TPM MAIN SITE REVIVAL PROJECT!

[firepokemon]

Well perhaps one could ask what bandwidth and server space is available currently. and possibly what could be available in the future. I just can't see a TCG section with card scans. Though clearly if bandwidth and space is such an issue. Its something that would need to be discussed. Because also one of my idea was the return of TPM's picturedex. Which had sprites, TCG scans, anime pictures and the like. I'm not sure what the viability is into a small additional server that carries pictures and the likes.

But I know one of things people have been talking about is Fan Art. I guess that could be a problem in regards to bandwidth and the like as well.

I do think the TCG section will need TCG scans. But that is something for the future too.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Locatordex

Something I have yet to see but something I think would work wonderfully. Many people don’t like to use walkthroughs. One can get spoiled and often one doesn’t need it but surely on Route201 for instance one wouldn’t mind knowing what pokemon and major items can be found there or where one has Honey Trees and the like. This is where I think TPM could offer something new.

It’s a simple idea, one is playing Diamond so they look up Route 202 and in the dex contains what pokemon available during the day, during the night, what pokemon are available via the rader, swarm or GBA inserts. This Locatordex could I think greatly benefit the site.

Yes, this is a good idea. Then one can't miss any Pokemon found in the location if we have a dex like this.

The Anime

· Episode Guides
· Episode ratings
· Character Guides
· Gym Leader/Pokemon Contest information
· Song Lyrics
· Episode pics
· Release information
· Movies
· Articles

Pretty much says what needs to be covered. I see Mr. Pikachu has already started on this, but we need to ensure that many characters get covered and are comprehensively covered. What I mean is we don’t want here is this character and it has five pokemon type of thing. We need it to be thorough. Lyrics for the opening and closer will be needed. I would’t mind articles about the anime, looking at theories from the anime and the likes. Everyone seems to be doing episode pics now days, perhaps we should look at that.

Basically we can’t have just another anime section with episode guides and character guides. We need more than that. Certainly at first focus on what is necessary for the site. But then overtime make it something people will want to return to. Will elaborate if necessary.

Hm, would translating TVTOKYO previews help? Also, song lyrics? Do the English Pokemon episodes have ending songs, i.e. outros? If you meant the Japanese ones, we would need translations, I know many people who read Japanese lyrics want to know what they mean. Of course, we could point them to sites like Anime Lyrics dot Com. What comes to our own translators, I'm sorry, but it seems two our potential translators Murgatroyd and Zak are out of the game. Murg hasn't posted for ages and Zak doesn't seem interested. Of course I could step in, but I've tried translating Pokemon stuff before and have found it difficult. Perhaps I should try again now that I have knowledge and experience.

[mr_pikachu]

Well perhaps one could ask what bandwidth and server space is available currently. and possibly what could be available in the future. I just can't see a TCG section with card scans. Though clearly if bandwidth and space is such an issue. Its something that would need to be discussed. Because also one of my idea was the return of TPM's picturedex. Which had sprites, TCG scans, anime pictures and the like. I'm not sure what the viability is into a small additional server that carries pictures and the likes.

Yeah, I totally understand your point on that; it would be hard to have a TCG section without cards. The main reason I excluded it when I first looked at it was that I only had a rough idea about our server limits... the calculations could have been troublesome depending on what end of my very wide range was reality. I'll dig back through my records and see if I can find what I first uncovered all those months ago. We might be able to make better use of the information now.

Also - I like the locatordex idea Mikachu quoted from your post, fp. What does everyone else think about it?

(Told you I'd be saying that phrase constantly. ^_^)

Regarding ending songs, most of them in America are (sadly) just shortened versions of the intros these days. Actually, WB stopped playing the "true" ending themes after awhile; we only saw them when episodes were aired on Cartoon Network. On the other hand, that does make listing the lyrics even easier, if a little redundant.

[Jeff]

The locatordex sounds like a good idea. Just to build on that, I propose we set up the index page for it as a clickable map, where you can click on a route or city and be taken to its page. I already have images for the maps up to Ruby and Sapphire (and Emerald). We would just need someone to do the ones for FR/LG and DPP. And if anyone is wondering, I already tested this idea out, it works perfectly in Firefox, IE, and Google Chrome.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

And may I add I won't do Babel Fish translations unlike those we mostly saw in Pokemon Anime section back there. I'll post my own translations no matter how much they take my time and energy.

