Open letter to the Dreamcast scene (attention: 100% emo)

This forum is for discussion pertaining to homebrew and indie software for the Dreamcast, such as homebrew games, emulators/interpreters, and other homebrew software/applications. Porting requests and developmental ideas are not to be made here; you can make those here. If you need any help burning discs for homebrew software, this is the place to ask as well.
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Post by GyroVorbis »

MetaFox wrote:
Warmtoe wrote:If we can work that out, we'd make a lot of progress - perhaps an 'availability' board - and people post their availability to work on different aspects of projects. As people pick up a project, their availability gets altered - when they come off a project it comes back - when they want a break, it drops.
I love this idea. It can work like the "Help Wanted" section of the translation site - The Whirlpool.

Programmers post help wanted ads and state what help is needed and post contact info. Once the spot is filled, the programmer unchecks their ad, and the ad is pushed out and the lower ads are pushed up.
Sounds like a great idea.
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Post by kingbuzzo »

Thanks a lot to everyone who's been submitting articles. It's greatly appreciated.

The wiki style language is so incredibly easy, anyone can add, edit, or create a page on dcs in a second. To me, this was the greatest move by any dc site. By the people, for the people!

Not many people are familiar with the wiki language right now. And if yr truly lazy, all you'd need to do is click the "edit this page" link in the top right corner, leave your input with as much info as possible. Having it look professional with pics, and links is greatly appreciated too!

In the Database section, GoTaS and I have prepared a template to make it easy for any lazy bum to submit an article on a game, and make it look nice and crisp.



Props to SiZiOUS for helping me translate all those pages into french. At this rate, the entire site will available in English, French, and German! Now if it was japanese as well, I think I'd shed a few tears.

Thank you all very much for the support,

King.
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Post by rondc »

... and in Spanish. Do not forget dciberia.net. We do support DC Scene as much as othes can do.
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Post by MetaFox »

rondc wrote:... and in Spanish. Do not forget dciberia.net. We do support DC Scene as much as othes can do.
He means the site Dreamcast-Scene, not the actual "Dreamcast scene".

If you can submit and translate articles in Spanish to the site Dreamcast-Scene, and/or get more Spanish people involved, that'd be great.

http://www.dreamcast-scene.com/communit ... .php?t=206
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Post by TyBO »

goatdan wrote:The first problem is that Dreamcast-Scene, while being a GREAT looking Web site is hard to navigate. From a usability standpoint, when I look across the top, I see the following:

News - Okay, I know what that is.
Announcements - To an outside observer, you wonder why this isn't part of news. It is the Dreamcast Scene specific updates. Why are they in their own category, and why call them announcements then? Maybe "Dreamcast-Scene Updates" or "DCS Updates" or something to distinguish them.
Database - Database of what? Is this all Dreamcast games released? US only? PAL only? What's going on here?
Scene - Links to other pages, apparently. At the least, this page needs a header explaining what this page is about.
Lifestyle - Again, until I click on this I have no idea what it is.
Actions - Again, until I click on this... also, some of the things are unrealistic. We're really going to expect people to show up at the Game Developers Conference and get a company like EA to make a new game for the DC? It needs to be more realistic.
Community - They are forums. Forums is much more recognizable.
Merchandise - Change this to DCS Merchandise or something.
I completely agree with this. Easier navigation would make Dreamcast-Scene a whole lot more accessible to casual Dreamcast fans. I know when I first visited the site, I was turned off by the wording at the top, and continued to only visit dcemulation.org for news.

On a positive note though, I think the sites layout is great. The best layout of any Dreamcast homebrew site that I have seen. :D
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Post by baron of badness »

Warmtoe wrote:I think I'll go off topic for a moment too!

I wholeheartedly support the idea of a better development community fostering better communication between the devvers - I think its a great idea and we should do it and all contribute to it (I know I will)...

...But you know the real problem with developing for the DC? It's hooking the people with different talents up - I can code, I am good at code, code is what I do (there, I've said it) but I can't draw and I can't play (music that is)...

...Now my suspiscion is that this is a place where a lot of the people who think they can't contribute can really shine, and really contribute - but how do we make the connection?

