Hi everyone,
as has been discussed in another thread, the forums are not very welcoming right now. Since that thread is about another topic, I created this one to keep the discussion focussed.

First off, we should define what purpose the forums should actually serve. In my opinion, they are (roughly in priority):

1. Discussion platform for developers (i.e. graphic and sound artists, designers, programmers, etc.)
   
2. Communication platform between developers and community
   
3. Information source for people that want to participate in development
   
4. Information source for people that want to play the game (this should be mostly covered by the neat website Oliver and Jacob are building)
   

So, what are the problems with the current forum structure? I think the most pressing issue is that there are too many forums. We have a total of 49 subforums. Most of those are overly specific, which shows in the low topic and post count in those forums. One of them (Algorithms and Math) doesn't even have a single post. This fragmentation makes it hard to find the right place to post a new topic as well as keeping track of the ongoing discussions.

I propose the following forum structure:

• General: General discussion that is about Thrive, but doesn't belong anywhere else
  
  
  • Development Blog: News from the development front
    
  • Suggestions: Feature suggestions from non-developers
    
  
  
• Development: General discussion about development that doesn't belong in one of the sub-forums
  
  
  • Get Involved: Introduction posts + stickies for important links (where to start with development)
    
  • Design: Gameplay design
    
  • Graphics: Textures, models, concept art
    
  • Programming: Discussions about anything that needs to be compiled
    
  • Sound: Everything audible
    
  
  
• Archive: Posts from the old (current) forum that either have no sensible place in the new structure (unlikely) or are so outdated that they have become completely irrelevant.
  

I've put the development blog under "General" because I see it mostly as news for the community.

I'm not sure if "Get Involved" is in the right place. Maybe it's better in the General category, in which case it may be named "Welcome" or "Introduce yourself".

To keep the forums themselves neat, especially the Design forum, it might be a good idea to tag threads if they only discuss a specific stage or game element, like this: "[Microbe] Movement and Controls".

That is a huge prune. I will have to let other discuss the actual sections we should have.

However, i'm strongly in favor of an archive subforum, where we could dump all threads that are no longer valid.

Just to name a few, http://thrivegame.forum-free.ca/t830-programming-information and http://thrivegame.forum-free.ca/t831-class-structure are just not valid any more. The programing information links to places we are not developing with, and that are two years old. The class structure is only meaningfull with object-oriented code, not with an entity framework like we are using.

I wanted to get rid of them so people doesen't get confused, but i dont feel deleting them is ok.

I would support an archive subforum, for the same reasons listed above. However, the main proposal of rehashing the forum seems quite drastic, but in a good way. I'll consider it, but I want to see what the other mods/team leads think.

I support an archive section, and some restructuring, but not to such a high degree.

Nimbal, thank alot for making this!
I support archive sub forum beacuse of same reason.
Also, as general discussion, do you think on biomes, controls, other, and etc. stuff put in one sub forum?
However, where will ,,Welcome'' go?

EDIT: I would also want to guests (not registered) can post their suggestions. Also, in ,,read before posting, there should be an ,,GET INVOLVED'' thread link.

Current concept goes like this, here is what i think:

Quote:

General: General discussion that is about Thrive, but doesn't belong anywhere else Good idea. Development Blog: News from the development front We have that, so i dont have nothing more to say about it. Suggestions: Feature suggestions from non-developers Very good idea, i would also want to non-registered users can post in it as they are not devs. Development: General discussion about development that doesn't belong in one of the sub-forums Good idea. Get Involved: Introduction posts + stickies for important links (where to start with development) Good idea. Design: Gameplay design Good idea. Graphics: Textures, models, concept art. Good, but i think drawings, not 3d arts and things like GUI concept and etc. should go with music. Programming: Discussions about anything that needs to be compiled Good idea. Sound: Everything audible Good idea also. Archive: Posts from the old (current) forum that either have no sensible place in the new structure (unlikely) or are so outdated that they have become completely irrelevant. VERY good idea, it would help new users dont read old stuff and dead concepts.

After some consideration, I think I may restructure like this.

What nimbal sugested or were you suposed to post your scheme and forgot about it?

Anyway, let me know if you want any help moving threads around and reorganizing them there is over 9000/9 and althrough there are fast ways to dump them all into a holder section, reorganizing them must be manual, and will take a long time.

Great then! But we will need to move all this threads, also.
Wow, does anyone know how much times i typed ,,Good idea''?