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tsumea

Description

Feedback for problems, suggestions, and anything else relating to the website

Why is this site called "Sumea"

Forum

Just curious, and does Sumea actually mean something?

Submitted by souri on Thu, 17/04/03 - 1:52 AM Permalink

I needed a short memorable name for the site.. if you remember some brands out there that make no sense but have become/were household names (well, in the design community anyway.. like K*Grind, Kioken etc). It's a name of an old Amiga demo, by Virtual Dreams. It also means something else in another language. There's a company in the netherlands called Sumea. At the time I registered the domain, they weren't really doing anything other than some java 3d demos. (This was years ago). Now they're doing mobile phone games, with deals with phone companies etc... so that might cause some headaches for me later on.

Submitted by rezn0r on Thu, 17/04/03 - 10:49 AM Permalink

Tho I doubt they'll want the .com.au [:D]

Scott

Submitted by redwyre on Fri, 18/04/03 - 5:58 AM Permalink

so where does "DESTROY THEM MY ROBOTS" come into all of this?

Submitted by Daemin on Fri, 18/04/03 - 8:04 AM Permalink

redwyre: That's what I want to know...

Submitted by souri on Sun, 20/04/03 - 3:43 AM Permalink

It's actually supposed to be "Destroy him, my robots".. it's from Impossible Mission on the C64..

Submitted by redwyre on Sun, 20/04/03 - 4:14 AM Permalink

Either way, it doesn't seem like a nice thing to say... :(

Submitted by Daemin on Sun, 20/04/03 - 8:51 AM Permalink

Souri: I think this Question and Answer (well both of them) should go into the FAQ (if you have one atm, can't remember).

Submitted by redwyre on Mon, 21/04/03 - 3:57 AM Permalink

What about this one: "YOUR EVER LOVING GAMEDEV STATION*" "*any actual love received is purely coincidental"

heh

Sumea navigation

Forum

Is the site hard to navigate? Received a comment recently..

Submitted by Malus on Thu, 10/04/03 - 7:20 PM Permalink

I find it pretty basic to get around actually. I like the fact that I can just look at the posts that have changed since I last visited. What was the comment?

Submitted by rezn0r on Fri, 11/04/03 - 12:52 AM Permalink

Tis pretty straight forward I think. Seems people have trouble with the uploads and linking, though I haven't tried this myself yet.

Scott.

Submitted by inglis on Fri, 11/04/03 - 12:53 AM Permalink

not an issue at all in my opinion.

Submitted by souri on Fri, 11/04/03 - 6:59 PM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Malus

I find it pretty basic to get around actually. I like the fact that I can just look at the posts that have changed since I last visited. What was the comment?

That was basically it - the site was hard to navigate.. (not the forum - the actual website)

Uploading has really been an issue with new members..I'm gonna have to do a step-by-step pages going through each step in detail.. 1: "upload your thumbnails now".. 2: ok, write your news now... etc The details are already there, but I've noticed that people just don't like reading instructions. Members still upload avatars over 10k in size, even though there's text under the upload button telling you to keep the size under 10k. And people are still uploading 20k thumbnails, which I end up having to download and optimize down to 3k (with little quality loss)..

Submitted by redwyre on Fri, 11/04/03 - 9:22 PM Permalink

The site seems rather easy to navigate, except on your first visit, where you might have to search around to see what are the links and what exactly they are, but that's what you'd expect first time :)

I personally think the upload thing is horrible, I am still not sure how to use it, and luckily I don't need to :)

From what I gather, the process seems rather awkward... upload thumbs.. upload pictures.. make sure they all have the right names.. write news.. select pictures by id and filename?

Maybe you should get someone to write an activex applet like the msn photo upload one :)

Submitted by Pantmonger on Sat, 12/04/03 - 12:45 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Souri
Uploading has really been an issue with new members..I'm gonna have to do a step-by-step pages going through each step in detail..

I think that the main problem with the upload is that there is not conformation that it has worked, other then the apperance of the inital TN's. Only other thing I have issues with is that editing your post bounces it the same way that posting a new reply does. Some times I come in to read a thread that has 'new' posts only to find out that someone has corrected the spelling on something. Not a big issue though.

Pantmonger

Submitted by 0xBaaDf00d on Sat, 12/04/03 - 1:29 AM Permalink

I think the main problem would stem from your changing layout.

The front cover is all done one way and is completely thown away when you look at the forums.

It least some form of universal semblance should be kept.

I Initially thought had a prob but once i figured it out it was like second nature. Anyway the opinion i have is for someone new to the site it may appear daunting.

0xBaaDf00d.

Submitted by souri on Sat, 12/04/03 - 8:42 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by PantmongerOnly other thing I have issues with is that editing your post bounces it the same way that posting a new reply does. Some times I come in to read a thread that has 'new' posts only to find out that someone has corrected the spelling on something. Not a big issue though.

That's a forum issue, and there's nothing I can do about that. I try not to meddle with the forum code at all, so that's why the navigation doesn't appear here either.. (well, it does now, since I've just put it in). I've also put up a step-by-step upload/news option up, so hopefully it will be much easier now.

Submitted by inglis on Sat, 12/04/03 - 10:07 AM Permalink

just to save some space up there :)

u have HOME twice and no need for FORUM

Submitted by Malus on Sat, 12/04/03 - 7:00 PM Permalink

Nice one souri.
The step by step should help the newbies with the upload, I was just saying to Pantmonger you should do that, take the control away from the user and they can't frick it up. [:P]

Submitted by shiptu shaboo on Mon, 14/04/03 - 2:06 PM Permalink

I agree a step by step for the upload would be great.
The navigation is excellent; it?s so easy to get around in comparison to similar forum type-sites.

Submitted by souri on Wed, 16/04/03 - 1:07 AM Permalink

If you say Sumea is a forum-type site, I will kill you... [:)]

Submitted by Daemin on Wed, 16/04/03 - 9:05 AM Permalink

I've always thought that the forums were missing the navigation links - thanks for putting them in Souri :-)

Polls!