If we can work that out, we'd make a lot of progress - perhaps an 'availability' board - and people post their availability to work on different aspects of projects. As people pick up a project, their availability gets altered - when they come off a project it comes back - when they want a break, it drops.

As an aside, all my projects are still there in some form - I'm working actively with others on them - for the most part, things have gone on hold because I've lost other people on projects and cannot replace them.


I can draw really good. Have no clue about coding though. Although if I had the time I would learn. I'll show examples if necessary. :D
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How many DC web sites do we need? Really.

Post by q_006 »

What I really really don't understand about the DC Scene in general is, why there are so many websites? Unless some dedicated people are going to go through every forum based website and compile all the information under one web address, I just don't see why a new site pops up every 3 or 4 weeks. It makes things confusing and unorganized.

For the scen to thrive you need fanboys, easy access to information, and ease of development. Unfortunately we only have, IMO, one of three of those componenets.
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Post by GyroVorbis »

I agree, but at the same time I'll have to disagree.

When it comes down to it, yeah you're right. It's sad, but true.

But then think, we're complaining that the DC Scene has so many fans dedicated enough to go make their own sites? In a way, that's not much to complain about.

I do agree though that the scene is way too spread out though.
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Post by Quzar »

The reason is because of bickering amongst those whom actually run the websites, whom often really have little to do with the dreamcast at all. Either that or extremely opposed ideologies.
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Post by GyroVorbis »

Or like me the content is super out-dated and I don't have the time to update (especially not when I'm expected to actually dev along with it).

Oh, and I don't see how I can get my HUmar to lvl 10 like that either... nope, nope. :D
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Post by Storminator16 »

typoEDR wrote:...People move on....But that's life.
Also, from the outside looking in, this scene is too spread out because the same people can be found on each site. Splintered idealogies and no cohesiveness. This was mentioned along time ago, but the mentioners were told to go to hell.

Nice to see some things are still going strong, and the people here still have the passion for the ole Dreamcast, still my favorite system of all time.

Nice to see some contributions have been made to Dreamcast-Scene. Max has always put much effort into what he's doing and he deserves his own thread of appreciation :)
Last edited by Storminator16 on Fri Oct 07, 2005 10:09 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: How many DC web sites do we need? Really.

Post by abydos1000 »

q_006 wrote:What I really really don't understand about the DC Scene in general is, why there are so many websites? Unless some dedicated people are going to go through every forum based website and compile all the information under one web address, I just don't see why a new site pops up every 3 or 4 weeks. It makes things confusing and unorganized.

For the scen to thrive you need fanboys, easy access to information, and ease of development. Unfortunately we only have, IMO, one of three of those componenets.
But I think some of the other sites are worth it; people have been around this forum for a long time and forget that someone new is starting from ground zero. So something like DChelp at dcevolution is a good place for them to go as it is specialized for that sort of thing.
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Post by GyroVorbis »

Storminator16 wrote:
typoEDR wrote:...People move on....But that's life.
Also, from the outside looking in, this scene is too spread out because the same people can be found on each site. Splintered idealogies and no cohesiveness. This was mentioned along time ago, but the mentioners were told to go to hell.

Nice to see some things are still going strong, and the people here still have the passion for the ole Dreamcast, still my favorite system of all time.

Nice to see some contributions have been made to Dreamcast-Scene. Max has always put much effort into what he's doing and he deserves his own thread of appreciation :)
Yeah, damn straight some of us still have that passion going for Dreamcast. PSO online has completely reignited (well, it was always lit, actually added to) that passion (sounds like sex).

Anyway, I'm on fall break. Time for some devving and pr0n... But mostly devving.
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Post by Coliverhb »

