I'll open my return with some negativity and say that I really don't like the new forum format. I don't like not being able to see who's been saying what on the main forum page. There's no way to get an instant feel for recent activity like there was with the old one, because there's no names or avatars under the 'last post' info. Even when you click through you can't see who's been saying what. In fact it's only when you click through again that any sense of familiarity returns.

The PM system also appears to have been removed (if it's there I can't find it). Nor do I see a way to view members' profiles in order to check whether or not they're still around or have been posting recently. Was this a money thing, because it's been a pretty disastrous alteration if you ask me. I feel utterly lost and alone on the forum now. There's just no sense of it being a community any more.

So I suppose I'll have to ask.

Does Xan still post here? Hedge? Silver? Pixie? Jay? Pertex? Marzipan? davidw? (no offense to any other regulars I missed, but it's been a while).

There's a global Atom newsfeed that can show you the most recent forum posts. But yeah, it kind of sucks not being able to click someone's name and visit their profile. Kind of a glaring omission if you ask me.

Thanks for the tip, felixp7.

There's a lot wrong with this new forum. Alex has made a right booboo in my opinion. The place just doesn't feel welcoming any more.

I'm sorry to hear that. Am new on textadventures.co.uk, and even newer on the forums. For what it's worth, David Welbourn hangs out on ifMUD these days. And maybe you can make new friends here. ;)

David Welbourn, here. I think "davidw" must be someone else. I haven't posted on this forum in ages. I can't even log into my old account anymore because I don't have that email address anymore and the password I have for the account here associated with that email address no longer seems to work. And, as far as I know, I was either "David Welbourn" or "dswxyz" here. I think I posted about the Sir Loin series of games at the time, but it's hard to remember for sure.

felixp7, I've returned because I was inspired by a couple of browser 'clicker' games I've been playing (see here: http://textadventures.co.uk/forum/design/topic/g8qtuabtlkkgadopbqdqlg/ideas-and-help-for-mmo-survival-game-wanted) and wanted to see if I could do something similar. Maybe Quest isn't the right vehicle, though, as I suspect these games are pure JavaScript.

Thanks, David, but the davidw I was referring to was a regular poster when I was around and went by that exact title.

I'm that davidw, though I'm not David Welbourn but David Whyld. That's who I post as on the Int.fiction and ADRIFT forums. Confusing, I know, but when I started posting as davidw years ago, I wasn't aware of the other davidw. I blame my parents. If they'd picked a really unusual first name for me, I wouldn't have these problems.

I still check out this forum from time to time but I haven't posted much since it switched to the new format. Why? Well, visually it's a mess. It looks a real eyesore. It's bland and boring and really offputting. All of that I could just about put up with if it had all the cool features I've come to expect from forums over the years, but it doesn't. The old forum had them. PMs. Member lists. Post counts. Visual eye candy. Lists of new posts and unread posts. Etc etc. I don't know what Alex's reason for switching to the new format was, but if he was trying to cripple Quest and make it less appealing, he couldn't have picked a better way to do it than this.

I'll probably continue to check the forum out for the foreseeable future, but until it upgrades to something better or goes back to the old format, I don't see me posting here much.

Sorry for the confusion, David and David. If it's any consolation, I have a pretty uncommon name. Yet in 1996 there where three people named Felix active in the Romanian sci-fi fandom. It happens.

@OurJud Funny thing is, I was working on a prototype for just such a game recently, and it very much wants to be its own thing. About the only one I know of that even resembles interactive fiction is Drowning in problems, by Notch (yes, that Notch). And as you can see, it uses a custom engine. But you might just be able to do something similar in Twine, so you're not that far off the mark.

David, couldn't agree more about the forum. Shame. I hope Alex listens.

felixp, that Drowning in Problems is the kind of thing I'm looking at doing, although probably not quite that obscure.

Have you played A Firelit Room? I can recommend it (switch the lights off - bottom row of links) as the page is much easier on the eye. I'd like to do something similar but deeper and with more 'going on'.

