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Liser Studios · Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2001 8:06 pm

Hello,
I've been thinking a lot about my art site. I've been planning and replanning since about august. but, i've finally come up with a GREAT idea.
ok, the splash page will have a fantasy realistic painting, probably a guy on the deck of an airship
the splash page will also contain the updates and such.
now, the tough part
i want the main page to be like the old style RPGs. Like FF6 and Chrono Trigger.
it'll be a lot like the overworld map of FF6, with a character like Chrono Triggers.
Now, when you enter a city or town, instead of opening a new map or whatnot, it'd open the HTML file. For instance, when you enter Artia, it opens up my art gallery. When you enter The Ruins, it opens up my Old Art Gallery and Crappy Pictures Gallery. I guess you get the idea.
The only problem is, i don't know if i could fit all this into one big ol' map, how hard it would be to make the sprites, make the airship (so you can travel to different continents, of course), and keep it all at a decent file size.

I was thinking of making it like chrono cross. you have one semi-large map, which would be the overworld and you travel by boat. When you go to the island you want to land on and you press enter, it'd open a new map that shows just that island and you land at a selected spot. So instead of one large map, you'd have a semi large one and a bunch (well, 3 or 4) of zoomed in ones.

does anyone think this would be creatable? I think this idea would be great... it'd make a great sense of nostalgia... with the CTish sprites, the FF6ish map, FF7 elements on the map, CT/CC elements on the map, a Zelda reference on the map (Mount Patton... kina like Death Mountain!), and FF6 or Chrono Cross music as the overworld theme... i think a lot of fellow rpgers and artists would appreciate it.
the only problem is, is it even possible?! Could i keep it at a decent file size? How hard would it be?!
Thanks a lot in advance.

12345 · member Member # Joined: 25 Nov 2001 Posts: 127

you play too much games.

Liser Studios · Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2001 8:34 pm

well if i'm directing the site towards gamers and artists, then why not make something that attracts gamers and artists? I'd rather do that instead of just a typical ol' site, left frame, tables,... blah. boring.
but then again, i don't want to take up tons of time doing this site... i also want to work a lot on my portfolio...
hmmm... i dunno

Liser Studios · Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2001 8:36 pm

and actually, i don't play many games at all...
my playstation wasn't hooked up to my TV for about 2 months, and i finally hooked it back up today so I could show my g/f what I meant by a world map.

SporQ · Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2001 8:37 pm

i suppose you could do it with flash, but it sounds like overkill to me. the best art sites in my opinion are totally devoid of graphics except thumbnails for the artwork. there are very few web designs that impress me, and those that try invariably end up annonying me so much that i leave. the site could be a good exercise if you want to learn something, but i doubt that its the best idea functionally. form follows function, way behind, as far as navigation goes. just my opinion though.

Liser Studios · Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2001 8:44 pm

yeah... i know what you mean...
i was kind of thinking about that... like if someone wanted to go to my art gallery. if they've been to my site already 25 times, they don't want to have to do the same thing over and over again (like those flash intros that you can't skip?! ARGH)
perhaps i'll stick to my original idea. there'd just be a world map as a light BG (not standing out too much) and have a pretty gold compass thing at the top left, the navigation bar at the top, and that's it. What do you think of that instead?

12345 · member Member # Joined: 25 Nov 2001 Posts: 127

remmeber, nothing is impossible, just takes alot of time to do it, thats all. Plus, you'll get better at it.

SporQ · Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2001 9:33 pm

that could work too. both ideas have thier merits, i didnt mean to discourage you, just saying what i like in a site.

wisperman · Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2001 9:42 am

Your first idea would be doable in Flash, but it'd be a B@tch to get the scripting right. (Unless you are already an actionscripting maniac).
I have seen some KEWL things done with Flash and as a moderate flash user and multimedia dabbler I appreciate the examples of creativity when people come up with ideas such as what you are describing. I would however, agree with SporQ about the Nav as I am a web designer for my day job. I am convinced that a speedy and efficient (simple) Nav is always best.
The world-map need not be as clunky as a videogame screen however... Maybe if you just have a Flash Nav screen at first, which just shows you the map and you can choose location just minus the airship. (Removes difficult scripting problems AND lag time for airship anims)
Regardless, I LIKE your idea. I just would suggest you refine it to fit your audience's needs

Another concern to keep in mind is the ability to choose further Nav choices without having to go "BACK" to the big "World-map" page. Thats just a web designer concern but it does make for a more efficient user experience. Maybe you could make a condensed map into a sidebar or header area after the main page so that people could still use it... just a thought.
Hope you make something out of it though. It is a truely cool idea.
Keep it up. Innovation HAS to start somewhere!

Wisper