As some of you may know, we're currently testing the next biggish update to Pocket-Monkey over on a separate server. Many thanks to the 60+ testers who are helping us out!
It's going pretty well. We have some issues we need to fix, and we haven't started testing the tournaments yet (hope to start testing those this weekend), but it's going well enough that I can give you an idea of what's coming. If things go as they seem to be going, the update will go live here on Pocket-Monkey in three to four weeks.
So what's in the update? Well:
Tournaments
Various updated web pages and improved site navigation
Color themes for the web pages: If you don't like the brown/orange default theme, just choose one of the others. There will only be a couple to start with, but that will change rapidly. We're working on several, and we'll keep adding new ones over time.
Official player pictures
MonkeyTags for putting text effects in your player profile, and even images (so you can also have other pictures than just your player picture). You may be familiar with MonkeyTags from this forum (see this thread for details on them).
MonkeyTags in open invitations in the waiting room notes
MonkeyTags in private messages, too
A way to turn off player pictures and other player-supplied images if you don't want to see them. When you have them turned off, a link is provided so you can check out specific ones if you like.
Editable buddy lists
A browser setting in your profile to tell us what kind of web browser you use: Java-enabled web browser, WebTV, non-Java web browser, etc. Non-java users don't have to use a special link anymore!
Improved session handling (this is largely invisible to players, but it means -- for instance -- that you can bookmark parts of the site other than the main page, and hopefully it will fix some of the WebTV issues).
Searchable player directory (currently only searching by name, but we'll be adding other things as well once the update goes live).
Various bugfixes
...and probably some things I forgot.
Some of you are probably thinking: "But my favorite requested feature isn't on that list!" Indeed, we have a list of more than 70 other things which we want to do with the site over the coming year -- new games, color choices for the game pieces, further improvements to the way certain parts of the site work, etc. One of the reasons I'm very excited about this update is that once it's in place, it'll be much easier for us to add incremental improvements to the site than it is now.
But you said "...and new games???? Like Halma???" Sadly, there aren't any new games in this update, but we will be able to add some (yes, like Halma -- and Pente) soon afterward. :-)
The tournaments are just fine for now, Know its a lot of work, and you do a good job , I'm just so happy that it is all moving along good for you now,. You do know , the more you give us the more we will want. LOL Now you got something to look forward too. Have a good night,
okay I'm lost and now scared- still don't know or understand monkey tags and players pictures?? and browser settings? how am I suppose to know this?? and bug fixes??? so is this site going to be too "tech" for me?
:-) Don't worry, it's not getting more complicated -- we think the simplicity of Pocket-Monkey is one of the good things about it! It just sounds complicated because you're reading an abstract list of things; if you were actually looking at the updated site you wouldn't even notice most of the new stuff unless you wanted to use it. We've tried to be sure that new features aren't in the way, they're just there if you want to use them.
Take MonkeyTags. We've had MonkeyTags in this forum for three years, you can use them right now if you want to (to do things like make words boldface or italic), but they don't get in your way when you're writing in the forum if you're not using them.
The new stuff is like that: There if you want it, but mostly things just keep working the way they work now (except that with the various fixes to problems [bugs], they work a bit better).
posted by RedBaron (Will C. Crowder) on 01/23 at 00:59
Dalyark, no worries! I'm one of the people helping with the testing, and I can tell you that the ease-of-use and basic Pocket-Monkey "feel" that we all know and love is very much there! As TJ said, the new features are well-integrated, and optional, with "optional" being the key!
So have no concerns...If you like PM now, you're going to love the new site when it's live.
SINCE YA'LL ARE MAKIN ALL THESE UPGRADES AND CHANGES TO PM, WILL YA START CHARGING FOR PLAYERS TO PLAY AT PM NOW~?
At some point we'll be looking at things we can do to help the site pay for itself. We haven't made a decision yet about exactly how we're going to do that; there are several different approaches we could take. Regardless of what we do, though, we will always have some kind of free access on Pocket-Monkey. We've always been committed to that. Pocket-Monkey just wouldn't be Pocket-Monkey anymore if there weren't some kind of free access, even if (and this is just one option) it's more limited than the paid access. We'll make an official announcement about our plans in the next couple of months, but right now we're focussed on getting the update in place and working well.
There are a couple of reasons we need to do this. There's a money reason (the site loses as much every two months as it's ever made from ads or the store, and that doesn't include personnel time -- so we make up the gap from our "real" jobs), but more importantly, there's a desire reason: We want to build Pocket-Monkey, we want to improve it. The site's been almost completely static for more than two years; we're only now finally testing our next update. Oh, sure, there's a little new feature every now and then (ignore lists, changing time limits on games), but nothing really significant. How long have people been waiting for tournaments? How long have WebTV players been putting up with their games sometimes jumping all over the place or just outright freezing up for a couple of days? We want to build the site much, much more quickly than we have been these past couple of years. We want to add games, add more options, improve accessibility for people with vision issues, improve on-the-go access, and lots of other things. To do that, we have to replace at least some of our "real job" income so we have the time to work on the site. Imagine what we could do with Pocket-Monkey if we had the time to spend. We've got ideas, and we're always getting great ideas from all of our members. We want to act on them!
Anyway, there'll be an official announcement once we figure out what we're doing, after the update is in place. But again, there will always be some level of free account here.
Would it be possible to add more visibility to the white stones? It happens to me that I just don't notice them, pretty often too and I know I'm not the only one. Put a blach line around them or something?
You'll be glad to know that that's one of the things we're doing. It might not make it into this next update, but if not it'll be quite soon after. The plan is to improve the main game piece colors, but also to offer some other choices about the game piece colors, since everyone's eyes and monitors are different. Not a huge number, but probably three or four options, including a high-contrast one for people with vision problems.
So that's coming down the pike... -- T.J. Crowder First Primate Pocket-Monkey.com
Re: Re: Re: Testing Update
Message #1817 Replies: 1
posted by pint of beer (john shields) on 02/20 at 10:20
hey Tj and his crew have been working hard on the beta site were all the testers like myself have been trying every thing out, when most of the new features arrive here on the live site members here will think WOW what happened, a great site is going to be MASSIVE, you will all be like kids in a candy store. Enjoy all the fruits of TJ and his staff`s work, i know i am loving the bets site and want it here.
Folks: John's being far too kind, but it's true that the update does have some improvements. I'm really eager to bring it live here! Just a few more issues to work out...
-- T.J. :-)
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Testing Update
Message #1819 Replies: 1
posted by pint of beer (john shields) on 02/20 at 14:35
praise were praise is due and your doing great on the beta site and members will see the vast improvements
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