Me and my friend have been considering making an Arcade-focused website. What would you like to see out of such a website?
I just want to say first off that we're not trying to replace SC2mapster. We think SC2mapster is great for mapping tutorials and resources, so we were thinking of focusing this site on discussing, sharing, and finding Arcade maps. To put it simply, SC2mapster is for the map makers and our site would be more for map players.
We have some ideas, but we were wondering what the community would like to see out of an Arcade website.
The kind of website we have in mind would be like an extension of the in-game map info page with more utility and the convenience of allowing people to look at all of that information without firing up the game. The primary purpose of the website would be sharing and reviewing maps easily - it would let the map maker have a very clean and visual way to share his map to anyone on the internet in one central location and get in-depth reviews and feedback, but it would also be (more significantly) a way for players to find new maps they might like to play - something we feel is a weakness of the in-game Arcade.
In some ways, it would be similar to the Arcade's interface - screenshots, ratings, reviews, description, how-to-play, and so on - but the overlap would not make it useless or redundant since it has the added convenience of being a web page.
Some ways it would have more functionality as well. Unlike the in-game review system, there would be no character limit and you could give star-reviews for different categories like bugs, graphics, gameplay and so on instead of just 1-5 star rating. It would also allow the map maker and other commentators to reply to reviews, unlike the in-game system. It would also focus keeping the first few reviews from being the only ones that are seen.
Aside from allowing users to easily share their map in a central location online and gather feedback in an easier way, this would be focused on exposing new maps for you to try that you might not be able to find in the in-game interface. We would create blog posts featuring various maps and reviews and perhaps video reviews of maps to try. In addition to this, the reviews system would allow you to get a good idea for what a map is like before you try it. And if you find a reviewer with similar tastes to you, you can check their review history and see what other maps they reviewed highly that you might like.
But this is our ideas and speculation. We really want to know what YOU like to see out of a website dedicated to the Arcade.
I'd like a section where all updated maps are listed alongside with patch notes, sorted by update date. I just love reading patch notes. Maybe dedicate a sidebar on front page for the purpose of displaying maps updated during last 7 days (so that there is no scenario where year-old updates are still bothering users, ala SC2Mapster "Current Events" box).
Keep it clean, with no pop-ups, those weird anime RPG advertisements, and just make sure it looks polished :). Its all about how it looks for me, hardly about much else when it comes to a site. (As long as its proper is all.)
The Blizzposts site is excellent, I use it all the time! If the Arcade Site has the same quality and gets some advertisement I could see a bright future for it! :)
The only challenge I personally see is making it different from the default, ingame Arcade. Dont try to clone the already existing mechanisms ingame, but try to find missing features and get them into the website. Concentrate on feedback/discussion about maps and showing less known games. Try to bring modding closer to the SC2-Community, maybe include more information about the mods creators as well. Also make sure to include "Play" buttons which allow you to join maps directly from the website, to create a closer connection to the game.
The Blizzposts site is excellent, I use it all the time! If the Arcade Site has the same quality and gets some advertisement I could see a bright future for it! :)
The only challenge I personally see is making it different from the default, ingame Arcade. Dont try to clone the already existing mechanisms ingame, but try to find missing features and get them into the website. Concentrate on feedback/discussion about maps and showing less known games. Try to bring modding closer to the SC2-Community, maybe include more information about the mods creators as well. Also make sure to include "Play" buttons which allow you to join maps directly from the website, to create a closer connection to the game.
Glad to hear you like Blizzposts!
As to your remark about the "play" buttons, we're planning to make use of the linking feature to have links to the maps like starcraft://map/2/155767 on the map's page. If you click these links, they should open up the map page in SC2. Some websites don't treat them as links, but if you paste it into your browsers address bar you should see what I mean. I think that's about as close to your suggestion as we can get.
Sounds like a good idea. I agree that mapster doesn't look inviting for the players who never touched the editor, this is definitely a site for map makers, not arcade players. As previous posters said, you should focus on things the arcade system doesn't provide. Allow the author and the player base to go on a deeper discussion about the map. Separate pages for patch notes, bug report, suggestions would be awesome.
