Website Operation and Lessions Learned from MMO Kit Launch..
by Thomas Oliver · 05/18/2006 (10:33 pm) · 1 comments
Well I cant say the rough launch of the MMO Kit was unforseen. We where hired on about the same time the launch happened and the then (custom built 1/4th completed) website was spose to be posted up for the launch. Well as things had it the then webmaster never got the site posted and the needed/required features completed on the custom built website.
That is about where Me and Tom come into the picture. It was a being at the right place at the right time sort of deal. We where hired on to create a working website by the end of the day (The Launch had already slipped past its time and there was no website). So we had about 12-8 hours to come up with a feature complete working website. We took a little time to toss around the idea of a custom built solution from the ground up. But the time just wasnt there to complete such a project with only two people (and both of us have virtualy no computer art skills). More then anything we needed a good solid week of work to have everything in place and built from the ground up + tested. It just wasnt there. So we opted for a prebuilt solution that we could branch off of and customize as we needed. So Joomla was brought into the picture since it was feature complete and for the most part stable and secure. With the setup and install complete we rushed to secure the place up and get the required modules / plugins installed and operational. (Store, Boards, Accounting System, Tracking System, Ect.) By the time everything was setup and running ( atleast operational at the time) there was very little time to test and get everything posted up.
So the launch was hampered with downtime, bugs, and problems of just getting the kit out to the customers. Thankfully the core rush had a great idea of what we where offering and stuck through the trials and tribulations of launching a product without a website and no prep time.
So here we are today. About 4-5 days into the launch. Still far from where we want to be but everything is now stable, easy to use, and operational. The purchasers have the kits in there hands and our support team is hammering away helping people get setup and working. Things are falling into place and new improved software and such is being purchased, tested, and installed to replace the free alternatives that have held through a crazy mad rush.
Everything is holding togeather now and we are patching all of the backend togeather and createing a solid solution to fix any issues so if parts of the site do happen to go down for some reasion the debug info is saved and the areas are brought back online with easy. Over the next few weeks things will only get better as the graphics start to overlay the website and navigation between all the features is streamlined and hammered out.
It was crazy, mind boogling at times, and sometimes just down right insane. Its passed and its fun to watch a work of art come to life as your finding new ways to improve problem areas. While we are not faceing crazy amounts of traffic 1.5k to 2k unique visits a day is a nice start and things will only improve as the other products in the pipeline are starting to come togeather and new blood is hired on to help out and bring new features, products, ect. to the table.
Keep your eyes peeled to mydreamrpg.com as the MMO Kit is only the start of alot of neat features and such being brought to light.
That is about where Me and Tom come into the picture. It was a being at the right place at the right time sort of deal. We where hired on to create a working website by the end of the day (The Launch had already slipped past its time and there was no website). So we had about 12-8 hours to come up with a feature complete working website. We took a little time to toss around the idea of a custom built solution from the ground up. But the time just wasnt there to complete such a project with only two people (and both of us have virtualy no computer art skills). More then anything we needed a good solid week of work to have everything in place and built from the ground up + tested. It just wasnt there. So we opted for a prebuilt solution that we could branch off of and customize as we needed. So Joomla was brought into the picture since it was feature complete and for the most part stable and secure. With the setup and install complete we rushed to secure the place up and get the required modules / plugins installed and operational. (Store, Boards, Accounting System, Tracking System, Ect.) By the time everything was setup and running ( atleast operational at the time) there was very little time to test and get everything posted up.
So the launch was hampered with downtime, bugs, and problems of just getting the kit out to the customers. Thankfully the core rush had a great idea of what we where offering and stuck through the trials and tribulations of launching a product without a website and no prep time.
So here we are today. About 4-5 days into the launch. Still far from where we want to be but everything is now stable, easy to use, and operational. The purchasers have the kits in there hands and our support team is hammering away helping people get setup and working. Things are falling into place and new improved software and such is being purchased, tested, and installed to replace the free alternatives that have held through a crazy mad rush.
Everything is holding togeather now and we are patching all of the backend togeather and createing a solid solution to fix any issues so if parts of the site do happen to go down for some reasion the debug info is saved and the areas are brought back online with easy. Over the next few weeks things will only get better as the graphics start to overlay the website and navigation between all the features is streamlined and hammered out.
It was crazy, mind boogling at times, and sometimes just down right insane. Its passed and its fun to watch a work of art come to life as your finding new ways to improve problem areas. While we are not faceing crazy amounts of traffic 1.5k to 2k unique visits a day is a nice start and things will only improve as the other products in the pipeline are starting to come togeather and new blood is hired on to help out and bring new features, products, ect. to the table.
Keep your eyes peeled to mydreamrpg.com as the MMO Kit is only the start of alot of neat features and such being brought to light.
About the author
Torque Owner John Rockefeller