It seems that my international Team Rocket Motto Collection-topic is lost, but I could find them from my own folders. That is, I could bring at least Finnish, Swedish and Japanese mottos to the site with my high-quality translations. The same goes for Pokemon song lyrics from those countries, perhaps.

[Weasel Overlord]

You know for the card pictures? Couldn't we just use an image-hosting site to... well... host them? I'd be willing to offer my photobucket for the purpose. And I know that with imageshack you can put a clickable thumbnail in. I mean, if that'd be too shoddy, fair enough, but it seems to me like the only options if we have limited bandwidth, which we do.

[mr_pikachu]

Jeff: Awesome! Thanks for the beta testing help. I'll get the current framework to you as soon as possible... it could probably use a fair share of tweaking, really. We'll know more once our discussions make the preferred structure perfectly clear.


Mikachu: Many thanks for the offer, Mikachu! You rock. That will be unique content that no one else will have... always a plus. ^_^


Weas: Photobucket's risky, as they have a tendency to delete pictures that they feel push the limits of the terms of service (see: copyright laws). Imageshack might work if we had to do outside hosting, although we'd have to be ready to re-upload any images that were lost by the servers. A few of mine have vanished in the past, personally. I'll track down the numbers I found previously so that we have a better idea of where we stand.

[Jeff]

There's the map in action. I should probably mention that it uses the <map> tag, which I'm pretty sure is widely supported. Like I said, this worked in 3 different browsers: IE, Firefox, and Chrome (which uses Apple's WebKit engine), JavaScript and all.

Unfortunately the Prnt Scrn key doesn't show the cursor as I just found out, but as you probably guessed I was hovering over Slateport in that screenshot.

[mr_pikachu]

Okay, I have now read all of fp's post and have composed my reply. Here it is.



Articles: I'm all for it. One of the things I've been meaning to do for awhile is catch up on DP so that I could resume my weekly Pokemon episode analysis. And the anime's hardly the only area that could use regular articles and such.


Tabbing Effect: Is this distinct from clicking a tab at the top of the screen to switch versions of stuff, like you described in the Pokedex suggestion?


Locatordex: You know, I used to use the Pokemon Fan Universe Pokedex (had to switch eventually, since we no longer had one), and the guy always talked about how he was going to set up a locatordex. It sounded great, but it never happened. I think we could do it, though, especially since we already seem to have a start with Jeff's map script.


Walkthroughs: Sounds good to me. In fact, I was a big fan of the old TCG video game (still pull it back out on occasion), so I might help with that if we take on that idea.

I do think we need to clearly distinguish between "absolute must have on launch" things and "we should work on these" things - this is true throughout the site, but it's perhaps most true in the walkthrough section. It's an important distinction to make, because I think one of our primary goals (and certainly the first big one) should be just to get the website running.

Part of the reason some people are skeptical is that they've worked on similar projects that set the initial bar too high and never even got to the initial upload stage. I think it's fine to put the site online even if it doesn't yet have every section we want, simply so that we get the project off the ground. There has to be a point at which we say, "This is enough to get the ball rolling, so let's put it up."

None of us wants this to slow down and be forgotten; let's figure out what information we need for a respectable initial upload - some things can probably still be "under construction" - and that way we'll have a very clear goal in mind.

But I digress.


Anime and Manga: The first one's so vast that it'll probably require many people working on it to get all the information. Manga, on the other hand, is a bit smaller... I can contribute a lot to certain series, not so much to others. Like you said, some things have lower priorities than others.


Fanfiction Reviews: Yeah, we'll have to figure out that one. One idea might be to incorporate it with the FFRO somehow... not sure, though, with the FFRO's current inactivity.


Fanart: Makes me wonder what happened to the Oekaki page, heh.


Other Fanworks: I'd be happy to periodically post WotF there... might draw people to the forums, too. ("Ooh, they have more pages here!") It'd definitely be much better to have a variety, though, provided we could get enough contributors.


