - A developer skilled in quality assurance and bug finding.
Social - A developer skilled in social media platforms.
Tech Art - A developer skilled in art, code and graphical pipelines.
VFX Art - A developer skilled in visual effects.

Also, some changes to some older badges:
2d gfx -> 2d Art
3d model -> 3d Art
Mapper -> Level

2d gfx and 3d model are just plain bad tags for describing 2d and 3d artists.
And as for mapper - it's 15 year old lingo that no one ever uses anymore. These people are called Level Designers nowadays. The people refered to "mappers" back in the old days dealt with both environment art as well as level design. But this has now evolved into two different disciplines (environment art and level design).

EDIT: Here you go

Edited by: Nightshade

I agree with Niteshade, there should be some new and/or modified tags for the forums. The example ones look awesome and I believe it would be an easy thing to add. Also, as it has been said in previous comments, it would be great if such tags would be visible on our profiles too, so members know the skills of other members (especially if they look for help/recruiting). Not to mention it would be great if you could search members by tag.

*ℱℓσℊℊℯɾ
Yep, indeed, it takes some time till the new avatar has replaced the old one, apparently I haven't noticed that all these years I am a member . So, false alarm.

Edited by: Thanoshld

Where's environment artist at Nite

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Kevin - TZP Head

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Env Art sounds like a better replacement for mapper to me.

But environment artists (in some studios: world artists or world builders) are usually not involved in the actual gameplay design. True, they build most of the assets that goes into an environment - but the gameplay design work is usually covered by a level designer.
Additionally, the environment artist title is almost entirely exclusive to 3d artists. I have never came across a 2d environment artist myself but maybe there's someone out there?

Edited by: Nightshade

Niteshade wrote:

But environment artists (in some studios: world artists or world builders) are usually not involved in the actual gameplay design. True, they build most of the assets that goes into an environment - but the gameplay design work is usually covered by a level designer.
Additionally, the environment artist title is almost entirely exclusive to 3d artists. I have never came across a 2d environment artist myself but maybe there's someone out there?

True. I consider myself a hybrid of Environment artist and Level designer, since In my old CE days I did mostly the asset creation myself + building maps myself or modifiying the existing maps for practise. Well, back to moddb, I can see the avatar issue present on your own page. You have your old avatar there, the one I have imprinted on my memory

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Kevin - TZP Head

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Updating forum tags is quite easy, tkaza if you are reading please look into this. Oh and diff avatars i believe was due to an old bug which we have since fixed.

INtense! wrote:

Updating forum tags is quite easy, tkaza if you are reading please look into this. Oh and diff avatars i believe was due to an old bug which we have since fixed.

Duly noted will see what i can do

We started a poll guys to know how many users use their smartphone (frequently) or would love to do it (if the site was mobile-friendly) on ModDB/IndieDB. Check it out: Moddb.com

Hi, how I can activate the notifications? Apparently Indie DB doesn't notify me if someone comments or replies! It is urgent! Thank you.

Edited by: JoséCalderón

JoséCalderón wrote:

Hi, how I can activate the notifications? Apparently Indie DB doesn't notify me if someone comments or replies! It is urgent! Thank you.

You should get an email if some one replies to your comment, ensure email notifications are on in your profile.

TKAzA wrote:

JoséCalderón wrote:

Hi, how I can activate the notifications? Apparently Indie DB doesn't notify me if someone comments or replies! It is urgent! Thank you.

You should get an email if some one replies to your comment, ensure email notifications are on in your profile.

It is working now! I received even older notifications! Thank you so much!

With GameFront's impending closure, we're going to see a large influx of uploads as people move mods and addons to ModDB. This highlights a limitation of the search engine that may now bite the site in the rear: There's no way to search for all archived mods of a particular game.

Here's an example of an archived mod. You won't find it listed when you search for all Homeworld 2 mods. That makes preventing redundant uploads (not to mention finding mods to play!) a right pain. We don't want duplicates of the same mod uploaded, but it's just about impossible to find those mods without knowing the exact name of the archived page.

And then there's all the mods whose download links (on ModDB) point to GameFront/FileFront as the file host. What's the right thing to do when the mod author can't be contacted to upload those files to ModDB on the original/official ModDB page for said mod?

Edited by: Hell_Diguner

Hell_Diguner wrote:

With GameFront's impending closure, we're going to see a large influx of uploads as people move mods and addons to ModDB. This highlights a limitation of the search engine that may now bite the site in the rear: There's no way to search for all archived mods of a particular game.

Here's an example of an archived mod. You won't find it listed when you search for all Homeworld 2 mods. That makes preventing redundant uploads (not to mention finding mods to play!) a right pain. We don't want duplicates of the same mod uploaded, but it's just about impossible to find those mods without knowing the exact name of the archived page.

And then there's all the mods whose download links (on ModDB) point to GameFront/FileFront as the file host. What's the right thing to do when the mod author can't be contacted to upload those files to ModDB on the original/official ModDB page for said mod?

A great question. Firstly the point of the archive function is to archive dead mods which were never released. Released mods should never be archived, so clearly people are mis-understanding the purpose of the archive function. We need to un-archive mods like this.

We can give you admin access to upload the file on the mod creators behalf. Just be sure to mention you are not the creator in the credits and the description. If the mod creator requests control or access to the file we shall transfer control to them.

One thing I'd like to see is some way to "categorise" people within organisations.

What I mean by that is say you have one organisation with 10 mods and 20 people. 2 people make each mod and one guy is the same through all of them (the leader of the organisation). The leader should be able to make it so that everyone can manage their own mod pages and have their own mods show on their user page and not have access to the other mods in the organisation.

I say this because I recently got added to an organisation to help out with a mod project and it already has two mods connected to it which I had no part of, but now because I'm in the organisation I can modify the pages and they show up on my mods list and downloads section.

Just an idea, I don't really like ModDB putting my name to projects I haven't worked on. It would be nice to be able to be able to separate organisations up, instead of having to create multiple like people do now.

The permission system we use is already quite complex and confusing, i'm not sure that dividing it up would help ease this confusion and may make it worse