Omnimaga
Calculator Community => Other Calculators => Topic started by: TsukasaZX on March 16, 2010, 05:01:49 pm
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This is an idea I've tried to start up twice before but failed to really do so. Hopefully, if I can get the backing of an entire active community, the third time will in fact be the charm.
As we all know, there are innumerable websites in the TI programming community and while generally any noteworthy news ends up on all of the sites, there are often times information discrepancies that make hunting down all the facts somewhat difficult (either due to language differences or simply people preferring to post on one site over another).
I think what the community in general needs is a quarterly magazine. Basically, four times a year (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter) this magazine would come out online (a free digital download) for people to read. This magazine would document all the interesting finds of the previous quarter (Spring 2010 would talk about everything that happened in Winter 2009) and maybe even earlier. It'd cover various things such as:
- Interesting events (such as NDless or the new TI-84+ OS)
- Newly released or in development programs that might be a big hit (DCS7 and E:SoR)
- Tips and tricks or newly found bugs
- Hidden gems (Games/programs worth getting that didn't really get as hyped as they needed to be)
- WGOTQ (Worst Game Of The Quarter)
- Interviews with people in the community (Brandon W, Iambian, or Tifreak8x)
- Q&A that answers questions that keep getting asked over and over again everywhere
... or anything else that needs to be known.
Think about it. It'd be a great way to gather everything in one spot and it'd be a great way to encourage people to be active because let's face it, who *doesn't* want to be in a magazine? :D
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That sounds pretty neat. The only problem I have is the WGOTQ. You could hurt someone's feelings if they got this, so I'd leave it out. Everything else sounds pretty cool. ;D
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Hmm interesting idea. I'm all for it, but it would be a challenge to get a large enough number of people to help out with it on their free time.
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I like this idea, of course I don't know about the WGOTQ...people could get discouraged by it.
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True about the WGOTQ thing. Foregoing that idea.
How about a Reviews section instead where we give honest reviews of the quarter's top rated games and utilities?
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True about the WGOTQ thing. Foregoing that idea.
How about a Reviews section instead where we give honest reviews of the quarter's top rated games and utilities?
Much better idea.
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That would work, and it could be constructive and helpful. There should be rules about how the reviews are written so that they can be constructive.
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What format to release in? PDF, html and txt?
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I'd say Html (or PDF, although html is easier for people to read/open ie, if they don't have a pdf reader).
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Yeah, there would be rules that we'd have to establish and vote on as fair. I'd say nothing much more complicated than "don't be jerk and be constructive in your criticisms". As for actual content, the reviews should detail how easy running it should be, if there's any negative side effects of running it, what the pros are, the cons, and maybe some suggestions? What'd'y'all think?
For format, I was thinking about going with PDF since PDF is nice and fancy :P
[edit] PDF is also semi-standard. Most computers come with a PDF reader built into them nowadays. HTML would make formatting a P.I.T.A. in my opinion.
Also, name and logo concept to get that ball rolling:
(http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa229/keithjohansen/cgq.png)
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A) maybe some suggestions? What'd'y'all think?
B) For format, I was thinking about going with PDF since PDF is nice and fancy
C) Also, name and logo concept to get that ball rolling:
B) Agreed
C) Kinda cool, must say. It doesn't roll off the tounge as well, though. How about ClacGeek?
A) I think you should start a list of editors, and anyone can submit an article, but the editors have to review it first and they are the ones who eventually decide who gets the cut.
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A) maybe some suggestions? What'd'y'all think?
B) For format, I was thinking about going with PDF since PDF is nice and fancy
C) Also, name and logo concept to get that ball rolling:
B) Agreed
C) Kinda cool, must say. It doesn't roll off the tounge as well, though. How about ClacGeek?
A) I think you should start a list of editors, and anyone can submit an article, but the editors have to review it first and they are the ones who eventually decide who gets the cut.
C) Calc Geek Quarterly does roll off the tongue more but "calc" is more slang-ish. I'd prefer not to use slang to make it seem more "professional", hence "Calculator Geek Quarterly". Alternatively, you can just call it CGQ which rolls off the tongue :P
A) I wholeheartedly agree. I myself will be chief editor since it's my idea. Whoever else wants to be an editor, volunteer here.
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I volunteer! Also, CGQ does roll off the tounge better.
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Here's a rudimentary list of staff positions and who all volunteers for them. I'll repost this as it updates.
4 Editors
- TsukasaZX (Myself)
- SirCmpwn
- <empty>
- <empty>
2 Graphics Designers
- <empty>
- <empty>
9001 Article Writers
- No official staff here, as aforementioned, people can just submit articles and good ones get put in
Anything else we'd need? :P
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I'm pretty visually gifted, I can volunteer to be a graphical editor too ;)
What dates will it be released on?
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Updated, added one more GFX position:
4 Editors
- TsukasaZX (Myself)
- SirCmpwn
- <empty>
- <empty>
3 Graphics Designers
- SirCmpwn
- <empty>
- <empty>
9001 Article Writers
- No official staff here, as aforementioned, people can just submit articles and good ones get put in
I myself will also do some graphical design things but that's just because I'll probably be the one who amalgamates it all together for release `-`
As for the release dates, I was thinking something along the lines of this:
Spring: April 15
Summer: July 15
Fall: October 15
Winter: January 15, 2011
That's about a good 3 months between issues and gives us enough time to hobble together a premier issue I think?