Forum
Submitted by inglis on Thu, 03/04/03 - 11:07 AM Permalink

yeah, forum poll would be good.

might be a easy way to do a fast community vote on the sumea challenges.

Submitted by redwyre on Thu, 03/04/03 - 12:33 PM Permalink

Yeah, that's mainly why I suggested it. :)

Submitted by souri on Thu, 03/04/03 - 11:22 PM Permalink

Forum polls are one of the most hated features on forums, I think.. especially when every one starts their own little poll.. A poll would be useful for the Challenge though, I agree, but I don't think that particular poll mod would be suitable, as it would only allow a votee one challenger to vote on.. I'd prefer a ranking option, where you have a list of all the challengers, and rank them from 1 to how many entrants there are..

forum suggestion

Forum

It would be nice if there was an "all" mode for reading threads, instead of it being split into pages. Dunno if you can do that, I'm just saying it would be nice :)

Submitted by inglis on Mon, 24/03/03 - 12:41 PM Permalink

you mean a page listing every thread over all forum sections?

you sort of could do that by going to Active Topics then listing all threads from the past <2months>?

Submitted by souri on Mon, 24/03/03 - 12:48 PM Permalink

Yep.. Active topics lists all new threads for you on one page.. Pretty useful. Lot less jumping around..

Submitted by redwyre on Mon, 24/03/03 - 12:49 PM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by inglis

you mean a page listing every thread over all forum sections?

No, reading the actual thread. Long threads get split into pages, underneath the name of the topic it lists the page numbers so you can go straight to a page. I've seen in some forums an "all" link that displays the whole thread on one page.

Submitted by souri on Mon, 24/03/03 - 1:10 PM Permalink

You can click on "Printer Friendly" and it'll show the entire thread in one pop up.. Yeh, it's a dodgy work around, but it'll work. [:)]

Coder section

Forum

Is it just me, or is there zero participation in the coders section of this site and also the forum is pretty dead as well...it seemed a coupla people screamed about having both a section and a forum on sumea a while ago, but it's pretty worthless.

Just a casual (negative) observation.

On the constructive/positive side though, just because I want to be nice, I think the artistic section of the site, such as 2D Artistry and Modelling etc are really good "fronts" for pimping some of the under-used artists lying around the place in australia.

I know alot of the coders here are "busy", but perhaps we need a small coding challenge or some way of showing off/promoting the coders as well? Or perhaps websites are just an inefficient/unworkable way of promoting coders...

Submitted by lava monkey on Tue, 18/03/03 - 9:07 AM Permalink

Yeh I think everyones noticed that, most likely because no one wants to ask questions in case they look stupid. I think a coding challenge would be a great idea to get the coder section up and running.
I'd be in for it..
What type of small challenge were you thinking of?

haha please no more elements [:p]

Submitted by souri on Tue, 18/03/03 - 9:24 AM Permalink

Yeh, I would have thought there would be a greater presence of coders in the forums, judging from the fairly high number of programmers who voted on the main page.. maybe programmers are a shy breed. [;)]
I agree, the website as it is is perhaps not the best way to promote coders. I'm not exactly sure what a better approach would be..
Programmer challenge? Code a game under 64k. [;)] It would be great if there was something the programmers challenge could do that would supplement the modelling challenge. Maybe a funky modeller/animation viewer or something? any suggestions?

Submitted by Maitrek on Tue, 18/03/03 - 10:41 AM Permalink

Yeah it's hard to come up with programming challenges, I think it may be a good idea for some of the coders on the site to get together and write up a bit of a front end for the purposes of graphics output (ie directx or OGL maybe?) so that future coding challenges can have a bit of substance to them, but again, I question the level of participation that would occur.

Perhaps in the future with a small, compact front end there could be levels of collaboration between the programming and artistic challenges to make some pretty little demos and things like that - but again, this is a fairly large investment of time and participation given the busyness of coders atm? I'm not sure...anyone got any suggestions?

If nothing else perhaps I can "put my money where my mouth is" (so to speak) and write the said front end...?

Oh and in regards to not asking questions in case of looking stupid or not like an "uber-programmer", look at some of the stupid-arse ignoramus-esque stuff I put up there :)

Submitted by Soul on Thu, 20/03/03 - 1:09 AM Permalink

Does anyone know if there's any local demo comps?

A old school demo is easily one of the best ways to show off both programming & artistic skills, so surely some Sumeans could get something together :)

Submitted by rezn0r on Thu, 20/03/03 - 9:46 AM Permalink

Everyone is sick of environmental effects as programming comps... so my suggestion for a comp is to make the best gore effect... Heads exploding into chicken necks and fingers, guts falling out of a lucid body... SACKLOADS OF ORGANS!!!!! Now thats a challenge.

Yes I have a problem.

Submitted by Maitrek on Thu, 20/03/03 - 11:18 AM Permalink

Having scanned the LAN party scene in Australia for an hour on the net I can't seem to find any demo competitions so I think that may just be out of the question, although it would be nice to be able to display the work done, in the challenge, in some form or another.

As far as exploding chickens goes, it may be a programming challenge no doubt, but at the same time, I personally find that kind of material not quite as appealing as it is to you :) I'm not really the gore/violence type, however I'm obviously not the one making decisions so I'll start a thread in the coders section for suggestions about any possiblity of an upcoming coder competition.

Submitted by Daemin on Fri, 21/03/03 - 8:45 AM Permalink

I guess we'd have to host our own demo party lan in Australia sometime, maybe around the AGDC, or maybe scab a booth or something with just a powerful computer and a projector showing off some cool demos?

Submitted by Maitrek on Fri, 21/03/03 - 11:09 AM Permalink

Yeah I'm a bit stuck for ideas how to "promote" said sumea code challenge.
Hosting a demo/lan party takes a fair bit of effort seeing as this is a nation wide community...unless a Sumea party is happening any time soon (which I doubt it will), or a Sumea stall at the AGDC (also not high on the likelihood list).
I guess this takes it back to the whole "how the crap do we promote programmers" debate.

