What's happening in here?

[YoshL]

given the discussions going on, the transition out of flash is going to be one of the biggest changes, and best changes for the engine if it happens.

that being said, newgrounds and armorgames doesn't become a possibility anymore

But yeah, i think community support is not something that's currently lacking, because it's pretty clear that there's still at least a handful of people who still care a lot about FFR and its life.

[Rapta]

A transition to HTML5 in my opinion is a huge project which needs to be done. Flash is dying. Has anyone thought of just hiring and paying programmers for this one huge job? Does that sound like a good idea?
I know money isn't really here right now for the site but it could be soon depending on how hi19's business plan discussion goes in that Skype chat.

[_Zenith_]

It was mentioned earlier back this year that the R^3 Engine was going open-sourced? Did this happen?

[Rapta]

Originally Posted by _Zenith_

It was mentioned earlier back this year that the R^3 Engine was going open-sourced? Did this happen?

Yes. There is a link to the open source that I downloaded and others surely did too. I don't remember which thread though.

[noname219]

Originally Posted by Rapta

Yes. There is a link to the open source that I downloaded and others surely did too. I don't remember which thread though.

It's this thread.

[Buta-san]

Originally Posted by MinaciousGrace

and gives users brain-dead options for playing charts for whatever shitty anime op they want to

not just anime op's but they always have new maps for newly released songs in general which caters to both newcomers and veterans.

[Crazyjayde]

Originally Posted by Synthlight

FYI that hi19, Velocity, Zag a few others and myself are going to have a conversation this afternoon over (most likely) skype. I am looking forward to it.

Glad to hear! I am also eager to hear from it. The discussion yesterday felt very healthy and fruitful for the sake of the site and I wish these will resume in some form or another. However, there was an apparent growing lack of direction towards solving issues I tried to address through my last intervention (i.e. questions of leadership roles, possible community contributions) as I felt that Synth's aptitude to look at the bigger picture would be necessary to kickstart this urgent need of task managing. Thankfully, this meeting should be beneficial to that concern and I think part of the groupthink should also take the opportunity to think on it.

Originally Posted by YoshL

But yeah, i think community support is not something that's currently lacking, because it's pretty clear that there's still at least a handful of people who still care a lot about FFR and its life.

There's a lot more than a handful and that's why it's important for it to have better significance to FFR's progress. Community involvement/communication is crucial to garner interest.

[YoshL]

like it was discussed in the queue/batch thread, with what buta just said, V2s of songs become much more interesting, and could be possibly integrated into a new engine as different difficulties of songs.

A lot rides on the discussion that Synth is going to be having.

There may even be a potential for lost permissions from some artists if monetary changes in FFR's running begin to come to light, however, I guess, it's just a weighing of pros and cons. Stuff is happening right now at least

[Synthlight]

Originally Posted by Rapta

A transition to HTML5 in my opinion is a huge project which needs to be done. Flash is dying. Has anyone thought of just hiring and paying programmers for this one huge job? Does that sound like a good idea?
I know money isn't really here right now for the site but it could be soon depending on how hi19's business plan discussion goes in that Skype chat.

I might as well let you guys know there was a big discussion about this very thing today. I know someone out of Germany that already has a timing engine built in HTML5/Javascript. I am in the process of getting another dev meeting setup so that we can work towards a very early proof of concept. We would of course want to involve everyone as it moves forward.

[Charu]

Oooh, so FFR is gonna get rid of the Flash aspect of it, eh?

Sounds like we need to make another name, as posters have joked before.

Of course I think keeping the name Flash Flash Revolution would be cool too. Don't know how, maybe with some clever reasoning, heh.

[One Winged Angel]

Originally Posted by Charu

Of course I think keeping the name Flash Flash Revolution would be cool too. Don't know how, maybe with some clever reasoning, heh.

Incoming illuminati meme reasoning posts

For real though, work on an HTML5 engine sounds fantastic

[Synthlight]

Originally Posted by Charu

Oooh, so FFR is gonna get rid of the Flash aspect of it, eh?.

I don't think we will ever remove the Flash aspect. At the very least we are looking at legacy and nostalgic reasons down the road. The current flash version is continuing on as it has for years. The HTML5/Javascript will need to start out as a proof of concept and be built up. I have additional meetings being scheduled with different management groups here at FFR so that we can help make progress in parallel. Does everyone want me to stay transparent with these plans or would you rather we hold back until we have something significant?


