Some ideas for features

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Apr 30, 2016 1:16 am
Hello, Keleth!

I've been playing here on GP for about a month, but as of yet haven't posted anywhere besides the two games I participate in. I'm really enjoying the site! Everything is very slick and makes for a great place to play tabletop RPGs online. I love it.

With that said, I came up with some ideas for features that I think could improve the user experience, and I figured I may as well put them out there. I know you're busy with your own development priorities, so don't take these as demands but more as ideas humbly submitted for your consideration :) Anyway, here they are:

* Game Details page: A link to the game forum if it's public, or if it's private and you have access to it.
* Game Details page: A section showing the date and time of the last post in the game forum.
* User Information page: A list of the games the user is playing in or GMing, with links to the Game Details for each. Some people might not want to share this, so an option to hide it would probably be desired.
* Advanced Post Reply page: Previous page of posts visible below the posting area.
* Join a Game page: Filters to hide games marked Closed or that have been inactive for a month or more.
* Apply to Game button: Currently game applications come with no context, requiring all discussion of the game to happen elsewhere which could make it hard for the GM to organize. I'd suggest that the Apply button open up a special PM page to the GM with a text field where you can pitch your character, ask questions or discuss whatever else about the game. When your message is done you can click a Send Application button to then send both the PM and the application together. These could just go to the GM's PM inbox, but if they could be organized in a special section under the game itself that would be even better for organization.
* Fonts: Some options for fonts in posts would be nice. Cursive is the one I'd love to have, but I'm sure there are other fonts out there people would want to use.
* Note dialogue box: Sometimes it's hard to remember which username to type or how it's spelled. It would be lovely if the Note dialogue box had a list of the users in the current game with checkboxes to add them to the recipients list. This should probably be disabled for the general forums.

That's about it. Thanks for running such a great site!
Apr 30, 2016 2:30 am
Hey Krypt! I'm really glad to hear you're enjoying your time here, and I'm really glad to hear your feedback, positive or negative. Lemme address some of your points!

* Game Details page: When you're on a game details page, the bottom bar contains the game forums if you have access (e.g. it's public, or it's private and you have access). I know the bar doesn't show up on mobile, and unfortunately, mobile has a slew of problems I need to address, but it's hard to do, as I'm not a designer :/
* Game Details page (last post date/time): I like this idea, and I think we can add more details about where a game is at any time
* User Information page: This is something I have planned but haven't gotten to yet :(
* Advanced Post Reply page: Also planned but haven't gotten to yet.
* Join a Game page: Also planned but haven't gotten to yet (you can see a trend here...)
* Apply to Game button: This is actually a really interesting idea. I'd have to rebuild the application system to make it work, but I could make it work I think. As of right now, most of these discussions happen on the Games Tavern thread for a game, so I've kind of set it on the backburner.
* Fonts: Fonts on the web, specially to make it broadly accepted, can be tricky. I will however, give this due consideration. I'd really like to add more posting options, like allowing GMs to set different borders/backgrounds for their posts to add flavor. Fonts is another good option.
* Note dialogue box: I have something similar planned, but yet again, time...

These are excellent thoughts and suggestions, and I'm glad that a lot of the ideas I have (though haven't gotten to address) are the same kind of ideas you guys want to see. I'm gonna keep trying to get more and more developed to give you the best experience I can.
Apr 30, 2016 3:51 am
You know, I just completely failed to notice that handy bar along the bottom of the Game Details page with links to the game forum and the character list. Strike that first one off due to me being oblivious!

I'm glad you like the idea for expanded Apply to Game functionality, though it does sound like a lot of work the way I proposed it. I'm thinking that a much simpler version could achieve the same functionality: Add a "Contact the GM" button under the Apply to Game button, perhaps with a caption saying something like "Click here to contact the GM about applying to this game." Click it to open up a PM to the GM with the game name pre-filled into the title, and then communications can proceed from there. It uses existing functionality, and anyone who doesn't want it can still just mash that Apply to Game button the same as now :)

The rest of it is pretty much on your list already, so you're one step ahead of me there. Now you just need more hours in the day to do everything you want to... as do we all. Anyway, thanks for the quick reply and keep up the great work!
Apr 30, 2016 10:06 pm
Krypt says:

* Advanced Post Reply page: Previous page of posts visible below the posting area.
I'd be happy if hitting the advanced button just brought up the rolls and decks option on the same page that you're already on. Would accomplish the same thing, right?
Apr 30, 2016 10:25 pm
Naatkinson says:
Krypt says:

* Advanced Post Reply page: Previous page of posts visible below the posting area.
I'd be happy if hitting the advanced button just brought up the rolls and decks option on the same page that you're already on. Would accomplish the same thing, right?
Like how Roll20 does, I want to make it so you can enter rolls via text commands. When I do that, it'll make it easier to add to the thread page.
Jul 28, 2016 11:21 am
Keleth says:
* Fonts: Fonts on the web, specially to make it broadly accepted, can be tricky. I will however, give this due consideration. I'd really like to add more posting options, like allowing GMs to set different borders/backgrounds for their posts to add flavor. Fonts is another good option.
Pre-load a font in CSS and it should be available in 99% of modern browsers.
Font family, size and more colors would be much appreaciated.
Jul 28, 2016 11:30 am
Kuroi says:
Keleth says:
* Fonts: Fonts on the web, specially to make it broadly accepted, can be tricky. I will however, give this due consideration. I'd really like to add more posting options, like allowing GMs to set different borders/backgrounds for their posts to add flavor. Fonts is another good option.
Pre-load a font in CSS and it should be available in 99% of modern browsers.
Font family, size and more colors would be much appreaciated.
Heh, I do use a number of fonts, but what I meant was coming up with a variety of font that don't clash with design.

Size I can do, and colors can actually be anything; the dropdown just has a limited list, but mostly because I haven't come up with a good way to have a list and a custom option :/
Jul 28, 2016 11:40 am
Keleth says:
Heh, I do use a number of fonts, but what I meant was coming up with a variety of font that don't clash with design.
From my experience - 1 or 2 additional fonts should suffice in 9 of 10 scenarios.
One - serif
Second - decorative serif (runic or gothic)
Well, maybe third for sci-fi - monospace
Keleth says:
Size I can do, and colors can actually be anything; the dropdown just has a limited list, but mostly because I haven't come up with a good way to have a list and a custom option :/
Something like that: https://bgrins.github.io/spectrum/ ?
I'd think something under "Toggle Palette Only" example should be nice.
Jul 28, 2016 12:11 pm
I should have been clearer, heh. I haven't found a good way that will fit into the current markup editor I'm using. However, Spectrum looks really cool, and maybe it's time I code my own markup editor or try hard to figure out how I can trigger something like Spectrum with it.
Jul 28, 2016 4:25 pm
What if you made a paid tier for gms that gives us small things in return for a monthly / yearly fee?
I really want the ability to make my games character sheets into a pdf to print off (keep them honest about inventory). And wouldn't have any problem helping support the site monthly in return for a suite of small extra features.
Jul 28, 2016 4:32 pm
Walrustopia says:
keep them honest about inventory
I usually make Google Docs Spreadsheet for my players' inventory :)
Jul 28, 2016 4:56 pm
Walrustopia says:
What if you made a paid tier for gms that gives us small things in return for a monthly / yearly fee?
I really want the ability to make my games character sheets into a pdf to print off (keep them honest about inventory). And wouldn't have any problem helping support the site monthly in return for a suite of small extra features.
At this time, I have no intention of making a paid tier, though I can't speak to the future. If you want to support GP fiscally, there are a number of referral links in the footer for when you're buying stuff you'd be buying anyway, and a PayPal donation link, which will someday work more like a Pateron page, with goals and what not.

There are a number of free PDF print tools that should help you out with character sheets, though in time, I do want to figure out how I can set it up into editable PDFs. That's a future pipe dream though, heh.
Jul 28, 2016 5:16 pm
I threw some Canadian ruplees at you. Sorry they aren't worth much.

You take 1d4 +3 damage!
Last edited July 28, 2016 5:18 pm
Jul 29, 2016 1:50 am
Quote:
* Game Details page: When you're on a game details page, the bottom bar contains the game forums if you have access (e.g. it's public, or it's private and you have access). I know the bar doesn't show up on mobile, and unfortunately, mobile has a slew of problems I need to address, but it's hard to do, as I'm not a designer :/
It does on my phone. If i scroll all the way to the bottom its there.
Jul 29, 2016 3:11 am
Walrustopia says:
Quote:
* Game Details page: When you're on a game details page, the bottom bar contains the game forums if you have access (e.g. it's public, or it's private and you have access). I know the bar doesn't show up on mobile, and unfortunately, mobile has a slew of problems I need to address, but it's hard to do, as I'm not a designer :/
It does on my phone. If i scroll all the way to the bottom its there.
That was fixed since I made that response. However, it should be sticky at the bottom of your window, staying as you scroll; you shouldn't need to scroll to see it.

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