Welcome to the new GarageGames.com!
by Jacob Fike · 01/13/2009 (6:28 pm) · 200 comments
Notice anything different around here? The GarageGames web team presents to you the first new look of GarageGames.com. Of course, there are a lot more changes around here than just getting a face-lift.
The web team was allowed out of jail to take this picture. Smiling bright and sunny are Derek and Jason on the left, in the shadows with hands in pockets are me and Ken on the right.
It's pretty established over here in Eugene that the GG.com website team is a quiet and reserved bunch, as opposed to the more extroverted Torque devs who are always eager to talk about new tech. However, it's probably good for you to get a quick overview of who made the site possible. I'm Jacob Fike (probably obvious given the blog header), and I've been working with GarageGames for two years now. I got my start by creating Overlord Management System system. I then went on to help create the Great Games Experiment and worked on the backend of InstantAction for a while before devoting myself full time to this site. Working beside me is an even more quiet guy, Jason Hetu, who did most of the design work for the site and likes bran muffins (ask him about that later). Also heavily involved in the content and design of the new site were Derek Bronson (for better marketing of our 3rd party products), Eric Fritz (for marketing and usability), Davey Jackson and Michael Blenden (for the needs of educators who visit the site), and Ken Holst and Jeff Hojnacke (for testing).
And HUGE THANKS to the Operations team. First lead by Jay Arrera, and then Jeff Cassar, we wouldn't have been able to post the site up so quickly. Eli Janssen (who doesn't have a profile page since he's too busy making this all work) in particular put in a ridiculous amount of overtime to get this live. We salute you and your beard, Eli.
For anyone who has been here any length of time, you know the old site was beginning to show its age. Although it was still functional, it looked and acted like a site that had been built in the early 1990s. A myriad of web devs had added some cool things to the site over time like community web blogging, snapshots, etc., but maintaining the site was becoming something of a task from a backend perspective since it had ballooned so much. It was due for a much needed overhaul to take advantage of new technologies that made coding and maintenance much easier over the course of the last few years. And, of course, from a usability perspective, there were just too many pages (many of them hard to find if you didn't know the site well), so it was also time to make it easier for new users to navigate through our site.
(And just between you and me, we were kind of sick of the yellow. While it gave the site some personality bonus points, it also made it really hard to design nice art assets for the site. So we chose an easier-on-the-eyes color that would make your blog screenshots pop out of the page.)
Here are 11 links in one drop down and according to Google Analytics, they were rarely clicked on. Sad Panda.
Most of it is pretty self-explanatory. For example, we've simplified the navigation bar so that the entire site is linked through the pages on the top bar. The product pages have been condensed so everything you need to know is contained on one page. And a lot of functionality is staying the same for now, such as Markup Lite for blogs and forum posts. But there are few things that you should know as you familiarize yourself with the site:
Search has been revamped for the entire site. We knew a lot of you would be pleased with this one. The main search box will do a search on all sections of the site. However, each section has its own search box that will search only that type of content (blogs, for instance). The simple search box is smart enough to recognize most standard search queries like phrase matching (put multiple words in quotes to find that exact phase), specific field matches (i.e. author:Bob), and negative term matches (i.e. -dave would show results that do not contain the term dave). Pretty much anything you use on Google, you can use here. The Advanced Search even has the ability to search based on dates, and allows you to limit your searches all the way down to specific forums.
We have a support tab that contains links to all documentation, a form to submit bugs, and how to get paid support. For now, documentation links to the work Michael Perry started with the old site, but will slowly get revamped as he improves the doc system this year. The submit bugs form is similar to our old one, but much easier to find, so we get quicker feedback on our products. And finally, we will be processing requests for paid support, although that is likely geared toward the professional end of our users.
The What's New Page has been simplified to the most clicked on links. The old What's New Page had way too much content, and after some Google Analytic research, we decided to boil it down to the basics. We put GG blogs and other blogs we flag as "featured" right at the top. (Our old "Snapshots" feature has been replaced with these "Featured" blogs.) All other recent blogs also have screen real estate on the bottom of the page. We also have separate tabs for blogs, resources, and forums so you can keep track of those. We'll keep a close eye on how this new navigation is used and make improvements throughout the year.