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Sounds pretty good to me :)
Know a good cover story? I'll start throwing together a cover
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I dunno, how about something about that NDless thing? What's the most interesting thing going on in the community right now, anyway?
I think we should wait until we get more people on board before jump into making much of anything.
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I was thinking Axe is pretty nice, have you played with it? I think its cover-spread worthy. We would definately mention Ndless on the cover, though.
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Okay, here are some ideas I thought of whilst grabbing a bite to eat:
Cover Story: Axe Parser
Cover 2nd Story: NDless
Interview option 1: Kerm Martian about DCS7
Interview option 2: Tifreak8x about Pokemon Purple
Interview option 3: Iambian and Zera about E:SoR
(We'll just pick two of these and roll with 'em. If we get all three, we'll pick one to have postponed until Summer 2010)
Reviews of top games and utilities
Quarterly Hidden Gem
Upcoming Games and Utilities
(We'll just have some short mini-articles about various other games and stuff in the works like Piworld or something for example)
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Sounds pretty good, I'll get started!
Do you know much about Axe? Or do you want me to write the article?
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I don't know much of anything about them. I think I'll handle doing the interviews.
Remember y'all, we need people for these other articles, we need editors and GFX guys, and we need people to come up with more articles to submit because SirCmpwn and I can't think of everything :P
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Here's an alternate logo, it's a bit simpler, but it's also easier to read. I saved it as a .pdn file so I can change the font or whatever.
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This looks like an interesting thing that's going on. I hope it gets off the ground and into reali...erh ... TEH INTERNET.
What I mean is... Good luck on this endeavor.
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not sure i want to sign up for any thing but how about we maby add a oldies but goodies section as there are a lot of great games out there that no one has heard of b4 X.x (kinda like the little gems but take ones from previous quarters and beyond :P)
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@Iambian: Thank you! Expect a cherry-flavored interview sometime soon :P
@SirCmpwn: Interesting logo idea. I like the fonts but the green seems a bit overkill in contrast with the dark gray.
@Geekboy1011: That's a good idea. "Oldies but Goodies", a section just for reminding people about games that have been out forever that may have fallen off the radar due to their age.
If somebody wants to get started on something like that, be my guest. Multiple people can volunteer and we editors will pick who's best :P
Also, here's a slightly edited version of my logo concept:
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Sounds great, I'll probably tweak your logo and start writing tommorow.
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Go with HTML, and also I love the idea. Very nice one actually. TI-BANK got this but not everyone understands french.
We tried to start this in the early days of Omnimaga forums, but the authors kept going inactive. I still have one of these newsletters somewhere. One was by Alex10819 and another by Anthony Loven. But it would be nice to see this. What I think is that it would either need to be posted on ticalc.org front page when published or every existing TI forums. Having it on another site only might cause disinterest after a while since it is not updated often. Of course, though, if the site it was on was like www.ti-news.net, it could work, too.
You should mayeb post about this on other TI forums, or have someone do it on forums you're not part of.
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The problem with HTML is that it can be a real p.i.t.a. to make it look nice. With PDF (most likely converted from a .doc or .docx file), it's more WYSIWYG-drag-and-drop which makes positioning elements and using fancy fonts easier than if we were going with HTML. Furthermore, as I said before, PDF is something of a standard on modern computers meaning most all computers nowadays have Adobe Acrobat Reader or a facsimile PDF reader. Also, PDF is much easier to tote around than HTML, especially if you want to read offline.
As for posting it online, I was thinking about having a main site where everything can be found but whenever an issue is published, someone or myself will post about it on all the major fora/forums and maybe get it as news on TICalc.org or something.
And I fully intend to post about this on Cemetech and whomever else can post about this on other forums. However, right now I want to get at least some semblance of progress done on this first before I go hyping about it everywhere.
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Yeah HTML is annoying sometimes. The problem with PDFs, though, is people without admin access on the computers they have access to, and unable to install a PDF reader, plus people using older versions of Reader. I personally loved to stay on 2003 version, because the others spammed me with update requests (that froze Adobe Reader upon launching). But old version means some compatibility issues. I guess it's up to you, though. At least PDF is much better and more compatible than .doc.
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If you need any additional editing, I can help.
I am curious what the target audience is. It crossed my mind because you are either outside of the U.S., or you write using International English spelling conventions for some other reason. I'm familiar with both U.S. and International standards, so it doesn't matter which one you prefer to enforce. If you want to reach a broader audience, (i.e., maybe TI communities outside of the U.S.) then International standard might make sense. More people who learn English as a second language would be familiar with International spelling; and Omnimaga.org has always been something of an abroad site.
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I have no clue what International English spelling conventions are. Care to elaborate, please?
Also, we'd be glad to have you as an editor.
For those who don't know, all editors really have to do is:
- Sift through articles submitted and find ones that have enough merit to be included in the upcoming issue.
- "Nitpick" the merited articles. Look for grammar or spelling mistakes and bits of info that need not be in the article and fix/remove them (or alternatively, have the author fix it if you don't feel right doing it yourself)
- Have the author rewrite anything that needs to be rewritten or include information you feel needs to be included.
The most important rule of being an editor is that while you have the authority to change an article, you cannot add information not originally present nor alter the article to change its overall viewpoint. Only the original author can do such a thing.