History: In Fanfic, we've been working a little with the "TPM's History" thing for use in the Fanfiction Hall of Fame. It's tougher than you might think to actually find old information, but if we had some 2000-era veterans who would remember it....



Now. I have posted. You know what's coming next...

What does everyone else think?

[firepokemon]

I couldn't agree more with getting the website up. And with deciding what needs to be prioritised over others. So really the question is what needs doing now, what we leave for after the main stuff is up. And perhaps most important what content needs to be up before the website becomes public?

Manga, Merchandise, articles, certain games, TCG, added anime features, fanfics, fanart I would say can wait for later.

Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, the pokedex, Locatordex, basic anime information, perhaps the ranger games, attackdex, abilitydex, berrydex, perhaps a few calculators and a basic games mechanics page is what we should focus on before unveiling.

Though I'm not even sure we need to do that much before unveiling the website. As long as when the website launches its constantly getting updated with stuff and we keep a good record of news and forum information then the website will be a success. Any long term success surely will be measured by our 5th generation information. If perhaps we focus on most thing up before 5th gen arrives we should be doing well.

As for that tabbing effect. I was thinking something like this:

http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/alakazam

I was thinking of something like that, see how one can go to RBY info easily or GSC etc etc. I think this could work with the spinoffdex, berrydex etc etc.

----

Anyway I'm easy with what we focus on first to make sure the site is up. But I guess you or we or TPM or whatever need to decide on several things that need doing.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

If we have a section for translations, we should perhaps have songs and other stuff also in other languages than just Finnish, Swedish and Japanese. Of course if we are short of material, there could be just a section like 'Finnish fun' but I don't know if it would be intersting enough. Anyway, here's an example of my translations. The regular Finnish Team Rocket motto.

Finnish original
Mikachu's English translation

Jessie: Meitä on kaksi...
Jessie: There's two of us...
James: ...kammottavaksi.
James: ...to be feared.
Jessie: Maailma kaipaa pelastusta!
Jessie: The world yearns for salvation!
James: On kansamme loistavin, sielultaan musta!
James: Our nation is the most splendid, black from its soul!
Jessie: On totuus ja rakkaus raukkoja varten...
Jessie: Trurth and love are for wretches...
James: ...vaan tähdet ja galaksit kuningatarten.
James: ...but stars and galaxies of queens.
Jessie: Jessie!
James: James!
Together: Rakettiryhmä!
Together: Team Rocket!
Jessie: Me tähtäämme vasamat taivaisiin!
Jessie: We aim the bolts at skies!
James: Astu alas tai tartumme aseisiin!
James: Step down or we'll take up arms!
Meowth: Miau! Juuri niin!
Meowth: Meowth that's right!

Now I don't know if this would be a good idea or a boring idea, but I think it would be original at least to include a vocabulary, perhaps in an attachment, like this:

me = we
meitä = of us
olla = be
on = is
kaksi = two
kammota = fear
kammottavaksi = to be feared
maailma = world
kaivata = yearn
kaipaa = yearns
pelastus = salvation
pelastusta = for salvation
kansa = nation
kansamme = our nation
loistava = splendid
loistavin = the most splendid
sielu = soul
sielultaan = from its soul
musta = black
totuus = truth
ja = and
rakkaus = love
raukka = wretch
varten = for
vaan = but
tähti = star
tähdet = stars
galaksi = galaxy
kuningatar = queen
kuningatarten = of queens
Rakettiryhmä = Team Rocket
tähdätä = aim
tähtäämme = we aim
vasama = bolt, divine weapon
taivas = sky
taivaisiin = at skies
astua alas = step down
astu alas = step down (imperative)
tai = or
tarttua = grab
ase = weapon
tarttua aseisiin = take up arms
Miau = Meowth
juuri = just
so = niin

[shazza]

So let's assume the site becomes incredibly popular again, so too will the message board. How do we feel about having the forum like 2000/2001 or Serebii? Inactive moderators and administrators would either need to lift their game or resign.