All information on a single product is now contained within...the product's page. Remember the old days where you had to click on several pages to find information about a product? Even feature lists were on separate pages? Yeah, that sucked. And yeah, we fixed that, by having all information about a product put in tabs on one easily-found page. And now all products are under the "Products" drop-down. Hooray, consistency!
Logins are based on e-mail addresses, not handles. We decided to use e-mail addresses for our unique login because, well, they're unique by design, and people tend to remember them better than handles, which can change over time. Your e-mail address on the new site was the private e-mail you listed when you first registered on GG.com. However, for those of you that can't remember what that was, you'll notice on the login page that we have a place where you can still login under your old handle. Just know that we will eventually rely solely on e-mail addresses for all logins in a future build.
You no longer have pictures and other files uploaded to your profile. Due to the way we set up our initial backend, we decided not to support user uploaded files. Since profile pictures were the only real functionality must people took advantage off, we thought this was okay for initial launch.
Please do not use origin-www or the direct IP address to get to the new site. For the past year, we've been dealing with a rare, but frustrating issue through our CDN (Akamai) where users would get a screen that said "Service Unavailable" when trying to connect. To bypass Akamai and go around this error, some users have been entering the IP address for GG directly, or using origin-www.garage..... as an alternative. We're confident that the "Service Unavailable" issue will be disappearing entirely when the new site is up. It's being hosted in a different location, so connection issues to Akamai should be resolved. However, for each user that bypasses Akamai and connects to our hosted hardware directly, it plugs an available socket. If too many of these are plugged, Akamai can't process requests and neither can the hosted site. Please use www.garagegames.com exclusively from the time the new site is up and discontinue using origin-www or the direct IP. This should save us a lot of hassle and make the site operate faster for everyone who uses it.
Yeah, this is a massive post. I'm sure I've missed a couple things...my mind's kind of mush right now after all the work it's taken to get this far. Do know that we are nowhere near feature completeness of what we want the site to be able to do. More features will be rolled on a steady basis as we collect feedback and monitor site usage.
Welcome again to the new site, and post away with any issues you encounter or things you'd like to see. I'll address them as best as I can in follow-up site releases over the following weeks.
Who are you again?
The web team was allowed out of jail to take this picture. Smiling bright and sunny are Derek and Jason on the left, in the shadows with hands in pockets are me and Ken on the right.It's pretty established over here in Eugene that the GG.com website team is a quiet and reserved bunch, as opposed to the more extroverted Torque devs who are always eager to talk about new tech. However, it's probably good for you to get a quick overview of who made the site possible. I'm Jacob Fike (probably obvious given the blog header), and I've been working with GarageGames for two years now. I got my start by creating Overlord Management System system. I then went on to help create the Great Games Experiment and worked on the backend of InstantAction for a while before devoting myself full time to this site. Working beside me is an even more quiet guy, Jason Hetu, who did most of the design work for the site and likes bran muffins (ask him about that later). Also heavily involved in the content and design of the new site were Derek Bronson (for better marketing of our 3rd party products), Eric Fritz (for marketing and usability), Davey Jackson and Michael Blenden (for the needs of educators who visit the site), and Ken Holst and Jeff Hojnacke (for testing).
And HUGE THANKS to the Operations team. First lead by Jay Arrera, and then Jeff Cassar, we wouldn't have been able to post the site up so quickly. Eli Janssen (who doesn't have a profile page since he's too busy making this all work) in particular put in a ridiculous amount of overtime to get this live. We salute you and your beard, Eli.
Hey, I liked the yellow banners. Why bother with the change?
For anyone who has been here any length of time, you know the old site was beginning to show its age. Although it was still functional, it looked and acted like a site that had been built in the early 1990s. A myriad of web devs had added some cool things to the site over time like community web blogging, snapshots, etc., but maintaining the site was becoming something of a task from a backend perspective since it had ballooned so much. It was due for a much needed overhaul to take advantage of new technologies that made coding and maintenance much easier over the course of the last few years. And, of course, from a usability perspective, there were just too many pages (many of them hard to find if you didn't know the site well), so it was also time to make it easier for new users to navigate through our site.
(And just between you and me, we were kind of sick of the yellow. While it gave the site some personality bonus points, it also made it really hard to design nice art assets for the site. So we chose an easier-on-the-eyes color that would make your blog screenshots pop out of the page.)
