Hey folks.

As many of you most likely feel, Talisman is a game I have fallen completely in love with, and when I fall completely in love with a game I make a fan site for said game. As such now that my personal schedule has the spare time involved with developing a new fansite I have started working on one.

Now the thing is I am a Web Developer, not a designer (although without blowing my own trumpet, I do have some design skills). For those that do not know the difference here is an analogy. Think of the building of a house, there are two distinct and different areas involved, on the one side you have the architect who comes up with what the house will look like, this is the designer. Then you have the builder who makes the house and makes it work while looking like what the architect has drawn, this is the developer.

So I was wondering if there are any artisits out there that have a little spare time who would be interesting in getting involved in a web project and helping to make some of the various elements needed to make a site (images for menu buttons, page decoration art etc).

I would love to help, but I really couldn't be able to commit time to it. I started doing websites ten years ago and know tons of stuff.

I'd say keep this thread alive and ask for specific things and maybe I could help out with quick ones. I love this game so much and I am thankful there are lots of players who think like you.

Depending on whether you are PC or Mac based, there are plenty of programs out there that can help get you started with built in templates. Once the site is constructed, simply alter or copy and recreate the graphics to your taste. That's the quickest way as opposed to seeking someone willing and able to put in the time and effort.

I'm ex-IT, with a specialty in intranet, extranet, and internet data and information management systems. The guts of the site are the most important part. If you can do that, then do it, and leave the glitz until later. People want a well functioning site, and if that isn't their, they won't care what it looks like.

Don't get me wrong, the basic template won't be a problem, check out www.warhammergeek.com that is one of mine, as is onlinegamingradio.com I can do the basic template its the more advanced graphical elements that I cannot do.

I used to do Flash stuff and some java.

I stopped doing websites when DHTML and Xtml menus were just starting. I used to write everything myself, without templates.

I probably have some nice scripts kicking around for mouseovers and gallery stuff.

tjedgar said:

But for what you can do, that will be enough, trust me. Most people visiting your site are coming there for the extras you allude to. It sounds to me like you already have the wherewithall to do up site good and proper. Go for it!

It would be nice to see a site where people can add pictures, chat or other great things.

I look forward to it.

Current plans consist of the following:

• The standard information on the game, expansions etc.
• A database driven series of areas where people can contribute home grown rules, endings, characters, everything.
• I hope to introduce a mechanic whereby entries in the DB can automatically be turned into printable PDF's
• There will be a set of forums, whether these are permanent will depend on popularity.
• Ability to rate all content based on Originality, Applicability, Balance etc, so searching the DB will have helpful guides.
• A section for links to other fan sites, here at FFG, and sites where you can purchase accessories to enrich the game.

Of course I welcome suggestions, the entire thing is most likely going to be a scratch built platform so it will operate 100% to what is required, so it will be some time till the v1.0 will come along, although the Beta should be live next week

Very nice, though that's a heavy list of goals. Likely the offerings / download database would be of most interest, followed by the potential rating system attached to it. Overall, forums on private game fan sites haven't done very well; with this site for Talisman, and BoardGameGeeks for everything, fan site forums sort of get ignored. Another LATER potential is a base news listing rigged to automatically make an entry for new materials made available by you or uploaded by visitors (and assumably approved by you before they go public).

I completely agree on the forum subject, however at least at the start they will form a use with getting feedback for the site. I had already figured something further down the list to do would be putting a comment / discussion capability on all articles, DB entries and the like, which would work better for a fan site, just involves more custom code.

As for the moderation process for home brewed items, I am debating a couple of methods, one whereby myself and any other volunteer "staff" do the job, the other where I set a mechanic that sperates the un-moderated into a special queue which any registered member can visit and give a thumbs up or down as to it's suitability (i.e. make sure it isnt vulgar or the like) as the star rating system will be good enough for figuring if it is balanced or not.

tjedgar said:

I used to work for a well known "do it yourself" website company (you may know them from their "racey" superbowl commercials). I knew very little about websites before I started there. Belive me when I say, the more advanced stuff isn't that advanced. Get a current copy of HTML for Dummies and/or Flash for Dummies and you will be fine. My best advise, make sure your site and your databases are on separate servers and use different protections.

-Salute