So, updated roster so far:
4 Editors
- TsukasaZX (Myself)
- SirCmpwn
- Zera (?)
- <empty>
3 Graphics Designers
- SirCmpwn
- <empty>
- <empty>
9001 Article Writers
- No official staff here, as aforementioned, people can just submit articles and good ones get put in
And as for what needs to be done, here's what we have and have need of:
I believe SirCmpwn will be covering writing these himself
Cover Story: Axe Parser
Cover 2nd Story: NDless
I will handle these myself
Interview option 1: Kerm Martian about DCS7
Interview option 2: Tifreak8x about Pokemon Purple
Interview option 3: Iambian and Zera about E:SoR
We still need people to do these
4 or 5 Reviews of Top Games and Utilities (if there are 4 or 5 top games/utilities)
1 Quarterly Hidden Gem
4 or 5 Upcoming Games and Utilities (mini-articles about stuff that's in the works)
1 or 2 Oldies but Goodies
The reviews of top programs should say who made it, describe the game, discuss both the pros and cons of the program, how easy it was to run it, if there was any backlash to running it (RAM clear, garbled things, all your variables are 9001 bytes, etc), and your overall reaction to it. Don't be too harsh or negative.
The Quarterly Hidden Gem should be written as a similar review but with a section stating why it's a hidden gem.
The Upcoming articles should just go into a little detail about what the programs do and how far along they are, who makes them, and where you can find more info.
Oldies but Goodies should just probably describe the program, when it first came out, and some of the pros (and maybe cons) of the program.
Remember: if you have an idea for an article or a new section of the magazine, please feel free to let us know. If you write an article yourself, feel free to submit it. However, that brings me to another couple questions.
1) How are we going to handle editing/processing articles? How are we going to make sure all the editors get a say on the articles?
2) How are people going to submit their articles?
I was thinking of setting up a catch-all email forward (CGQ[at]UnSyntaxSoft.com for example) that will send any submitted articles to all the editors' inboxes. From there, we'll make all our decisions independently and later that night we can collaborate over IRC (maybe #CGQ on EFNet?) to make a unanimous decision on everything and work from there to clean up articles or get authors to rewrite them.
And yeah, if we write articles ourselves, we have to submit it to the same email forward and be subject to the same processes :P
But, what are y'all's opinions on it?
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Hmm, perhaps this would be better suited for a blog?
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I don't really think so. CGQ, in my vision, would be something akin to a TI version of Nintendo Power. It'd present the information in a visually appealing and visually diverse manner that I don't think you can really get with a blog. Furthermore, CGQ is meant to be portable like a real magazine, albeit still digital. With a blog, like any HTML, you lose that "offline" capability because you can't really store the whole thing offline.
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I would only suggest having one editor. If you have several people checking the same documents for spelling and punctuation, they're going to impose different "corrections" on top of one another, and possibly cause conflict.
I have no clue what International English spelling conventions are. Care to elaborate, please?
American and British English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences#Miscellaneous_spelling_differences)
Based on your usage of "whilst" and "amongst," being chiefly British. (as opposed to the American "while" and "among")
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Subaru, I think that all sounds really good! I can't wait to see this. :D
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M'kay, then one editor it is (myself), but I still want a "committee" of people to determine what articles should and shouldn't be put in and what articles could use extra info or less info or whatnot.
As for the English deal, I just have multi-regional flavor in my written dialogue, mixing in a little southern and a little British but I'm true blue American :P
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I'm almost done with the cover, it's a little harder cause there is no official logo for Axe yet :P
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Here is the current version of the cover. Here is a list of everything that has its own layer:
*TI-Nspire cracked! TI releases... and its background
*CGQ Logo
*Introducing... AXE PARSER
*Inside:...
*Inside:... Green background
*Axe image
*Gradient background
Any of these things are super easily changed, so let me know what I should do with it. Feedback is appriciated.
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Very nice; however, I'd like to make a few suggestions:
1. Different font for the "Introducing Axe Parser" bit. The sans-serif font you use seems a tad dull in my opinion.
2. The top attention grabber needs to be shifted right a few pixels so it doesn't hit the edge of the image
3. How about changing the footer of the cover to say "Volume 1 \ Spring 2010 \ April 15" in white instead of black?
Other than that, this is an epic win of a cover and you my friend are hired for doing ALL the covers :D :D :D
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That's really nice! Excellent job! ;D
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Thanks for the advice! I'll fix the cover later, but for now, here is an example PDF file that outlines my proposed layout. I am the graphical editor, after all, I may as well do my "job" ;)
http://cid-c5fee036bc0d72bd.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Sample.pdf (http://cid-c5fee036bc0d72bd.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Sample.pdf)
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*bump*
I kinda need feedback to make it better guys :P
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Not to be rude or anything but I'm not liking the totally grey and uniform design. It's too dull and dark for a magazine. The pages should mostly be white except for maybe a few that wouldn't be. The pages would just be adorned with graphics and fancy borders and whatnot and each section should be somewhat unique. Basically, even if Section A has the same design each issue, it'd be visual distinct from Section B and C.
Furthermore, I propose changing "Letter From the Editor" to simply "From the Editor". Furthermore, I think the "editors" bit should be changed to simply "staff' and be located at the bottom of the page and done in a much more subdued manner (smaller avatars and text).