I'm still here and Pixie's still here too (imagine if Pixie, our main quest library contributor and knowledgeable helper... left... HK shudders --- I try, but I'm not as knowledgeable and precise/good/accurate as Pixie is with helping on stuff). Jay's here but I think he's now busy with something irl, so hasn't posted much for quite a while now. Xan's still here I think, but he/she might be a bit busy with real life stuff so doesn't post too often nowadays/recently as he/she used to.

I think a lot of people don't like the new forum... you get used to it after a while... but it's still lacking what it's lacking...

most code/libraries is now put on github, Pixie has a page, and I'm sure Jay has a page too.

Hi, Hege. I'm currently looking at Twine for my idea as it's a bit more user friendly than Quest.

Good to see a few of the Old Guard are still around.

Anonynn helps/posts a bit too, and she/he is really making steady progress on her/his game, Acopomorphia...whatever (can't spell/type).

If ever interested in trying to learn quest again, XanMag's got a 'tutorial and templates' game as a tutorial 2, if you don't already know about it, and Anonynn can probably be of help too with learning quest, along with all the "old guard"/rest of us.

Best of luck with learning Twine and with your game! Let us know if you complete it, so we can play it! :D

Thanks, Hege. Knowing me it will never happen, as I'm looking to do something quite different to the traditional TA and my lack of knowledge with javascript and stuff means I'll be easily put off.

It's the perfect vehicle for a collaboration, so if anyone with good JavaScript knowledge is interested, just reply here.

@OurJud I tried A Firelit Room, but it left me cold, no pun intended. And I'd offer to help, but I'm already juggling too many projects. Besides, each engine, like Quest or Squiffy, uses JS in a specific way, that I'm not familiar with. Good luck though!

I'm currently looking at Twine for my idea as it's a bit more user friendly than Quest.

For simple things it certainly is, but it has no world model, so if you want to do anythying complicated, you are starting from scratch. The user interface is a web browser, so more or less the same as Quest, with HTML/CSS/JavaScript.

I had a look at how a strategy game might be done in Quest, and came up with this interface:
http://textadventures.co.uk/games/view/ohqyc_lfuuiqjsuwmvbkbw/star-empire-v0-1

Click on stars and planets, and look at the star map. The star map is created in Quest using SVG, and you can click on the arrows at the sides to move, zoom in to see star names displayed, and click on a star to see data on that star.

It is not simple, but is doable (could be done in Twine too, pretty much the same, I would guess).

I think the biggest problem with the forum right now is that Alex himself doesn't seem to realise there is a problem. There was a long thread about the new forum when it went live and even though most of the posters disliked the change, Alex didn't appear to care (I think one of the moderators even made a comment that he was trying to torture people with the new changes - which I thought was quite funny). My suggestion that the new forum should have the same features as the old forum and which other forums had was dismissed out of hand with a simple "just because other places have them is no reason to have them here" without even entering into a proper discussion about why it might be a good idea to have those features. Until such time as someone manages to convince him otherwise - and good luck with that, he's nothing if not stubborn - I don't see things improving.

Sorry you didn't enjoy A Firelit Room, felixp7, and thanks for the reply re. help on creating my own game.

The Pixie, I agree Quest is far deeper than Twine, and in fact I've done more experimenting with this new game in Quest that I have with Twine, so who knows?

Another thing I prefer with Twine is that you get a simple URL which loads the game immediately. I think it's just cleaner and more accessible than Quest, which first loads up the (it has to be said) ugly and amateurish intro page before the player either downloads the game or picks Play Online.

David W, at least you know you're not alone in your disapproval of the new forum, even if there is little chance of change.

Glad to see you've found your way back, OJ. I still check forums relatively regularly (every other day or more), but unfortunately every question that is posted that I can help with has already been answered! So, yep still here, but as far as working on X3, it has come to a major halt. Boo. I plan on picking back up on it soon though.

Ah, Xan! Great to see you still around :)

Not sure if I'm considered a regular, but I'm still here :P

Still here, too. Deleting spam and categorizing games