Dungeon Master Codex: Tid Bit
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- Gambit37
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Dungeon Master Codex: Tid Bit
A little something to keep you going--this is my current DM collection (475Kb):
http://www.dmcodex.com/dmall.jpg
http://www.dmcodex.com/dmall.jpg
- cowsmanaut
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- Gambit37
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I need to sort through these as some of them aren't great quality. I'll be selling the worse ones on eBay, and there may well be a copy of CSB going on there... I won't separate manuals though as I'd rather sell them complete. Nope, I don't have any spare GOR coins. I did have two, but I lost one...
Cowsmanaut, don't excited, that's not a video... it's the Super Famicom (Japanese SNES) version of DM. Many games of that era were packaged in VHS sized boxes... it has great cover art though... wait for the site to see a hi-res version of each game box... Yes, I know I keep promising, but the site will DEFINITELY being going live sometime this spring/summer.
Cowsmanaut, don't excited, that's not a video... it's the Super Famicom (Japanese SNES) version of DM. Many games of that era were packaged in VHS sized boxes... it has great cover art though... wait for the site to see a hi-res version of each game box... Yes, I know I keep promising, but the site will DEFINITELY being going live sometime this spring/summer.
- cowsmanaut
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- Gambit37
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Here's a sample screenshot of one page of the site. I've been beavering away at this so long, I thought it might be nice to prove that I haven't just been messing about!
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/matt_hill/sample.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/matt_hill/sample.jpg
- cowsmanaut
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- Gambit37
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Tons left! And the first release is only about Dungeon Master! I've got four more games to go after that.... the project has grown way out of proportion, but it'll be worth it in the long run... still a early summer release for the first version...
I know what you mean about the parchment menus. I still like them too, but after a few late nights messing about, I felt that the new arrangement worked better, plus I was never happy that I couldn't center the parchment menus in the middle of the screen (Since I've changed them I've actually figured out a way to do it that's cross-browser and backwards compatible, but heigh ho--you live and learn!). The new menus are collapsible in browsers that support it, or permanently expanded in those that don't. The whole site has ended up being a bunch of compromises, because despite what browser developers claim, there's still too many inconsistencies between browsers.... oh well.
Longer term, once I've learnt PHP, I'll be moving the whole site to a dynamic database driven site which will make maintaining a lot simpler, but that's waaaaaaaaaaaaay down the line.
Thanks for the encouraging words. The screen grab is heavily compressed--it looks much better on the actual version. One thing to be aware of though--as the site is now quite graphics heavy it probably won't be too enjoyable on a 56k modem....
I know what you mean about the parchment menus. I still like them too, but after a few late nights messing about, I felt that the new arrangement worked better, plus I was never happy that I couldn't center the parchment menus in the middle of the screen (Since I've changed them I've actually figured out a way to do it that's cross-browser and backwards compatible, but heigh ho--you live and learn!). The new menus are collapsible in browsers that support it, or permanently expanded in those that don't. The whole site has ended up being a bunch of compromises, because despite what browser developers claim, there's still too many inconsistencies between browsers.... oh well.
Longer term, once I've learnt PHP, I'll be moving the whole site to a dynamic database driven site which will make maintaining a lot simpler, but that's waaaaaaaaaaaaay down the line.
Thanks for the encouraging words. The screen grab is heavily compressed--it looks much better on the actual version. One thing to be aware of though--as the site is now quite graphics heavy it probably won't be too enjoyable on a 56k modem....
- ChristopheF
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Very nice work, Gambit!
It really seems to be worth the wait.
It really seems to be worth the wait.
Christophe - Dungeon Master Encyclopaedia
- Gambit37
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Take heart Beowuuf! Now you have a good reason to get broadband!
Seriously, the site should still be usable on a 56K modem, but the initial load times will be long as there's a ton of interface graphics that have to be loaded. Origianlly, I was keep to keep everything very small, but, well, it looked sh*t. That's one reason why I keep redesigning it. Do you remember the early sample I sent you and how pants it looked by comparison?
Thanks Christophe for the encouragement; I guarantee it'll be worth the wait!
Seriously, the site should still be usable on a 56K modem, but the initial load times will be long as there's a ton of interface graphics that have to be loaded. Origianlly, I was keep to keep everything very small, but, well, it looked sh*t. That's one reason why I keep redesigning it. Do you remember the early sample I sent you and how pants it looked by comparison?
Thanks Christophe for the encouragement; I guarantee it'll be worth the wait!
- PicturesInTheDark
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- Mystic_Unicorn
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- Gambit37
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Well, I've bitten the bullet and downloaded Apache, mySQL and PHP and am now busy getting to grips with it all.