In addition, I think "Letters to the Editor" should be renamed "The Community Speaks" and done in a very Nintendo Power Pulse-esque manner (Question, then answer below it in italics. Everything is in a slightly small font).
Table of contents should be right after the cover and before anything else.
Finally, I would also like to go with an NP-esque approach for Reviews, where a review would be something like this:
Program Name
Rating: #/10
By: User McSomebody
For: TI-##
This is a summary of the program along with the writer's thoughts on everything.
Pros: blah
Cons: blah
To be tactlessly honest, I would very much like to make the page designs myself. The other graphics people, SirCmpwn included, would be responsible for the cover and for creating any graphics I feel a particular page/article needs as my abilities to create diminish greatly outside basic text logos.
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Not to be rude or anything but I'm not liking the totally grey and uniform design. It's too dull and dark for a magazine.
Np, do your thing
Furthermore, I propose changing "Letter From the Editor" to simply "From the Editor". Furthermore, I think the "editors" bit should be changed to simply "staff' and be located at the bottom of the page and done in a much more subdued manner (smaller avatars and text).
I like this thought, except for the bottom of the page thing, I kind of like the PC Gamer style that is going on with this one.
In addition, I think "Letters to the Editor" should be renamed "The Community Speaks" and done in a very Nintendo Power Pulse-esque manner (Question, then answer below it in italics. Everything is in a slightly small font).
Hmmm, that kind of defies most magazine standards...
A) Table of contents should be right after the cover and before anything else.
B) Finally, I would also like to go with an NP-esque approach for Reviews, where a review would be something like this:
A) Fine
B) To be completely honest, the example you posted doesn't sit too well with me, I kind of like to see reviews where the author is totally honest about the whole thing, and speaks his opinion about the game/program. Are you thinking a paragraph summary or an article? I personally prefer the latter when I'm reading a magazine.
To be tactlessly honest, I would very much like to make the page designs myself. The other graphics people, SirCmpwn included, would be responsible for the cover and for creating any graphics I feel a particular page/article needs as my abilities to create diminish greatly outside basic text logos.
*sigh...*
That's fine. I would have prefered some feedback about the design and to have made some changes from there. I wasn't expecting my design to be the same for every article, no way no how, but I wanted a default to fall back on if we were pushed for time.
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Here is the updated cover:
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Personally, reviews shouldn't be too harsh, though. If you're gonna review a program an author spent lot of time on it and diss the entire game, it might be best to just not review it at all and pick either a program you like more or one that really blows. Otherwise, it might discourage their authors and we don't want that.
As for the design I kinda like the title page in overall, altough if you keep some gray in the pages, I think it would be best to have the background white and the rounded borders rectangle area blue-ish, but not too dark. Maybe blue-gray ish. But that's my opinion. For the title page, I would maybe add some 3D to the axe parser text or a shadow. You did a good job in overall, though.
EDIT: just saw updated cover: forget about the 3D effect lol, I kinda like it like this now. Maybe try with a shadow behind the text and logo, though? I wonder how it would look like?
Also I wonder if it would look cool if the background around the axe was more blue-ish?à
Just one thing: if you make pages more colored, don't overdo it either, like this:
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Personally, reviews shouldn't be too harsh, though.
I agree in general, but I also think that if a program sucks, the author should know to improve it. The review writer wouldn't spend the whole time dissing the article, but they shouldn't lie, and they shouldn't let you waste your time on a download you won't use.
As for the design I kinda like the title page in overall, altough if you keep some gray in the pages, I think it would be best to have the background white and the rounded borders rectangle area blue-ish, but not too dark. Maybe blue-gray ish. But that's my opinion. For the title page, I would maybe add some 3D to the axe parser text or a shadow. You did a good job in overall, though.
EDIT: just saw updated cover: forget about the 3D effect lol, I kinda like it like this now. Maybe try with a shadow, though? I wonder how it would look like?
Also I wonder if it would look cool if the background around the axe was more blue-ish?
I kinda like the design, too, but I want to wait for TsucazaZX's input, seeing as he is editor in chief. I'll try out your design suggestions and see how they turn out, I like the idea.
*EDIT*
I originally had a much broader color scheme, but it looked kinda stupid so I simplified it a bit. It used to have 3 different shades of blue, pluse 2 shades of green, there was red, white, black, grey and purple. There was also yellow at one point. :P
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Foremost, I'm sorry for coming off as a rude and perhaps pretentious. I just really want this to look nice and how I imagined it would look. I'll lighten up a bit and again, I apologize.
As for the "From the Editor" page, I want the more subdued look because quite frankly I don't like that bit sticking out so much. I don't want to put much emphasis on the editors and staff of the magazine because as far as I'm concerned we aren't as important as the actual content.
As for the "Community Speaks" bit, so what if it defies standards? Since when does anything have to follow a standard of any kind? It's more fun to break the mold and get creative. That's what really catches the readers' eyes.
As for the reviews, the reviews don't need to be super intensive. An overall score, some major pros and cons, and a paragraph or two about the game itself and how the reviewer feels about it is sufficient.
As for your design, I think it should be lighter and less "boxed in".
Honestly, I think I should just nix this idea right here and now. I obviously don't work well enough with anybody to make this work smoothly so I should just save everybody the hassle of dealing with my totalitarian grip
:/
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Personally, reviews shouldn't be too harsh, though.