Submitted by Daemin on Fri, 21/03/03 - 1:35 PM Permalink

"how the crap do we promote programmers"

Well perhaps by starting off with that we're not stereotypical nerds that stay awake all night working on the computer in a dark room...

erm, well, not *all* the time.

;-)

Submitted by redwyre on Fri, 21/03/03 - 2:31 PM Permalink

there is an Australian demoscene, and there is an Australian demoscene party called "Coven". http://www.covenparty.org

The party wasn't held last year, but I think they are planning one for this year..

demoscene rules!

Submitted by Maitrek on Sat, 22/03/03 - 8:40 AM Permalink

Yeah I went there and noticed it hadn't been updated in a while so I kinda tossed it aside assuming it was pretty much dead, but maybe I'll have another look.

At true - demoscene does rule :) Not as much as it used to, but it still rules :)

Submitted by souri on Sat, 22/03/03 - 4:46 PM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Maitrek

unless a Sumea party is happening any time soon (which I doubt it will), or a Sumea stall at the AGDC (also not high on the likelihood list).

There's no way I could afford to pay for a stall at the AGDC.. and who'd wanna go to a Sumea party anyway? Unless, of course, some of the female members in the forum are coaxed into going [;)]

Submitted by Maitrek on Sun, 23/03/03 - 1:43 AM Permalink

quote:Unless, of course, some of the female members in the forum are coaxed into going

lol

I emailed the guy who claims to be an organiser of the CovenParty (and Adelaidean demo party which has gone a bit on the way side in the last year or two) and he tentatively said that there may be something sometime early in 2004, but he's only thinking about it, and hasn't planned anything as far as he let on.

Submitted by souri on Mon, 24/03/03 - 2:55 AM Permalink

That Coven Party has been around for almost a decade, hasn't it? I remember hearing about it when I was still using my Amiga ('92-'93)..

Submitted by Maitrek on Mon, 24/03/03 - 11:01 AM Permalink

The website goes back to '95 but who knows how far back the party goes?

Submitted by redwyre on Mon, 24/03/03 - 12:54 PM Permalink

If you are interested in the Australian demoscene, irc to irc.uq.edu.au #demoscene

ignorant naive confused anything but stupid

Forum

hey souri

firstly thankyou for fixing my profile
ill plead ignorance for my mistake.
i am confused though
do i put my large image in pic 2?
and my thumbnail in pic 2?
and when i follow the instructions i find myself uploading my large image after i submit my news page and therefore i am in a new news page?
please help the naive or ignorant or confused
(anything but stupid, its not good to admit to a lie)

nannoo nannoo

Submitted by souri on Mon, 17/03/03 - 11:35 PM Permalink

You can put your thumbnails in any pic slot, and your large pics in any pic slot.. just make sure your most favourite thumbnail is in pic1, because that's what gets shown on the main and section pages..

Following the steps, after you uploaded your large images, that's it. Done..

I don't want to confuse you more, but the upload bit is a seperate thing from adding news.. You can add news without uploading any pics at all.
The reason I put the upload thumbnails first is that when you upload your pics, it'll chuck the thumbnail image names in the pic slots for your news, which is pretty handy.. After you upload your thumbnails, you write your news, and click submit. That's it for your news entry.... Your news is done... and it has thumbnails.
The next and last thing you do is upload your image pics, and since their filenames weren't required to be added to your news entry, this is the final step.. Why don't large filenames need to be added to the news entry while thumbnails do? Well, the gallery page knows the thumbnail name, and uses that to find the large picture, which should end with an L.jpg.. so if your thumbnail you uploaded is called cat.jpg, the gallery would look for catL.jpg..

I hope I haven't confused you more..

Submitted by Pantmonger on Tue, 18/03/03 - 2:38 AM Permalink

Cool for me at least that explanes a lot, I wondered why the system worked the way it did, without the explination it seemed a bit odd
but now. Much better

Pantmonger

A sort of request / question

Forum

Hey All,

Not sure how hard it is to do or what is involved but who here reckons that there should be a Sumea mIRC channel - personally I think it is a rather good idea - what do the rest think?

Sam

Submitted by Sam on Mon, 17/03/03 - 5:24 AM Permalink

hehe I was thinking when I saw your repsonse - "maybe I should edit my post and put in there something like 'if one hasnt already been suggested' and you beat me to it" or maybe i should learn to use the search function hey........

Submitted by souri on Mon, 17/03/03 - 7:13 AM Permalink

Anyone is free to start one up.. I'd be willing to park my butt there when I'm online. I do suggest that you do it on the oz.org though.. makes more sense to do it there, I reckon. [:)] I think you have to register so that you can have Z in your channel (who stores op details)..
I was about to implement an irc type thing on the site a while ago, but decided against it. It would've seriously bogged down the server..

Questions for the votebox

Forum

If anyone has a Q&A set for the votebox on the main page, let me know.. I'm all out of ideas. [:)]

Submitted by Sorceror Bob on Wed, 12/03/03 - 9:17 AM Permalink

which aussie game are you most looking forward to?

Submitted by inglis on Wed, 12/03/03 - 10:12 AM Permalink

how often does max crash on you? lol

will you play World of Warcraft?

will u get the PS3?

will you send me $1?

Submitted by souri on Mon, 17/03/03 - 7:58 AM Permalink

A matching set of 5 answers would be nice too.. [;)] [:D]

Submitted by inglis on Tue, 06/05/03 - 2:29 AM Permalink

You visit Sumea primarily to ...
- lurk around the forum
- browse member galleries
- see job listings
- take part in challenges

Submitted by Malus on Tue, 06/05/03 - 6:59 AM Permalink

Red pill? or blue pill? [:P]

Submitted by souri on Tue, 06/05/03 - 7:01 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by inglis

You visit Sumea primarily to ...
- lurk around the forum
- browse member galleries
- see job listings
- take part in challenges

You know I've already done this.. ? [:)]

Submitted by inglis on Tue, 06/05/03 - 8:51 AM Permalink

oh......i see....

scrap that one then :)

Submitted by redwyre on Sun, 25/05/03 - 6:12 PM Permalink

Here's one for the next (worded as-is):

Which is cooler:
*Dot product
*Cross product
*Magnitude
*What the hell are you talking about?