But I only see such a site being successful if it can maintain a large community, both of map makers and players, and I'm not sure it is still possible considering how many people already left.
automatic creation of forums/threads for each game, allow people to upload their own screenshots or videos, stats how often the map was downloaded/played (within the last 24 hours, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year, since creation), time of upload/creation of map, allow map-makers to sign in to be able to add detail to each of their projects, could be like a project-website for each map, must know whether it's a hots or wol or lotv map, allow people to upload the map, make it visibl if the map is part of a multi-map project (e.g. campaign) and link to these other maps, able to filter search by arcade map types and additional map types (like campaign, single- or multiplayer)
Sounds pretty sweet, I really like the idea of more in-depth reviews and the ability to reply to them. Though, I'd like to see the ability to attach videos (ie, embedded links) to maps as well, and a higher screenie limit perhaps (rather than 5 the Arcade uses)?
By the way, any of you have name suggestions? We haven't got much yet, except for something like the ArcadeRoom or something similar.
So far we've only got one loose suggestion as to what we should name it:
"I'd try to think of the arcade as a place that anyone can come and play at, even if you have no interest in StarCraft or even Blizzard. Just like a real arcade.
(moment of silence for arcades)"
Sounds like a good idea. I agree that mapster doesn't look inviting for the players who never touched the editor, this is definitely a site for map makers, not arcade players. As previous posters said, you should focus on things the arcade system doesn't provide. Allow the author and the player base to go on a deeper discussion about the map. Separate pages for patch notes, bug report, suggestions would be awesome.
But I only see such a site being successful if it can maintain a large community, both of map makers and players, and I'm not sure it is still possible considering how many people already left.
The both of us agree that the site will probably only be successful if it can get a large community; and we know that won't be an easy thing to do. That's part of the reason I've been asking around about it - we wanted to see how much interest there is for this kind of a website from map makers. The current mapping communities will have to like the idea for it to have even a chance of getting off the ground.
Thanks for the feedback, OutsiderXE and Stealthytoast.
the arcade sc2 games house less than ladder and co but there is enough interest for a specific site.. the difficult part is getting people who play these games unto a site (time not invested is time saved these days, not that it is good)
seeing as how many players don't even want to take the time to learn a new game while ingame, i'm a bit skeptical on how much they would invest on a site (sorry for downer)
as it has been said, you would have to get ALL (most) mapmakers/uploaders to participate, in turn they would reference your site on bnet
my personal pet peeve is the hosting part of it all .. i would therefore suggest you not omit a hoster part to it, whatever the way you do it
(not to say that they are always perfect or even nice for some, however some players are on as much as they can and try to get beginners to have fun and better understand a particular mod/map, or make great community (that particular map's community) "mover" .. they will / can have insight on good lobby practices, game mechanics from player pov rather than mapmaker.. etc) ... this is the missing link between mapmakers and players and it has not really been done properly anywhere (here, tl etc) .. so at least on that you have your work cut out for you
declaring that you don't want adds on it is weird.. add revenues is normal (for your work).. one can pay 5 bucks a year to not have them or enjoy free with adds ... do as you like, but do eat more you seem famished (joke, but only the famish part, not the put adds on (tasteful is better than distasteful but that s detail))
are you thinking of a most popular list? obviously i'm only asking because it is akin to opening a can of worms :P
do you play arcade maps yourself?
please do work your a ss off and show blizz that there is life in their graveyard of an arcade, i know you can do it
as far as names: arcadia ; fun or awesome fun ; arcane ; arcane of arcades ; the complete arcade ; feedback ; a to z ; arcade archives ... sorry not inspired, i think "arcade" is a good name for it :D
declaring that you don't want adds on it is weird.. add revenues is normal (for your work).. one can pay 5 bucks a year to not have them or enjoy free with adds ... do as you like, but do eat more you seem famished (joke, but only the famish part, not the put adds on (tasteful is better than distasteful but that s detail))
My partner is the one who said he planned it to be ad-free, and he's the one paying for server hosting at the moment; so his choice.
"my personal pet peeve is the hosting part of it all .. i would therefore suggest you not omit a hoster part to it, whatever the way you do it"
"(not to say that they are always perfect or even nice for some, however some players are on as much as they can and try to get beginners to have fun and better understand a particular mod/map, or make great community (that particular map's community) "mover" .. they will / can have insight on good lobby practices, game mechanics from player pov rather than mapmaker.. etc) ... this is the missing link between mapmakers and players and it has not really been done properly anywhere (here, tl etc) .. so at least on that you have your work cut out for you"
I'm sorry, I don't entire understand what you mean here.
"do you play arcade maps yourself?"