[firepokemon]

Do people here even remember 2000 or 2001? Crazy times, barely no rules, flames, flames, flames. Good times ^)&

[shazza]

Yes, how I miss those crazy times when I used to fear you due to your age, intellect and great debating skills.

Where have those days gone?

[mistysakura]

I still think that RPG and Fanfic and ASB are where TPM can differentiate itself from other sites, but firepokemon's right; most of the activity there will take place on the forums. So the parts of the site to put up first would be the games and anime (and news, of course). I really like the idea of a locatordex, and really getting up-to-date with fifth gen. As firepokemon said, if we can provide quality, comprehensive information, we could gain an edge there. Regarding the amount of material at launch, I think that at least the newest generation of games and anime should be fairly complete before launch. If visitors see "under construction" everywhere, especially where they need the information most, they're less likely to come back. However, I agree that it would be impossible to have all information up at launch, and it's a daunting task. So if we have the information that people are most likely to look for -- news, new generation information -- the rest of the stuff can wait. It's not like there's a lack of RBY pokedexes out there. Also, perhaps we could upload our work in progress somewhere, so our forum members can see where the project is going, see that it's not just a load of talk, and chip in. It's encouraging to the content creators too

[mr_pikachu]

The great thing is that, as others have said, we do have a lot of content stored in archives. It shouldn't be too hard to get certain things up to snuff.

Are we ready to start divvying up tasks and stuff? Seems a little fast, but I actually didn't realize so much of our information was still easily accessible... we may be ready to go after the real work for phase one, even as we debate how to go beyond the standard content. That might be the best approach so that we don't lose our momentum in endless discussion. Thoughts?

As for posting the site, what does everyone else think? My initial reason for not doing so was that certain other Pokemon sites might be apt to steal our thunder, but if the rest of you think that's an irrelevant concern then we'll make the entire process more public.

(Alternatively, I could post a link to the current material to prove it exists, but only give the password to contributors. What's the best approach?)

[firepokemon]

Well I can't speak for others. But I'm very interested to see what there is so far. I don't think everything should be revealed publicly either.

Also keen to see the divvying of tasks and the like get up to speed. As for contributing towards the site, well if I knew where it was going I could say what I can contribute.

[Andrew]

Honestly, I'm a good bossy person. So I'll tell you guys what you want/need to change to make it look pretty. We can at least be the sexiest Pokemon Site!

[Blademaster]

Firepokemon, that is one LONG fucking post...

That probably means whatever is in it is a good idea. Good work.

[Dark-San]

It is clear you don't even know what the state of the pokemon community looks like.

You forgotten about sites like this. I could have swear I had found more sites like this in the net. They are all our competitors, all using the same strategy as being a pokemon hub. Although ours are more comprehensive.

Like I had mentioned earlier, I do not quite agreeable on what firepokemon's proposal had to offer totally. Although, he have some interesting ideas that we could take note of but I feel that we are somehow on another missing out on the whole point here.

A project does not goes like when one person decides something and the whole followers goes with it without proper analysis done. There is a danger that the project would fails and eventually dropped and forgotten halfway. It is not like I totally disagree with firepokemon's idea but I feel that I should have make a point here. If we go ahead blindly, we will be at risk of losing the the forum's identity.

My whole point of idea came from the fact that, sure we are from The Pokemasters. Although we are somehow a group still affiliated with Pokemon, we are still have our own individual forum identity. Firstly, our identity is stemed from the fact that we are all former fans or still a fan of pokemon. Fans that does fanwork, Fans that adores pokemons, Fans that writes Fanfic, Fans that draws Fanart.

Hence instead of positioning ourselves as a hub, I strongly feel that we should assumed a position that is more fanbase. In another, downplaying on all those walkthroughs and technical stuffs of Pokedex and focus more on fanwork. I have an idea or two that I had been writing down, although I doubt it would be more comprehensive than firepokemon. I would post it up like in a day or two after I am done with my Strategic Marketing revision.

[firepokemon]

Veekun is not comprehensive. It has a pokedex and an ev calculator and one or two other things. It has nothing on the ranger games nor does it have information on the mystery dungeon games. Half the info rby/gsc and parts of 3rd generation we already possess. Why not use that. I never said my way was the only way to go. I dont think for a second either that people blindly followed what I have to say. But clearly there were elements in my proposal that made people wake up and say. Yes that will work or that will work.