Submitted by tachyon on Thu, 05/06/03 - 1:38 PM Permalink

How about something like

what platform do you develop for:
PC
Xbox
GC
PS2
GBA
other

Submitted by souri on Tue, 10/06/03 - 7:52 AM Permalink

Thanks! I'll put that for the next vote in a week or two.. (the current vote, "where would u prefer to work" is pretty interesting and I want to give it some more time) [:)]

Submitted by davidcoen on Tue, 10/06/03 - 9:00 AM Permalink

what is the longest you have played a game for without sleep / taking a break
<1 hour
1 - 24 hours
25 - 48 hours
49 - 72 hours
>73 hours

Submitted by davidcoen on Tue, 10/06/03 - 9:04 AM Permalink

you want to work in the game industry because?
enjoy playing games
enjoy creating art
creating experences
your lazy
want to be closer to lara croft

Submitted by davidcoen on Tue, 10/06/03 - 9:14 AM Permalink

your favourit subject in high school
maths
english
art
science
P.E.

Submitted by davidcoen on Tue, 10/06/03 - 9:15 AM Permalink

most of your time online is spent on or downloading
chat
email
p0rn
forums
music

Submitted by davidcoen on Tue, 10/06/03 - 9:20 AM Permalink

what best descibes you?
never buy games
buy a few games
buy second hand games
buy many games but sell them
buy all the new games you can aford

mirc channel

Forum

Not sure if this is where i should post this..

But maybe a Sumea chat room could be good.

I dont know if many people would hang around in there, but it could be a good place to get running crits of stuff, like #model_design is for polycount..

just a thought :)

Submitted by inglis on Sun, 09/03/03 - 11:29 AM Permalink

would be good but it wouldnt be too active- most of the time i come on the forum i am the only one - or at most a couple others.

lachlan inglis
Showreel WIP: http://effectism.com/sample/

Submitted by Sorceror Bob on Sun, 09/03/03 - 12:52 PM Permalink

I agree, I think the sumea community is growing fairly quickly, maybe in a few months this would be a good thing

Submitted by souri on Tue, 11/03/03 - 9:10 AM Permalink

Feel free to set one up !!.. You should do it on the oz.org network.. I wouldn't mind idling there when I'd doing stuff for the site or bumming on the net. [:)]

Submitted by redwyre on Thu, 03/04/03 - 8:59 AM Permalink

I would have suggested AustNet... but what is the status of this channel?

AustNet also have #C++ with people in it... ;)

Submitted by rezn0r on Thu, 03/04/03 - 9:59 AM Permalink

Austnet is good... tho there is no one in the #c++ chatroom with even a rudimentary knowledge of c++.

#Sumea @austnet?

Scott.

Submitted by souri on Thu, 03/04/03 - 11:23 PM Permalink

Got some irc servers for us? I might pop in there tonight..

Submitted by redwyre on Fri, 04/04/03 - 9:20 AM Permalink

...on irc.oz.org, there is a large and lively number of people on #coders..

any network a favourite for the artists?

(Another Australian network is irc.uq.edu.au (QUESTNet), I go there for #demoscene)

I thought this was weird though, from www.oz.org:
"Today, ozorg exists as a successful stand-alone network, and with up to 4000 simultaneous users, is currently the largest IRC network in Australia"

However, AustNet gets a max of around 14000 users...

Submitted by souri on Sat, 05/04/03 - 5:35 AM Permalink

I'll be parking at #sumea on irc.uq.edu.au when I'm on..

Submitted by inglis on Sat, 05/04/03 - 6:03 AM Permalink

ill be parking in there too :)

Submitted by rezn0r on Tue, 08/04/03 - 3:26 PM Permalink

Now all we need are people in the channel to talk to me.

So lonely.

Scott.

Submitted by redwyre on Tue, 08/04/03 - 4:18 PM Permalink

What? I'm the one who ends up alone.

Seems it isn't so popular at 3am ;/

Submitted by rezn0r on Tue, 08/04/03 - 4:21 PM Permalink

Where are all the programmers who think 3 is lunch time?

Scott.

Submitted by Kezza on Sat, 26/04/03 - 10:27 AM Permalink

3 is lunch time!?
who eats lunch that early? its more like 6!

Website down this weekend :P

Forum

Not sure why, but it's either down, or extremely slow... it seems to be like this for all the hosted sites at my web space provider as well.. *shrug*..
Oh, I've put a page up so you can see all the member's avatars.. e.g http://www.sumea.com.au/sectionavatars.asp?modeller=-1&type=2

There's a 'member's avatars' link on the section pages... it'll have upcoming birthdays, stats, and other neat stuff..

Submitted by inglis on Mon, 24/02/03 - 3:01 AM Permalink

Tex - -8737 days
Tasman - -6279 days
Souri - -10115 days
SorcerorBob - -7438 days .......

is that the amount of days til we die? ..but im not on the list- so i must be dead?!? lol

lachlan inglis
Showreel WIP: http://effectism.com/sample/

Submitted by souri on Mon, 24/02/03 - 3:03 AM Permalink

You're not on the list because you haven't entered your birthdate.. and that's just the number of day's you've been around [;)].. I'm gonna replace it later with those with birthday's that are coming up within a few weeks or so..

Submitted by souri on Mon, 24/02/03 - 10:50 AM Permalink

Just got the news from the webhosts... seems the site was down from 1pm Saturday till this afternoon due to denial of service attacks... don't know whyyyyyyyy people get off on doing stuff like that..

You have sections for everyone but...

