08-27-2015, 03:46 AM
Ok, I have a small suggestion of my own in terms of submissions.
When I uploaded my sprite-rip of the special items from LEGO Battles, I got a message from Mighty Jetters about the sheet icon. The only reason I skipped that step is because it said "optional" , and ofc, it obviously was. I wouldn't have had a single problem with making an icon if that was required. That said, why not just make it mandatory? It would save your staff a LOT of effort, because whether it's making an icon themselves, or sending a PM that an icon is needed, productivity is lost from doing it. And it also further delays the sheet/model/whatever getting approved in the long run. Would this be possible to change? As I said, I have no issue with making icons, and to be blunt: anyone with the time/patience/skills to rip a sprite or model, or what have you, should have the time, patience, and skills to make an icon for it, if necessary.
Now, as for the model previewer, that sounds cool...
It'd definitely be nice, but as you've pointed-out, there are MANY inconsistencies with the models and textures that complicate matters. Now, as for html5 or flash, I'm obviously not going to say which you should use, but I would like to explain mine, and some others standpoint on the matter. Firstly, html5 is not entirely new. It's simply another version number, some new tags/features, etc... plastered on html, css, and javascript. It's being called a "standard" , but much of it is WIP, and all the web browser devs choose to implement it pretty much, however they want. (hence the vendor-specific tags in css3) Its performance when compared to flash also tends to be pretty poor, some of that may be directly tied to its core programming language, javascript. Another thing, javascript isn't truly object-oriented, and...ugh...the code to "Extend" a class in javascript, it gives me nightmares, it hurts my head, etc... That said, I avoid using inheritance in my html5/javascript programs, and will continue to till I have an IDE set-up for it. Now, flash... Performs generally a lot faster. I've had very few flash games cause me lots of lag, and these all had one or more of poor resource management, hd graphics, or they were extremely vector-heavy. I've personally never run into its security issues. Flash has graphical IDEs available, and as far as I know, html5 has very few. The only factor I've observed that generally (and dramatically) impacts flash performance for me has been the specs of the device I'm using, whereas html5 has varying performance, and even, compatibility, across different browsers. Flash has ok documentation/tuts, i find it hard finding anything super-reliable for html5 at times. Not gonna start the Apple/Google/whatever Propaganda thing, but...I'll say this much of Apple: I hold above anything else, disrespect, discontent, and distrust for them. This is based on some of their more recent actions, which quite frankly, are unethical and/or insane, but let's not go into a huge discussion about this, so, I leave it at that.
With all that said, when/if you add a model/previewer, develop with whatever you see fit. But, don't just dis or toss-aside the "old technology" , meanwhile praising the "new and improved" stuff as if it were Jesus Christ, himself. (no offense, but I kinda picked-up that vibe from your previous posts on this matter) Flash isn't perfect, but neither is html5. People have their reasons for choosing whichever of the two, and that is ultimately their decision. Also, whether we like it or not, flash, java, and other older, or ancient technologies still dominate the web. Unfortunately, just dropping them, and/or demonizing them to the point we cause others to drop them would be just as chaotic as leaving them there, forever, or never updating them. Also, I'll at least give credit to adobe and orcacle/sun for at least, making security patches. Flash does need to die, though not totally, there are too many games that go with it... that'd be comparable for all emulation/sprite sites to go and delete anything and everything to do with, let's say, nintendo gameboy, because it's "obsolete". Flash offers many benefits, the only way to get people to quit using it is to offer something with the same, or more. html5 so far can't compete in those regards... One of my personal programming projects is to port an as3 flash game, that's slowly dying internally for some reason, to html5. I've not found this an enjoyable experience. I've chosen to do pure javascript, with maybe one exception being jquery for loading external data files. Now, so far, I've been doing basic rendering/asset-related stuff. The graphics preparation, data-encoding, and other stuff have really been tedious and at times, frustrating. I'd be ok with nearly every part of flash dying forever, except for the graphics and animation capabilities. html5 really cannot match that right now. That's my $0.02 on that matter, but ugh...my intention wasn't this massive textwall...sorry gl with whatever you choose!
