Fan Project category proposal

[ZeaLitY]

I've been haunted by the issue of what to do about promoting viable fan projects over ones that are unlikely to be completed (at least within a few years' time). I tried a Fan Project Audit system last year, but this was ultimately too difficult to implement and didn't have any real links with the forum system. I tried the Aegis, and it "worked" in that CE did get a lot of offers for help. Nonetheless, I'm not really satisfied. I still want a way to promote viable, likely projects over those that are languishing.

To this end, as long as it wouldn't make the forums too convoluted, JP and I have thought about dividing fan project forums into three categories instead of two. The first would be Level ** - Finished and Viable Projects. The second and third would be the existing Fan Creations and Mt. Woe categories, respectively. The Finished and Viable section would be open to projects that passed a set of criteria, perhaps like:

• Plot outline finished
• Technical feasibility established
• Necessary personnel dedicated and in place
• Development proceeding / work done
• Release time within 5 years

And so, by virtue of higher placement, they would be seen first over all the others. What do you think?

[Radical_Dreamer]

I'm not sure if viable is a judgement we should be making ahead of time. You never know when live will get in the way to derail a promising project, or breathe new life into a faltering one. I'm all for having a forum that highlights completed fan projects. It'll further seperate and distinguish them from in-work projects, and avoid drama over who gets to be counted as "viable".  Furthermore, they can serve as a beacon of hope for other fan-project groups, showing that with hard work and patience, completing these projects, and having solid, high quality works as a result, is possible, and has been done.

[FaustWolf]

One thing I've always worried about with long-term fan projects is giving the project team a "sense of accomplishment" during production. A promotion of the project once certain criteria are met would go a long way for the team psychologically.

It should be noted that most Temporal Flux projects fill the "technical feasibility established" criterion almost by default, with variation in feasibility introduced by plans that would require new hacking.

There are currently several projects progressing in hidden forum space to minimize spoilage of project content though -- how would that work in this system? Would a project that meets the "viable" criteria still be hidden, but move up in rank officially?

Also, I assume the project team need to prove viability with a working demo demonstrating an hour or so of gameplay? That might be the only way to make "viability" an objective measure.

[V_Translanka]

I don't know how related this suggestion really is, but I think it'd be neat if we got someone (or someones) to create banners and/or avys for everyone that would be willing to use them that would 1) promote w/e project (probably focusing on one each time...or maybe letting people choose) & 2) also implementing their own style or usual sig & avy...And we'd promote the usage of said items in various other forums (& making the sig into a hyperlink to the project's mainpage)...

*shrugs*...mebby?

[Ramsus]

We might not be able to host fan project forums for practical reasons, depending on how my profiling and benchmarking of the site goes and whether or not we get better hosting.