Forum

Well hey this section hasn't been used in a while.
Anyway i had a though last night. Perhaps you should add a section for designers/writers so they can upload game treatments, design docs or stories they have written.
I think everyone will agree that the design of the game is the most important aspect so i think the those guys should be able to contribute rather than the artist being the only ones who get to submit stuff. (i know that games design can be seen as an artform)
you never know maybe a designer could get "noticed" because of it.[:D]
Anyway just a thought.

It is infact ants who are the true rulers of this world!!!

Submitted by Daemin on Sat, 22/02/03 - 10:55 PM Permalink

Well it might be good to have a Misc section on Sumea, but I doubt that you'll be hired based on an existing game design. That simply doesn't happen, although if someone wants to they could put their document up here for people to comment on / make fun of.

Submitted by souri on Mon, 24/02/03 - 2:44 AM Permalink

If anyone wants to have their deisgn docs, game treatments, or stories up on the site, then that would go to the articles section.. that also applies to code snippets etc that maitrek mentioned a while ago..

Submitted by Meatex Salami on Sat, 01/03/03 - 1:47 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Malus

Also look out that no one just nicks your game ideas meatex lol
Us humans are a sneaky bunch.

Yeah damn those pesky humans

Who needs real life, UT2003 has amuch better poly count!

Uploaded images can be under 150k now, not 80k..

Forum

I've decided to push up the limit...

Submitted by Pantmonger on Wed, 19/02/03 - 7:36 PM Permalink

Got storage to burn have you? The 80k limit was for the most part alright, sure sometimes JPEG has a little trougle getting to that size and not being lossy but 150k thats getting large. I would have thought maybe 120k, as I have never known a JPEG at that size (800 x 600) to need more and I think you find that some will just match the 150k because they can, but in the end its your ship.

Pantmonger

Submitted by souri on Wed, 19/02/03 - 10:53 PM Permalink

I'm going to have to remove the Tito demo from the site, which will free up about 5 mbs.. according to my logs, that file has been downloaded 867 times already..
The 150k is the limit, and yeh, a lot of the pictures don't require that much. I hope people don't just save their art to 150k when it doesn't need to be, but I know ther are some pieces of work that really need that 150k size..

Nice update/revamp

Forum

Good work on the update, it is running a lot faster, good job.

Destroy them My Robots? My winged monkeys will get you first

Pantmonger

Submitted by Sertan on Wed, 12/02/03 - 2:53 AM Permalink

Yeah, it's very spiffy. Good work!

We like a man who comes right out and says what he thinks - when he agrees with us.

Submitted by mochumbo on Wed, 12/02/03 - 3:05 AM Permalink

Yeah nice update... But i don't like the member login right down the bottom.

Submitted by souri on Wed, 12/02/03 - 8:57 AM Permalink

yeh, taking out the icon navigation made a difference, I think.. all the icons and their seperate roll-over images, preloading code, and javascript.. probably about 20k all up there. Did you check out the flashback page? I think it's neat-0
Yeh, scrolling all the way to the bottom hopefully won't be toooo much of a hassle.. putting it there helps releive some of the clutter on the top of the main page..
Oh, and Destroy them my robots is a typo.. it should be Destroy HIM my robots.. I'll let you guess what ancient game that came from.. [:)]

Submitted by GooberMan on Thu, 13/02/03 - 1:10 AM Permalink

I ain't played that game for aaaaaaaaaages.... a 3D version would own (hint hint whoever owns the IP)

Ethan Watson, teh brand spankin' new Krome employee.

Submitted by souri on Thu, 13/02/03 - 7:49 AM Permalink

I've made it so that you can click on the large Sumea logo on the main page, and it'll jump down to the bottom of the screen where the login texfields are.. saves ya scrolling [:)]

Submitted by Sertan on Fri, 14/02/03 - 8:16 AM Permalink

Thank you, I nearly suffered from RSI through one session of scrolling to the bottom. [:p]

Nah, I do appreciate the effort you put into this site. [:)]

We like a man who comes right out and says what he thinks - when he agrees with us.

No internet access!

Forum

If things appear slow on the website in regards to news updates, or email replies.. well, there's a small reason. I don't have internet access anymore! (I'm doing this at a noisy internet cafe with kids playing Counterstrike all around me who should be at school, darn it!)
And to add to this, the cable which connects my usb port to the motherboard started burning. I have no idea why or how - maybe the cable got pressed against my gfx card ... well, it's burnt, and I can't replace it because the stupid card uses a proprietory cable.. I use the usb port for a mouse and digital camera, so now I'm using this really old mouse of mine which I've had to switch the left and right mouse buttons in windows, because the left button is real dodgy. Meh!

Submitted by souri on Fri, 07/02/03 - 10:11 PM Permalink

Oh man, have I got something in store for the site next week.. gonna keep it a surprise for now. [:)]

Submitted by Jacana on Tue, 11/02/03 - 10:58 AM Permalink

Love the update, Souri :)

Great stuff.

Oh yea - I totally understand about lack of net access. I am like in Canberra ISP hell :) Turns out I am on a RIM so no DSL. There's no cable in the street. So best hope is to get a second line installed and see if I get lucky enough to get a straight copper...

"Yes I Code"
Shirts for AGDC 2003:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/ladies/5b3d/
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/ladies/38f0/
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/ladies/38ed/

Submitted by souri on Tue, 11/02/03 - 12:05 PM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Jacana

Love the update, Souri :)

Great stuff.

Oh yea - I totally understand about lack of net access. I am like in Canberra ISP hell :) Turns out I am on a RIM so no DSL. There's no cable in the street. So best hope is to get a second line installed and see if I get lucky enough to get a straight copper...