I agree in general, but I also think that if a program sucks, the author should know to improve it. The review writer wouldn't spend the whole time dissing the article, but they shouldn't lie, and they shouldn't let you waste your time on a download you won't use.
As for the design I kinda like the title page in overall, altough if you keep some gray in the pages, I think it would be best to have the background white and the rounded borders rectangle area blue-ish, but not too dark. Maybe blue-gray ish. But that's my opinion. For the title page, I would maybe add some 3D to the axe parser text or a shadow. You did a good job in overall, though.
EDIT: just saw updated cover: forget about the 3D effect lol, I kinda like it like this now. Maybe try with a shadow, though? I wonder how it would look like?
Also I wonder if it would look cool if the background around the axe was more blue-ish?
I kinda like the design, too, but I want to wait for TsucazaZX's input, seeing as he is editor in chief. I'll try out your design suggestions and see how they turn out, I like the idea.
*EDIT*
I originally had a much broader color scheme, but it looked kinda stupid so I simplified it a bit. It used to have 3 different shades of blue, pluse 2 shades of green, there was red, white, black, grey and purple. There was also yellow at one point. :P
Yeah that's what I mean. Basically, if for example, you take Gemini 3D and say this game is worth nothing, the author wasted his time on it because the graphics are blocky and the game takes way too much memory, I think it's unfair considering the amount of work the author spent on it. Automatically, when a program makes ticalc front page, it is unfair to diss a program like this. A review should tell that the program needs to be split into multiple programs or made a Flash APP so it's easier to play under 24 KB of RAM and that graphics should maybe be less pixelated, like a lower framerate but higher res mode, or full screen mode. We have to stay realistic, too, based on the programming language and platform used to make the game.
Basically the reviewer shouldn't comment on a program in a way that would get him banned from Omnimaga if he did the same thing on the forums.
And yeah I think Tsukasa will prbly have the last word on this, since he's the founder of this project (which I think is a very good initiative, especially that the french TI community alerady had this for months now)
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Honestly, I think I should just nix this idea right here and now. I obviously don't work well enough with anybody to make this work smoothly so I should just save everybody the hassle of dealing with my totalitarian grip
:/
Woah cowboy - don't get discouraged too easily ;) you are doing just fine
Why don't you send me an email with an idea of what you are looking for, and I can try to mock up something that reflects what's in your head? Also, maybe we can follow that model for the smaller and less exciting reviews, so to speak, but when I personally read an article about something the community is excited about I like for it to be in-depth and to cover as much as possible. We don't want the readers to look at the mag, and have to go hopping around the internet for more info. We should do the hopping for them. Thoughts?
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Please don't stop the project :(, I think it is a good initiative you had here in the first post. I guess people just wanted to provide suggestions. You might want to state which part you'll be in charge of designing and what design style you would like. It's certain certain people will not like the chosen design, though, but that's inevitable since everyone has different tastes. Plus, this will be the first magazine, so eventually it can be improved. See how many times Omnimaga switched designs :P
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Hey, I'm just trying to limit the collateral damage here ^^;
I am neither liable nor responsible for any damages received by my cheese-grater personality. Work with me at your own risk, and the risk of going insane.
Anywho, for things such as articles and interviews, they should be as in-depth as possible; however, for reviews of the quarter's top games and whatnot, they don't need to be super in-depth because they should only go as far as to interest or dis-interest the reader to either get them to download the game and see for themselves or not bother with it if it might be a slight waste of their time.
Alternatively, we can have "major reviews" and "minor reviews". Basically, a major review would be an in-depth review of a very very popular recent game and can be all that in depth (maybe even a walkthrough if applicable?). The minor reviews would be the little blurb ones to cover the not-as-hot games.
Thoughts?
Anywho, I'm gonna try my hand at some design ideas and post 'em and then we can collaborate to make one super ultra awesome issue design :P
Finally, as for your newer cover. The footer text should be white in my opinion and I still think "Axe Parser" needs more flair and maybe nudged up and right a little. Other than that, it's still epic win beyond epic win! :D
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In reviews, I kinda like that the reviewer describes a bit what is the game about and stuff, it puts the person into it more and it's easier for the person to understand why some points are stated if he didn't check the description of the game on ticalc or if the game description was unclear or misleading.
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I will apply those changes to the cover tomorrow. You should start thinking about what you want the design to be, you name it, I'll make it happen. I don't, however, think we should have walkthroughs.
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@DJ I agree, game descriptions are a good idea
@SirCmpwn Okay, ix'nay on the alkthroughs'way. But definitely I think super major games (such as E:SoR whenever that comes out) should get a two maybe 3 page spread for their review while lesser top/major games get the smaller reviews. We could fit the smaller reviews 2 to a page so they can be fairly verbose but still 'small'.
Furthermore, we don't necessarily have to have a major review each issue if there isn't anything worthy of one.
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I don't think we should have walkthroughs either, because Omnimaga alerady have a section for walkthroughs now (altough it's invisible to guests). Maybe you could have small tips and tricks for some games, though, but not necessarly entire walkthroughs and secrets.
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I agree about the structure of reviews, we should definately have a couple big ones and several little ones. I also agree with DJ Omnimaga about the tips and tricks.
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A'ight, that's settled then. The big reviews can have some tips and tricks if there are any.
