The Reinvention of Dawn of Darnkess's Campaign Site

Dyluth
Dyluth
edited January 2011 in General Discussion
Hello all. So we're almost a full week into the year 2011, and I'm looking forward to another great year of gaming and sharing gaming adventures here on Obsidian Portal. I've been lucky enough to talk to and learn from so many great GM's who've built amazing web pages to host their campaigns, Arsheesh and Duskreign just to name two, and I've been inspired to make some much needed upgrades to my own campaign page for Star Wars: Dawn of Darkness.

Now the page as it is right now has developed and evolved as I learned new page making skills, and thus isn't entirely consistent all the way through. Hopefully, by months end I should be able to complete the following:

- Design a new Campaign Banner and Home Page graphic to welcome users to the site.
- Make my wiki more organized with more logical categories and easier to use.
- Conform all the wiki pages to the same format and structure.
- Conform all the illustrations I've made to the same format and rough shape and size.
- Create a "Regions of the Galaxy" section in the wiki, to help people appreciate the vastness and wonder that is the Star Wars galaxy.
- Create a "Planet Hoppers Guide" section, that physically shows the viewer where the PC's have traveled to in the galaxy and when they did it.
- Put a higher emphasis on PC made material.
- Make an opening crawl video introduction for every session.

So that's what I'm planning to do in the next month, or two or three if that's what it takes. When all's said and done I truly hope that viewing Dawn of Darkness's page will be as great and fun an experience as being a part of the Star Wars universe itself. Until then, good gaming everyone!

Comments

  • arsheesh
    arsheesh
    Posts: 850
    Hello Dyluth!

    Wow, that's a long ta-do list! I'm super excited to see you begin to implement these updates though. I've long been a fan of your site. The excellence of your story-telling and those charming illustrations of yours have kept me coming back more. In fact Dyluth, your site may be the only one on the Portal in which I've read every single adventure log. That said, as one who is in the process of doing something similar to what you've planed I've got to warn you that it is quite an undertaking, and one that can lead to burnout if you're not careful. I have a couple of suggestions for you if you're open to them:

    First off, I'd suggest beginning with a standardized format. Reformatting wiki pages can be time-consuming so do yourself a favor and figure out exactly what this new format will be (along with any standardized graphics appearing on all pages) before you begin. That way you only have to make one set of changes to all of your existing pages. Second, I'd test out this new format out on a test page before applying them to any existing pages, especially if you are intending to use some sort of custom HTML navigation code. In my own AoL site I had updated all of the pages with this custom side bar HTML code only to realize later on that the side bar code messed up some of my other links on those pages. It wasn't a hard fix, but the problem was it was a fix which had to be applied to _every_ page; yeah, lot's of fun there! Also, by beginning with creating a standardized format, you can now easily apply that format to any new pages that you create. Had you begun be creating new sections/pages in your wiki that would only add to your workload since all of those new pages would need to be updated later. Anyway, those are my suggestions.

    Cheers,
    -Arsheesh
  • Duskreign
    Duskreign
    Posts: 1,085
    I agree with Arsheesh about using a standardized format that you carry throughout the wiki. If you have templates set up, it makes it much easier to add-to or update your pages as you gain more material or as things change during the course of the campaign. As I add new pages, I have my floating side-bar and banner codes all set up. I have to do slight modifications to the banner based on which page I'm working on (because I made things far more difficult on myself than I rightly needed to by choosing to incorporate some of my content into my banner on certain pages). If you are doing a float-over banner like Arsheesh, Gaaran and I, I can supply you with the code necessary, and you can simply change the banner images and modify the spacing as you see fit.

    I really dig the planet hopper idea, and I may co-opt it for Heart of the Force.

    If you need any help, from coding to art to writing or what have you, don't hesitate to ask, k?

    Good luck!

    - Duskreign
  • DarkMagus
    DarkMagus
    Posts: 425
    I've seen you around the forums for a while now and recently was thinking of checking out your campaign site, but I'll hold off on it till the updates are done. Keep us updated. :)

    Good Luck!
  • Duskreign
    Duskreign
    Posts: 1,085
    DM, don't wait. Read his adventure logs and character bios.
  • DarkMagus
    DarkMagus
    Posts: 425
    OK. Don't know when I'll have time, but I won't wait till Feb. (I still haven't gotten around to really reading many of my favorited campaigns in-depth, including Wyrmshadow. Maybe I should set aside some time this weekend and go on a campaign reading binge...)
  • Duskreign
    Duskreign
    Posts: 1,085
    I am dreadfully behind in my adventure logs on Wyrmshadow. :( Too. Many. Projects!
  • RaseCidraen
    RaseCidraen
    Posts: 890
    Too little time to do it all! I think a complete overhaul sounds particularly awesome - I can't wait until I get to do it with my name campaign, but I haven't figured on the overall direction, so as easy as it would be to perform an overhaul now, there's not enough information to provide a cogent decision to overhaul. For the Planet Hopper's guide, you could do a relatively simple star map and tag each planet with an image ring/hex/whatever/pie/apple/mmmmm... with an accompanying "star-date" (YAY MIXING GENRES!) as it were..
  • Dyluth
    Dyluth
    Posts: 92
    FIrst off I want to thank everyone for posting advice. Arsheesh I think I will tackle the wiki standardization first by figuring out a decent template that would translate well to all the other pages.

    Dusk I really do appreciate the offer to help with code, I just may take you up on that offer. As for the Planet Hoppers Guide, that was originally an idea from the GM of my first table top game, though his was a list of where we went and when, I'm hoping to add the map to give viewers a feel for the vastness of the galaxy and the great distances the party has traveled.

    Rase I think you are right about using a simple star map to begin with. I imagine outlining the regions of the galaxy, but only pinpointing a few of the major planets of the galaxy, like Coruscant, Alderaan, Tatooine and a few others to start with, in addition to the locations my party has visted of course. I did try once to replicate the map from the official Star Wars Atlas when the book was first published, but gave up when after two weeks of copying down planet names I was still yet to finish HALF of the planets in the Outer Rim Territories.

    So just to recap, I shall take Arsheesh's advice and start with the standardization of the wiki page format, and hopefully I'll have an idea by the end of this week what it should like and I can start applying it sometime next week. I shall keep you all posted! Lastly, Dusk I can relate on the too many projects feeling, seems like so many at times doesn't it?
  • Dyluth
    Dyluth
    Posts: 92
    Alright then, I got a tad sidetracked from this project between a few other recreation projects, a dash of educational projects and an ever annoying but necessary influx of work projects. However, I've determined for now what to do with the wiki standardization that Arsheesh suggested I do first.

    I shall begin with narrowing the area of text for all pages the way I have with the recaps, and each article will begin with a large stylized letter, again as I do with the recaps (incidently, both of these ideas I had borrowed from Arsheesh).

    After that, each page will have a back button at the bottom, as well as a button to take the user back to the wiki hope page. I'll work on a template over the next day or two and let everyone know how it all turns out. Stay tuned!
  • arsheesh
    arsheesh
    Posts: 850
    Cool! Sounds great buddy. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on DoD.

    Cheers,
    -Arsheesh
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