"Yes I Code"
Shirts for AGDC 2003:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/ladies/5b3d/
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/ladies/38f0/
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/ladies/38ed/

Yeh, I heard getting cable in Canberra is a bit hard.. Go dialup.. dialup is good! [;)] Having no internet access is a major bummer though. I was getting withdrawal symptoms..
I hope everyone digs the site redesign!

thanks souri

Forum

hey there,
I would just like to say that i really appreciate sumea, i personaly think its much better then bikid, which was the first one i knew of.
and i hope its workin for you and i hope over time it grows big enuff.
keep it up punk. its great [:D]
ps. to every1 else: post more [;)]
it wil help this page grow [:)]

wake up, we got, we want, CHAOS, wake up, we got perfect motion.
wake up, we've got, to stop, the rot, wake up, we want EVOLUTION
wake up, wake up, they've lost, the plot, so knock, 'till the walls come CRASHING DOWN. - sunscreem

Submitted by souri on Wed, 22/01/03 - 1:39 PM Permalink

Hey thanks.. very nice of you to say that! [:)].. Bigkid is still a very cool site - Sumea just a very different website to that though.. if you were after games news, Bigkid would be a better place for that stuff. We're more focused on the making side of them.

Did you just call me a punk?? [:D] hehe

Submitted by beatsta on Wed, 22/01/03 - 2:08 PM Permalink

yeah, i didnt want to get into the differeces, but overall i think i like this site better....
and yeah, get with it you punk, i called you a punk, thast what you are, a punk....teehee!!

keep on doin, what you been doin!
And one day, you will be free!

Submitted by beatsta on Wed, 22/01/03 - 2:11 PM Permalink

bigkid is a good site as well, i check that and polycount and cgtalk and a few music forums (specific to me) every day or evry time im online

keep on doin, what you been doin!
And one day, you will be free!

Submitted by souri on Thu, 23/01/03 - 8:16 AM Permalink

You should put http://www.3dfestival.com/ on your list as well.. Best news website for 3D Artists I've ever encountered. [:)] It's got news, great interviews/insights/articles, and tutorials from famous and very talented 3D artists.

profile/signature

Forum

just a couple things;

1)when you change your signature in your profile it changes in all your posts. not just the new posts youve made after the changes.

and

2) html input in the profile fields (e.g. bio/latest news/signature etc)...or Forum Code.

: lachlan inglis
http://effectism.com/sample/

Submitted by souri on Wed, 22/01/03 - 1:27 PM Permalink

The forum has an option to change it to dynamic signatures like that, but I prefer to have signatures recorded and saved onto messages for prosterity [:)]..

I think html signatures aren't a good idea. Images/banners/flash/html signatures aren't necessary.. and dialup users can't be screwed downloading all that to read messages.

Submitted by inglis on Wed, 22/01/03 - 1:30 PM Permalink

yeah- banners. didn't think of that. i was just thinking of bold etc.

and i just tested forum code in the profile page and it works :)
silly me [:)]

: lachlan inglis
http://effectism.com/sample/

Submitted by Gaffer on Thu, 23/01/03 - 11:20 PM Permalink

i'd like a html sig, then i could put a funk java applet sig in... :)

Glenn "Gaffer" Fiedler | Senior Programmer | Irrational Games

Submitted by souri on Sat, 25/01/03 - 1:57 AM Permalink

If there's one thing I hate more than bad Flash intro's, it's BAD Java applets.. [;)]

Submitted by inglis on Sat, 25/01/03 - 2:19 AM Permalink

yeah .. every thread that gaffer posts into up comes a screen' Install Java blaha blaa'...mmm..maybe not :)

lachlan inglis
Showreel WIP: http://effectism.com/sample/

Submitted by Gaffer on Sat, 25/01/03 - 8:06 AM Permalink

heheh, one java vm instance per post of mine per forum page... nice. hope you have a dual proc machine guys ;)

Glenn "Gaffer" Fiedler | Senior Programmer | Irrational Games

Submitted by souri on Sat, 25/01/03 - 12:49 PM Permalink

I will also make Sumea one big 4mb flash anim, complete with 10 minute scrolling/fading text intro, and a 4 second looped techno soundtrack in the background (which you can't turn off)... It'll be on a pop up window which you can't resize.... AND YOU'LL LOVE IT!! [:)]

Host Site

Forum

Will can you host other site, I'm looking for some web space for a MOD and maybe a personal web page. Much like polyount does.

Submitted by souri on Tue, 21/01/03 - 10:20 PM Permalink

My current hosting plan doesn't support that kind of stuff, unfortunately..

Submitted by Blitz on Wed, 22/01/03 - 3:03 AM Permalink

Maybe if you shell out a few bucks to souri :)
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by Gaffer on Wed, 22/01/03 - 3:37 AM Permalink

www.tierra.net is a good host, i use it for gaffer.org, pretty cheap too

Glenn "Gaffer" Fiedler | Senior Programmer | Irrational Games

Submitted by inglis on Wed, 22/01/03 - 4:45 AM Permalink

i was feeling nice so i copied and pasted it from the site:
u get:

www.YourName.com hosted
Unlimited Data Transfer
Unlimited Hits
Unlimited FTP Access
Unlimited E-mail Aliases
20MB Disk Space
Free E-mail Account
Free Tech Support (via email)
Free Domain Transfer*
Free Personal CGI-BIN
Free FrontPage Extensions
Free SSI, PHP, RealNetworks

the email account is catch all as well...
e.g. anythingatall@yourdomain.com - u will get it.

: lachlan inglis
http://effectism.com/sample/

Submitted by inglis on Sat, 25/01/03 - 3:12 AM Permalink

i guess 20mb is the catch. but that is plenty for a simple gallery type page.

***edit: i just figured out the catch. everytime you visit their site you have to see that terrible fade transition.

lachlan inglis
Showreel WIP: http://effectism.com/sample/

New Sumea members info, Sumea FAQ, and Sumea IRC

Forum

This is for the new members on Sumea who have just received an account to show off their work.. I'll be pointing them to this post, rather than typing everything out all the time [;)].. It'll also be a FAQ so that I don't have to answer the same things..

Sumea IRC Channel

http://www.sumea.com.au/sumeachat/login.htm

Or if you'd rather using mirc, the server is irc.oftc.net, at the channel #sumea

http://mirc.eon.net.au

*Note*

The forum and Sumea website are different applications altogether.. If you have a Sumea profile/account, you will still have to register again ON THE FORUM to use the forum.