Here are 11 links in one drop down and according to Google Analytics, they were rarely clicked on. Sad Panda.What should I know about the new site?
Most of it is pretty self-explanatory. For example, we've simplified the navigation bar so that the entire site is linked through the pages on the top bar. The product pages have been condensed so everything you need to know is contained on one page. And a lot of functionality is staying the same for now, such as Markup Lite for blogs and forum posts. But there are few things that you should know as you familiarize yourself with the site:
Search has been revamped for the entire site. We knew a lot of you would be pleased with this one. The main search box will do a search on all sections of the site. However, each section has its own search box that will search only that type of content (blogs, for instance). The simple search box is smart enough to recognize most standard search queries like phrase matching (put multiple words in quotes to find that exact phase), specific field matches (i.e. author:Bob), and negative term matches (i.e. -dave would show results that do not contain the term dave). Pretty much anything you use on Google, you can use here. The Advanced Search even has the ability to search based on dates, and allows you to limit your searches all the way down to specific forums.
We have a support tab that contains links to all documentation, a form to submit bugs, and how to get paid support. For now, documentation links to the work Michael Perry started with the old site, but will slowly get revamped as he improves the doc system this year. The submit bugs form is similar to our old one, but much easier to find, so we get quicker feedback on our products. And finally, we will be processing requests for paid support, although that is likely geared toward the professional end of our users.
The What's New Page has been simplified to the most clicked on links. The old What's New Page had way too much content, and after some Google Analytic research, we decided to boil it down to the basics. We put GG blogs and other blogs we flag as "featured" right at the top. (Our old "Snapshots" feature has been replaced with these "Featured" blogs.) All other recent blogs also have screen real estate on the bottom of the page. We also have separate tabs for blogs, resources, and forums so you can keep track of those. We'll keep a close eye on how this new navigation is used and make improvements throughout the year.
All information on a single product is now contained within...the product's page. Remember the old days where you had to click on several pages to find information about a product? Even feature lists were on separate pages? Yeah, that sucked. And yeah, we fixed that, by having all information about a product put in tabs on one easily-found page. And now all products are under the "Products" drop-down. Hooray, consistency!
Logins are based on e-mail addresses, not handles. We decided to use e-mail addresses for our unique login because, well, they're unique by design, and people tend to remember them better than handles, which can change over time. Your e-mail address on the new site was the private e-mail you listed when you first registered on GG.com. However, for those of you that can't remember what that was, you'll notice on the login page that we have a place where you can still login under your old handle. Just know that we will eventually rely solely on e-mail addresses for all logins in a future build.
You no longer have pictures and other files uploaded to your profile. Due to the way we set up our initial backend, we decided not to support user uploaded files. Since profile pictures were the only real functionality must people took advantage off, we thought this was okay for initial launch.
Please do not use origin-www or the direct IP address to get to the new site. For the past year, we've been dealing with a rare, but frustrating issue through our CDN (Akamai) where users would get a screen that said "Service Unavailable" when trying to connect. To bypass Akamai and go around this error, some users have been entering the IP address for GG directly, or using origin-www.garage..... as an alternative. We're confident that the "Service Unavailable" issue will be disappearing entirely when the new site is up. It's being hosted in a different location, so connection issues to Akamai should be resolved. However, for each user that bypasses Akamai and connects to our hosted hardware directly, it plugs an available socket. If too many of these are plugged, Akamai can't process requests and neither can the hosted site. Please use www.garagegames.com exclusively from the time the new site is up and discontinue using origin-www or the direct IP. This should save us a lot of hassle and make the site operate faster for everyone who uses it.
For someone who hasn't blogged since 2006, you sure talk a lot.
Yeah, this is a massive post. I'm sure I've missed a couple things...my mind's kind of mush right now after all the work it's taken to get this far. Do know that we are nowhere near feature completeness of what we want the site to be able to do. More features will be rolled on a steady basis as we collect feedback and monitor site usage.
Welcome again to the new site, and post away with any issues you encounter or things you'd like to see. I'll address them as best as I can in follow-up site releases over the following weeks.
About the author
As the CTO of Avalon Labs LLC, I am responsible for the technology behind Fellowstream, our team-based to-do list.
