I’m pleased to finally unveil the 4.1 Update to PureZC! In this version of the site I focused on trying to bridge the gaps between the main site and the forums as well as improve usability for both members and staff in some regards. Oh, and there’s the Script Database too. So, let me go over some of the major changes.
Script Database
While we tried our best to make do with the forums for the script database, it unfortunately began to suffer from the lack of a dedicated section for it and Invision Board Quirks. So, to rectify those issues, I created a full site-hosted script database. One key feature of the database includes being able to post scripts inline in a text box, which can then be viewed in a popup for the user. The database also includes tagging functionality to help differentiate scripts, and script submitters are able upload a demo for their scripts as well.
The staff are going to try to port over some of the scripts from the current database to the new one. If you’re going to port your own scripts over, please let the staff know so we don’t get duplicates.
Quests Can be “Linked” To Topics
One feature that was originally implemented with the site a long time ago that simply wasn’t used was the quest help features. Due to its lack of attention, people would ask questions and receive no answers. So, my solution was to instead keep the forum topics and then link them to topics in either Custom Quest Discussion or the Let’s Play forums. Staff as well as quest creators can link topics.
These don’t match up, but you get the idea.
Quest Project Updates Are Now Housed on the Forums
I know that one big complaint people have had is that they believed that quest projects aren’t quite as noticeable. So, in order to fix this, I now have quest project updates utilize the forums. When a project admin creates an update to the project, it will then automatically post it in the Quest Project Updates forum. Not only does this give the benefit of showing up on the forum listing, it will also appear in the View New Content forum feed. And, like linked quest topics, the topics will have a header showing the quest project and its main screenshot.
Also, the updates previously on the site were ported over. I’ll admit the port over was a bit wonky due to an IPB issue when it comes to the topic listing, but that won’t happen when people make new updates from here on out. You might also see an overload of stuff in the New Content section, just as a warning.
Tile Tileset Tags
With the hopes of helping people find the tiles they need, we have implemented tags that can be applied to tiles to designate the tileset(s) that it was made for. We put all the common tilesets in there (Gameboy, DoR, Classic, etc.) Unfortunately this won’t hit every scenario because there are some more obscure tilesets as well as crossover tilesets, but this will help hopefully. However, retagging the entire tile database is a pretty big endeavor, which brings me to the next point…
Staff Assistants
In order to help out with some tasks like Tile Tagging and Quest Topic Linking, I implemented a feature for people to be added as “Staff Assistants.” This is basically a title-less position for people who want to help PureZC by making it a bit more complete. If you’d like to apply to be a staff assistant, please make a dropbox post.
More Detailed Quest/Project Listings and Random Searching
One thing that was requested by people was to make an easier way to go through the database and pick quests. So, to help browsing, the quest and project lists now include more information by default. They’ll include the first screenshot of the submission as well as the short information blurb. It is possible to switch back to the old version though by going to the site options. Also, for people who want to find random quests, projects, or any other database entry, there is now a Random button when changing the search options. Using this, you can go to a random entry with the search parameters as well as continue on to the next random result.
As you can see, it’s a lot easier to browse through the database and find something interesting.
Staff Changes
There have also been some changes among the staff. We have some staff members stepping down as well as some other staff members who are being promoted.
Hergiswi has been promoted to Forum Moderator.
Moosh has been promoted to Database Staff.
MoscowModder has been promoted to Database Staff.
Scootaloo returned to being a Forum Moderator (as of quite a while ago, actually).
Xenix has been promoted to Forum Moderator.
Aevin has been hired as a Forum Assistant
Congrats to all of these people.
Other Notable Changes
- Members can now “Like” site reviews/comments/posts.
- People can make silent updates to submissions.
- The upload limit was increased to 25MB and is now configurable.
- Quest Dev Topics now redirect to the newest post after replying.
- Anyone is able to follow comments/reviews either by checking an option when replying or by clicking on a link. The default behavior can be modified by a user option in the site settings.
- Quotes on the main site now have a blank line after them for replying to Quest Dev Topic posts.
- Multi quotes now work for Quest Dev Topics.
- An improved navigation bar that should work better on mobile devices.
- The screenshot ordering for projects is now adhered to on the main site. Plus, a bug involving deleting screenshots that were featured is now fixed.
- Comments can now be made on quest projects.
- Comment/Review/Dev Topics now have a better header.
- The View New Content option listing is now reorganized a bit.
- Database entries will no longer show the spots for screenshots if they don’t have them.
- Several Invision Board Security patches were installed.
----------------
And that’s all I have to post! I really hope that these changes will help alleviate some of the concerns that people have had with the division between the main site and forums as well as make all of our lives easier.
I’d also like to thank everyone who tested the changes, including the staff as well as DaviAwesome and Saffith. They were all super helpful in making sure this release was as good as possible. Also, a big thanks to Nick for helping me out this morning with getting everything ready to go.
Finally, something I feel needs to be stated is that all new types of notifications will not be enabled by default. You will need to go to your notification options to enable them! (Staff members who moderate the site should definitely make sure they have a particular notification enabled. )
Thanks, and enjoy!