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Post by Tentacle on Mar 24, 2016 21:06:32 GMT
Website and forum should be under one URL.Having the front page as contentfreetime.neocities.org/ and the forum listed as limitedlives.proboards.com/ can be confusing in all honesty. I would highly recommend focusing attention on integrating everything under the “Limited Lives” name; since that is the brand designed for collective group content.
General website and forum are bland visually.If you want to continue luring in members and make “Limited Lives” a viable brand or group, this is should be one of the main priorities. I’d recommend you look at Hidden Block, Normal Boots, The Final Bosses, Retroware and ThatOneVideoGamer as examples of collective YouTube group websites that host other users content. They have clean front pages that host multiple videos, whilst also taking advantage of the visual space to advertise the featured channels in the said group. Limited Lives? Not so much. In my mind, a clean minimal logo would be preferred over the current so it blends well with any type of background, thumbnail or end slate. I’d also make sure that the text you are using for it is public domain or licence freely. If not, you can be sued for such. ehmaysi would likely be best for this job, considering his slick minimal look on his own channel. I’d also try and create a colour scheme that can be applied across the site (Including being integrated into a forum theme, something this site should consider seriously) to keep a consistent brand. I’d personally recommend going for a Red / Dark Red and/or Dark Grey colour scheme since it’s not one being used by an of the main groups. (Hidden Block is Blue/Yellow, Normal Boots is Green/White, TOVG is Blue/Dark Blue, Final Bosses are Red/Blue, Retroware is White/Red) Another reason I’d say you should go for the Red scheme is because it plays into the theme of hearts. But that is my own suggestion. As a group, maybe come together and think up of a colour pallet that works. Outside that, nothing really else to suggest for the time being. I'll likely add to this overtime. Thanks for reading.
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Post by 8 Bit Brody on Mar 24, 2016 22:27:07 GMT
As someone who went to Ohio State, I can get behind a scarlet and grey theme. (Not really, though.)
But yeah, I completely agree with all of this. Super positive feedback, dawg. I also was going to mention consolidating the front page a bit. How many members are we planning on featuring on the front overall? Do you think we could have a 'Main Contributors' section on the front page and maybe a smaller list to the side or on a separate page of later adopters? It all seems cluttered right now.
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Post by Tentacle on Mar 24, 2016 23:37:13 GMT
As someone who went to Ohio State, I can get behind a scarlet and grey theme. (Not really, though.) But yeah, I completely agree with all of this. Super positive feedback, dawg. I also was going to mention consolidating the front page a bit. How many members are we planning on featuring on the front overall? Do you think we could have a 'Main Contributors' section on the front page and maybe a smaller list to the side or on a separate page of later adopters? It all seems cluttered right now. Very few colour schemes would work ideally with the "Heart" gimmick sadly. You could use green and go down the whole Zelda route, but the site would look more a hack-job Normal Boots. Way too many of the said groups use blue, so avoiding that would be ideal in separating the brand and making it stand out. Whereas colour schemes like orange or purple just don't work for visual media outlets. Sadly Brody... Re-representing your college colours might be only logical choice. As for featuring content, well that is a tricky one. Saying "I want to be on Limited Lives front page" is one all well and good, because right now it is just a case of having your channel there. You don't have to plug the website, show any love etc. Just another small outlet to plug yourself. Ideally in my mind, an actual team needs to come together and become main representatives, become what would be Limited Lives. No more than eight, otherwise things may get messy with inward drama or whatnot. Don't want a GameGrumps sort of deal going on. This leaves the remaining members the chance to become "community contributors" that get videos featured and highlighted on the front-page. Who gets featured and how often it gets updated can be down for debate when and if this ever becomes a thing. The primary focus should be the design and creating ties than are meaningful. |
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Post by ehmaysi on Mar 25, 2016 0:01:30 GMT
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Post by Tentacle on Mar 25, 2016 0:54:26 GMT