New Members

You can register for a profile/journal through http://www.sumea.com.au/sregister.asp .. Please don't register again, and again. Registering isn't instant. New accounts are approved by me - I will email you once I make your account active. If you don't receive a reply, you most likely didn't fill your registration properly.

New Members log in through the front page up the top.. http://www.sumea.com.au/index.asp...

If you have just received a new account - please log in within 2 weeks or else your account will be removed.

I can't log in?

- If I have sent you an email activating your account, and you still can't log in, then have a look in the mapper, modeller, 2d artist, or programmer pages to see if you're still listed. If you're not, then it means I have removed your account. If your name IS there, and you can't log in, make sure you have entered your name and password correctly (none of which are case sensitive). If that doesn't work, send me an email (make sure you tell me your login name or else I won't know who you are [:)])

** I want a forum avatar!
If you want an Avatar for use in the forum here, send me [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/scontact.asp"]a message through here[/url] and I will activate it for you. Make sure you tell me your forum name.

** Problems with uploading an avatar or images
There is a file size limit to avatars. Make sure you fall under those file size limits or else hte uploader will cut it off. Use Macromedia Fireworks or Photoshop's save as web feature to get the file sizes down.

**if you have a new member account, you should upload some of your work in your journal. This way, your name gets listed on the section pages, rather than the "the rest of the memberlist" page. The "rest of the memberlist" page is for the slackers who don't upload any work [;)]

Tips on getting people to visit your profile on Sumea

There are currently over five hundred Sumea members with profiles, and for you to get noticed, you can do a few things..

  • Upload art. When you upload art, your first thumbnail will show up on the main page, and that's where all of Sumea's visitors will see it first. From there they can see your gallery and your profile.
    It's a bit iffy with programmers to upload pictures due to the nature of their craft.. but the suggestion was that programmers can upload screenshots of their routines in action if the routines are of any visual effect.
  • Write in your journal regularly. When you write something there, it will show up in the modeller, mapper, or coder section (depending on which area you belong in).

avatar url

Forum

avatar url field in your profile.
so you can upload your avatar to your own webspace and just type it in and it will work.

Submitted by souri on Tue, 14/01/03 - 9:43 AM Permalink

I try not to mess with the forum code unless I'm adding modifications, and the current avatar modification doesn't do user avatar uploads, unfortunately. There are other modifications that do allow avatar uploads, but for me to get rid of the current one (going through all the code that I've pasted in and removing them) is such a huge pain in the butt.. Just send me the avatar pic at sumea@hotmail.com wit hthe subject header as *****AVATAR PIC****, and I'll put it up for you. [:)] 64x64 pixels..

Submitted by bouncy roo on Tue, 14/01/03 - 12:45 PM Permalink

lol once you know you have a good forum running you shouldn't ever tamper too much with the code otherwise it could blow up out of frustration and the cause you alot of headaches when you have to rebuild it all :) so no touchy I say[:I]

quote:Originally posted by Souri

I try not to mess with the forum code unless I'm adding modifications, and the current avatar modification doesn't do user avatar uploads, unfortunately. There are other modifications that do allow avatar uploads, but for me to get rid of the current one (going through all the code that I've pasted in and removing them) is such a huge pain in the butt.. Just send me the avatar pic at sumea@hotmail.com wit hthe subject header as *****AVATAR PIC****, and I'll put it up for you. [:)] 64x64 pixels..

//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)

Submitted by souri on Tue, 14/01/03 - 12:49 PM Permalink

Teeellllllll me about it.. I've added the 'who's online' and 'avatar' code to the forums, and it required tonnes and tonnes and tonnes of code replacing / changing.. I'm surprised that nothing has crashed and burned yet. I'm a bit hesitant to add any more cool stuff to the forum, although they're all a bit gimicky.... you know, voting polls etc..

Submitted by bouncy roo on Tue, 14/01/03 - 8:31 PM Permalink

codes are so testi :) they get all tempermental and muck up if you try add something cool of course that's usually because I do something wrong *grin* lol have you eve made a really bad typing mistake whilst coding! hahhahahha I have and i ended up restarting my computer cos of it.[:)]

quote:Originally posted by Souri

Teeellllllll me about it.. I've added the 'who's online' and 'avatar' code to the forums, and it required tonnes and tonnes and tonnes of code replacing / changing.. I'm surprised that nothing has crashed and burned yet. I'm a bit hesitant to add any more cool stuff to the forum, although they're all a bit gimicky.... you know, voting polls etc..

//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)

greets

Forum

pssst. new around here, wassup, where is the cool game industry discussion? what are the most active forums around here etc, cheers

Glenn "Gaffer" Fiedler | Senior Programmer | Irrational Games

Submitted by Fluffy CatFood on Mon, 06/01/03 - 6:57 AM Permalink

Hi there. Welcome. The most active forum is probably the general, the Australian industry forum has been getting more popular lately as well.

Lead paint: delicious but deadly!

Submitted by souri on Mon, 06/01/03 - 10:02 AM Permalink

There isn't much game industry chat from those IN the industry in the forums, which is a bit unfortunate. I know there's a fair few lurking, but you developers are a pretty shy bunch [:)]

Submitted by Gaffer on Tue, 07/01/03 - 5:08 AM Permalink

just wondering where the developers chat is then, cos fatbabies.com aint what it used to be, i can tell you... :)

Glenn "Gaffer" Fiedler | Senior Programmer | Irrational Games

Submitted by Blitz on Tue, 07/01/03 - 5:16 AM Permalink

Theres a programmers forum...might eb what you're looking for.
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by Maitrek on Tue, 07/01/03 - 10:41 AM Permalink

As it turns out, none of us are out-spoken enough to create large flame wars (often confused with healthy discussion) :)
I would imagine though that if there was any discussion, it would be in the oz games industry forum, or the general chat, which is often about games anyway, because we can't spend too much time talking about the weather.