Having completed a couple of test pages and seen the ease and power of the mySQL/PHP combination, I have decided to modify the DMCodex so that it will be a database driven site. I still have so much content to develop that it makes sense to do this now rather than complete a static version of the site, then re-code it again later.
What does this mean? Well, from my point of view, this will make things so much simpler to maintain, and already I've benefited from things such as server-side includes which makes it really easy to update the navigation; previously I was using Dreamweaver library items, which meant that every time I modified the meus, the whole site needed to be updated. Now I just change one file... much better!
It doesn't make much difference to the end user, but it does mean that my anticipated release date for the first version probably won't be until some time in July/August.
Hang in there guys, I promise it will be worth it!
BTW, sorry about the broken image links at the top of this message; I've moved to a new host and haven't re-uploaded the images so they won't work... same for my avatar!
Having completed a couple of test pages and seen the ease and power of the mySQL/PHP combination, I have decided to modify the DMCodex so that it will be a database driven site. I still have so much content to develop that it makes sense to do this now rather than complete a static version of the site, then re-code it again later.
What does this mean? Well, from my point of view, this will make things so much simpler to maintain, and already I've benefited from things such as server-side includes which makes it really easy to update the navigation; previously I was using Dreamweaver library items, which meant that every time I modified the meus, the whole site needed to be updated. Now I just change one file... much better!
It doesn't make much difference to the end user, but it does mean that my anticipated release date for the first version probably won't be until some time in July/August.
Hang in there guys, I promise it will be worth it!
BTW, sorry about the broken image links at the top of this message; I've moved to a new host and haven't re-uploaded the images so they won't work... same for my avatar!
- ChristopheF
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Sure php + MySQL are powerful things to make a web site.
However, I only use them on the encyclopaedia for the guestbook, mailinglist and forums.
For all the other pages, I wanted people to be able to easily download an offline version of the web site (a single archive), in case the site disappears one day (every site does one day or the other).
However, I only use them on the encyclopaedia for the guestbook, mailinglist and forums.
For all the other pages, I wanted people to be able to easily download an offline version of the web site (a single archive), in case the site disappears one day (every site does one day or the other).
Christophe - Dungeon Master Encyclopaedia
- Gambit37
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Yes, I did think about that for some time, but decided that the gains far outweighed the losses.
Additionally, it's easy for you to offer things like that because you're using a free host. I'm paying for mine, so I want to keep things as small as possible and if I made a big zip file of the site it would soon eat up a lot of data transfer if lots of people download it.
Additionally, it's easy for you to offer things like that because you're using a free host. I'm paying for mine, so I want to keep things as small as possible and if I made a big zip file of the site it would soon eat up a lot of data transfer if lots of people download it.
- PicturesInTheDark
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- Gambit37
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Just to pick up on Christophe's earlier point about offering a ZIP file of the Encyclopaedia for offline viewing:
http://www.httrack.com/index.php
I've tried this out on my locally served -- data driven -- development copy of DM Codex and it works perfectly. This isa very cool freeware program indeed.
It means that I will also be able to offer an offline version of the site, if I so choose.
Yay for the internet and software developers in general. I love you all!
http://www.httrack.com/index.php
I've tried this out on my locally served -- data driven -- development copy of DM Codex and it works perfectly. This isa very cool freeware program indeed.
It means that I will also be able to offer an offline version of the site, if I so choose.
Yay for the internet and software developers in general. I love you all!
- PicturesInTheDark
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- dungeon.master
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- PicturesInTheDark
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He probably referred to the first post in this thread (from yourself), containing the link http://www.dmcodex.com/dmall.jpg.
I also receive a "Forbidden access"-message when clicking it.
Regards, PitD
I also receive a "Forbidden access"-message when clicking it.
Regards, PitD
- PicturesInTheDark
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- SpiderFromMars
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Hi and.. waiting to enjoy DMCodex too! :)
Hi, im new on the forum, but i read it very much. ^_^
The little tidbits i've see of DMCodex seems great, waiting to see more soon.
Best Regards!
The little tidbits i've see of DMCodex seems great, waiting to see more soon.
Best Regards!
- PicturesInTheDark
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- Gambit37
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I think fuzzy face means lots of questions that are still unanswered! Or something like that.
The answer to the question, is: When it's ready!
It's difficult to maintain enthusiasm for it at the moment, with the things going on in my life. But it will get there, I promise! I am beginning to regret mentioning it at all now, I knew it would be better if I kept quiet; that way, it would have been a big surprise. Oh well!
The answer to the question, is: When it's ready!
It's difficult to maintain enthusiasm for it at the moment, with the things going on in my life. But it will get there, I promise! I am beginning to regret mentioning it at all now, I knew it would be better if I kept quiet; that way, it would have been a big surprise. Oh well!
- PicturesInTheDark
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