Of course - I both make and play Arcades. If you've noticed, I have 150 posts here and I've been a member since 2010. I'm a mod for a recently created Arcade subreddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/SCArcade/ and I try to participate in and host the Battle.net forums Arcade Nights: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/9552275137 as often as I can. (Which isn't always possible, as the current schedule for Arcade Nights conflicts with my schedule)
I like names that are as close to the official product as possible.
www.the(-)arcade.com
www.blizzard(-)arcade.com
www.starcraft(-2)-arcade.com
www.arcade(-)maps.com www.arcade.net (.net sounds closer to Battle.net)
www.planet(-)arcade.com
Id probably go for "thearcade.com" simply because Blizzard seems to aim towards a free game platform with the arcade instead of a Starcraft 2 bound platform.
Yes you need the Starter Edition of SC2, but besides that its basically a free game platform as of right now and some games within it dont look or play like Starcraft at all.
If we want a bigger community we need to seperate the Arcade more from SC2 and market it more like a games platform.
If I may suggest something, please include Bug Report of some sort (with possiblity to answer/close reports). This is really missing from sc2 arcade and would be a great help to mapmakers.
they put the good of the mod before their own good (i have been hosting photon cycles for around 2 years and that is how i humbly see things)
players advertising that they play the game is nice but rather unreliable.. no?
hosters commit to the well being of their own volition and have decent to awesome insight into how things work in a particular mod/map which gameplay is far from sc2's
again, the failure of the arcade is in part due to the lack of hosters for all these awesome games that the arcade hosts
i was just saying that you would do well to tap into that (it would help the scene to show players that it is all up to them whether a game lives or dies, and that hosting regularly their favorite game will make it blossom)
...
my question about you playing arcade mods/maps was just that.. me wondering where your interests come from/lie (and it wasn't a sign of aggression or mistrust in the slightest)
..
so how bout the can of worms? (the whole who s on front page and pop issue) ?
.
+1 for dissociating the arcade from sc2
again, fare thee well (and hurry because you don't want to be second in this kind of race)
Hmm, I was thinking, but not sure if it'd be hard to implement or if it'd be unfitting...how about something like a calendar for maps? Authors could mark important dates, like release dates of (major) patches, or organize events, test playthroughs, etc, similar to the calender/event system they announced at BlizzCon.
(Oh also, a name suggestion: ArcadeCraft?)
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Me and my friend have been considering making an Arcade-focused website. What would you like to see out of such a website?
I just want to say first off that we're not trying to replace SC2mapster. We think SC2mapster is great for mapping tutorials and resources, so we were thinking of focusing this site on discussing, sharing, and finding Arcade maps. To put it simply, SC2mapster is for the map makers and our site would be more for map players.
We have some ideas, but we were wondering what the community would like to see out of an Arcade website.
The kind of website we have in mind would be like an extension of the in-game map info page with more utility and the convenience of allowing people to look at all of that information without firing up the game. The primary purpose of the website would be sharing and reviewing maps easily - it would let the map maker have a very clean and visual way to share his map to anyone on the internet in one central location and get in-depth reviews and feedback, but it would also be (more significantly) a way for players to find new maps they might like to play - something we feel is a weakness of the in-game Arcade.
In some ways, it would be similar to the Arcade's interface - screenshots, ratings, reviews, description, how-to-play, and so on - but the overlap would not make it useless or redundant since it has the added convenience of being a web page.
Some ways it would have more functionality as well. Unlike the in-game review system, there would be no character limit and you could give star-reviews for different categories like bugs, graphics, gameplay and so on instead of just 1-5 star rating. It would also allow the map maker and other commentators to reply to reviews, unlike the in-game system. It would also focus keeping the first few reviews from being the only ones that are seen.
Aside from allowing users to easily share their map in a central location online and gather feedback in an easier way, this would be focused on exposing new maps for you to try that you might not be able to find in the in-game interface. We would create blog posts featuring various maps and reviews and perhaps video reviews of maps to try. In addition to this, the reviews system would allow you to get a good idea for what a map is like before you try it. And if you find a reviewer with similar tastes to you, you can check their review history and see what other maps they reviewed highly that you might like.
But this is our ideas and speculation. We really want to know what YOU like to see out of a website dedicated to the Arcade.