However, just to give a counterpoint, while Omni does have walkthroughs, it is pretty much the only site to and they are only accessible to logged in users. That means people who can't/won't/don't sign up to Omni won't ever have access to those guides. That is why maybe at least on the occasion a really hot game (or perhaps for a really good Oldie but Goody) should have a walkthrough in the mag. However, for now, that idea can just sit in the "I'm too stubborn to truly throw it away but at least it's out of sight for now" box.
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yeah I agree the logging in might be an issue. Just make sure to not try to draw too many members away by doing some sort of competition or something, which is why I think maybe one or two walkthroughs at max or in some magazines, tips and tricks, should be done at max. I wouldn't mind if they were picked from the Omnimaga, section, though (like parts of Zelda DLQ walkthrough), if you mentionned where they were taken from
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Of course, if a walkthrough were borrowed from here we'd give credits but what I think would be a good idea is:
Give partial walkthroughs.
Give help for the first X minutes or X levels or whatever then say "for the rest of this walkthrough, go to Omnimaga.com. That way, people who really want it have to at least join :P
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yeah that's what I had in mind. For example, how to fight the first boss of Zelda DLQ, which is freaking hard btw.
You may have to rewrite some of the Zelda stuff if you ever used it, though. It was written in 2004 and back then, my english was far worse than it is today.
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Revised once more. I added everything mentioned, but I have to admit that I personally don't like the blue axe. Thoughts?
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Mhmm I like it in overall, but I kinda agree with the blue around the axe. I think it would be better if it was the rest that was blue instead of the axe and the surrounding areas, and maybe a slightly more greenish blue.
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Wow. That's pretty cool, but I think the blue under the Axe doesn't look as well as without the blue. =\
I, however, think there should be some color there. :)
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How's this? I'm not quite understanding what you are asking for, though. I tried changing that background completely to bluish green, but it clashed rudely with all the other colors.
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yeah i meant a darker blue, and the entire page except the axe and the shadow. but I guess if it clashed, it might be best to stick to gray, then.
Did you thought about adding a shadow behind the "Introducing..." and "CalcGeeks Quarterly" texts?
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Hmmm, I can try adding more shadows. I'm going to kill the glow around the axe and leave it like before. I'll post a new version in a moment.
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Here is the next version ::)
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I can do some graphic design. Also, get new fonts.
The kerning on those fonts is horrible.
Maybe someone should interview Spencer Putts from Revsoft, see how work there is progressing.
(http://i863.photobucket.com/albums/ab195/WillW101/cgqCover-1.png)
for Axe Parser, I used AddSpeedy, and for the features, I did a font from the Futura family
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I like new fonts, I think I'm going to improve a bit on that. Good work! What are those fonts?
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I kind of like the font at the top and for introducing, though. As for the others, I can't really judge, because when I design stuff it's usually futuristic, dark or fantasy stuff such as Omnimaga banner.
Also are these new fonts free?
EDIT: btw sircmpwn I like the shadow under the logo now. As for the introducing, what about making it a bit darker?
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I tried to make the introducing a bit darker, but I didn't like it. The goal is uniformity.
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Aaah ok x.x
@Will_W: Yeah that might be an idea. I am really curious. Plus, it might be cool to know a bit more like how and when he joined the TI community and stuff.
I also wonder if TsukasaZX intends to get this posted on Ticalc.org if it takes off? The only obstacle about this would probably be that they would require a HTML version to include directly in their site, so it would ruin the design x.x. I'm not sure if they would be willing to just offer a PDF copy for download. However, it would still be a nice way to revive the newsletter
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The fonts are AddSpeedy (Free) and Futura (Not free)
And the top part seems cut off on the left.
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is it illegal to use paid fonts in a magazine distributed to public? I am not sure how that stuff works x.x
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I'm not sure, but we better just be safe. All the fonts I'm using are free.
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@Will_W I love the Axe Parser font :)
@DJ I might try to get this posted on TICalc however as you say if they require an HTML version then we're pretty much screwed because there is no way I'm stripping everything for an HTML plain-text edition because it's graphics that, y'know, makes the whole thing appealing and worth reading! XD
Also, if somebody wants to interview Spencer, be my guest. I'm currently busy waiting for KermM and Tifreak8x to be available on IRC so I can interview them (I interviewed tifreak once before but I'd like to re-interview him again in a more... "professional" atmosphere ;) )
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QC uses proprietary fonts.
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may i ask where i can get these fonts i like them and am still learning how to use photo shop and i think they would look great on somthing i am working on :)
oh and any updates ??
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(off-topic: nice avatar Will_W, with my favourite z80 calc too :P)
For fonts I generally use http://www.dafont.com/
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Sometimes, I just google free fonts and see what I can find. I get a lot of them from the AUR.
I can probably find a link to that specific font if you want.
Edit: Thanks for the link Omni, I just downloaded bout 150 new ones from there.
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no problem ^^
I think I got this one from college a few years ago, altough I don't remember. I swear it is that one, though, because of the design.
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thank you had the perfect font for what i needed so im happy :)
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Is the magazine still going to be made, or is it dead now?
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Yeah I've been wondering that for a while, I hope it's not discontinued D:
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It got postponed due to other stuff, but hopefully it should be back on track for the Summer quarter issue. People need to write up articles and submit them to me for review. Meanwhile, I'll work with graphically skilled people to get a good template going.
Articles so far:
- Iambian interview about E:SoR
Come on peoples!
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mhmm nice an interview about Iambian ^^
what kind of articles would you like, btw?
