I mentioned this on IRC a while back, but it was more a conversational thing at the time. Now, however, I'm doing something similar for work and have a codebase I can re-purpose for this kind of project.
I was thinking of writing a new type of microstorage facility; one that allows you to search/filter existing uploads. DeHackEd's application is excellent, and has worked perfectly, so i'm not proposing a replacement. His application however, is more for private use, as it is mostly used for members to share progress "secretly".
What if we were to have somewhere to host run-segments, glitch/shortcut demonstrations, concepts ... etc, that everyone could freely access? I was thinking of having something that's fully indexed and searchable, with the ability to categorize content (platform, emulator, category), and therefore make it easier to find similar content.
Just trying to get a discussion going ... no real work has been done yet.
What if we were to have somewhere to host run-segments, glitch/shortcut demonstrations, concepts ... etc, that everyone could freely access? I was thinking of having something that's fully indexed and searchable, with the ability to categorize content (platform, emulator, category), and therefore make it easier to find similar content.
That would be awesome; it would be cool to look through lost WIPs and failed runs and stuff.
Joined: 4/20/2005
Posts: 2161
Location: Norrköping, Sweden
This sounds like a great idea, Maximus. :) I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out. The indexing idea sounds nice too, I can see myself killing time by browsing through the different game folders. ;) Good luck on this.
What about a combination, where you can check "secret" (hidden, not indexed, whatever) when you upload a run, and the program indexes the rest, so those secret runs in progress could still be... secret?
If this was combined with some sort of username/login, a user could delete old WIPs when new ones are uploaded? This has the downside of forever-lost WIPs though.
It is a nice idea Maximus, just tossing in some extras ;)
you could keep microstorage for the "secret" runs.
I think a database would be great, as i'm sure its a pain in the ass for others as much as for me to even search through all the threads on games/cancelled submissions looking for stuff.
the major improvement to Mircrostorage would be to allow savestates, as well as zip files which will allow both movie and savestate to be loaded at once.
the major improvement to Mircrostorage would be to allow savestates, as well as zip files which will allow both movie and savestate to be loaded at once.
Do you mean additional savestates, as opposed to the embedded state for movies that start from a savestate?
the major improvement to Mircrostorage would be to allow savestates, as well as zip files which will allow both movie and savestate to be loaded at once.
Do you mean additional savestates, as opposed to the embedded state for movies that start from a savestate?
I meant addtional savestates, so people can upload them for others to test, watch a snapshot or to save them watching the movie from the begining.
the major improvement to Mircrostorage would be to allow savestates, as well as zip files which will allow both movie and savestate to be loaded at once.
Do you mean additional savestates, as opposed to the embedded state for movies that start from a savestate?
I meant addtional savestates, so people can upload them for others to test, watch a snapshot or to save them watching the movie from the begining.
Makes sense :P If this is something that happens more often (savestates to mark positions in the movie), it's a shame more people don't use ZSNES, as it already has chapter markers.
Here's a quick mockup of what I'm thinking (admins: if the image is too big, i'll resize it)
Originally, I thought this should be an anonymous system like the original microstorage, but if it's user based, more useful information can be gathered. Just wondering if people like the idea (or not) of having to log in to use this application. If not ... no biggie :)
I'm going to incorporate the movie processing libraries from the TAS Movie Editor so I can extract and store header information for movies. This will make sorting/searching more useful, since you don't have to worry about some people entering "Zelda" or "LOZ" vs. "The Legend of Zelda".
I suggest removing commenting by users (1), removing logging in (2), and adding a filename and a free text comment by the uploader. (3, maybe these are already intended?)
Reasoning:
(1) Movies are basically always linked from the forum and will be commented there. It's better to not spread out the information.
(2) The best thing about microstorage is that people can easily get their movies online, without hassle.
(3) For browsing through the files, it would be convenient to be able to keep all Strider movies by whoever apart other than by length. For example Maximus might have uploaded a bunch of short movies, and it would be much easier to find the one you want if one said "Wall glitch", the next said "dialogue skip trick" etc.
I like the comment, it's like youtube comment. but I agree that it's too tiny. Also, I guess you could make privilege, like I decide to upload this movie, but it is private, and I give 3-4 users access to this movie.
Also, you could make it public so that everyone have access to it.
You would get the privacy of Microstorage and the power of the v2.
I suggest removing commenting by users (1), removing logging in (2), and adding a filename and a free text comment by the uploader. (3, maybe these are already intended?)
What if instead of user comments, I added a way to store links back to TASVideos discussions. These links could be added anonymously, and that way, when you're browsing uploads, you could still sort of see more information about the movie.
Logging in was just an idea. I had a feeling this isn't something people would want, but you don't know unless you ask ;). I thought I could give people the option of creating an account, and if they did, they could comment on videos if they wanted to.
Free text comments are handled by the "Description" field. Do you think there should be two fields? A short description (that would appear in the search) and a long description ... or just remove the long description and keep a short one?
ventuz wrote:
nice concept, except "comment" column are too tiny.
All columns are dynamically resizable, but this is just a concept layout so nothing's written in stone yet ;)
I like the comment, it's like youtube comment. but I agree that it's too tiny. Also, I guess you could make privilege, like I decide to upload this movie, but it is private, and I give 3-4 users access to this movie.
Also, you could make it public so that everyone have access to it.
You would get the privacy of Microstorage and the power of the v2.
This is something I dont really agree with, nor quite understand the point of.
If you dont want certain people to see it, why would you upload it to non-private space in the first place? Its rather wasteful to upload something to in a sense, public space, when you want no one to know of it. For this you're better off using your own hosting or something like geocities even, as you have a higher degree of control over it.
I like the comment, it's like youtube comment. but I agree that it's too tiny. Also, I guess you could make privilege, like I decide to upload this movie, but it is private, and I give 3-4 users access to this movie.
Also, you could make it public so that everyone have access to it.
You would get the privacy of Microstorage and the power of the v2.
This is something I dont really agree with, nor quite understand the point of.
If you dont want certain people to see it, why would you upload it to non-private space in the first place? Its rather wasteful to upload something to in a sense, public space, when you want no one to know of it. For this you're better off using your own hosting or something like geocities even, as you have a higher degree of control over it.
This is why I originally proposed this as a complimentary system to microstorage ... not a replacement. Private file sharing can still continue with DeHackEd's system, whereas mine would be for public storage.
Well that was just a feature that could be added, but if you tell me that it's just a complimentary to microstorage (and I don't really see the point of having two website instead of one) then it's ok.
>Free text comments are handled by the "Description" field. Do you think there should be two fields? A short description (that would appear in the search) and a long description ... or just remove the long description and keep a short one?
Whoops. I missed that field, because the description is not viewable in the list to the right. As long as it is, i don't care if it's long or short. :)
Originally, I thought this should be an anonymous system like the original microstorage, but if it's user based, more useful information can be gathered. Just wondering if people like the idea (or not) of having to log in to use this application. If not ... no biggie :)
I'm going to incorporate the movie processing libraries from the TAS Movie Editor so I can extract and store header information for movies. This will make sorting/searching more useful, since you don't have to worry about some people entering "Zelda" or "LOZ" vs. "The Legend of Zelda".