#182
01/15/2009 (3:47 pm)
yet another thing... i figure out just now we can't nomore subscribe to be mailed about new comments in blogs, we can only in threads ... Right? This is from my point of view a big missing feature now... 
#183
Things like: (not necessarily numbered by importance)
1. Make pages setup so we can decide if we want first post first, or last post first.
2. Make the first post stay on the first page. It being on every single page makes no since, it makes it difficult to decern if you are on the first, or last page.
3. Last posted to thread should always be bumped to the top of the list.
4. A darker background color. White is just too stark a color to stare at for any ammount of time. This would be better: #EDEBEB
5. Can't think of at the moment.
01/15/2009 (3:59 pm)
From being a member of many web communities, it's always hard for people to get used to change. Changes are always followed by flames and desperate thoughts of "the sky is falling". We all know the sky isn't falling, and GG is still GG even if the site has changed. There are things that need fixing, and that is true of any new rollout. Look at how phpBB3 was taken when it rolled out. It was flamed into the ground. It's just new. We will all get used to it if we take our time and relax. The site looks good, but that new GG logo just doesn't sit right. The red one looked better. You really should have a logo that stands out. The new one is super easy to miss. Things like: (not necessarily numbered by importance)
1. Make pages setup so we can decide if we want first post first, or last post first.
2. Make the first post stay on the first page. It being on every single page makes no since, it makes it difficult to decern if you are on the first, or last page.
3. Last posted to thread should always be bumped to the top of the list.
4. A darker background color. White is just too stark a color to stare at for any ammount of time. This would be better: #EDEBEB
5. Can't think of at the moment.
#184
@Mike and everyone else offering up suggestions, - thank you for the suggestions!
01/15/2009 (4:10 pm)
@Joz - the subscribe to be notified about blog comments is fixed and will be released in the next push.@Mike and everyone else offering up suggestions, - thank you for the suggestions!
#185
@Mike Rowley: Sure, sure, if it had been change for the better... But to put it succinctly in "gamer terms", the site's been "uber-nerfed"! Definitely not a change for the better. =P
Regarding the GG logo and your list: I wholeheartedly agree!
And personally, I'd like an option to have all comments on one page -- I (used to) like to occasionally save a thread offline and then read through it at my leisure. This is no longer possible with the new paged set-up. =(
01/15/2009 (4:11 pm)
@Mike Hall: Quote:What about a future update/feature for site color themes that would let us pick from a selection of contrasting color schemes so that some of us could cope better? Shouldn't be too difficult to do and you could still always leave the current color theme (whatever it is) as the default.Fantastic idea, this would be huge!
@Mike Rowley: Sure, sure, if it had been change for the better... But to put it succinctly in "gamer terms", the site's been "uber-nerfed"! Definitely not a change for the better. =P
Regarding the GG logo and your list: I wholeheartedly agree!
And personally, I'd like an option to have all comments on one page -- I (used to) like to occasionally save a thread offline and then read through it at my leisure. This is no longer possible with the new paged set-up. =(
#186
01/15/2009 (5:00 pm)
You don't get this much passion over something, unless everyone feels ownership over the process. Just remember all these comments represent true attachment to the features you've always offered. It just goes to show how much people really do care about what you do. 
#187
So, I am joining my voice with others who are confident that GG will fix what is broken, unveil some great features (I have no hidden knowledge of this, I just know they will), and that in the end both the community and GG will be better off with the new site (that I agree was sorely needed).
And since this was Jacob's first blog post in a while.... WAY TO GO!!! You really know how to stir up the hornets nest. :)
01/15/2009 (6:43 pm)
As someone who has been on the receiving end of a majority the feedback when GG unveils a new site (back in the day). I have to say well done to Ken, Deborah, Jacob and the others. I know most of the crew in the garage wouldn't be living in the garage if they didn't believe in what they were doing. And after talking with a few people I think its safe for me to say that if the community is bummed about certain features being absent from the site, the GG guys/(and gals) feel the pain even more. They want to provide the best stuff for the community. They wouldn't be doing what they are doing if they didn't want developers in the community to succeed.So, I am joining my voice with others who are confident that GG will fix what is broken, unveil some great features (I have no hidden knowledge of this, I just know they will), and that in the end both the community and GG will be better off with the new site (that I agree was sorely needed).
