Homepage TMW

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EJlol
TMW Furniture
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Posts: 1224
Joined: 06 Sep 2005, 08:42

Homepage TMW

Post by EJlol »

At the moment I'm working on the design of a website that in my opinion could be a replacement for the current 'homepage' (which is just the main wiki page at the moment).
A preview can be seen here:
https://i.imgur.com/O2l85F5.png

and the development can be followed here for the time being:
https://github.com/EJlol/tmw-website-new

Currently it is far from finished:
  • Old logo, no rEvolt tag
  • Links are not styled
  • Download button not styled (should in my opinion be big)
  • Temporary content
  • Not tested on mobile yet (problably need to add some media queries)
  • Many other things
WildX asked me to try a little bit different colors, and he wanted the news to be the main focus on the homepage, and then put the screenshots behind a page called 'Screenshots'. I think its important to decide what the main focus of the homepage should be. I prefer the main focus to be new potential players. They don't care about what is new, but instead they care about what the game is, how it looks like and how to download it. Players that play the game for a longer time, and do care what is new, may read the news in-game. To be honest I don't think they will visit the website often. That doesn't mean the news doesn't have a place on the homepage, I just want it behind a page 'News' ;).

Anyway feel free to say what you think about the website, whether you think the current homepage needs replacement, whether you like this design, what should be featured on it etc. Also feel free to be harsh against it, I can handle it :wink:
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Micksha
Lead Developer (SoM)
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Joined: 18 Dec 2015, 15:34

Re: Homepage TMW

Post by Micksha »

To me it looks much better and organized than the old page, which basically has only links on it. For making it a bit more attractive I am not the guy to ask. But can you add the "rEvolt" tag in the headline, maybe below "The Mana World"?
Also when making a new page, it is a great opportunity to tidy up the current mess with new/old content, wiki and stuff.
If you need help with whatever dont hesitate to ask. I have a small stock of screenshots and videos that may be useful at some point (mainly Illia runs and some events).

Let me add a quote from the old homepage:

This page was last modified on 25 August 2017, at 08:06.

Thanks for your work!
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EJlol
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Joined: 06 Sep 2005, 08:42

Re: Homepage TMW

Post by EJlol »

As for screenshots/video I will need these at some point, though they should be created with some more attention in my opinion.

As for the video I prefer something like Factorio has. They first have a trailer video and then a gameplay video. The trailer is supposed let you go 'Wow :shock:' whereas the second video is to show the actual gameplay.

For the screenshots I'm more looking for normal gameplay screenshots with the best pixelart we have (and if possible with less or no gui elements). The current screenshots at the wiki mostly show development versions or screenshots of events. While it is good to have these to, in my opinion they are less good for advertising the game... The development screenshots just show lots of weird particles, and the events screenshots are mostly sitting with big smiles in hurnscald... Instead I would like screenshots fighting mobs with ~3 people on it in an environment that just looks awsome (maybe even specifically created for the screenshot?). Or maybe show off some questing again with some other people if possible (maybe they could have some fake chat asking a question like 'Do you need help with this quest?' etc.)

For now I just use the existing video/screenshots though. If anything better comes up these can replaced quite easy. Right now I'm mostly working on the design of the website.

I will add adding the rEvolt tag to my TODO list :)
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WildX
Source of Mana
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Re: Homepage TMW

Post by WildX »

The reason why we had a separate page for Screenshots in Evol was so we could have a nice ordered gallery which divided stuff into categories. In this case it would be useful to have "Legacy", "Test server" and a placeholder section for the WIP TMW live server. I'm more interested in showing the new maps rather than Ilia runs which will make new players think this is the game they will get to play. We can find a compromise by having thumbnail-sized previews of the screenshots on the homepage, but I strongly suggest a dedicated page.

I will be working on a video trailer for TMW which will launch a month before our first release of the new server. This has been in my plans for ages. We already have an official YouTube account and we will be able to embed the trailer with the news article which will announce the release.

The structure I'd like for the main body:
  • Overview
  • News
  • A string of five thumbnails kinda like these http://wiki.evolonline.org/screenshots with a link to a dedicated Screenshots gallery page
  • Development links | Social media links/icons
Again, all just suggestions :)

TMW Team member

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