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I dunno. What happened in the year so far that's of magazine-level notoriety?
Also, some short reviews of hot programs on ti-calc and maybe a review of an old game that sort of lost its popularity?
We had a list somewhere in the last 5 pages of the thread of what all the magazine would include.
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i could maybe review (or talk about) an old game maybe.
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Sure! What game(s) where you thinking about reviewing/talking about?
As for the format of this kind of article, here's my current idea for the layout. Feel free to nitpick and/or disregard it :P
Program Title Goes Here
Author: Author goes here
Platform: Calculator model(s) it runs on goes here
This paragraph would be a general overview of the game. Basically what the game is.
This paragraph would be a personal review of the game. Basically, how fun you consider the game to be, why it's a hidden gem, and whatever other thoughts you might have
For other people, here's a list of some other ideas for articles. If you like one, DO IT! If you have a suggestion, say it! And maybe do it! We need article journalists PRONTO! I don't want to have to do it all myself! Then the magazine would be biased! D:
- Four or five reviews of "hot and new" programs on TICalc. It'd follow the same model as the Hidden Gem, I guess, except paragraph two would be a personal review along with pros, cons, and suggestions for improvement (if any). Of course, these are suggestions so feel free to ignore them :P
- Something about Ndless or the Nspire?
- Article about Axe Parser and maybe a small sample of the Axe code?
- DEFINITELY an article about the new TI-OS and all its bugs and stuff. And BrandonW's patch for it (he patched something about it, didn't he?)
Oh, and don't limit yourself to the 83+/84+. We need to cater to the 89 users too even if just a little. Maybe not so much 85/86.
Also, for reviews/gems: include at least one or two pictures of the game play if possible (even if it's just TICalc.org pics). For articles about major things, if you have some good images, include them. If not, don't worry. We'll get images one way or another.
Once we actually get some articles flowing, we'll worry about the magazine design. I'd rather not dawdle on graphics if they're going to go to waste.
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I thought about talking about FFTOM1, Contra 83, Robot War (if I can get it to run on a 82 emu), Axe Parser. Idk for the OS because I don't know a lot about that ASM stuff, but I did play FFTOM and contra 83 a bit and tried Robot War. The first was popular back in the days, but kinda faded away with the time because the bar has been risen in terms of BASIC programming and because when ppl sees FF, they think it's just another BASIC FF clone. For Contra83, it never got featured and deserves one. I asked Travis many times and still no news, so I could just review it since it is underrated. Robot War because it was kinda forgotten too (it's for an old calc model) and Axe Parser, since it awnsered BASIC programmer dreams.
Of course in those, I could also do some reviewing and point out some of the games flaws, so it won't sound like I am biased.
And then somebody to review my articles to correct all grammar issues, if any.
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Hrmmm... I think you should do Contra 83. Contra FTW :D
Still waiting for others to chime in. And, if I haven't made the point clear enough:
We need as many article journalists as possible. This project will die if we don't have at least 4 or 5 article authors dedicated to the job. I will not do this project if only myself and one or two other people work on it. This is a community project so the community must help!
If you are thinking "Well, somebody else will surely volunteer", you are dead wrong. EVERYBODY will be thinking that and then nobody will stand up. If you have free time, I highly suggest you volunteer!
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I'm in.
The entire month of May will be a writing month for me.
*cough*Phantom Sanctuary*cough*
So, yeah. Whatever's cool with you. :)
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I can do some stuff, I just need some stuff to do. I'll try to remember some old/new games I've played that I could review.
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Btw could there be a tiny section of the guide about random TI-83+ BASIC tricks and maybe 84+ too? There could maybe be talk about Text(-1, fast circles and for 84+ users how to calculate a program speed easily using timers, for example, when evaluating which BASIC code is faster than another.
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Raylin: Pick something to do an article on and do it, then. Be sure to post what you're doing though, especially if it's something not on the list. I want to be informed and, if necessary, actively weed out bad ideas ;P
_player1537: Can't wait to see what you come up with. Note: you can review non-game things as well. This isn't a gaming-only magazine ;)
And if somebody volunteers to do something, doesn't mean you can't volunteer to do it too! A little friendly competition or some group work won't hurt and it's always nice to have options, either on different takes of the same subject or different subjects for the same type of article (who wrote about [subject] better? or which hidden gem is a better hidden gem? for example)
[edit]
DJ Omnimaga: Sure thing! We can use a tips and tricks section! Everybody can submit tips and tricks and the best will be chosen
Also, we should have a Letters to the Editor / Community Speaks section. So .. uh... spread the news? Tell people if they have stuff to ask us, send their questions to me?
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Since I'm on my iTouch, it'll be a PITA to write long articles on the small screen. However, I can do grammar correction, if anyone needs that.
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as long as you don't use auto correct, lol, though :P
I remember Builderboy and Eeems had this enabled and some of their word posts kept getting changed to random nonsense that had nothing to do with the text x.x
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Yeah, I disabled auto-correction since I always use the AZERTY keyboard layout even when I'm writing in English, so my iTouch kept trying to replace English words with French ones. x.x
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Since I'm on my iTouch, it'll be a PITA to write long articles on the small screen. However, I can do grammar correction, if anyone needs that.
Could always use moar Grammar nazis! :D
but... if you always use an iTouch, how will we get you files to review and edit? :X
Also, never heard of the AZERTY layout, only QWERTY and ABCD layout.