I'd like a section where all updated maps are listed alongside with patch notes, sorted by update date. I just love reading patch notes. Maybe dedicate a sidebar on front page for the purpose of displaying maps updated during last 7 days (so that there is no scenario where year-old updates are still bothering users, ala SC2Mapster "Current Events" box).
Keep it clean, with no pop-ups, those weird anime RPG advertisements, and just make sure it looks polished :). Its all about how it looks for me, hardly about much else when it comes to a site. (As long as its proper is all.)
I talked to my partner about it and it sounds like we plan to keep the website ad-free.
For the curious, here is a website we made previously: http://www.blizzposts.com/tracker/all/en but hopefully we've improved since. :)
Thanks for the feedback so far!
The Blizzposts site is excellent, I use it all the time! If the Arcade Site has the same quality and gets some advertisement I could see a bright future for it! :)
The only challenge I personally see is making it different from the default, ingame Arcade. Dont try to clone the already existing mechanisms ingame, but try to find missing features and get them into the website. Concentrate on feedback/discussion about maps and showing less known games. Try to bring modding closer to the SC2-Community, maybe include more information about the mods creators as well. Also make sure to include "Play" buttons which allow you to join maps directly from the website, to create a closer connection to the game.
Glad to hear you like Blizzposts!
As to your remark about the "play" buttons, we're planning to make use of the linking feature to have links to the maps like starcraft://map/2/155767 on the map's page. If you click these links, they should open up the map page in SC2. Some websites don't treat them as links, but if you paste it into your browsers address bar you should see what I mean. I think that's about as close to your suggestion as we can get.
@TheSkunk2: Go
Yep, that was actually the exact thing I was talking about. Sounds good! :)
By the way, I would totally donate to this project once I see promising progress, and I'm sure others would aswell if it looks great.
Sounds like a good idea. I agree that mapster doesn't look inviting for the players who never touched the editor, this is definitely a site for map makers, not arcade players. As previous posters said, you should focus on things the arcade system doesn't provide. Allow the author and the player base to go on a deeper discussion about the map. Separate pages for patch notes, bug report, suggestions would be awesome.
But I only see such a site being successful if it can maintain a large community, both of map makers and players, and I'm not sure it is still possible considering how many people already left.
automatic creation of forums/threads for each game, allow people to upload their own screenshots or videos, stats how often the map was downloaded/played (within the last 24 hours, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year, since creation), time of upload/creation of map, allow map-makers to sign in to be able to add detail to each of their projects, could be like a project-website for each map, must know whether it's a hots or wol or lotv map, allow people to upload the map, make it visibl if the map is part of a multi-map project (e.g. campaign) and link to these other maps, able to filter search by arcade map types and additional map types (like campaign, single- or multiplayer)
similar to www.hiveworkshop.com
Sounds pretty sweet, I really like the idea of more in-depth reviews and the ability to reply to them. Though, I'd like to see the ability to attach videos (ie, embedded links) to maps as well, and a higher screenie limit perhaps (rather than 5 the Arcade uses)?
Anyway, good luck with it! :)
By the way, any of you have name suggestions? We haven't got much yet, except for something like the ArcadeRoom or something similar.
So far we've only got one loose suggestion as to what we should name it:
"I'd try to think of the arcade as a place that anyone can come and play at, even if you have no interest in StarCraft or even Blizzard. Just like a real arcade. (moment of silence for arcades)"
Which I think is an interesting take.
The both of us agree that the site will probably only be successful if it can get a large community; and we know that won't be an easy thing to do. That's part of the reason I've been asking around about it - we wanted to see how much interest there is for this kind of a website from map makers. The current mapping communities will have to like the idea for it to have even a chance of getting off the ground.
Thanks for the feedback, OutsiderXE and Stealthytoast.
good idea if you do it first :)
the arcade sc2 games house less than ladder and co but there is enough interest for a specific site.. the difficult part is getting people who play these games unto a site (time not invested is time saved these days, not that it is good)
seeing as how many players don't even want to take the time to learn a new game while ingame, i'm a bit skeptical on how much they would invest on a site (sorry for downer)
as it has been said, you would have to get ALL (most) mapmakers/uploaders to participate, in turn they would reference your site on bnet
my personal pet peeve is the hosting part of it all .. i would therefore suggest you not omit a hoster part to it, whatever the way you do it
(not to say that they are always perfect or even nice for some, however some players are on as much as they can and try to get beginners to have fun and better understand a particular mod/map, or make great community (that particular map's community) "mover" .. they will / can have insight on good lobby practices, game mechanics from player pov rather than mapmaker.. etc) ... this is the missing link between mapmakers and players and it has not really been done properly anywhere (here, tl etc) .. so at least on that you have your work cut out for you
declaring that you don't want adds on it is weird.. add revenues is normal (for your work).. one can pay 5 bucks a year to not have them or enjoy free with adds ... do as you like, but do eat more you seem famished (joke, but only the famish part, not the put adds on (tasteful is better than distasteful but that s detail))
are you thinking of a most popular list? obviously i'm only asking because it is akin to opening a can of worms :P
do you play arcade maps yourself?