Also I already pointed out sites that focus on fan-work stuff. Its not going to get that many hits. Fanworks are great but to have the whole focus on fan work? Forget about it. Fan work should be a part of TPM sure but you can't possibly have the site about fan work. We do that and we become just another small pokemon website on the internet.

What we can do is use things from my proposal, things that other people wish to see and combine it into a comprehensive and fully worked out website. That means you can have the fan work stuff. But having a whole website centered around fan work? Forget about it. I don't think there is a huge interest out there for that. People can do that stuff already on serebii.net forums, pokecommunity forums, bulbagarden forums and the sites I mentioned earlier. Not to mention such places often and will continue to see places such as deviant art or fanfiction.net and the like.

Also if we concentrated on pokemon fanwork and pokemon fanfiction. What is going to happen? As far as I can see no successful pokemon RPG has happened for months. There are very few people here writing pokemon fanfiction. Pokemon fan art? Besides a a few trainer sprites there is none. ASB itself isn't that active and one can easily go to Serebii.net for that where its much bigger than we got.

I don't mean to be rude to your thoughts Dark San but like you I have strong opinions of what I want to see in a new TPM website. And I can't see a whole focus on fan work to be viable in either the short or long term. Sure it can play an important part on the site. But fan interaction largely takes place in forums or via chat rooms.

We go with fan interactions and a real emphasis placed on our forums and how are we meant to get new members? Right now we don't get new members because we have nothing to offer them. I hate to say it but I feel like too much emphasis placed on fanwork and we lose any chance we have to renew this board.

The fanbase goes where the pokemon information goes, doing fan art and fanfiction is a bonus sure. But can hardly be what is emphasised. People stick around for the bonus that is forums and that is fan work. But we won't get those people doing in your way Dark San. They'll keep to SPP and Bulbagarden that offer pokemon information and forums to express their fandom.

I'll hear your proposal, but right now I'm at a loss to see how can we possibly go the way you wish to see TPM.

Edit: Also where has it been stated that we're going down the route I suggested? People like some of my ideas. But never has it been expressed we're going down the route firepokemon said.

Edit Number Two: Also you seem to think that we'll just be the same as everyone else. But very few of the big websites have anything on fan content. So there I agree we can make a difference in offering fan work and the like. Also there is the articles which means people will come back.

At the end of the day TPM was a pokemon website, that is why the majority of us came here. For a number of years we have not had a main page. We are now a small and struggling community that has been offered that last chance to resurrect what we once had. I came here the day this forum opened and I'll be here till either I die or it dies. I've seen this forum change in so many ways. I've been in the chat room. I've worked on this site before. I've seen the changes happen on this forum. I know what this forum is like where its breathing, for years I've also seen its long decline. Any changes will change this community we have. But unless we get new people, we won't have a community left. We can't be a video game site or an anime site. We can't be a site that focuses on fan works. We can have fan works, we can have anime, we can even have video games. But at the end of the day we TPM the pokemasters a website and forums centered around pokemon. Lets not lose track of that. We don't have a fanbase, we won't get a fanbase again until we offer something fans want.

[Dark-San]

Thanks firepokemon, I seems to get your own pointers with your concise explanations. Some good points you brought up had me thinking on the flaws of my own differentiation plan. Thought I might bring them up just in case,

1) Lack of core competence

Sure, I had my mind fixed on this one to us skewing towards fanworks side. But the problem is that in some of our forum fanworks departments particularly in Fanarts and RPG, where activities are at its minimal. Before we can go into the differentiation on fanworks up, we would need to tackle more on our internal forum problems. Particular the lack of fresh blood injection into our staff positions, since the activity of the moderators indirectly links to our performance indicator as the site's vitality.

2) Lack of long term vision of what we want to achieve

Right now, I must say we are just rather aimlessly operating within the Internet in our small little world. Hopefully with firepokemon's plan, we can get ourselves standing up first before we start to think about differentiation. In metaphor term, it would be more appropriate for us to learn on how to walk before we can run.