Link wrote:Hi,



Ok, I may as well throw my two cents in. I have been around this site for a very good long while now. I have seen people come and go. Gain amazing amounts of interest then lose it and leave. However, it has been stated quite truthfully in the past that this site has its down times. Specifically whenever there are not a lot of new releases. Now I would like to add something to this. There is an ancient law of war that we are seeing take full effect here. Divide and Conquer. Let me elaborate. It has been the history of the people in this community to frequently make new sites.....complete with new forums........that is a real good way to divide. (united we will stand....divided we shall surely fall...) People will only sign up to so many new forums. Once news is announced.....people have no need to hear it again. What we lack is unity and organization. The way to gain these much needed attributes would be to change a bit of how the site is maintained. I can give ideas, however I have no standing to really help unless those ideas are at the very least payed attention to. Freeze has a valid point. The scene is divided and somewhat weakening at the moment and will stay such until we can unite once more. To this end we need to change the entire structure of how the site is kept up to date. As it stands we have a site devoted to helping newbies. Great idea.....however it would be better if it was direct linked into the main site. We have a news site. Another great idea. But again, if it were readily linked through the main page ( via a streaming style direct link posting system) the news would be updatable by many sites. Hence if news was posted in DCemu UK it would appear as news here. This way the people posting the news wouldn't have to make 15 different posts on 15 different sites just to announce some update on one topic. Another problem. The links on the left hand of the main page of this site are by no means the authority of up to date information. For instance, Tekezo's URL.......is hopelessly out of date. (as most know by asking it changed.) yet it remains the same on the link....and hence it is incorrect. So we have a lot of problems. There is a fix but it is not by any means pretty.


The proposed fix. A front page that links to other pages tended by people who are really not only good at what they do ( be it news, information or hunting down URLs to keep current and keeping the downloads pages current.) but who are also still online. One of my favorite people on the forums used to be The Duckman. However as we see he either rarely or never posts anymore. So is the way with people on the net. They come, contribute then disappear (various reason. Including just real life needs tending their job is getting to be a larger part of their time taken or they are in school and need to tend to that.). It is the ever changing nature of the Internet. So the system we need should be a system of plugin style sites from which information can be maintained by different people and when those people get tired or maybe just have to leave they can be replaced in their job or in other words the links can be readily upgraded to a new site with current information and links. The forums should probably remain here. Yeah, they have some bugs, but most of the people who have signed up have done so on this site. (the main forums page reports over 20k people registered.) That is a lot of people, but to keep it going it needs order. This kind of replacement main page could very well change the way the whole scene is kept for the better. (if one person disappears there is always someone who can and will maitain that job.) This whole post is my opinion. Discard it if you wish, Ignore it if you must.....but I felt compelled to say something to Freeze's post. In no way is it my intention to start any problems with anyone. I merely have watched the scene for a very long time and have formed my own informed opinion.


Also, in development, why only have one or two people working on a project? (I understand some people want it that way.) On somthing like Quake or BOR why not have people throw behind someone who has a project in the works but does not have the time required to finish it? Same goes for something like GPF's GBA emu. If Tekezo wanted to help......I am sure it would speed development and get us a means of linking our community to the GBA homebrew community (note:this is merely an example not to say it can or even should happen but again it could happen). Again, my opinion. These things may help the overall community. So I hope if any of these ideas helps, you will make use of them as a whole community.

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Post by Quzar »

wtf?
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Post by Coliverhb »

I was referring to having rss feeds from all of these disparate sites, and just having an rss frontend on a main page so that people only have to post once, everyone could go to that frontend site, and we would then have a unifying site, so that the community doesnt spread, and dissipate too much.


Hence...

"RSS to the rescue"
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Post by Christuserloeser »

Good idea. :D

Now all we need would be someone to update the main page with a new design along with RSS feeds from the DCEmu.co.uk and Dreamcast-Scene.com news !

Also a link to Dreamcast Links wouldn't be bad...
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Post by kingbuzzo »

there's definately a lot of different dc sites out there. The biggest barrier right now is the language barrier. The French dc scene is huge and very promising. Same goes for German, spanish, and more.

one of the ideas behind the new Dreamcast-Scene.com is to bring all these communities together, or at the very least; have a site that can be contributed to by scene contributers in any language.
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Post by Sir Savant »

Doesn't the Dreamcast scene translate posts? Couldn't one apply soemthing like that to RSS feeds?

On a related note, will someone take down the pike downloads if you find them. It is very annoying to see on average 1 person a week having trouble with pike, especially when it really sucks. No disrespect to the pike makers or whoever else, but it is just horrible to newbies to have to go to.
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Post by GyroVorbis »

Do we have RSS feeds yet? I'd like to use them on TheChaosRift because that sounds like a great idea...
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