Reviewing designs....

[Tarlanon]

Hey all!

I was just wondering..... (I know, some of you are running for cover at this very moment.. )

Seeing as our beloved DC community is growing, and with each succesive release of DungeonCraft becoming more and more powerful, we are probably going to start seeing more and more designs popping up and being released.

Do we/should we think about a system for reviewing/critiquing the designs? They do this a lot in the UA community and when I still ran UA I found the reviews and their review system to be a very powerful tool to help me find the designs I wanted to play.

Obviously, there is a possibility that if a design gets a bad review someone's feeling will get hurt. It is a sad but inevitable part of the creative process. Heck, when I finally put my design out there I'm sure everyone will hate it and my design will be flagged in the newsletters and forums of what NOT to do in a design...but that's fine. The important part for me what that I had fun doing it.

Back to the subject at hand though, I think overall this would be a great thing for the community as a whole. What do y'all think?

Discuss.

[Lucern]

As I witnessed in some Age of Wonders forums, when someone has worked hard on something, they just want some detailed insight on their work. It's not only bad reviews that hurt feelings, it's the lack of reviews.

Something to think about.

[ 10-21-2004, 04:19 PM: Message edited by: Lucern ]

[manikus]

I look forward to my first review. Good, bad or other.
I think you have both brought up good points. By the time that I'm done playtesting my design and finally get it uploaded, I will be ready to let it go. The only thing that would hurt is if nobody ever mentioned it at all...

As for format and what-not, I think the FRUA reviews offer a good model. But, if the reviewer is clear in her writing and explanation of rating system (if used), I think anything goes.
A bigger concern for me will be where said reviews will be hosted.

-manikus

[Tarlanon]

Good point Manikus. When the time comes, what would be a good place?

Would a forum be an appropriate place?
Or would a custom web site/home page (maintained by the community)be a better place?

I myself really like the system they have for finding designs over at FRUA, and perhaps we should look to implementing a hosted site (like say the IronWorks??) with an option for rating the design beside/along with the download. That way the community as a whole could review the designs if they wanted to along with a download counter so new members can see the most popular designs the community has to offer?

Obviously when any review system is open to anyone who wants to make a review, you are eventually going to get that one person who hates everything and or just wants to be a troll. But I think you have to take the good with the bad. While 'appointing' an unofficial review committee can establish better standards to review a design on, sometimes you can get stuck with having designed viewed with only one point of view.

Either way I, as I am sure the rest of the community, eagerly await the release of Dungeoneer.

[manikus]

Originally posted by Tarlanon: Good point Manikus. When the time comes, what would be a good place? Would a forum be an appropriate place? Or would a custom web site/home page (maintained by the community)be a better place?

Yes and yes. When designs, reviews and new art come out, I think it is appropriate to post in this forum, at yahoo!groups and on your own or another website. The more places and times it shows up, the more likely it is that someone outside of this small community will stumble upon it.

Tarlanon also said: I myself really like the system they have for finding designs over at FRUA, and perhaps we should look to implementing a hosted site (like say the IronWorks??) with an option for rating the design beside/along with the download. That way the community as a whole could review the designs if they wanted to along with a download counter so new members can see the most popular designs the community has to offer?

I also like this system. Ironworks would be great, but it is not updated often. I know Ziroc has a lot going on, his fingers in a lot of different pies, so to speak. We could ask him if it would be okay to do here, and then also do it over at the new FRUA archive- the advantage of this would be:
(1)Ironworks rocks. Ziroc has done an awesome job with this site. The community here is large and the potential for new players is immense. (2)Rosedragon/Magic Mirror/GIGA rocks. The community has been around for a long time, and a high percentage of overlap exists. How cool would it be if some of our favorite FRUA designers started playing DC as well, and maybe even gave it a try on the design side? Fortunately, we've already gotten one of FRUA's best in the person of Harri Polsa.

Later, Tarlanon goes on to say: Obviously when any review system is open to anyone who wants to make a review, you are eventually going to get that one person who hates everything and or just wants to be a troll. But I think you have to take the good with the bad. While 'appointing' an unofficial review committee can establish better standards to review a design on, sometimes you can get stuck with having designed viewed with only one point of view.

The great thing about the internet is that it allows for fast dialog. If someone writes something I disagree with, I can easily respond. (Of course the same is true for things I agree with. )
I'm generally not in favor of anything "appointed". The people in our community right now are more motivated than the average bear. [img]tongue.gif[/img] (This will probably lessen as more people interested in only playing enter.) I think as it stands now, we can have a hearty debate on the merits and disadvantages of various styles of reviews. (Why am I not in favor of appointed? People tend to disappear, and if I am waiting on a review...well you get the idea.)

Tarlanon closes with: Either way I, as I am sure the rest of the community, eagerly await the release of Dungeoneer.

[img]graemlins/blush.gif[/img] It's being playtested by some very able bodied folks. It might be a while, however, as quite a few issues have come up with the engine itself. CocoaSpud is working on it, though. It looks like the next big release will be after the holidays...
I am working on a top secret "mini mod", though. It will be part of an on-going series. It's set in a world that we are all familiar with, and...it's not fantasy. (This mod is much less dependent on the combat system, and should work fine under version .910 of DC.)

-manikus

[SilentThief]

One thing that'll make a difference in the rating of mods is that even when someone had a bad day (dog dies, lost job, getting dumped and/or divorced...) is that people will be curious about someones mod design style and if one person says its bad, there WILL be more than one person who would post an opinion.

There's probably already some self appointed critics out there (and I hope there is...) who wanna see what we can do, and will be more than happy to tell the good the bad and the ugly about our mods. I still stuck in "no-mod land" without a regular computer I can use, but when I get one, I'll start putting out the first two mod ideas that I have been putting a lot of plans to paper for. In fact, I'm actually a little impatient to get someone to review anything I do. (But without a computer I do what I can I do...)

there could be an official review board, or it all could be by the community vote or whatever. As for a website, there should be somewhere where I can find a collection of the finished mods (or even unfinished, I think the FRUA board had one for them, too).

I kinda think its still a wee bit early for this, tho. but planning ahead is more productive than going back...

SilentThief