Hi, everybody!
You may have noticed a few changes to the site’s layout. You may also have noticed some odd goings-on while we switch some of our stuff over to other servers and so forth. But don’t worry, it’s all been fixed and we’re back better than ever.
So, this brand new weekly update is to introduce you all to the new website.
New Sandswept website, meet the community. Community, meet the new Sandswept website.
I want her back before midnight, you hear?
Read on to hear about our new changes, additions, and overall attempt to de-familiarize you with everything!
New Features
Let me take this new opportunity to go over a few of the new features of the new website.
Sandwept.net, also known as The Sandswept Blog (or Sandblog for the linguists among you) is where you’ll be seeing your fabulous, famous, and fine Weekly Updates and other news from yours truly. However, I’m sure that even my witty and informing prose will eventually bore some of you, so we’ve also prepared…
Hey, you in the back! Wake up! This isn’t a bed and breakfast!
As I was saying, in case you just can’t get enough of our Sandswept goodness, you’ve got more links to choose from along the top!
[GAMES LINK REDACTED]is the official page for all of our projects. You’ll notice the fancy drop down contains a direct link to DETOUR’s project page. It contains all the information you need on DETOUR, and should eventually fill up some shiny new screenshots. We promise.
[COMMUNITY LINK REDACTED]I’m so excited about this one! I’m going to start a new section for this one right after I’m done with the rest of the tabs…
[THE KITCHEN SINK REDACTED] A quick description of who we are and what we’re doing here, along with some useful guides, information, ToU, CoC, and other abbreviations that sound official. Oh yeah, and the Meet The Team page. Stalkers unite.
Search: Use this to find news and other pages of the website (not the forums — the forums have a seperate search function). This is where old news goes to keep the musty smell from spreading to the rest of the server. Some people like it better than others. Geoff has been digging through new code for the websites and forums, and trust me, the smell is just that bad. That said, he’s been pulling one too many all-nighters getting this website ready for you guys and we respect (but do not condone) the lack of showers. I believe I saw a tear roll down his cheek when we pressed the final “LAUNCH WEBSITE” button. Now quick, before he recovers, find all the bugs and ask for new features!
Other Things
Herein lay some things that are found under the Inside dropdown menu. Take a look. These were not present in the past, so we’d like to touch on them briefly.
Twitter: This is where we post things that have such high concentrations of Sandswept Awesome™ that we fear putting them in updates longer than 140 characters. Don’t forget to subscribe to stay up to date when we post news and other goodies!
Our Facebook fan page is a thinly veiled attempt at viral marketing. Don’t worry, it’s several times more fun than the swine flu virus. If you’ve got a facebook account, we’d love to have you Become A Fan.
Forums For The Win!
Lo and behold, we now have a refurbished public personal threaded communications outlet! We invite you to immerse yourself in the bounteous, enriching flux of community that we want to shower our fans in.
No, seriously. If you don’t have a forum account yet, click on the Community tab RIGHT NOW and get one! Read the forum rules before posting.
No diving, please, and don’t forget to shower before bathing in the community communal commune.
Just keep in mind that this thing was built over a series of 4 AM stints, so be warned; we’re still working on it, and we invite you to test and stress the new forums. There are some topics in General Discussion for feedback, suggestions, and bugs. And yes, we are aware of some issues where users are magically logged out. It’s a session ID some-such complex mumbo-jumbo that Geoff tried to explain to me before I fell asleep. When I awoke and wiped the spittle, I tried to change the topic but all I got was a dead, cold shoulder. So, instead of letting this get to me, I just started talking anyway.
We’ve been throwing around ideas about what to do about trolls and flamers in the forums. I suggested that we replace every offending post with a random lolcat (comedic gold!), but it got shot down. I was told that the project timeline for the random lolcat generator application puts its completion somewhere between the release date of DETOUR and the day we roll out an expansion pack for Project [CENSORED]. For now, I’ll have to content myself with sharpening the edges of our BanHammer Mk III. And trust us, our banhammer some very sharp edges. Follow the rules and have fun!
Achievables. Oh yeah. Probably should talk about those. Our forums now have an ‘awards’ system. While there are a bunch of pretty straightforward Achievables, some of are more mysterious than others. Good hunting. Register right now to receive the “Original Member” achievable. That one will expire in a short while and will be unable to be obtained ever again. Go go go!
Pardon Our Dust
I’d like to thank everybody in advance for sticking with us through these testing stages. Once again, please report anything to us that doesn’t work around here (except for me, management is already well aware that I do next to nothing.) Just make a post on the Central Hub forum (there’s a sticky topic for this exact purpose), and we’ll add it to the lengthy to-do list. Now, I know you’re all thinking “Hey, wait a dosh-garn minute! That’s not how this works. ALPHA means a very early stage! How is the Sandswept.net ALPHA when it’s clearly gone through some sort of rigorous rigors?!” … You weren’t? Well, we’re going to answer anyway. Sandswept.net will be going through various upgrades, builds, and awesomeness. ALPHA is really the A version of the site. Prepare for B, C, D, and so forth. Personally, I can’t wait for Sandswept.net TANGO release, but hey…
Incidentally, the to-do whiteboard now has several nicely printed sheets with checkboxes taped to it. Richard and Zander have been doing a great job cleaning stuff up in DETOUR and we’re a couple weeks from the most important deadline ever. Hah, who are we kidding? We never make our deadlines.
See you next week!