I had some ideas of some things that I would like to see and some things that I would like to happen and I was wondering if anyone agreed with these ideas. I will list them with a short description in order to avoid wordiness -
- Mock Election
As a significant number of users here are from the United States, having a mock election would be kind of interesting. The way this would be set up is that characters from the Zelda universe would be running for president. It would be pretty simple and probably between two or three characters (either two to three main ones or two main ones with two vice presidential picks) and could possibly have interesting developments that mirror the Zelda universe and the real world.
- European Brawl Tournament
I know that King Tetiro has been planning one and I am not saying to hold one separate from his, but it should be put forward and if help is needed, it should be encouraged. It is kind of sad to see a wasted opportunity and an idea die. The tournament should extend and be covered in the Site News feed though as well to better provide function for the site.
- NCFC Coverage
This is more upcoming, but I do not know if this is being planned on by the staff. It took a lot just to get an Announcement over its existence, but updating it on projects featured or at least reminding people the week it kicks off that it has begun would be really helpful. Encouraging users here to uphold goodwill over there and to register and support our projects from here would also be beneficial.
- A Site Comic
At one point in ZFGC's history, we had the sprite comic, Link's Quest. The site could use another new sprite comic that would be updated weekly on a different day than the Weekly itself; I would suggest incorporating it, but the Weekly is pretty packed as it is, and being more expansive would make the news seem more active which it needs to be to ultimately be viable.
- Member of (Something) or Featured Contributor
I know that this idea has been relegated more recently to an award and its inclusion as a concept has been thinned out because many feel like there is no one more to cover. I disagree. However, I think that it should be based on being a member in good standing as well as providing one or a few good resource(s) that month as well. The idea is to compliment those who provide good resources to the site and I think that a shout out would provide some incentive. The only thing to avoid is giving it more prominence than the project of the week also on the site.
- Official Forum-Held Sprite Competitions
This idea is not totally thought out but I felt that challenging people to create something new, especially when there has been a surge of recent good spriting talent would be a helping hand to developers who need unique things for their projects.
- Altered Color and Holiday Themes
This is pretty self-explanatory, but possibly having a blue and red derivative of this forum as it is now would be pretty easy to at least make but as Infini has said somewhere, implementing it might not be so smooth with site integration or something. What I wanted to also do a while ago was have holiday themes such as a Dampe/Graveyard theme for Halloween and perhaps a Christmas/Winter holiday theme for the last weeks of December. This would be for the atmosphere and would make the community feel good.
- Cleaning Up Stickied Topics and Cluttered Sections
I said this earlier, but it was passed over because bigger things were getting worked on. But seriously, the Discussion in Projects has stickied topics that could be simplified and it would make the page easier to read. Also, in Debates, for example, there are some old stickied topics that I made that are no longer relevant and can be taken down.
- Icons in Tutorials and Examples Use
The icons help a person easily identify what language something is being made in and while there are many topics that the creator's do this, having someone go through the one's that didn't would make navigation that much more easier. Also, some of the icons could be improved or new icons could be made considering the broad list of code languages that the site has a list of for its projects.
- Pruning the Inactive and Zero-Posting Members
There is nearly a list of about a little over 20 pages that do not post and are not active, this could use a trimming. I know that it makes us look big, but I think that outsiders would be more receptive of quality over quantity.
If I think of anything more, I will post later, but I could use your opinions on these ideas. Thank you for your time.