3) Lack of administration involvement

Let us just say the administrators are not as active as they used to be, given reality's circumstances. My plan would probably required them to update the site instead of a weekly basis, a daily basis would be more appropriate. Hence, this would further push my plan into more of a disadvantage side

Although, there are much more I can't simply be bothered to sum them all up. The above 3 factors would probably be the gist of it.

Also given my concerns here on the plan we have here, I think it is best we need to get someone who have relevant IT skills that would assist Brian into designing the site. We should have no problem into getting the members to contribute content into the site but the priority should be put more into the designing portion and yes of course the work allocation needs to be work out too.

[mr_pikachu]

Glad to see some good discussion here. It sounds like we're coming to a greater understanding of what different people want, which is excellent.

Regarding getting someone to help with site design, please, please do. I don't profess to be a web design expert; I've tinkered enough to know how to start this project, but we'll definitely need someone with true knowledge for the technical stuff.

As for the updating thing, I've considered that before and believe it's something to discuss with Kevin. A lot depends on how the site's security is structured. Ideally, we could sort of treat the main site and the forum as two different "folders," with the forum maintaining its normal protection and the website having certain degrees of editing privileges granted to people who are both active and highly trusted. (Some might be limited to certain sections of the site, while others might sort of oversee everything.)

That's about the full extent of what I've developed. I'll try to contact Kevin in the very near future; he and I may be able to discuss some ideas. Now that we've got the ball rolling, I'm not about to sit idly by while it comes to a stop.

Regarding the overall direction of the site, it may be simplest to at least get an idea of what people think it has to include first. As such, I propose a simple straw poll. Out of all the individual topics we've discussed so far, from 4th generation walkthroughs to character guides to a locatordex, just pick five of those specific things and post them here.

(Yes, go specific, if you could... that way everything will get a fair look, including smaller applications and sections. Otherwise we'll end up with everyone voting for five broad categories like "Pokemon anime," which won't help us focus on specific goals at all.) I think that may be the fastest way to determine our initial direction; we can determine the breadth of the project as we go.

Is everyone else agreeable with that proposal?

[DarkestLight]

Sure. Once Im able to see whats needed first hand, then I 'll know what and how much I can contribute :O.

[Jeff]

I think things that other pokemon sites don't have, and things that they do have, but we could do better should be a top priority for us. Those are the things that would give people incentive to visit TPM and therefore allow us to re-establish ourselves in the community. Given that, here are five things I think we should have:

-News on the main page. A good Pokemon fansite should keep fans updated on what's going on in the world of Pokemon, and just like how video game sites list news items on their main pages, we should make this accessible as soon as visitors come to the site. Plus, this would be consistent with the old format of TPM, allowing us to keep another part of TPM's old identity.

-Fanworks section. I like the idea of emphasizing fanworks, but it should only be a part of TPM, and not be the sole emphasis. Organizing info on the fanworks going on in the forums onto a section of the main site would be a great way for visitors to, for example, find fanfics they like and keep up with them even if they slip off of the first page in the forums. It could also serve as a gateway into the forums for members who came for the info.

-Game info should include old games. I would like a Pokemon site that I could go to and find out, for example, where I can find HM02 in Silver. Like I mentioned in another post, people still play the old games.

-Locatordex. I'm pretty enthusiastic about this idea. This is the kind of thing that Pokemon sites usually don't offer, but is IMO, a much better way to organize information on the games.

-Pokedex. Yeah, it's been done to death, but what's a Pokemon site without a pokedex? This is one of those cases where we could probably do things better than other sites. Instead of trying to throw everything (including the kitchen sink) into the 'dex to one-up the other guys, we should try to focus on making it more usable. Being able to find pokemon via a search box would be one great idea.

As for the site design, I don't claim to be a web design expert either. I can write some pretty decent HTML/CSS/JavaScript, but getting it to look nice is another thing for me.

[firepokemon]

I have to say I pretty much agree point on point with Jeff.