Cheers,

Synthlight

[Rapta]

Originally Posted by Charu

Sounds like we need to make another name, as posters have joked before.

HH5 Revolution short for HTMLHTML5 Revolution

lel

Does everyone want me to stay transparent with these plans or would you rather we hold back until we have something significant?

I would like transparency.

[_Zenith_]

Originally Posted by Synthlight

I don't think we will ever remove the Flash aspect. At the very least we are looking at legacy and nostalgic reasons down the road. The current flash version is continuing on as it has for years. The HTML5/Javascript will need to start out as a proof of concept and be built up. I have additional meetings being scheduled with different management groups here at FFR so that we can help make progress in parallel. Does everyone want me to stay transparent with these plans or would you rather we hold back until we have something significant?


Cheers,

Synthlight

I think touching up on worthy points during those plans would be satisfactory with everyone; just so we know that effort and progress is being made and I would assume those who would like to help would be more motivated to take the initiative on certain things.

[dAnceguy117]

Originally Posted by Synthlight

I might as well let you guys know there was a big discussion about this very thing today. I know someone out of Germany that already has a timing engine built in HTML5/Javascript. I am in the process of getting another dev meeting setup so that we can work towards a very early proof of concept. We would of course want to involve everyone as it moves forward.

Out of curiosity: what would be the ultimate goal of this project?

I would imagine that an HTML5/Javascript/what-have-you engine could be more stable for players; the current engines have proven to inhibit some players' ability to compete at a high level, seemingly due to certain hardware and operating systems not playing nice with Flash. Given your statement about the 99/1 issue of this site's recent focus, though, I would guess that high-level play isn't the primary concern here.

From what I understand, HTML5 is vastly more compatible with mobile web browsers than Flash. Is that a motivating factor? If the intent is to turn FFR into a viable game for phones and tablets, wouldn't a mobile app make more sense? Not to mention, I think most would agree that the input style of this game isn't particularly suited to touch screens.

Not sure if there's much purpose to my speculation, but it could be food for thought, I guess. Haha.

What aspects or effects of building an HTML5 engine do you (and others in the site's leadership) believe will help to improve the site and its community?

[Mister_Raccoon]

Originally Posted by _Zenith_

I think touching up on worthy points during those plans would be satisfactory with everyone; just so we know that effort and progress is being made and I would assume those who would like to help would be more motivated to take the initiative on certain things.

This.
I don't need to know everything because I'm not going to assume it's my business. But some updates on progress would be awesome. I'm pretty sure any negativity that may arise from any meetings will likely just get aired out on the forums anyway.

And to further mirror our buddy Zen here let me know if I can help in any way. /deadhorsebeating

[ShurykaN]

[Charmoeleon]

Like a couple of other posts I've seen in this thread as I've read through it, I've tried writing this post several times but can't find the right words. So for now, I guess I'll just say that I love FFR, despite the fact that it's very clear that there are multiple problems with the site and staff, and would hate to see it go.

I doubt I can do much, but if there's even a slight chance I can help in some way, don't hesitate to ask.

Also I feel like this post by sickufully pretty much sums up everything in this thread perfectly (except regarding the more recent HTML5 conversion talk): http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...&postcount=213

[TheRapingDragon]

There was a time years ago when I was actively trying to find new artists and songs for FFR. I thought my taste in music was different enough from what I was seeing so the bands I would go for would provide more variety. I got a few permissions from bands who were going to give songs to us for free.

I made a thread so the staff could speak to the relevant contacts and make it all legal and...nothing happened. The songs were never secured. For me, that pretty much summed up what was going on with FFR. It was a site with so much potential that was just sitting there treading water.

I'm glad there's now talk of getting away from all that and moving forward.

The realist in me says that FFR has missed the boat. You just have to look at the ~6,500 active users gained after 13 years to see how little has been done with the resources on offer. Even looking at Alexa shows that people spend less than 5 minutes here, which is barely 1-2 songs when playing the game.

That makes me think that this place needs a complete overhaul. Everything from the site, forum, game and the structure of everything, how it all integrates together.

But in truth I want this place to succeed. I wouldn't keep coming back if I didn't enjoy it and want to see it grow. So regardless of what's happened before, regardless of the inactivity and stagnation, if there is honestly talk of salvaging this place and turning it around then I'm all for it and I'd be happy to help.

