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Originally Posted by wshbrngr Snowcone: Sorry to take so long to reply, but I have been down for a few days (Me and the computer) I did upload a revised fighter destiny a while back with enhanced colors, but I have not uploaded anything in the past few days.

Cool. I will go ahead and replace the old one with this new one.

So the new domain name will be thecoverproject.net

I am going to try and get the site built and online within about 10-14 days. Once we get this site online I am going to promote a few of you to be able to post pending covers and help keep things running smoothly.

Originally Posted by Snowcone So the new domain name will be thecoverproject.net I am going to try and get the site built and online within about 10-14 days. Once we get this site online I am going to promote a few of you to be able to post pending covers and help keep things running smoothly.

Dont forget to migrate the ftp server for those manuals I'm uploading too as it certainly made it easier than the html method where large files are concerned.

Are you migrating the existing layout?
This may be a good time to look at altering the format to a name based structure .... one name with all associated covers and the manual nested underneath. That way a visitor can see all items available for a particular game with one click.
But then again .... I'm no site designer so maybe it's too hard to do this? .... just a suggestion anyways.......

Cheers

Originally Posted by TheValeman Dont forget to migrate the ftp server for those manuals I'm uploading too as it certainly made it easier than the html method where large files are concerned. Are you migrating the existing layout? This may be a good time to look at altering the format to a name based structure .... one name with all associated covers and the manual nested underneath. That way a visitor can see all items available for a particular game with one click. But then again .... I'm no site designer so maybe it's too hard to do this? .... just a suggestion anyways....... Cheers

That is already on the agenda. I am not worried if it will be tough or not as it needs to be done. I plan on having it listed as you suggest with a notation of what type of DVD/game case the cover image was designed for as well as what region the original game was from. This will also include manuals.

As far as the layout, I am scrapping all of it and doing it from the ground up. I have been laying things out all day trying to get something that I am happy with. So far I haven't hit the paydirt yet.

Originally Posted by Snowcone That is already on the agenda. I am not worried if it will be tough or not as it needs to be done. I plan on having it listed as you suggest with a notation of what type of DVD/game case the cover image was designed for as well as what region the original game was from. This will also include manuals. As far as the layout, I am scrapping all of it and doing it from the ground up. I have been laying things out all day trying to get something that I am happy with. So far I haven't hit the paydirt yet.

If you wanted it up fast you could take a simplistic approach something like....



Not much reprograming required .....list on the left altered to show the individual game .... pic displayed could be pulled at random from available covers or default to USA being the most popular and clicking on the cover type brings up the appropriate image. Download button would initiate the download for the highlighted image etc. PDF button should open a new window with pdf displayed seperately. We could nest individual region manuals under the image buttons so users would know a manual is for japan if under the JPN image button etc... a little nasty I know ....but .....

It may be an easy implementation for you in the short term and allow you to get a final version up with all sorts of extra information at a later date. I think it would be great to structure a page to show information about game type, release dates, interesting facts & figures etc .... sort of a one stop shop for information about the game along with the covers, manuals etc. I would also like to see the ability to show the labels for the carts as well if possible. After all ... I cant be the only one which ex-rental carts that would love to replace ripped,damaged ones with a nice shiny new one :-)

Originally Posted by TheValeman If you wanted it up fast you could take a simplistic approach something like.... Not much reprograming required .....list on the left altered to show the individual game .... pic displayed could be pulled at random from available covers or default to USA being the most popular and clicking on the cover type brings up the appropriate image. Download button would initiate the download for the highlighted image etc. PDF button should open a new window with pdf displayed seperately. We could nest individual region manuals under the image buttons so users would know a manual is for japan if under the JPN image button etc... a little nasty I know ....but ..... It may be an easy implementation for you in the short term and allow you to get a final version up with all sorts of extra information at a later date. I think it would be great to structure a page to show information about game type, release dates, interesting facts & figures etc .... sort of a one stop shop for information about the game along with the covers, manuals etc. I would also like to see the ability to show the labels for the carts as well if possible. After all ... I cant be the only one which ex-rental carts that would love to replace ripped,damaged ones with a nice shiny new one :-)

Thanks for the feedback. When I start doing the database design this week I will account for all of those things and see if we can't get a pretty decent site online. With the whole facts and figures and release date info I will definitely need some help on the administration part of things. Do I have any immediate volunteers?

Another suggestion would be to set up user pages for contributors, to show what/how much they've contributed. Like Valeman, I'm no programmer so that's probably too hard/time consuming....I just wanted to see how much Valeman's contributed (must be in hundreds somewhere). lol

I should also mention that I am going to take an Image Shack type of approach and create a thumbnailing script for us to link to things on forums. The site will also have it's own forum for discussion and creation of the covers.

Originally Posted by SMMM Another suggestion would be to set up user pages for contributors, to show what/how much they've contributed. Like Valeman, I'm no programmer so that's probably too hard/time consuming....I just wanted to see how much Valeman's contributed (must be in hundreds somewhere). lol

Nope, will be easy. I will set that up as part of the planned statistics page.