I guess I could always write another article. I'm kind of clueless on that stuff though x.x;
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I can easily view and edit .txt files on my iTouch. As to PDf and Word files, I can only view them, but all I have to do is copy/paste them into a txt file and then edit that.
And as to the AZERTY keyboard, it's the standard one used here in France.
PS: your new avatar pic looks freaky...
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[half-offtopic] In belgium, AZERTY is standard too, but actually QWERTY is better for Dutch.
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Isn't AZERTI a standard for most of europe?
In Japan it's HENTAI... er... not really :P
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Dunno, the keyboard layout depends on the language, not the localization, since letters appear at a different ratio in different languages.
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Back on the magazine, it might be kinda hard to find writers for articles at the moment because everyone seems busy with finals x.x
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Ack, Finals! I forgot about those! :/
But still, people, please volunteer if you know you'll have free time after finals! :O
Also, another idea for a section: Funny Quotes
We could post funny things from forums or IRC. Nothing like a good laugh to go with your articles :)
Heck, if we got artists, we could have a calc-based comic series in the back too XD
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Lol that would be funny, altough we need to make sure to keep them SFW :P
And I like the calc comic thing. I remember a FF1 comic back then. A comic using calc RPG sprites, for example
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What, no
<@Jarvis> Quote #2 - * +nitacku eats nethams sausage | <+nitacku> heh, maybe that sounds wrong
? XD
Yeah, definitely SFW only, but Jarvis has plenty of SFW quotes XD
Also, a sprite comic would be pretty cool.
Recap of what we need:
- Article about NDless or the Nspire hacking
- Article about Axe Parser maybe including a glimpse at Axe code
- Article about the new TI OS 2.53 MP and Brandon's patch for whatever was wrong with it. Talk about the OS's bugs?
- Reviews of new/popular/current games on TICalc.org and reviews of old "Hidden Gem" games (see http://ourl.ca/4292/88321 (http://ourl.ca/4292/88321) for more information)
- Tips and Tricks for TI BASIC programming
- Funny quotes
- Comics!
- Questions to the Editor/Staff (I dunno how that one will work XD)
Again, note, that even if somebody already declared they were doing one of the above or another thing, feel free to try your hand at it too. We can always use multiple takes of the same article or multiple articles for the same article type. Be competitive! Fight for the glory of having your name in a magazine! :D
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Do you think the source code of my tunnel game would do? It could use some commenting, though.
Also I think that (while remaining respectful), it would be nice to review a bad game that gets an incredibly high amount of downloads just because of the name that is not deserved that much. We would point the good and bad parts of the game and what needs to be done for such game to be better.
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Do you think the source code of my tunnel game would do? It could use some commenting, though.
Depends on how long the source code is. I was mostly thinking of tiny snippets that demonstrate individual features of Axe, not necessarily one big game code (which individuals may not understand).
Also I think that (while remaining respectful), it would be nice to review a bad game that gets an incredibly high amount of downloads just because of the name that is not deserved that much. We would point the good and bad parts of the game and what needs to be done for such game to be better.
I agree, that'd be a good idea.
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oh ok, then it might not do x.x the source is a bit long D:
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Oh, I completely forgot about this. I'll get back to writing that Axe article, and give it to you as soon as I can. It may be a while, though, considering my current predicament.
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I could use some help for review introductions, especially for bad games, and maybe conclusions. I guess I'll write the rest first, then have both someone to help me introduce the review of each game then a grammar nazi to scan through my stuff. How many screenshots should each review include?
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I think a review should have one or two screenshots since they probably won't be very big. We'll see when time comes to fit them into a magazine page template.
As for introducing/concluding reviews, well... I don't think you really need much in terms of either. I dunno *shrug*
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What format is the magazine going to be in html? Sorry if this was already fleshed out, I couldn't remember.
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PDF
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hmm, @the comic idea: What if we made the comics as a .8xp program, so you send it to your calc and it will be a movie, or a scrollable picture...
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I might be able to write some articles about upcoming games/calculator projects.
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If we write such articles, we need to make sure the said projects are very advanced, though, in terms of completion. We need to avoid discussing about projects where only a title screen and rudimentary engine is done, since they still have small chances to be completed at such early stage of completion.
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hmm, @the comic idea: What if we made the comics as a .8xp program, so you send it to your calc and it will be a movie, or a scrollable picture...
Eh, that'd be kind of a hassle, don't'cha think? I mean, then we'd have to include extra stuff and then people would have to hassle with transferring it or putting it on emu.
If we write such articles, we need to make sure the said projects are very advanced, though, in terms of completion. We need to avoid discussing about projects where only a title screen and rudimentary engine is done, since they still have small chances to be completed at such early stage of completion.
Definitely a good rule.
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for the comic I definitively think we should do something like a real comic (or maybe XKCD) but instead of drawn characters, they would be sprites from calc games
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A sprite comic, oh fun. This could be interesting.
I would suggest limiting each frame of the comic to 96*64 pixels (though by 'pixel' I mean uniformly colored constant-sized square) and 8-level grey-scale, but that seems a bit too limiting. :P
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mhmm idk about that. The issue would mostly be text, altough maybe the 96x64 blocks could be scaled up and the text be like in normal comics rather than pixelated
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I've seen that done, and that could actually work.