There needs to be more integration between the game and the forum and ways to increase competitiveness. If people come here and they get a score on a song and are then told 'look at how close you were to others' or 'here's a link to the forum to post this awesome score' or 'how about playing this song in multiplayer?' or any number of things then it would keep them on the site and seamlessly lead them to other sections of the site.

The profile sections need completely removed. The best thing would be to try to integrate socially with Facebook or Twitter. Have people get scores on the game then have a button that will instantly upload their status to those sites, meaning all their friends hear about FFR.

The forum needs truncated. There are too many sections that are either barely visited or could be merged together to make it look as if they are more active. There are also sections such as The Werewolf Game that, to outsiders, would be completely impossible to penetrate (even the sticky for beginners was last edited in 2007 and was stated to be a 'rough 1st draft'). It would be like me trying to enter a D&D forum without guidance, of course I'd leave after a few minutes. These should either be sub-forums or sections you apply to join, then simply have a sticky that explains what it is, how to play, who to contact for more help and so forth. Have yourself a Werewolf Game point of contact who can take a new person through it.

Then you have The Garbage Bin. It's pretty much a place for people to shit-post. This site needs to have a unified goal of who it wants to aim itself at and what kind of demographic it wants to gain. Once that's known, fix the forum to meet this demographic. If that means getting rid of shit-posting for the sake of improving the site then that's great. If it means turning into a site like 4chan or reddit where you get all sorts of madness then that's great too, but either way there needs to be a clear aim of saying 'Who do I want FFR to be for?'

[rushyrulz]

Originally Posted by Rapta

I spent an hour on a post and said "nevermind" lol

In a nice, short, non essay, I would like to exclaim that I think if staff applications were open at all times, and staff applications constantly reviewed, and consensus on said reviewed applications was reached with a (subject to change) time minimum of one month of contemplation about said applicant being reviewed, it might be a good idea. I also agree that what's going on should be expressed in some way, or at least a more effective system be put in place which allows ALL staff and possibly all users to know what's going on with EVERYTHING.

In fact, someone tell all staff about this thread please, this is a well past due "what is happening" thread

I know I'm a little late to the party, but I just have a comment about this.

It's not a bad idea to have applications out, but I know, at least on the Events side, that when we need somebody else, we already have a few candidates in mind. This is how badman got brought on. He was showing an aptitude for community engagement, he was online a lot, active, for the most part, liked on the forums.

I can't really speak for the other teams' hiring processes though. Someone's skill as a developer or simfile judge is probably less apparent than somebody's aptitude to run community events.. so they might need to have actual applications with tests and shit.

--

There has been a noticeable degradation in content on this site in the recent past, and I often find myself blaming a lot of it on myself, even though that's probably not the case. I did leave the site and game for a decent chunk of time (about 3 months), only returning to do what little responsibilities I had left with the Trading Card Game. To be honest, I had lost interest in the game, which I periodically do. I tend to overplay games, get bored of them, move onto something else, and come back to the original game after a while. The only difference is that this time, I had a staff position to uphold. I know it's probably just a coincidence, but there weren't many official events held in my absence.

Often times, when coming up with events, it's difficult. We will end up recycling old events, which I realize gets boring after a while. We find ourselves grasping for something new. New content to base events on, new types of rewards to use other than credits and tokens which have been used since the dawn of time.. that's fully 100% what inspired the takeover of the TCG. We saw something new and decided to pounce on it since it was an opportunity for new, unique rewards and it already seemed to be popular with a lot of users. We were able to create a new token unlocking mechanism that wasn't purely reward based (from an official event). I'm happy that the TCG is still going and a lot of people are having fun participating, even though it's gone through a couple regimes already (TSR is completely gone, and I've had a foot out the door for a while).

I'm honestly not sure who to blame at this point for the site's general decline, but I would attribute at least a part of it to everybody (staff AND community) getting a bit jaded and irritable about this constant feud happening between us. Slack wasn't a bad idea. I was on board with it all the way. The problem was that nobody else was, but at least it was a slight change of scenery for a while. I feel like I had a better connection to the rest of FFR staff in Slack that we didn't have in our secluded Skype groups, but for one reason or another it just didn't work. It was refreshing to at least see an attempt at trying to get the site together, and now everyone's just pissing down Zag's throat because it didn't go as planned.

I could ramble a ton more about other shit, but this post is long enough. I only read up to Rapta's post that I quoted, so sorry if I'm repeating stuff. I'll most likely be reading the rest of this thread throughout the rest of the day.