Author Topic: BlockParty - upcoming website for managing and participating in Blockland clans (Read 9000 times)

chadmaverick · September 16, 2015, 10:17:51 AM

rtb clone???????!

Maybe do an RTB like chat and friends list if you don't have it already

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Akio · September 16, 2015, 03:38:30 PM

If clans were more prominent, I could see this working very well. Hopefully this inspires users to create more useful clans.

Foxscotch · September 16, 2015, 05:15:22 PM

Quote from: chadmaverick on September 16, 2015, 10:17:51 AM

rtb clone?

no

Quote from: Akio on September 16, 2015, 03:38:30 PM

If clans were more prominent, I could see this working very well. Hopefully this inspires users to create more useful clans.

if only id had the knowledge and desire to do this like five years ago :(

Foxscotch · October 08, 2015, 09:35:14 PM

quick update on progress. I haven't been able to get much done because my boss FINALLY decided to take a look at the thing I'm making for work, and since then I've been working on a few things he wanted me to do with it

buuut. I've still got some stuff done. first of all is that like ten minutes ago I edited the OP a bit, but it's mostly the same, just with a lot of stuff removed

second, I finished some of the models for the centerpiece app (which I decided will have a tiny itty bitty blog feature that moderators and I can use to post news about the site)
here they are, despite the fact that probably very few of you will really understand what you're looking at
(finished for now, that is. they're almost definite to change over time, especially the profile and settings ones)

third, and something that will probably seem more interesting, is that there are now ~~~themes~~~
there's just a light and dark version of the same theme atm, not sure if I'll add more later or not

upon close inspection you can see the field for this option in the HubSettings model in the pastebin link
dark is default. it was pretty easy to implement. I might make it possible for unregistered users to change the setting for as long as their session lasts, but idk

Foxscotch · October 29, 2015, 06:25:53 PM

now I'm stuck again with the work thing
(more frustrated than "stuck," really. I need to make charts, and I want to use a javascript library to do it using JSON but I can't find a library I wanna use. so in the meantime I'm using matplotlib which is ugly, completely not interactive, and very irritating)

so I'm gonna try to get more done with this
for now, I'm removing the theme thing. it seriously messes with the way pycharm suggests HTML classes, and the code for it is a HUGE mess
I'll add it back eventually, probably using a template context processor (so it'll just use one variable instead of a bunch of ifs)

in the meantime, I guess this blog junk is pretty much done. it doesn't need to be very full-featured
so I can start on other stuff. I think next up should probably be user handling? I can't imagine that will take too long though, so I will probably be starting on actual clan stuff soon enough

edit: bleh

Foxscotch · June 06, 2016, 03:33:40 AM

Quote from: Foxscotch on February 28, 2015, 11:18:44 PM

I imagine I'll still have it done before then

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

anyway earlier I happened to see this clan and it got me inspired. I think I'm gonna do this again
but I'm going to start over. in fact, I think I might use Node.js. at this point I'm pretty intimately familiar with both python and javascript, so experience isn't a big factor in that decision
using python with django would certainly make some things easier, but some ideas I have would be more easily achieved with node
I'm probably also gonna abandon some of the ideas I had before that I don't think sound so great now

this time I don't have many of the distractions I did before, and I'm far more experienced in both of the languages I'm considering
I'm gonna spend the next day, maybe two, going over the things I'd like it to do. then I'll determine what isn't gonna happen with one language or the other, and then hopefully with some input from you guys, I'll pick one based on what I (and potentially you) want to see out of this

even though it's probably a bad idea I'm gonna go ahead and tell everyone that I hope to have it working, though not very polished, by the end of july

SWAT One · June 06, 2016, 05:54:29 AM

Suggestion:

Make category tags for clans that players can add (some of which are auto-generated).

Examples of auto-generated tags:

Size, generated by number of members. Color: █

Tiny :: For clans of 1�3 members.
Small :: For clans of 4�10 members.
Medium :: For clans of 11�19 members.
Large :: For clans of 20�34 members.
Huge :: For clans of 35+ members.