please do work your a ss off and show blizz that there is life in their graveyard of an arcade, i know you can do it
as far as names: arcadia ; fun or awesome fun ; arcane ; arcane of arcades ; the complete arcade ; feedback ; a to z ; arcade archives ... sorry not inspired, i think "arcade" is a good name for it :D
good luck make fun
My partner is the one who said he planned it to be ad-free, and he's the one paying for server hosting at the moment; so his choice.
"my personal pet peeve is the hosting part of it all .. i would therefore suggest you not omit a hoster part to it, whatever the way you do it"
"(not to say that they are always perfect or even nice for some, however some players are on as much as they can and try to get beginners to have fun and better understand a particular mod/map, or make great community (that particular map's community) "mover" .. they will / can have insight on good lobby practices, game mechanics from player pov rather than mapmaker.. etc) ... this is the missing link between mapmakers and players and it has not really been done properly anywhere (here, tl etc) .. so at least on that you have your work cut out for you"
I'm sorry, I don't entire understand what you mean here.
"do you play arcade maps yourself?"
Of course - I both make and play Arcades. If you've noticed, I have 150 posts here and I've been a member since 2010. I'm a mod for a recently created Arcade subreddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/SCArcade/ and I try to participate in and host the Battle.net forums Arcade Nights: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/9552275137 as often as I can. (Which isn't always possible, as the current schedule for Arcade Nights conflicts with my schedule)
Thanks for your thoughts, houndofbaskerville!
I like names that are as close to the official product as possible.
www.the(-)arcade.com
www.blizzard(-)arcade.com
www.starcraft(-2)-arcade.com
www.arcade(-)maps.com
www.arcade.net (.net sounds closer to Battle.net)
www.planet(-)arcade.com
starcraft2arcade would probably be the one that I would search for on instinct, that's all.
starcraft2arcade sounds like the best choice, imo. It'd be the first thing in my mind if I wanted to search for a SC2 arcade site.
Id probably go for "thearcade.com" simply because Blizzard seems to aim towards a free game platform with the arcade instead of a Starcraft 2 bound platform.
Yes you need the Starter Edition of SC2, but besides that its basically a free game platform as of right now and some games within it dont look or play like Starcraft at all.
If we want a bigger community we need to seperate the Arcade more from SC2 and market it more like a games platform.
Great idea!
I really hope this gets done.
If I may suggest something, please include Bug Report of some sort (with possiblity to answer/close reports). This is really missing from sc2 arcade and would be a great help to mapmakers.
hosters are "special" players
they put the good of the mod before their own good (i have been hosting photon cycles for around 2 years and that is how i humbly see things)
players advertising that they play the game is nice but rather unreliable.. no?
hosters commit to the well being of their own volition and have decent to awesome insight into how things work in a particular mod/map which gameplay is far from sc2's
again, the failure of the arcade is in part due to the lack of hosters for all these awesome games that the arcade hosts
i was just saying that you would do well to tap into that (it would help the scene to show players that it is all up to them whether a game lives or dies, and that hosting regularly their favorite game will make it blossom)
...
my question about you playing arcade mods/maps was just that.. me wondering where your interests come from/lie (and it wasn't a sign of aggression or mistrust in the slightest)
..
so how bout the can of worms? (the whole who s on front page and pop issue) ?
.
+1 for dissociating the arcade from sc2
again, fare thee well (and hurry because you don't want to be second in this kind of race)
Hmm, I was thinking, but not sure if it'd be hard to implement or if it'd be unfitting...how about something like a calendar for maps? Authors could mark important dates, like release dates of (major) patches, or organize events, test playthroughs, etc, similar to the calender/event system they announced at BlizzCon.
(Oh also, a name suggestion: ArcadeCraft?)