And since this was Jacob's first blog post in a while.... WAY TO GO!!! You really know how to stir up the hornets nest. :)
#188
I am just shocked, my old links didn't work well not the way I saved them. I'll have to do some looking around to re-learn my way around.
01/15/2009 (8:14 pm)
I haven't been here in a long while, I been taking some game development courses, All in C++ and started directX Programming. I am just shocked, my old links didn't work well not the way I saved them. I'll have to do some looking around to re-learn my way around.
#189
Thanks for keeping the faith.
01/15/2009 (9:25 pm)
Those are kind words Benjamin, thank you. We do strive to make people happy here, and in the end we'll get the rough patches with the site worked out. I can personally attest to the hard work the web team is putting in - they are very dedicated and just keep pushing on, even though some of them look like they need to sleep for a few days or weeks ;)Thanks for keeping the faith.
#190
01/15/2009 (10:55 pm)
New site Looks good guys. I'm sure you'll fix all the issues that need doing over the next few weeks, and it's good that you have the support from most! of the community. Change always presents problems, but like you say... it was long overdue, the revamp looks much better.
#192
01/16/2009 (5:21 am)
Ok, here is one great and unexpected bonus. The GG site now works great on my blackberry. Way to go Jacob and team!!! With your solid coding, the site works great on a mobile device. 
#193
BUT
You can't download zip files and such for resources. What's up with that?
You have to go to page 5,6,7 on some threads to see current posts...you can't compare...say like one person posts some code that he found a bug fix on and another posted an update to that bug fix twenty posts(a year) later...you can't compare them and look through them easier...can't you specify how many posts per page or view all posts for thread?
your docs.garagegames.com looks a lot nicer too, really like it, a lot easier for people new to Torque to have a nice website to just start going through and learning from...
01/16/2009 (11:02 am)
Just a few thoughts...looks a lot nicer...navigating website is "alright"...once you get used to something its hard to get out of the groove...BUT
You can't download zip files and such for resources. What's up with that?
You have to go to page 5,6,7 on some threads to see current posts...you can't compare...say like one person posts some code that he found a bug fix on and another posted an update to that bug fix twenty posts(a year) later...you can't compare them and look through them easier...can't you specify how many posts per page or view all posts for thread?
your docs.garagegames.com looks a lot nicer too, really like it, a lot easier for people new to Torque to have a nice website to just start going through and learning from...
#194
J
01/16/2009 (11:08 am)
Ok, nevermind mind my last post...besides the intro for new owners on docs.garagegames.com...the remaining setup of the entire website is terrible...dare I say...just really sucks...NONE of the basic features and "usability" of the old site...I want the old site back...Sorry guys...love Torque, hate the new site...J
#195
Go to page 2. Then the url will end with something like:
...nity/blog/view/15975/2
Change the 2 to a big number like 20. Then you will see the post with no comments, and see the last page in the page picker. Pick the last page number and you are there.
Still a few clicks and a url edit too many, but you can get to the newest comments in a few seconds rather than a few minutes.
01/16/2009 (11:43 am)
Just a note about the jumping to the newest comments... as a workaround you can do this:Go to page 2. Then the url will end with something like:
...nity/blog/view/15975/2
Change the 2 to a big number like 20. Then you will see the post with no comments, and see the last page in the page picker. Pick the last page number and you are there.
Still a few clicks and a url edit too many, but you can get to the newest comments in a few seconds rather than a few minutes.
#196
PS. YAY edit is back! :)
01/16/2009 (3:43 pm)
Just a quick suggestion since everything is about the new website right now. I think it would be a great idea to require the submitter to list what Torque based platform (TGB, TGE, TGEA, eventually T3D) and what version of that platform that a resource was built for, perhaps via mandatory drop down selections whenever submitting a new resource, they could even be categorized for easier searching / viewing if they had an identifier telling what engine(s) they were for. Just a thought.PS. YAY edit is back! :)
#197
It's readily apparent the site is still being fixed. Keep up the great work guys and in no time, you will have a super site here.
01/16/2009 (4:01 pm)
Actually, adding resources just adds a blog. It's still broken, but editing and Yayy..jump to last page is in. Thankyou DevTeam. It's readily apparent the site is still being fixed. Keep up the great work guys and in no time, you will have a super site here.