Age, generated by the amount of time it has existed and/or has last been active. If a clan has been inactive for 90 days, it is pronounced inactive. Color: █

Fledgeling :: For active clans of <7 days old.
Young :: For active clans of 8�30 days old.
Regular :: For active clans of 31�89 days old.
Old :: For active clans of 90+ days old.
Lazarus :: For inactive clans.

And, if there will be a built-in application system:

Admission, generated by the admission type. Color: █

Free Admission :: For clans that allow anyone to join or leave freely.
Open Admission :: For clans that allow anyone to apply with an included application process.
Open Selection :: For clans that allow any current member to invite players for a membership.
Closed Selection :: For clans restrict invitation rights to certain members within the clan.
Locked :: For clans that allow no admission. These settings can be changed by the owner.

Examples of custom tags:
(Players create these tags on their own OR select from an existing list that shows popular tags first.)

Social :: For clans that focus on social interaction, or exist to be a clique.
Building :: For clans that focus on building.
Eventing :: For clans that focus on eventing.
Roleplay :: For clans that focus on RPs.

Color, if common: █
Color, if popular: █

And, when players see these clans in lists, they can filter out and order results by these tags.

Perhaps at the bottom of each clan display page, have a tag cloud.

Foxscotch · June 06, 2016, 03:41:26 PM

the first three things, I think, rather than being "tags", would just be attributes of the clan, that happen to be filterable. and I'm not sure how much I care for the idea of having labels for numbers of members, I'd rather you just be able to select your own range. I like the age thing, I hadn't even considered that as something to filter for before, but I will definitely include that now. I think your time scales are a little small, though :P

as for the custom tags, I'm really not sure. I want to have tags like those, but user-defined....... I dunno. that would be a hassle
imagine one clan uses the tag "warring" and another uses the tag "fighting", to refer to the type of their clan. these both mean practically the same thing, and any possible distinction would be based on personal opinion, and only matter to the person who actually chose the tag. therefore it creates a problem for someone trying to look for clans that focus on things like DMs and stuff. they'd have to search for several tags, or just get a limited selection
I'd rather have a preset list to choose from. and I'd definitely be open to adding new ones in the event that a clan wanted them, as long as they were obviously distinct from existing ones
if someone wanted to be more specific, they could do that in the description of their clan

Shift Kitty · June 08, 2016, 01:39:26 PM

Go with both. Have some generic tag list with the option of including your own.

Foxscotch · June 08, 2016, 11:21:18 PM

Quote from: Shift Kitty on June 08, 2016, 01:39:26 PM

Go with both. Have some generic tag list with the option of including your own.

I guess that could work

anyway I got to thinking. and I don't really think there would be many advantages to python. I mean I love python and I love django but node's a little newer to me. I've never used Express, and I'd really like to
it might (will almost definitely) add a little to the development time but it'll also help in some ways too. most importantly I'll enjoy it a little more and I think that'll make a big difference
so yeah, node it is

I'll still put together that planned feature list just so everyone knows what to expect. since everything's gonna be on github I'll probably just stick that in the wiki
maybe I'll make a trello board for it? that acts kind funky on my connection though, so idk

Foxscotch · June 30, 2016, 11:01:58 PM

I have made............... some progress. a lot of the time so far has been spent trying to get to know express and mongoose/mongodb, and everything else I'm gonna be using. I think I'm about in a position where I can really start working on the functional parts, though, so maybe expect some more interesting updates in the near future
and soon I'm gonna put it all up on github, so you guys can actually see how it's going

a little bonus info, that I don't think many of you will care about, but node recently got better support for some of the cooler features of ES6, which is pretty sweet for anyone who uses node