Submitted by Meatex Salami on Wed, 08/01/03 - 12:53 AM Permalink

Thats a bit insensitive.
We are in the middle of a massive drought after all

It is infact ants who are the true rulers of this world!!!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 29/02/08 - 9:46 PM Permalink

Ive been a member for a while now used be known as happy_virus but had to change my username to dark_virus_2007 as my old one is longer working :(

Submitted by dark_virus_2007 on Sat, 01/03/08 - 11:28 AM Permalink

ok it only seems to show up on my old PC,cant seem to login from my new one.

On my other PC it seems to state me as anonymous and I figure it has to do with the firewall Im using.

links to icq msn etc in profiles section

Forum

HEy Souri justa thought would it be possible to add the users icq link button etc to their profile?

Submitted by souri on Sat, 04/01/03 - 2:15 AM Permalink

That's actually a very good idea. I'll add that soonish, thanks. [:)] Hopefully I can implement it like the forum here does, so that you can see if they're online / request to add them to your contact list by clicking the ICQ/YAHOO/MSN etc icon.. I wouldn't want to reveal MSN messenger details without some sort of logging in however (want to avoid those email harvesters).. sooooooooooo..... I might make it so that you have to log in the forums first to see anyone's messenger details in their profiles.

Submitted by Idaho on Sat, 11/09/04 - 1:54 AM Permalink

Good work, cheers Souri!

Calling all Game designers, musicians, and others!

Forum

Calling all people who are game designers, musicians, and any other positions in the industry that doesn't fit the 2d artist/modeller/mapper/programmer category. If there's enough interest from you, I might put up a misc. section on Sumea for you to have a profile/journal as well. Give me a yay or nay here if you're interested.

Submitted by Grif on Mon, 30/12/02 - 2:17 AM Permalink

Well, a most certain "yay" from me... but you already knew that. =)

- Grif

Submitted by Gazunta on Thu, 02/01/03 - 8:30 PM Permalink

Hell yeah.

I've got two game design documents I'd like to show off - one was for the Ryan Starr game and the other was for Auran - and Greg Lane said it was "very cool" and "sounds like heaps of fun" :P

Submitted by Daemin on Fri, 03/01/03 - 1:48 AM Permalink

I guess I'll have a design document up sometime soonish. It would be good if there was a general NDA sort of thing that "protected" these documents that we upload. Something along the lines of "If you use any of the ideas present here you must acknowledge them in your credits" or something like that.

QANTM Spelling error

Forum

Have noticed this on the boards and now in the News, but it's spelled QANTM not QUANTM. Think Quantum with no U's. @:-)

Chris Bowden
http://brain.gamekey.com/

Submitted by souri on Sun, 15/12/02 - 7:51 AM Permalink

Oops.. all fixed now, thanks!

Programmer section up on Sumea

Forum

Yes, there's a programmer section up at Sumea.. Daemin, Blitz, and others interested in a journal please go to http://www.sumea.com.au/sregister.asp and put in your details so I can set you up..Please enter your correct email in the form as well - you don't need to worry about spam as no one will see your email address. They can send you an email through Sumea, but they won't get your email address unless you actually reply.
Just a few things for programmers - the way the artist members get a lot of people to view their profile is that they write frequently and display their work in their gallery/journals.. this gets shown in the section pages, and the main page as well.. Well, for programmers, I'm thinking you can upload images as well - perhaps screenshots of your routines at work? It's up to you [:)] .. At the moment Sumea doesn't have the space for you to upload demos that you've coded, but hopefully in the future I can get some sponsorship to pay for extra webspace... anyway, if you have any questions, I'm always here. [:)]

Submitted by Blitz on Wed, 11/12/02 - 12:14 PM Permalink

It's pretty easy to get webspace to upload our demo's etc. to. And if people desperately want to get their hands on the demo they can always send the author a message.
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by Jacana on Wed, 11/12/02 - 7:29 PM Permalink

Maybe code snippits could be put up?
A bit out dated but with MUD's a lot of people write code to do specific tasks and share those around.

"Yes I Code"
As found on AGDC name tag 2002

Submitted by Blitz on Wed, 11/12/02 - 8:27 PM Permalink

Should journal entries really be showing up on the main news section of the coders page?
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by souri on Wed, 11/12/02 - 10:58 PM Permalink

There are 5 slots for journal entries to show up on the main coder page.. I did this so that when people go to that section, they can glimpse into what the members are up to.. Looking at the other sections, I think this works rather well. It's also another way to draw visitors to look into your profile/journal page..

Submitted by Daemin on Wed, 11/12/02 - 11:12 PM Permalink

Erm, Souri, there's a smalal bug in your add link function, I tried to add one just now linking to a website but it spat out an error about something having to be true etc and it wouldn't add the link. I filled in all the fields etc.

Submitted by souri on Wed, 11/12/02 - 11:32 PM Permalink

Yeh, Jacana sent me an email about it this morning.. I thought I fixed it a while ago! Anyway, was working on it until the site went offline a few minutes ago. Should be fixed in no time.

Submitted by souri on Wed, 11/12/02 - 11:43 PM Permalink

Should be ok now.

Submitted by Maitrek on Fri, 10/01/03 - 8:23 AM Permalink

I agree with Jacana, I think there needs to be some sort of code snippets or maybe article/tutorial uploading feature on the coders section, seeing as alot of coders are nice enough to share their pearls of wisdom (such as me) if there was a place to showcase it.

Showing graphics still-frame generally hide what really goes on in the code and alot of code doesn't even go towards graphics.

Submitted by souri on Fri, 10/01/03 - 10:22 AM Permalink

I'll put the code snippets upload on my to-do list, and articles/tutorials can be emailed to me at the usual address, and I'll put them online. I used to allow articles to be added through the admin section, but they were added straight to the database. I prefer to keep the db unbloated and have articles as just html..

Submitted by Maitrek on Fri, 10/01/03 - 10:32 AM Permalink

Yeah that'd be appreciated!
Now I can go and lobby for world peace finally :)

Snootchie bootchies!