Did an update to the Red Ash site...

[cjoki]

...and I am a tad concerned over load times. Would a few good people mind taking a quick look and offer some feedback?

I added a "sharethis" tool at the bottom of the pages, but I'm concerned its lagging my load times.

thanks ahead of time.

http://www.redash.org

I hope this is an OK forum to ask this, was not sure if it goes here or promotions, or someplace else..(be nice)

Chris J

[Onix]

Plus side, love the logo and the fuzzy delimiter on top.

Minus side, it did take me a about 30 seconds to figure out that the game links were at the bottom of the page. I'm just mentioning it from a design viewpoint. If you can, I'd throw a fast link up top somewhere that leads to the basics page or a page with a TOC. Some kind of graphic that grabs the eye might be a good thing.

[cjoki]

I have a summon menu link at the top right...I guess its not as obvious as I thought it would be. But the load times are ok?


==== update
Made a small graphic to go behind the summon menu text to make it move noticeable

[Onix]

It was a little slow but I don't have the fastest of internets connections so it didn't seem unusual to me.

Maybe instead of summon menu (am I at a restaurant?) summon game might connect more with what a person hitting the page for the first time will look for.

[vulpinoid]

Sorry to say this, but a quick look through some of the pages just completely turned me off your game.

The tables, modifiers, modifiers within tables, minutiae of incremental increases, and fiddly mechanisms reminded me of two areas of roleplaying where I've had my least fun experiences...boffer LARPing and Rolemaster-esque systems.

What I'm reading seems to combine the worst elements of both.

I'll admit that some people love these types of games, I'm just not one of them (nor are any of the gamers I've ever circulated with).

I'll clarify my points and offer new ideas if you want, but my first suggestion might be a few images to break up the walls of tables and text. Such things can often be sourced public domain, and I'm sure plenty of people around here will know where to get them.

[cjoki]

@Onix

The Summon Menu/Dismiss Menu was just a bit of fun in naming the link, it would have been as effective to use Show Menu/Hide Menu

But you touch on a another issue with your suggestion and that is Red Ash is not really a game, its a rules set. I have no setting or history. The actual game is left to the user to make and play. This is one of the issues I feel the system has that being that visitors are expecting something more prepackaged.

I may need to actually make a playable module, at least an introduction to the game. But this is a conflict to me as I prefer to work on the next section which is a combat simulator which will be a tool to explore the combat rules, automate combat and make sure the rules work well.

@vulpinoid

Rob said as much when I first posted to 1km1kt, he went on to suggest a more obivous distinct between the strategy and RPG side of the system. I guess I can't put it off any longer and will need to start digging for art.....sigh!

As for the fiddly rules, you do realize that much of the rules deal with the creation of a species (playable or non-playable) and not actual gameplay? This maybe another area I need to be more clear on on the home page...

[vulpinoid]

I think your comments in that last post hit things on the head.

When you throw a group of players a comprehensive toolkit, they look at it and say. "Ooh nice...but what do we do with it".

But think about when you buy Lego...they give you blocks, but they also give you a great way of putting those blocks together before letting you run away with your own imagination. D&D gives you basic rules, but then it gives a range of optional campaign settings to focus those ideas.

I just did a post over on my blog about the larger percentage of players wanting a passive form of entertainment. Most people these days just want things spoon fed to them...whether that's because they've been playing computer RPGs, a factor of watching too many movies, or sheer human laziness...it seems to be one of the things that really been hitting our hobby lately.

Those of us who design, love to have intricate systems that perfectly play out the game experiences we want to enjoy. Those who don't design, don't get the same thrill from the minutiae. That's something that took me a while to understand, I loved designing the background for a setting and the relationship links for a sandbox campaign, while my players just loved to play in that sandbox without needing to know anything about the back-of-house stuff. Some GMs like to tell stories with their players (their own modules), some like to run through the stories written by others (pre-written modules), there are really only a few GMs who play with the rules rather than playing within the rules...giving most GMs a versatile rule set only confuses them.

It's a shame, but it's human nature.

Now you've got your framework ready, work on a specific setting and game within it...

...something compelling that says, "play me because I can take you places you've never been before (whether in the style of story or the setting)"

Beyond that, the best advice I can give is "keep working at it".

[EDIT: If you want art, I might be able to help you out. ]

[Rob Lang]

[cjoki]

@vulpinoid

My view of the system is it's not quite ready, I feel it needs more testing before I start making an entire setting around it. But maybe that is just me FEELING like it's "not at that stage" and I should just roll with what I got or it'll never be done.

Funny you should mention deviantart, I was gonna start digging through it tonight, found a really cool image called "undead", I would like to use on the templates page. The artist has it with a "cc attribution no derivative works" which look like its ok to use on red ash, since its a non-commercial project, but I want to send the artist a message first so I can get his/her input.

I spent last night going through Robs' RPG Gaming Art sources and found some I will be using. I wanted to have at least one image on each of the main pages with maybe some smaller ones tossed in to help out with making points on size, movement and other areas. I may need to dust off my gimp and start making some art myself...anyways back to your art, I will certainly look at your gallery tonight and drop you a line.

I find it surprising how difficult it is to find a good drawing of 2 armored swordmen fighting using a public domain/cc type license...also arcane materials that do not involve topless women (don't want to make my site pg-17+), stage magic or look like some poor holloween costume. I did run accross some arcane circles I can pull into gimp and add some effects to spice them up.


@Rob,

Hello again.

For now I plan on keeping the logo as is, I may load my original logo to the legal page if anyone needs one for their uses with the system. I made the blown out logo to go with the use of the CC License, basically I am letting go...I guess like so much hot gas...or that could be between my ears

A pdf is on that table, most likely after the artwork is settled. The html is linked to the specific sections, but I guess you mean in paragragh links....yeah it could make the site more user friendly, I get your point.

I will look at the news box and see what it looks like as just links. I thought it was a common style practice to have a few words of the message in these boxes?

Examples, yes I need many of those...

The 'load weapons', 'load species', etc.. I will keep like it is, at least for now. I do not know about you but I am getting older and find I am more prone to misclicking links. So instead of waiting for the ajax to load the (wrongly) selected item, I figured I would slow it dow just a tad and give people like myself time to note any mistakes. If enough people complain about it though I can change it, but to be honest your the first.


Guys thanks for all this input! It helps greatly to have other peoples offering their oppinions.

All the Best!
Chris J

[Onix]

So this is something I've been thinking about and it might be useful to you. Having mentioned you're not quite ready to finalize the ruleset by making a module.

It'll never be finished. Just make the module. Seriously, it will make you streamline things like never before. Then you need to play the setting and anywhere a player says "what's this?" or uses a rule wrong, that's something that's too hard to understand and needs streamlining.