So, it appears my idea of a website full of info on every Gran Turismo release might become real after all. Assembler offered a subdomain for us, something like http://granturismo.assemblergames.com I'm not experienced in web developing, web hosting and so on, so i think we will need help on this. What i could do for the site is contribute with info, pictures, posting news, reviews and so on. Here at AssemblerGames, we have some collectors that will probably help on this: - Johnny (me ) - ortus - concept - alexbrasil - edward_v12 - Nev - alexbrasil If any other members have ideas, or want to help, let's use this post. My initial idea, something i talked with ortus, would be a site like Sega Saturn Collection: http://www.satakore.com/ My friend and member of AssemblerGames message board, Madroms, participates on it. My idea for sections of the website would be divide them into: Pre-GT : Games from Polyphony Digital before Gran Turismo 1 GT1: All versions / variants of Gran Turismo 1, differences between each region, including Demos,... The same thing for all other releases: GT2, GT3, GTC, GT4, GT5. Also, a section for Collaboration works with Car Manufacturers discs and Nissan partnership (NISMO kits pictures and info, GT-R multipurpose screen...) and also Promo stuff. The site could have ad banners for Play-Asia and some other stores to help funding. No message board would be need, as the site would be mostly for info on the GT series. So, please post ideas, comments. This still is just an idea, we need to see if it's possible.
Sounds very promising! It's getting full of GT collectors here so I bet tons of interesting info and contributions could appear on the site. I'm completely illiterate in terms of Gran Turismo but I could give you a hand with the design of the website :nod: A nice CMS or some custom job in PHP and mySQL could the job :thumbsup:
I am completely in such an initiative. As Tchoin said, we could do job with a CMS . I have some experiences with it. Agreeing about the content is the most important thing i think.
I can drive with all assists set to off and professional physics and still make fast lap times. How can I help with my awesomeness? I charge 2 pennies per lap. being a recent sympathizer of the GT series, mainly thanks to GT5 prologue and Logitech's G25 wheel (tm), I would love to see all the past gran turismo goodness crammed in one site and I m happy that collectors are the source of this effort. People who just like the series, like myself, have no reason to be listened to, so just do your thing without our advice. Good luck!
Nice to see some people are willing to help. I guess the layout would have to be simple, just like satakore.com I also like the game database on their site: Example http://www.satakore.com/sega-saturn-demo,,81606,,3-Free-Games-Pack-USA.html#multimedia Also, each game could have description on hidden stuff. GT2, GT3 and GTC had hidden cars, region differences (GT3 PAL has only 2 F1 cars, while the US and JP releases have 6 different F1 cars, not to mention color variants). A Tourist Trophy section would be cool as well, since it's kinda a spinoff of GT but with motorbikes. I guess we should choose edward_v12 as the one responsible for taking pictures, as it seems he has the most complete collection. If any of us have any item that he doesn't have, we could add them of course.
I think this is a great idea and would be happy to help in anyway i can. I dont know squat about web design but maybe i would make a good coffee boy.
I think we would need a good webdesigner, although a simplistic layout would be fine. But having that much info would require some good PHP and SQL work. Plus how much bandwidth would be needed? Remember lots of pics would be avaiable. I was thinking on using Wikia, but it's too simple. Example Wikia (not made by me) http://gran-turismo.wikia.com/wiki/Gran_Turismo_Wiki Here's Play-Asia banner affiliate program. http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-00-3-affiliates-49-en.html
The only thing with Wikia or Media Wiki is that it's kind of a pain in the ass to customize the design, you can easily do the basics like background image / colors, but further customization is a bit tricky. There are tons of free CMS scripts out there, so it's just browsing 'till you find the right one for what you need. Making something from scratch in PHP and mySQL is another option but it depends on how you guys want to lay out the different sections, etc, as also a user friendly admin panel should be done as well in order to upload and manage info easily. With a more specific outline of the sections of the website I could give you some advice. And bandwith should not be much of an issue, unless you are talking of huge high res 3~4+ MB pictures.
I guess that would be a good way to start. But i'm not the one that should be in charged of this. Don't know nothing about it. I guess the sections could be divided into: - Pre-Gran Turismo - Gran Turismo 1 - Gran Turismo 2 - Gran Turismo 2000 - Gran Turismo 3 - Gran Turismo Concept - Gran Turismo 4 - Tourist Trophy - Gran Turismo 5 - Collaborative Projects - Promotional Items - Collectors A news part on the front page, and i guess that's it. Of course each section could have sub-sections like: - Prototype / Beta (info, pics,... - Demos - Retail Versions Pics size could be just like http://www.satakore.com/. Probably edward_v12 has lots of pics with cover variants, budget re-releases, but i think it's more quantity over each pic size. Anyway, i'm hoping that the other GT collectors and Assembler members post their opinions. I don't want to be "my project", but a collaborative one. Plus, like i said before, i'm not qualified to make it anyway. I can help with content and any other stuff that it's not making the site and hosting :110:
Some thinkings about sectioning. Retail Versions Gran Turismo Gran Turismo 2 Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec ... Non-Sale Versions Promos Gran Turismo Gran Turismo 2 ... Collaborations GT Toyota Demo GT Nike Version ... Press Packs Official Demos Unofficial Demos Soundtracks Die-Cast Models Scans Collectors I think first four items are clear. Under the scans we could list the magazine scans or something like. Maybe the title should be different from "Scans". For "Collectors" title, some information about GT collectors, a cross-chart about what we have in total. Keep thinking.
