The Ren'Ai Archive (renai.us, RAA) all-in-one thread

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mikey · #1 Post by **mikey** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:21 pm

Welcome!
This is the all-in-one thread for questions regarding the Ren'Ai Archive (http://www.renai.us). You can post here:

- submissions or findings (games you'd like to see mirrored)
- mistakes or errors you found with the games or the site
- questions about the RAA (why, how, who, what, when)
- suggestions how to improve
- other related topics, feel free to say whatever you think is important for the RAA

Related older threads that should not be used anymore:
http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewtopic.php?t=259 - Archive Site - The Beginning
http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewtopic.php?t=683 - Archive Site Update Ideas
http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewtopic.php?t=833 - RAA Compilation CD
http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1068 - Archive volunteer
http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1069 - game submissions
http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1720 - RAA celebrates 50 games
http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1911 - RAA Updated with new SW
http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2022 - renai.us down
http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2046 - Disk Upgrade
http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... f=4&t=2181 - Age Rating
http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... =13&t=3024 - Editorship of the RAA

---- original message below:

Since the threads about the Ren'Ai Archives are getting so confusing, I propose this one single thread for all the discussions, submissions, news, problems, issues, comments, corrections... whatever you wish.

It will be much simpler for the editors and I think for all others as well.

mikey · #2 Post by **mikey** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:27 pm

PyTom wrote:I now officially lift all restrictions on uploading, to the forums and the archives.

I uploaded the newest games and now the RAA should be updated with the very latest versions or every game. I put only the Win/crossplatform version of ElvenRelations up, since there is going to be the 1.1. And so on.

Actually, the real reason for posting is that I added the "All games on the Ren'Ai Archives are mirrored with permission by their makers. Please do not distribute them without their consent." disclaimer on the front page. I know it's on every page as a footnote, but I think it's good to have it highlighted on the first page.

#3 Post by **PyTom** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:46 pm

I just did some tweaks to the archive, making more games accessible through categories in the interface. I put a concurrent connection limit is place, so people with download accelerators can't max out the number of connections the server is willing to serve. (A global limit, that sometimes causes the forums to slow down.) I also put an emergency bandwidth cap of 10gigs per day in place, just so my wallet doesn't get clobbered if we get linked by a high-traffic web site.

(Bandwidth is getting to be something of a concern, since the archives are moving around 70 gigs a month. It's not bad yet... but we're growing fast, and I do need to keep ahead of it.)

I'm also thinking that we may want to redesign the layout of the archives... does anyone have any ideas?

mikey · #4 Post by **mikey** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:07 pm

PyTom wrote:I'm also thinking that we may want to redesign the layout of the archives... does anyone have any ideas?

That would be nice... the current one does give away the impression that it wasn't designed for that many games.

But I'd keep it very conservative - no mascots, no logos, a very practical and intuitive style with neutral colors.

EDIT: The reason is not least that a neutral and dignified site design will also give the makers more confidence when we ask for permission, so creating a respectful environment is important.

#5 Post by **PyTom** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 9:00 pm

I do think we want to simplify the site a bit, although exactly how is up in the air. I'm currently playing with some ideas based on the EBGL, such that each entry would look something like:

Moonlight Walks
It's the summer before you go away to college, and you're spending it visiting with your aunt and uncle on a small island in the Atlantic ocean. One night, while out taking pictures of the full moon, you meet a girl walking down the beach...

American Bishoujo | 2005-01-25 | Visual Novel | BxG | all ages | 30 minutes | web page
Download: Win, Mac, Linux; 8.6 - 10.8 MiB

A screenshot of the game would go to the right of the title. A permalink would go to the right of the download link. Clicking the download link would use javascript to open up a div that contained system requirements, download instructions, and links to the downloads.

The idea is that if we make the game information compact enough that people can quickly scan it, that big ugly table at the top of each page can go away.

I'm thinking that there should be a bar on the side of the site, which lets the user filter and sort the page.

I have a fairly good idea of how I want to present the game information, but not really that much of an idea of how the site as a whole should look. I'd appreciate ideas on this.

DaFool · #6 Post by **DaFool** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 7:28 am

It would be great if the info for each game doesn't take a block more than 2 inches tall. Compact at-a-glance classification is a good idea. It would be good also if there be no need for pop-ups (since they're messy). I don't know how much trouble this will be, but having games searchable by category (i.e. BxG, Sim, etc.) would be neat.

I am keeping tabs on this topic...it will help in sorting out the Ren'Py games listing also, which is a nightmare on dialup.

#7 Post by **PyTom** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 12:22 pm

Well, on my screen, the moonlight walks entry above takes up about 1.7 inches, which I think is small enough that people can scan through it easily. The RAA is already searchable by many of the criteria you mention.

mikey · #8 Post by **mikey** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 12:34 pm

One technicality if I may - for some reason it's become mandatory to assign a website to a maker. Can this be set to non-mandatory?

PyTom wrote:I have a fairly good idea of how I want to present the game information, but not really that much of an idea of how the site as a whole should look. I'd appreciate ideas on this.

Maybe we could find a website-design forum (there's got to be something like that out there) and find someone who'll create a simple graphical design, for them it must surely be a piece of cake, the RAA is far from complicated.

#9 Post by **PyTom** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 12:44 pm

mikey wrote:One technicality if I may - for some reason it's become mandatory to assign a website to a maker. Can this be set to non-mandatory?

Done.

Maybe we could find a website-design forum (there's got to be something like that out there) and find someone who'll create a simple graphical design, for them it must surely be a piece of cake, the RAA is far from complicated.

There's always OSWD at http://www.oswd.org/. They have a lot of designs, but it's not clear how to pick one.

(Actually, I'm thinking that we might want a design similar to OSWD's, with a logo and text-based navigation on the left, and a big content column on the right.)

mikey · #10 Post by **mikey** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 1:22 pm

If you want a spontaneous tip, I looked at them (the 200 favorites) and I really like this one: http://www.oswd.org/design/preview/id/3376

It makes an effort not to look like a blog (all modern text-based sites look like blogs) and it also doesn't try to be stylish or cool - plus even though I'm not absolutely sure about the yellow banner (some slightly more brownish, darker tone would be nice), it is pale, has warm colors and we could use the tabs like we have now and the sidebar (maybe move it to the left and make it narrow) could have sorting buttons. The more designs I look at the more I like this one - it's elegant, simple and functional.

monele · #11 Post by **monele** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 1:46 pm

I just lost an eye from this yellow x_o...

mikey · #12 Post by **mikey** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 2:05 pm

But take away the banner and the blue-thing background and replace them with neutral colors... I think it would work. Or even recolor it completely - but the style and functionality, fonts and all, I think they fit.

rioka · #13 Post by **rioka** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 2:45 pm

I think a change to the site design would be great. If you want conservative colors, a neutral gray background plus a colored banner (reddish shade, maybe) would be good.

#14 Post by **PyTom** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 3:40 pm

What do people think of:

http://www.bishoujo.us/tmp/newlook.html

? I don't like the navigation on the right, and maybe it's a bit squashed... but this is my current idea.

DaFool · #15 Post by **DaFool** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 3:45 pm

Looks OK.

But it could use a more romantic font (The font is too business-like)

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The Ren'Ai Archive (renai.us, RAA) all-in-one thread

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