#198
01/16/2009 (4:07 pm)
Resource downloads are back. Watch for Jacobs blog for more info. 
#199
01/16/2009 (4:15 pm)
The following has been fixed today: - Redirect URLs should now be working: HUGE thanks to Orion for his short-term solution.
- Missing forums have returned: iTorque, GreenEar, and Collada are all available. We also pulled Constructor out of the Artist Corner into its own category.
- International Sales: There is now a Country drop-down list on the billing information form, this should help our international customers.
- What's my password?!: There's a new reset password option on the login page in case you're having trouble logging in.
- TDN lives: You should be able to log into our online wiki once again.
- Download links have been added to resources: So now you can get all those files back.
- Return of Watched Threads: All of your previous watched blogs and threads have magically returned (don't worry, it won't remove any you may have marked as watched since the new site went up).
- Edit comments on forums and blogs: Fear typos and 1 am comments no more!
- Unread forum threads functionality is back: You can mark all forum posts as "read" so you can always log into the site later and see what's been happening in your absence.
- The Markup Lite cheat sheet is back: No more guessing to try to remember how to add a video or otherwise pretty-up your post. [li]Tweaked bulk accounts for educators: It should be easier now to manage student licenses if you are working for a school.
#200
ok
I'm ok. Soooo. Aside from the artists running for the hills. My first comment as I type this from my nice mid gray (forced browser color) text window is man. Who loves angelfood cake so much? Whiter than the whitest white. I've been reading for 15 minutes or so now and my eyes are seriously killing me. Ok yes I suffer from seizures induced by bright lights (sometimes) but still I think even if I didn't I'd be hurting.
Perhaps an 80 or even 90 percent white wouldn't burn out so many CRTs. Just a suggestion. I think the usability has been covered enough. I won't harp on that. Some sort of accessibility (ie handicapped ) formatting options would have been nice though. Forcing the white on stark look though is a bit unforgiving. And I don't mean from the user base's over reaction point of view.
Well I wouldn't wish the Community reaming you guys are getting on my own worst enemy. But I will wish you a good rest when it all wears off :)
Good luck.
01/16/2009 (8:51 pm)
lol.. Weelll I've seen some decisions.. then I've seen some DECISIONS! hehe This one takes the cake. I'm guessing this is what happens when a coder designs? Seriously... no slam intended, but I feel like I'm looking at websphere or something. Or even (god forbid flex... shudder)(take deep breaths).ok
I'm ok. Soooo. Aside from the artists running for the hills. My first comment as I type this from my nice mid gray (forced browser color) text window is man. Who loves angelfood cake so much? Whiter than the whitest white. I've been reading for 15 minutes or so now and my eyes are seriously killing me. Ok yes I suffer from seizures induced by bright lights (sometimes) but still I think even if I didn't I'd be hurting.
Perhaps an 80 or even 90 percent white wouldn't burn out so many CRTs. Just a suggestion. I think the usability has been covered enough. I won't harp on that. Some sort of accessibility (ie handicapped ) formatting options would have been nice though. Forcing the white on stark look though is a bit unforgiving. And I don't mean from the user base's over reaction point of view.
Well I wouldn't wish the Community reaming you guys are getting on my own worst enemy. But I will wish you a good rest when it all wears off :)
Good luck.
Torque Owner Giorgio Zanetti ( JoZ )
Corona Team
Listing all the thing that don't work (both real bugs and things that really don't work from a design and usage perspective) it's something really difficult, so I want just say about this for the moment... BLOGS... Previous was very scary to scroll all the page to read all the comments... but you had the fantastic possibility to perform a CTRL+F and make the browser search for all the recurrences in a page of a term, a name (maybe you remember who wrote a comment you need to read again... ) and find what you want was... BANG! So easy! Now it's pretty impossible... not mentioning the tedious that is to navigate through comment pages and see everytime the blog and have to scroll it... Please implement at least the navigation through comments' pages with AJAX... and give us the possibility to sorting comments by date, member who posted... give us comment editing capabilities (implement it with AJAX please)...
Many other things can be said but I have no time at the moment... I hope I succeded in being a bit constructive anyway... Sorry if not.