Foxscotch · July 08, 2016, 10:50:58 AM

at this point, there are a lot of things I'd like to get input on. usually I just ask a couple of friends what they think, but the fact of the matter is, none of them have anything to do with blockland clans. in fact, they rarely play blockland, if at all. and I would really like to get regular feedback from people who will actually be using the site
I'd just post in this thread like I have been, but honestly it's slow and unreliable. who knows how many people will actually see the questions, much less would it be reasonable to have back-and-forth conversations about them

so it would be cool if I could get a few people who actually do clan stuff who'd also be okay with me bothering them sometimes with these questions. it'd be great, actually, to just have a little group chat in steam or telegram or skype or something where I could ask everyone in it at once and everyone can be involved in a single discussion, seeing what others think without me having to summarize other conversations or something
the stuff I'd wanna talk about covers a wide range of topics, from implementation details (rarely), to rules and policies (less rarely), to simpler questions about the way things should work or look
edit: it'd be particularly nice to have some people involved, group chat or not, who actually run clans. I may even ask a few directly

I feel like such a group chat would also provide more motivation for me to work on it regularly, which is something I've been having a little trouble with :<<<
also you'd hear more common progress updates, if you're into that kinda thing, since I try to avoid bumping this thread for that atm

another edit: I've changed the title, hopefully to be more clear about what this is to unfamiliar people

Mega-Bear · July 08, 2016, 07:57:45 PM

Quote from: Foxscotch on July 08, 2016, 10:50:58 AM

at this point, there are a lot of things I'd like to get input on. usually I just ask a couple of friends what they think, but the fact of the matter is, none of them have anything to do with blockland clans. in fact, they rarely play blockland, if at all. and I would really like to get regular feedback from people who will actually be using the site

brother this looks awesome. what I don't think people understand is the sort of cooperation this project can bring about. a Blockland clan aggregator? This might function as the ultimate think-tank; bring together the most constructive members of the community in a more intuitive format. centralized content.

I imagine this would really allow clans to cooperate, assuming there is a social aspect to it. members of one clan could comment on a new picture from a separate clan, give criticism, stuff of that nature. I really do like the collaboration this encourages. keep up the good work.

Foxscotch · July 26, 2016, 09:52:15 PM

well, little update
I recently got a job. a full-time one, this time, lol. it's only supposed to last six months, but that's a pretty long time
anyway it's taking a good chunk out of the time I can work on this. 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of work (minimum), leaves just 8 more hours for anything else. which sounds like a lot, but I give myself about 2 hours to get ready for work and to get there (it's about half an hour away), and 1 hour for lunch isn't included in those 8 hours. so now we're just down to 5 hours a day. we can take out another half hour for the trip home, and any time I work over that 8 hours (seems to be between 30 minutes and an hour normally), plus time to eat dinner.........
yeah

but there are saturdays. on sundays I have D&D obligations but that doesn't consume 100% of the time that I spend playing, nor does it take the whole day. usually 4-6 hours. so yeah weekends. and I'll try to find time to work on it at, uh, work. my job is completely unrelated to programming, but I do have a decent amount of time where I don't really have much to do, and I could eat lunch at my desk while I work on it, or something. so it's not all doom and gloom really

but on the even brighter side I guess, for anyone who cares anyway, I've finally made a git repo for it, because I really need a way to keep changes synced between my laptop and desktop now
https://github.com/foxscotch/blockparty
~~if you visit this link within the next like 15 minutes you won't see much, just gimme a minute, the repo's gonna link to this post so I need to make the post lol~~ all is well

edit: also on the super bright side $$$
regular income means an extended budget!!!! that doesn't mean a whole lot for this project but you can expect a few things, like for example a dedicated domain name (still have no clue what I'd pick though, like I said before blockparty.net/us/etc were all taken ;~;), which I simply wouldn't have bothered with otherwise. maybe an upgraded VPS, although the one I have right now is pretty nice, so we'll just have to see about that

SWAT One · July 27, 2016, 04:04:33 AM

Congrats on the new job!

blblockparty.com, blblockparty.us, and blblockparty.net are all available.

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Author Topic: BlockParty - upcoming website for managing and participating in Blockland clans (Read 9000 times)

chadmaverick

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Akio

Foxscotch

Foxscotch

Foxscotch

Foxscotch

SWAT One

Foxscotch

Shift Kitty

Foxscotch

Foxscotch

Foxscotch

Mega-Bear

Foxscotch

SWAT One