Sorry to intrude but you need some sort of "committee" so you can delegate responsibilities to the relevant members so the job gets done coherently and without delay. It's nice to hear everyone's suggestion but including everyone's opinion has a history of bad results. Organization is as important as content so it would be advisable to make it clear who is in charge of what and suggestions should be filed under the relevant "officer" so as to avoid cluttering of this thread with "me too" suggestions. I know everyone is entitled to an opinion but people lack self-restraint. They just don't know when not to mouth an unhelpful suggestion. What constitutes a SERIOUS suggestion is up to you, so guidelines would be good in order to keep out wannabes.
I think that's a nice way to start. But we can't forget each game section must have a list of each release of that particular game. Like: - Gran Turismo 2 - NTSC|U/C - (Version 1.0 - Black Label) - Gran Turismo 2 - NTSC|U/C - (Version 1.1 - Black Label) - Gran Turismo 2 - NTSC|U/C - (Version 1.2 - Greatest Hits) - Gran Turismo 2 - NTSC|J - Gran Turismo 2 - NTSC|J - (The Best) - Gran Turismo 2 - NTSC|J - (PSBooks) - Gran Turismo 2 - PAL - Gran Turismo 2 - PAL - (Platinum) ... Selecting one of them, we can check each release info, cover, bugs, hidden stuff... I do agree with you. But we still need someone to be in charged of that. If someone skilled enough to do the website and inform us if there's a free or at least cheap way to have a decent host, please show up. If we can make something that looks as simple as satakore, but full of info and pics, i think everybody will like.
My initial thought was that it should be a GT collector who is the head honcho but it makes sense to have somebody a bit more objective making the decissions. I think maybe Barc0de could be the man, with a technical adviser of sorts (johnny being my nomination), and a site designer (ortus has stated he has some knowledge + some assistance from Tchoin). I think the idea of a commitee is a good one and i think the members are already here in the form of forum members who have opted to spend their hard earned on random GT items (Johnny, Alexbrasil, ortus, edward_v12, nev, myself). Ultimately though it makes sense to have that objective decision maker at the top. My idea for layout would be to start with the 5 existing games as headings and split everything into there. For eaxample: -GT1 - retail games - Pal, Ntsc-j, Ntsc-u/c - press versions - promo's - demos - collaberations - merchandise - sountracks - diecasts -GT2 - retail games - Pal, Ntsc-j, Ntsc-u/c - press versions - promo's - demos - collaberations - merchandise - sountracks - diecasts - GT3 .......You get the idea. Then within each Game heading there will be a sub menu which could link to all other similar sub menus, so looking at merchandise in the GT4 section will offer you an option to view all the merchandise under all game headings.
Not to fear. I have no aspirations of becoming a head honcho, this project is Johnny's baby and the collectors have the first say as regards the content. I just happen to appreciate the GT series a lot hence why I m offering "whip services"! As such a role is merely organizational it follows that creative, artistic, and other directions are provided from above. A manager merely manages resources and deadlines =) PS: what constitutes constructive input or lack thereof is up to the relevant collectors. A modern website that is well made (including good use of English and/or other languages, if any, the specifications of the page etc) is good exercise for every single person participating in any capacity, so naturally it is in the best interest of each individual to do their best.
Please, don't consider this "mine". I want everybody to contribute and feel connected to it somehow. Anyway, here's something i was hoping could be possible. It's simplistic (did it with Paint), but i think you'll understand my idea. Site banner on top (of course something nicer than just a logo), sections menu in one side, play-asia ads on the other and news/portal page on the middle. If you select Gran Turismo 2 for example, the news / portal (middle part) gets replace by a sub-section menu: - Retail Versions - Official Demo Discs - Magazine Demo Discs - Prototype / Beta - ... Some games, like Gran Turismo 2000 and Gran Turismo HD won't need that and be directly sent to their info pages or have two sections like - What's avaiable - Prototype / Beta . "Before Gran Turismo" could have a sub-section called History (with info on Kazunori's ambition to make the game). Still simple layout, but with better graphics (Section menu, news headlines, banner).
I did a draft index in a couple of minutes, following the same layout: (Click image for big size pic) (There's a double scroll bar cause I had to paste together 2 screen shots and forgot to cut it out ... and the top gray line belongs to Firefox)
nice mockup Tchoin =) just a proposition: many people around the globe have average-performance computers. It would be nice if it was kept simple and quick, the opposite of what IGN is for example these days.
