Tools to bring the GTA gaming scene together.

[[DRuG]NikT]

Hey guys, I've just posted this over at http://tds-aus.com, this is the first step in me trying to aggregate all the clans I can find for GTA into one site, in order to grow the scene... I felt it would be good if other members got involved and started spreading the word, posting something similar to other clans around the place.

Tell me your thoughts on the following post, how it could be improved, if I sound like a wanker etc.

Many of you may know my clan, DRuG. We're very interested at present in collecting as much of the scene together in one place as possible, to try and restore the clan-focussed days like they were back in Vice MTA.

Part of this huge time, for clans, back around 2004, was the shared use of GTA:FX/gangsofgta as a common forums for all clans.

Since it's gone, I've found all the clans are like islands, with new ones emerging that are very well established, but out on their own, so never known to us.

I think we can change this. The start, for me, has been using RSS to aggregate the news threads of any GTA clans I can find with CMS's that suit. The results can be seen in our rss aggregator & clan legend on http://forums.drugcrew.com

Once enough clans have amassed, I want to kick off a system where threads from each clan's forums are available in one single, central forums, while all the clans are really just posting on their private boards, but the posts are showing at the central boards, too.

Do AGS or TDS have, or know of, any RSS feeds available that we've as yet, not added? If necessary, I have a fairly good working knowledge of linux, and am more than happy to help people get involved.

I can be contacted directly via msn on nnnikt@gmail.com or emailed on nikt@drugcrew.com - imagine how many new clans would start to appear if they could see a central system of the "scene"... that's how I remember it, when gangsofgta was around.

[[DRuG]Mortal]

Hell Nik, I like it how it is! It's a great idea. I hope to see this take off like a dodo off of Shoreside hills <3 This could really get things swinging again.

-derty

[[DRuG]KillFrenzy]

Ahh, nice - you can try posting it in the AGS forums - http://www.aussie-gameserver.com/

They had one mod but was gone when they switched servers, which was to either lower some texture resolution for performance or increase resolution for detail. Remember - DRuG will always be my favorite clan , even if I'm 'multi-clanned'.

[[DRuG]NikT]

OK, this is the first prototype of my planet idea for the gta scene - it isn't a final, just a work in progress, so it still has a lot of work yet to be put into it... but BEHOLD!!

Planet GTA
(name still under consideration too)

http://nikt.zog.net.au/planet-2.0/gta/

Stay tuned for updates.

[[DRuG]Grish]

Awesome NikT!!!
This is a very good thing indeed.

We need to get all the Aussie SAMP and MTA clans on there.

Should I start letting people know, or do we need it to be on a domain first?

[[DRuG]NikT]

Yes, please, get any clan you can to supply you their main announcement/blog feed address & we can add them in.

Currently I am searching for template files for planet, but there aren't many - I suspect I'm gonna have to develop a theme by trial and error.

[[DRuG]NikT]

OK, this planet is starting to take shape... please, take a look & tell me what you think.

http://nikt.zog.net.au/planet-2.0/gta/

[[DRuG]Grish]

it will be easier giving out the link to people when it is easier to type NikT.


*hint hint*

[[DRuG]NikT]

Yeh, I was explaining to Grish earlier, that my current best idea for the permanent name is planet.drugcrew.com, which should standardize the usage of planet - it would be good to see other clans utilizing it as a resource on their systems. Note that this address is not yet live - at this stage I'm still trying to remember to ask Elite, our cpanel admin.

One key difficulty I'm considering, at the moment, is that use of a forums based feeds seems to result in way too many messages, rather than just the main news blog. If you are obtaining a feed for use on our system, try to ask for one that only includes the main news announcements (and not all forum posts).

[[DRuG]NikT]

Well, after considering the amount of modification I have been needing to make to utilize planet for our purposes, I decided to check out some commercial groups' open source offerings.. enter prototype #2...

Spry framework for AJAX - RSS Reader reader demo from Adobe Labs

Note: The reading panel doesn't work with every group's rss feed, but they work with most, and perfectly with ours.. try clicking through a few areas..

Planet GTA Prototype 2

Note: The reading panel doesn't work with every group's rss feed, but they work with most, and perfectly with ours.. try clicking through a few areas

This one was amazingly easy to set up, and seems to do a lot of the feed loading directly from the feeds, so you are seeing the very latest data, not some cached, old stuff.

This one, to me, looks like it could be customized to look pretty damn slick, and is using all Adobe's latest pwnage of everything everyone else is doing... they really are building quite the monopoly on new web tech.. I don't like using their products, but like Photoshop, they really do stand out from a lot of the others by doin' it slick.. like this reader.

What's everyone else think?

[DRuG]NikT tries to resist the urge to reskin until everyone gets a look at the default.

For more information on spry...

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/spry/home.html

*edit* couldn't resist - theme and stylesheet have been modded by me.