[Star-Epock]

This my brainchild in 2002 has lain dormant in some lost folder on my computer for 3 years now, somehow surviving data transphere to new computers and hard drives.

So what is Freespace Saga I hear you cry...

Back when I started, initialy with TPTA (Terran Pilot Training Academy)   my focus was promoting FS2 as much as possible, TPTA was intended to get players helping noobies to learn the ropes of Freespace 2 online.

Sadly the site never got of the ground. And my second project,  Platinum shipyards was hatched at the same time as Hard Light went online, there was a clash of interests (Both having a focus on FS Art etc.)

So now Freespace Saga has been given a bolt of loopy juice and fired back to life. Currently the Url is still being cleared (2 days they say) but should be up by then.

Essentaily it was envisaged as a cronicle of the Freespace Communitys history, as you will see from the existing pages.

In the future I intend it to grow much further from that, I know at this stage a new community site seems pretty ludicrous, but ive realized that I LOVE FREESPACE, and there is no escaping that. So now we have a relatively small community, but a dedicated one. The Hard Core. The last ditch defenders

In any case I want FSS to provide everything which HLP does not, or cannot, for whatever reason. Currently resources are limted in some respects, such as not being able to offer hosting.

But you will not FSS is very Arty in its design, and I do take libertys with presenting what I like, however It is clean and crisp and VERY Freespacey.

I hope I can get your interest and provide a service to the community who's work and effort I have respected for many years. Since I dont have programming skill, Photoshop niftyness, this is my contribution to you all.

I understand the need for a central area to communicate, so I wont be providing a forum (though a section here would be very nice  )

Im always looking for help in my mini crusade, so any help is greatly appretaited, including code for pages, ideas, suggestions etc. With enough material I might even take a couple of staff members onboard to keep things vibrant.

FFS Breakdown:

Chronicles
The step by step history of our Freespace community, the highs and the lows, told by the people who made it, its community.
Heroes and Villains
Spotlight on those who gave time and dedication to the game and its progression, and those who hindered it....
Fiction
Various works of fiction by the community, Leader for the Shivans etc. And most importantly new ones, hopefully in support of upcoming campigns.

What I will doing is a Web radio station, with me Jabber'ing away occasionaly between tracks. The idea is to get some live interviews with prominent community members to make it worth tuning in. (Suggestions about this greatly appretiated) Not to mention, ill play whatever you guys want

Well a new community site can only be a good thing, see you there! FOREVER

[Jetmech Jr.]

The more the merrier. Sounds like your site will be something quite...different. Different is good

[Blitzerland]

Do it. I'll donate bandwidth if it really comes to it, even.

And I really like the radio-show idea. Fs2 needs this kind of thing, and it would seriously boost the community up a few notches.

[Goober5000]

Originally posted by Star-Epock
In any case I want FSS to provide everything which HLP does not, or cannot, for whatever reason. Currently resources are limted in some respects, such as not being able to offer hosting.

Well, we already have several community forums.  HLP, Sectorgame, GameWarden, and GTD Bastion to name a few.  I'm not sure another one is a good idea, unless you have something particularly unique to add.

And the reason we aren't offering hosting at the moment is not because we're unable to.  It's because we want people to focus their efforts on the mods currently in progress.  We've had two major hosted campaigns close up shop within the last year, and we don't want that to turn into a trend.  Adding more new projects tends to result in more unfinished projects.

[karajorma]

That said a big newbie training site wouldn't be a bad idea. I suck. I'd join

[MicroPsycho]

That radio idea sounds cool, but alas, I have only mere dial-up, so slow  I shall not refer to it as 'internet' and therefore would not be able to tune it. Same with art, loading vast amounts of images are a *****.

[Charismatic]

I think it'd be a great idea.

1) Where you going to get the music from?

You know a music\interview station dedicated to FS2 would be great. (That is, if im understanding you correctly.)

If the site is done right, to me im kinda seeing it as a News station instalation in the Fs world. Music and news 24\7 is the kinda feel im getting.