When I uploaded my sprite-rip of the special items from LEGO Battles, I got a message from Mighty Jetters about the sheet icon. The only reason I skipped that step is because it said "optional" , and ofc, it obviously was. I wouldn't have had a single problem with making an icon if that was required. That said, why not just make it mandatory? It would save your staff a LOT of effort, because whether it's making an icon themselves, or sending a PM that an icon is needed, productivity is lost from doing it. And it also further delays the sheet/model/whatever getting approved in the long run. Would this be possible to change? As I said, I have no issue with making icons, and to be blunt: anyone with the time/patience/skills to rip a sprite or model, or what have you, should have the time, patience, and skills to make an icon for it, if necessary.
Now, as for the model previewer, that sounds cool...
It'd definitely be nice, but as you've pointed-out, there are MANY inconsistencies with the models and textures that complicate matters. Now, as for html5 or flash, I'm obviously not going to say which you should use, but I would like to explain mine, and some others standpoint on the matter. Firstly, html5 is not entirely new. It's simply another version number, some new tags/features, etc... plastered on html, css, and javascript. It's being called a "standard" , but much of it is WIP, and all the web browser devs choose to implement it pretty much, however they want. (hence the vendor-specific tags in css3) Its performance when compared to flash also tends to be pretty poor, some of that may be directly tied to its core programming language, javascript. Another thing, javascript isn't truly object-oriented, and...ugh...the code to "Extend" a class in javascript, it gives me nightmares, it hurts my head, etc... That said, I avoid using inheritance in my html5/javascript programs, and will continue to till I have an IDE set-up for it. Now, flash... Performs generally a lot faster. I've had very few flash games cause me lots of lag, and these all had one or more of poor resource management, hd graphics, or they were extremely vector-heavy. I've personally never run into its security issues. Flash has graphical IDEs available, and as far as I know, html5 has very few. The only factor I've observed that generally (and dramatically) impacts flash performance for me has been the specs of the device I'm using, whereas html5 has varying performance, and even, compatibility, across different browsers. Flash has ok documentation/tuts, i find it hard finding anything super-reliable for html5 at times. Not gonna start the Apple/Google/whatever Propaganda thing, but...I'll say this much of Apple: I hold above anything else, disrespect, discontent, and distrust for them. This is based on some of their more recent actions, which quite frankly, are unethical and/or insane, but let's not go into a huge discussion about this, so, I leave it at that.
With all that said, when/if you add a model/previewer, develop with whatever you see fit. But, don't just dis or toss-aside the "old technology" , meanwhile praising the "new and improved" stuff as if it were Jesus Christ, himself. (no offense, but I kinda picked-up that vibe from your previous posts on this matter) Flash isn't perfect, but neither is html5. People have their reasons for choosing whichever of the two, and that is ultimately their decision. Also, whether we like it or not, flash, java, and other older, or ancient technologies still dominate the web. Unfortunately, just dropping them, and/or demonizing them to the point we cause others to drop them would be just as chaotic as leaving them there, forever, or never updating them. Also, I'll at least give credit to adobe and orcacle/sun for at least, making security patches. Flash does need to die, though not totally, there are too many games that go with it... that'd be comparable for all emulation/sprite sites to go and delete anything and everything to do with, let's say, nintendo gameboy, because it's "obsolete". Flash offers many benefits, the only way to get people to quit using it is to offer something with the same, or more. html5 so far can't compete in those regards... One of my personal programming projects is to port an as3 flash game, that's slowly dying internally for some reason, to html5. I've not found this an enjoyable experience. I've chosen to do pure javascript, with maybe one exception being jquery for loading external data files. Now, so far, I've been doing basic rendering/asset-related stuff. The graphics preparation, data-encoding, and other stuff have really been tedious and at times, frustrating. I'd be ok with nearly every part of flash dying forever, except for the graphics and animation capabilities. html5 really cannot match that right now. That's my $0.02 on that matter, but ugh...my intention wasn't this massive textwall...sorry gl with whatever you choose!