Originally Posted by SMMM Another suggestion would be to set up user pages for contributors, to show what/how much they've contributed. Like Valeman, I'm no programmer so that's probably too hard/time consuming....I just wanted to see how much Valeman's contributed (must be in hundreds somewhere). lol

ROFL ..... I checked my imageshack page and it currently stands at 216 images. Taking off a few for misc stuff I think it still comes up on the high side of 200. Jeez ....

Still .... I may have contributed a heap more than 100 scans personally taking into account the volume of PAL covers submitted and a big volume of US ... but there's still 70+ probably where you guys submitted raw scans and I merely created the cover ..... so kudo's to everyone whose contributed to get us to where we are today.

And big thanks to Snowcone andSnack-bar for providing the web-hosting space for all this stuff. My covers directory stands at 1.8gb's so I know there's some cost for storing this stuff and bandwidth for downloads etc.

UPDATE: While I was in the mood I decided to whack up Schenley's Nightmare Creatures .....

Originally Posted by Snowcone Thanks for the feedback. When I start doing the database design this week I will account for all of those things and see if we can't get a pretty decent site online. With the whole facts and figures and release date info I will definitely need some help on the administration part of things. Do I have any immediate volunteers?

I'd be happy to pitch in ... after all ... manuals, covers, labels etc ... gotta have something else to fill in the time on top of all those eh

Schenley or SMMM ..... might you guys have some time too? Plenty of info on the games on the interweb ... just a matter of searching it all out.

UPDATE: Here's Schenley's A Bug's Life ..... finally ....



And my games arrived today .... 1st up is NBA In the Zone '98 .........



Another treat ... NFL Blitz 2001 to now finish off ALL the blitz games on N64 ......



And lastly for tonight is NFL Quarterback Club 2000 ..........



One to go .... California Speed ... I'll get that up tomorrow sometime. That's my lot until I've paid this set off....

Originally Posted by TheValeman And big thanks to Snowcone andSnack-bar for providing the web-hosting space for all this stuff. My covers directory stands at 1.8gb's so I know there's some cost for storing this stuff and bandwidth for downloads etc.

The covers directory alone shows 4GB of images as it stands on our host.

Wow this is really exciting. My main suggestion would be to just focus on making the best covers site possible for now, rather than trying to make a site that encompasses too much. The game info idea is neat, but IMO you're better off focusing on one major service, at least to start with.

That's the plan backlash. Get a nice solid foundation and then move from there and add features until we crush everyone.

In my searching I did find a site with some decent scans, but I am not sure how that would play out being a competitor.

http://www.covergalaxy.com is the only site that seems like a major player in this market. All the other sites are out there to make money and shove ads in your face first and then provide covers.

Originally Posted by Snowcone That's the plan backlash. Get a nice solid foundation and then move from there and add features until we crush everyone. In my searching I did find a site with some decent scans, but I am not sure how that would play out being a competitor. http://www.covergalaxy.com is the only site that seems like a major player in this market. All the other sites are out there to make money and shove ads in your face first and then provide covers.

A big problem with Covers Galaxy though is that they're all/most are direct scans. They don't seem too fond of templates. Notice how they're all different sizes and such. Plus, the site design is pretty awful.

Yep. The nice thing about these projects, and your new site, is that they are about covers, not just scans. The jpgs are tailored to look like each other (in most cases) and to be used in very specific cases. Your site should definitely have an extensive faq and how-to section regarding both using the covers (how to print, where to buy cases, etc) and how to contribute (how to scan, how to edit to the template specifications, etc).

Originally Posted by Backlash Yep. The nice thing about these projects, and your new site, is that they are about covers, not just scans. The jpgs are tailored to look like each other (in most cases) and to be used in very specific cases. Your site should definitely have an extensive faq and how-to section regarding both using the covers (how to print, where to buy cases, etc) and how to contribute (how to scan, how to edit to the template specifications, etc).

Instructions on how to make covers? Yep ......

However, the way we're going at present we'll have all the covers done for N64 really soon now. Once I've paid off the games I just purchased I'll be buying another lot for the cause. wshbrngr has chimed in with some nice covers also recently so momentum is going nicely at present. Schenley also has a few more to go from his recent purchases. Nate is AWOL but has also purchased covers too.....

Still .... must be a bazillion GBA covers and NDS and so forth .... dont think I could afford to help out there so getting people onto those covers is probably higher priority than N64 at present....

Originally Posted by TheValeman Instructions on how to make covers? Yep ...... Still .... must be a bazillion GBA covers and NDS and so forth .... dont think I could afford to help out there so getting people onto those covers is probably higher priority than N64 at present....

I'd think the priority would be games that are commonly found without cases/boxes. Most people probably have their NDS cases still (I'd hope). GBA, SNES, even old-school NES would be more helpful to most people, I think.

Probably PS1 as well, since those are very commonly found as disc-only. Of course, the cases for PS1 are just CD cases, so it wouldn't take nearly as much work to fix up scans.

I will focus just as much on how to make these covers as presenting them. I am also going to setup a forum for discussion and I was even thinking of setting up an app for you guys to manage which games we had done and which we still needed as well as FTP space for you to manage raw scans etc.

Originally Posted by Backlash Probably PS1 as well, since those are very commonly found as disc-only. Of course, the cases for PS1 are just CD cases, so it wouldn't take nearly as much work to fix up scans.

If you want them in DVD cases it will