[Star-Epock]

Yes the idea is to Run Interviews with all Major Campaigns and Community members. Most of the music, currently a bit of everything, kinds of music will be expanded by various nefarious means once I find what the majority of listeners like.

FreeSpace Radio will work in one of two ways.

1. A dedicated stream or real player will come from my web hosting. This may mean my bandwidth is rather quickly eaten up.

2. Using a Broadcast Win amp plugin I can broadcast from a static IP.

Clearly in the long term A dedicated server is the way to go, however I will only commit to that as this project gathers speed.

Music: Initialy Sci-Fi based, Star Trek themes etc etc.

Interviews: Probably once a week on the weekend depending on both partys availability (time Zones)

www.freespacesaga.com now has an index and main page to visit. And the 'What is' section functions (Though Im updating material as its somewhat old)

You will notice my unorthadox style of web design here.

For the Radio station we I soon need other DJs to cover more time zones not to mention introduce some variety.

Anyone interested should E-mail me here [email protected]

What you need to DJ:

4 Gig of music absolute minimum.

Broadband or Cable connection.

Free time

Energy for all things FS.

The "members" section is just a secure area which may come into play as FSS grows.

[Ferret]

Originally posted by Star-Epock
www.freespacesaga.com now has an index and main page to visit. And the 'What is' section functions (Though Im updating material as its somewhat old)

No it doesn't. Look what you've done to the link.

It's supposed to go here: http://www.freespacesaga.com/Saga/Whatis.htm

Also the medium you have chosen to present the website in (set-scale Flash) is a poor desicion, for many reasons including readibilitiy and different user resolutions. Plus needing a plug-in to view a website is not a good idea. Flash files also take a lot longer to load than most websites. Not to mention that fact that they tend to slow down browsing on low-end PCs.

I'm very much against using Flash on websites, they're designed for animations and from a user-standpoint they should stay that way.

That white also burns my eyes, the contrast between it and the main part of the page is terrible.

[Star-Epock]

Originally posted by Ferret
No it doesn't. Look what you've done to the link.

It's supposed to go here: http://www.freespacesaga.com/Saga/Whatis.htm

Also the medium you have chosen to present the website in (set-scale Flash) is a poor desicion, for many reasons including readibilitiy and different user resolutions. Plus needing a plug-in to view a website is not a good idea. Flash files also take a lot longer to load than most websites. Not to mention that fact that they tend to slow down browsing on low-end PCs.

I'm very much against using Flash on websites, they're designed for animations and from a user-standpoint they should stay that way.

That white also burns my eyes, the contrast between it and the main part of the page is terrible.

 As ever im pleased to see that the community is as ever ready to critisise. Constructive critisism is fine but ferret. Do you get a kick from attacking people quiet so much enthusiasm???  You amaze me anyone would think I came here stomped on your private parts, and broke wind in your Grandmothers presence.

Yes the white is over contrasting, and needs fixing, but if you read the site is three years old and Im sticking it up to hammer it out.

If your in the mood for advice and such, I visited your site...

http://www.ferretgames.com/index.php

Basically its a dried up Prune of a site, no artistic flair.

I assume you just sat punching code in to make it....

I especialy hate the "Goooool!!!!!!!" written in the top right hand corner. What is that supposed to be I cant imagine.

So yes my site may look ugly on many systems, but yours looks ugly on all systems

There is an old saying:
"If you dont have anything nice to say, dont say anything"

That applys to you, and now me for writting this.

[Unknown Target]

I say go for it. At first I was gonna say no, don't, because I thought it was just another Freespace site, but it looks like you're actually going to add stuff we don't already have, so good luck, I support it If you need help writing the history, I could write it up (although I don't know everything, I'd just write it ).

[Ferret]

Originally posted by Star-Epock
 As ever im pleased to see that the community is as ever ready to critisise. Constructive critisism is fine but ferret. Do you get a kick from attacking people quiet so much enthusiasm???  You amaze me anyone would think I came here stomped on your private parts, and broke wind in your Grandmothers presence.

Yes I agree I was probably a little too harsh, I didn't mean to attack you, just pointing out problems.

