Old Topics Forum

[DimensionWarped]

There is a new forum for the old posts to go. Consequently, the old concept storms that had been deleted are now in there.

[Dan]

What happened to just locking them? That was fine for letting people browse past ideas. So how do I find them now?

[DimensionWarped]

The idea was that if I eliminated the old topics that it would be easy to see the current topics and react to them. If there is popular demand, we'll open up a subforum for completed topics.

Considering the current popularity of Concept storm in general? Fat chance.

[Dan]

Just as little popularity of deleting the topics, I'd say. I had ideas bookmarked on those threads. :/

With such low popularity acknowledged in the first place, I wouldn't say visibility is a worthwhile payoff.

[OverbounD]

That is a real bummer that you deleted all that stuff DW. What's the point of these discussions if we can't go back and get ideas from all the interesting concepts that were discussed.

[DimensionWarped]

Well, like I said, we can always just open up a subforum to put the topics back into later.

As for the point, I thought it was obvious... to get creative. I mean, surely if something appealed to you you wouldn't just forget about it.

Since it was sudden though, for now I'll go ahead and bring back the topics that were actually discussed fairly widely.

[OverbounD]

You remember everything you dream up or see for game concepts? I sure don't especially when its something that I don't want to develop right now but might want to reference it in the future. I was planning to go back and read all of that city stuff we talking about, as I plan on making a city level in the future.

[DimensionWarped]

Yeah, I do. The specifics anyway. It's remembering to remember that's tricky.

As for the city stuff, there wasn't a single topic with more than like 6 posts, so I doubt there's anything really worth reading. I'll go ahead and pull back anything that looks particularly juicy though.

[OverbounD]

Your buffer badnik idea was excellent. I haven't had a chance to look through it all yet though.

Anyway DW you asked me to pick a topic. How about new moves for Sonic that work with the classic formula. Of the newer games which moves introduced could be applied to the classic formula in a meaningful way. People are also welcome to come up with completely new move ideas to discuss.

[Asuma]

Classic formula? Meaning the classic physics and such?

[Dan]

Can you bring back all the topics please? I'd rather be my own judge on which ideas twigged something in my mind.

If you're worried about visibility you can take them down in a few days, so I can just copy them. Or can you PM me a location.. or something.

It was a good system with the general banter topic then the numbered specific topics; it would just be good if they were all still there. What's useless to one might inspire another. In future they could all even be bumped/locked in the right order so that it forms a sort of index as one looks down the board.

I'd very much like a discussion on new moves for the classic formula.

[DimensionWarped]

The others were hardly even discussed beyond what was said in the banter topic. So no. I won't. Not that it matters because the Old Storms subforum is now open.

[DimensionWarped]

Alright, here's the thing...

You all know that old topics currently get locked when they die and pushed to the old forum right?

Well, I'm thinking about letting old topics re-open if there is desire. Is anyone interested in that sort of thing? If it happens, it won't be more than a couple at a time. But Overbound was telling me that he wanted old topics to stay open, and I don't really like the idea of them being all open all the time because it could distract from the current storming. That said, it shouldn't really be a problem if it's only a couple, the only question is getting a system together to decide what should be accessible and when.

Any comments?

[Dan]

Great to see everything back.. now I can stop worrying about forgotten ideas.

I agree with both sides of the issue with locking/opening old topics, but I think the problem comes down to trying to direct when creativity can flow. In the end, if people are still coming up with ideas for last month's topic, shutting out those ideas is a loss. If last month's topic is still bubbling in people's minds while this month's topic is a bit dry, being a month old isn't a good reason to block people from writing anything that's cool or inspiring when there actually is a topic on the board that it could go in.

The issue of distraction is not one of readability, but one of having a freer mind, no? If everyone's still hung up on waterfalls in the city a new month's concept will receive less attention. But I think forbidding older discussions is not the best way to help that. People who want to keep adding to the older topics, but can't, at best will not feel an increased level of interest in the new subject. At worst, they'll feel stifled.

Free thought can't be forced on, old ideas shouldn't be forced off, but if everything was unlocked and all the old stuff put in a different forum, that forum would receive more attention than the new concepts. If everything was unlocked and kept in the same forum, new topics could drown under the old topics. We need a way to encourage each month's new concept so everyone doesn't just hunker down in the older brainstorms.

In my opinion, everything should stay open always. I think we should discuss ways to encourage the new topics in the interest of keeping new ideas flowing, but not ways to lock the older ones.

After all that, the only real idea I have is deliberately involving the whole community more. I'm sure many members have poked their heads into this corner of the board, but not often and not for long. If this whole thing was more visible to all members there would probably be a greater flood of ideas. We'd see people just posting the thoughts that automatically popped into their heads as soon as they read the topic for the first time, just because the topic was there to be read. With that in mind, my suggestion is to use that extra attention for each month's new concept. Put the Monthly Concept Storm board more in the "public" eye by using a single clone thread in either the General or General Fangame boards to bring attention to it. I'm thinking that each month you could basically have the topic banter thread running on both boards at once, if that's possible. At the end of the month, the copy that appeared on the General/Fangame board can disappear entirely and the new month's banter topic takes its place. Within that banter topic, each time a sub-topic is generated, a link is simply displayed or an announcement made that the Monthly Concept Storm board has a new thread for that particular idea..

This brings more minds to the topics, encourages each new concept since everyone's ideas will be more visible to everyone else, and doesn't encourage the older topics to drown things out. The cost is basically one more mirrored thread somewhere.

A different approach would be a kind of banner on the site, showing this month's current topic and linking to the banter thread.

To further add to the "in fashion" encouragement of the current concept storm, those reward ideas you're considering... simply let them only apply to this month's concepts only.

The older concepts can then stay open to receive new ideas that need a place because there is now a clear spotlight and they aren't in it. And really, if the older topics still get more attention than the new concepts visible to all, I think that's a pretty solid sign that the older subjects are deserving of it.

[DimensionWarped]

The idea of brainstorming in general is to put reigns on the creative process. When it comes to general creativity, there is another forum for that kind of stuff.

I don't think there is going to be any chance of having global messages telling people to use this. It'd be obtrusive and it really isn't necessary. There aren't that many subforums here and of the important ones, there are only General, Art, Fangames, R&D, and this. It'll probably help to open it up a little so that people can actually make topics somewhat freely, but beyond that I don't really think there is a whole lot we can do to improve participation.

Alright though, here's the new rule which is sort of a compromise:

Participation in the concept storm will result in special privileges.

1. Each month, medals will be doled out that will place you in a special group of members.

2. By being in that group, you will gain unique permissions in the concept storm forum to do the following:

• Post new threads without needing a moderator to do it for you
  
• Unlock topics in the old storms forum to re-open for input
  
• Ability to promote topics in banter *Scratch this one for now since specific permissions for this sort of thing don't really exist*
  

As an example, placement in that group this month is limited to Silver and Gold participants.

In normal periods, this will usually go to a so-called 'MVP' poster who goes above and beyond with concept contributions. During special events, the number of earners generally won't be limited.