While I'm waiting here, I threw this together. I'm not sure if something like this is already in use somewhere, and it wouldn't surprise me. Just something I thought of when trying to simplify what we already have. There's the red one, and there's also a transparent one, but I don't think it's visible. Definitely there though. ![]() It's clean and simple. Could have the hearts slide in from the left of the screen and the logo come out of it. |
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Post by Content Free Time on Mar 25, 2016 7:15:21 GMT
You guys should've seen the original attempt at the site.  We've already come a long way, haha. The original idea for the site was actually to work like NormalBoots/Hidden Block, where the site would be constantly updating based on everyone's recent videos, but that would have been way too much for me to handle. I know very basic HTML, but I don't know the first thing about coding scripts, nor do I have the time to be constantly updating the site every time someone releases a new video. I do like a lot of these ideas though. I agree that the front page is beginning to look a little cluttered, but I'm not exactly sure how I want to go about handling it yet. I'm going to give it quite a bit of thought before I make any changes, but in the mean time, I'm all ears! |
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Post by Tentacle on Mar 25, 2016 14:09:04 GMT
The original idea for the site was actually to work like NormalBoots/Hidden Block, where the site would be constantly updating based on everyone's recent videos, but that would have been way too much for me to handle. I know very basic HTML, but I don't know the first thing about coding scripts, nor do I have the time to be constantly updating the site every time someone releases a new video. Nobody here is uploading weekly so the need to update won't be as tedious as you might think. Heck, most of you appear to only just be finding your footing in the realm of YouTube. I'd look into implementing Wordpress. Not only can you blog and create update posts for users, but it can automate site posts and embed YouTube videos with ease. If you ever decide to upgrade the general structure, it is a must have tool for doing so. Additionally most sites are built on templates and theme variations, considering the rise in the mobile market; so an update wouldn't be too much of a hassle once you find a theme you like. Plus it would appear you've already paid for the Limited Lives URL, speeding up the process there. The site linked here for example, is built on a Wordpress system and uses a template theme. Very basic stuff, yet looks fantastic: www.freemmostation.com/Which is why I said the "core" team should be kept to a select few, those at honestly feel that Limited Lives is what they wish to belong to and be part off. In addition, having active channels should be factored into it being selected. |
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cbgog
Forum Member
I'm a man who makes Ghosts and Snakes sometimes
Posts: 59 
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Post by cbgog on Mar 27, 2016 19:40:51 GMT
These all seem like really good ideas.
As for the cluttered front page, perhaps you could do something akin to having another page dedicated to showing all of the different members.
I suppose this also raises the question of how many people should be the maximum? Or if we should even have a maximum?
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Post by Tentacle on Mar 27, 2016 20:37:39 GMT
I suppose this also raises the question of how many people should be the maximum? Or if we should even have a maximum? Limited Lives can go in different directions if need be, in terms of size. It could forward with the current mentality of a group collective, much like Hidden Block, Normal Boots etc. but with an additional forum that occasionally promotes videos to the front page. This in turn, means that Limited Lives could build up its own profile, brand and fan base alongside the team members involved. Events like SGC and MAGfest could even have panels for them if the site becomes a viable source or channels involved grow large enough. The ideology could shift outright to that of a purely creative outlet, as seen with r/NormalBootsUnited with no set team and more so a focus on promoting videos from YouTube in general. This would lure more than just Gaming related content to the forum in time, but could also lead to a mass influx of LP’s and reaction based content. You’d also need to appoint a team of moderators or a council to elect what gets featured, plus dealing with bans during multiple time zones. There are other directions that are viable, but all focus on downsizing outright to one to three people. As for your comment on if we should we even have a limit, let me put it this way… The more names have on the team, the larger probability that you’ll get overshadowed. For example, way more people know about Caddie or SpaceHamster than they do Yungtown or NintendoFanFTW. More people know JonTron or PBG than Continue Show or Satchel Drakes. They are two teams with about eight shows. Tell me, do you think you’d stand out if Limited Lives had a team of twenty? I doubt it. |
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