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[Derek]

Thinking of archiving/merging some of the less trafficked subforums:

Collaborations/Unpaid Work - These are very similar and both relatively inactive. I'd like to merge Unpaid Work into Collaborations.

Finished - Merge it back into DevLogs. It's not working out and requires too much work from the mods.

Indie Brawl - Stick it in Archived Projects.

Game Club - Stick it in Archived Projects.

Thoughts?

[sublinimal]

Mm, the Finished forum has a distinct purpose from Devlogs. If things have to be moved manually I guess it's a pain, but at least random browsers won't have to do the same digging through devlogs to find playable games. I find it serves as a promotion of sorts (like "here's a list of the games we've made"), and if anything, it should be more visible.

What's seems like more of an organization issue is that there's an unnecessary differentiation between types of finished games. There's three places to post a game: Announcements (now Townhall), Finished, and its Feedback base forum, each with subtle differences. Maybe use Townhall as a catch-all for all finished games, regardless of whether they had a TIGSource devlog or not?

[eigenbom]

Good idea, spring cleaning!

I vote to get rid of Finished. Having your thread moved there is actually an incentive to not mark your game as 'done', but maybe that's just because I tend to browse Devlogs more than any thing else.

[Blambo]

I vote to keep the finished section, 'cause it lets people who're just browsing projects to only find finished or unfinished projects. If we had a tagging system for searches though, we definitely don't need that section.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

i vote to keep the finished section but i think all the other changes are fine

[i.i]

Just an idea:

Game & Demo
Everything that has a playable build will go in here. This includes finished games and devlogs with demos. This is how a previous forum I used to frequent had it, and at the time, as more of a game player than a maker, I found it very helpful. Nobody really looks at Finished Games, here they will get more attention.
-subforum: Design & Logs
Devlogs have more threads in it than ever before, and Design doesn't really get much activity. I think having a separation of devlogs with playable demos and devlogs without playable demos is a good thing. It encourages developers to get their game into a working state more quickly so that they can finally move their devlog into the big boys forum.

You wouldn't necessarily need to contact a mod when your topic is ready to be moved, just make a new thread and self-lock the old one.

[Conker534]

i vote to keep the finished section but i think all the other changes are fine

[Belimoth]

I like having the Finished section as a "Hall of Fame" that gives people a reason to finish their projects.

If the problem is getting rid of threads that have been posted there illegally, maybe making it a child of Devlogs would help. If that's even possible.

[Conker534]

Oh that'd be awesome. I'd rather it called the hall of fame too.

[Dragonmaw]

I vote to change name to "Hall of Fame" and make it a root-level forum

[Uykered]

Awesome, would be cool if Devlogs wasn't a child/sub forum either since it's the best/most active one of all.

[Dragonmaw]

I would actually prefer if devlogs/feedback/hall of fame were their own forum category.

[Chris Pavia]

I would actually prefer if devlogs/feedback/hall of fame were their own forum category.

yes please.

[Conker534]

I would actually prefer if devlogs/feedback/hall of fame were their own forum category.

me too

[Derek]

What do you guys mean? All merged together at the top level?

[Belimoth]

All distinct at the top level, in a new category.

[Irock]

What do you guys mean? All merged together at the top level?

I think by "forum category" they mean the collapsible sections of the index-- what Community, Developer and Player are. If that's the case, then I fully support the idea.

If moving projects into Finished is too much work for the mods, could you assign some new mini-mods to Devlogs so it's less work for the global mods?

[Dragonmaw]

All distinct at the top level, in a new category.

Yeah, this. Just like Community, Developer, and Player that we have right now. Those three forums should each be top-level in their own category (In-Progress? idk) for maximum exposure

[Belimoth]

You could call the category "Feedback" still. The Finished forum could be called "Finished Devlogs" or "Devlog Hall of Fame" to minimize confusion about its intended purpose.

[i.i]

I think one thing that confuses me personally, is that I don't really know the difference between feedback and devlogs.

What goes into feedback? If I'm working on a game and have a demo to upload, do I put it in feedback or devlogs? If I put it in feedback and make an update after getting all the community input, aren't I really just making a devlog?

Some clarification on the separation would be very helpful for me!