Yes the white is over contrasting, and needs fixing, but if you read the site is three years old and Im sticking it up to hammer it out.

Well in that case why would you bother showing people a site that is three years old? Would it not make sense to actually create it before rolling it out?

If your in the mood for advice and such, I visited your site...

http://www.ferretgames.com/index.php

Basically its a dried up Prune of a site, no artistic flair.

I know this, I am not a designer, I do have little to no artistic talent, however I know Ferretgames is easy to read, navigate and is very functional. I am a programmer not an artist. I go for practicability over everything else. The internet is a place for information and as such is should be shown in an easy to read manner.

I assume you just sat punching code in to make it....

I am not too sure what this is supposed to mean.

I especialy hate the "Goooool!!!!!!!" written in the top right hand corner. What is that supposed to be I cant imagine.

If you refresh the page you'll find that is a random quote type thing. The Goooool!! is an in-joke with myself and a couple of friends, which is actually an easter egg if you click on it.

So yes my site may look ugly on many systems, but yours looks ugly on all systems

I beg to differ.

There is an old saying:
"If you dont have anything nice to say, dont say anything"

That applys to you, and now me for writting this.

So why did you bother?

[edit]

reading back on my post I see nothing but reasonings why Flash is a bad idea and pointing towards the fact that the colour is very wrong.
Anyway, most of what you've suggested could be put into the Wiki, could it not?

Except perhaps this radio(?) I'm not too sure how that would work. I listen to many internet radio stations but I can't quite see why a space-sim community would need one. Unless you mean something along the lines of a Podcast, in which case that might be a good idea, but would something as small not be better centralised to HLP?

I don't exactly see why you would want to create something totally different when it could all be pooled into one pot.

I did something similar recently. I created an entire functional wiki software and poured my heart and soul into it, I made a Pokémon wiki with lots and lots of content. However another Pokémon wiki popped up after mine and had a bit more of a following, so rather than trod along with mine I figured that it would be best to put all of the current information into theirs.

See in the end it worked out for the best because two halves create a whole.

[Goober5000]

Star-Epock, Ferret's post seems reasonable enough to me.  Don't react so negatively.  If you ask for constructive criticism, be prepared to take it.

I personally like the site though.

[Star-Epock]

Yes I understand Ferret.

Look like you all I LOVE FREESPACE, I watched all the news sites die over the years but early on I wanted to provide something, and for it to be my own. Campaign and mission designers have that.

FSS is supposed to be a testament the communitys turbulent past(and maybe future) yes it would probably be easyest to lump it with everything else here at HLP. But, maybe a fresh face, new place might open doors or make community members think of new ideas. A long time ago I applyed to HLP to have this hosted, I was told it was too "similar" in content, though there was more arty stuff back then.

It seems we are shrinking down, less and less community pages. Why not expand!! It may help the future of this series if THQ or the powers that be can see a vibrant community with varying content (Not just in one place). Though im basically talking about what puffer fish do, making us look bigger, if it helps persuade them FS still has a big following so much the better.

But I digress...

The stuff FSSS will offer is essentialy NON-functional. By that I mean you dont have to check every day, or when you make a download, HLP already covers all that stuff. But, when you want to read about what Bobboau's first contributions looked like you can read/see all about it.

Think of FSS as a Museum or Library, collecting all the little bits of interesting information and storing them for posterity. My aim is essentailly to glorify YOU, and what you have contributed to FreeSpace

The Radio part will be linked from the index page, so an easy click away. As far as thats concerned I think its best to start small and see where it takes us.

Yes I could do it all in ugly html, and there will be a version of the site in that format, hopefully that will make everyone happy.

Ferret: No one likes bad feeling, especially me. So lets forget all about our little skirmish.

Unkonown target: Thank you for your offer, accepted (No escape now!)

Ill be posting topics asking for peoples memorys and feelings at various points in FS history. Mainly focusing around the realease of both games and the "Troll Wars" on the VBB.

Maybe as things progress I can summon some faith in everyone about this