In regards to news, I would like to see extensive news. Of the main new sites, pocketmonsters, pokebeach, bulbagarden.net, serebii.net and a few others. They post some news but I always feel more could be posted. Now news is something that many people could do. Since previously Kevin has used newscripts and the like to enable several people to post news. This is an area where I am very interested in helping.

Fanworks I'm a bit iffy on. There seems to be many wanting something on this, I want something on this. Dark San has some proposal on it. We need to find a way for this section to work. And so far we've seen people wanting to see it but no one has really been able to pinpoint how we make use of fanworks. Someone needs to write up something about how this will work on the site.

Game info. We will need some game info on launch. But we can't possibly have everything done and polished by game launch. If the sections need to be a bit empty for now with some quick info about the game. I say do that. We can obviously enhance the sections at a later date. Where we do have a strength, is that RBY and GSC is pretty much sorted and could basically be copied straight from the old archives. There is the other gameboy colour and Nintendo 64 games that can be pretty much copied across.

As for ruby/sapphire we have some in the second website with the archive available at the top of this post. And diamond, pearl and platinum are a necessity.

As for other games, Firered, Leafgreen, Emerald, XD, Colosseum, Mystery Dungeon games and perhaps the ranger games may have to take place at a later date. We will do them, but is it something we can get done before the launch?

Diamond, Pearl and Platinum we should be working on.

Locatordex. I had the idea, I'm glad people like the idea. Question is how comprehensive do we make this, how far do we take it, and what information do we really want for it?

Pokedex - Has to be done really, can't get away without not doing it.

I also feel an attackdex, abilitydex and berrydex would need to be done on launch as well. But I don't feel these things are as necessary as other sections. For now we could simply have an attack list for each section. Ability list for 3rd gen and 4th gen. And a berry listing.

I think we need something from the anime, but that section can be fully completed at a later date.

----

Other things, TCG, Manga, Merchandise, Articles, Columns, calculators, extra game mechanics and the like can be handled at a later date.

I guess we need to think about what we need to include on launch for Diamond, Pearl and Platinum since it requires a lot of work and we can't possible have a fully comprehensive section on start up. What in D/P/Pt must be prioritise?

[mr_pikachu]

I guess we need to think about what we need to include on launch for Diamond, Pearl and Platinum since it requires a lot of work and we can't possible have a fully comprehensive section on start up. What in D/P/Pt must be prioritise?

A walkthrough section would probably be unfeasible at launch, so a location/gym/main character list might be sufficient as step one. Thoughts?

[mistysakura]

Sounds good. My five things:

News
Pokedex (inc. D/P)
Locatordex
4th and 5th gen game info
Pokemon anime character guide and episode summaries (I know it's ambitious, but we can put up an episode list at launch and add summaries from most recent down as we go)

[Drago]

Fanworks I'm a bit iffy on. There seems to be many wanting something on this, I want something on this. Dark San has some proposal on it. We need to find a way for this section to work. And so far we've seen people wanting to see it but no one has really been able to pinpoint how we make use of fanworks. Someone needs to write up something about how this will work on the site.

Just off the top of my head, I would think that the best way of addressing fanworks would be to treat them as though they were official; a listing of the more established fics or RPGs, rankings, character lists, reviews, the whole kit and kaboodle. Of course there aren't a great deal of thriving RPGs to speak of at the moment, but longtime 'franchises' like Eeveelutions could get that treatment; it's a tradition of sorts that could feasibly return at any time.
The great thing about a thriving fansite is that, at least back in the day, an interest in the theme would generate an interest in topics related to that theme. I liked Pokemon, so I would read the stories people had to write. Whether that's changed nowadays I don't know, but it certainly couldn't hurt. In my case I can't contribute a great deal towards the more practical topics that you desire, simply because I personally don't possess any greater information than anyone else; that's why it's best for people like me to focus on our community; something that I could help contribute information about.

[Bulbasaur4]

On Fanworks...

As far as Artwork goes, there should be a main page for Artwork that displays users who have submitted art. The latest artwork they have uploaded will be an icon for their name, so people can click on what they'd like to see. On this page should be a link to the forum, for discussion/ranks/giftarts etc...

On RPGs...
If RPG doesn't get its own board, then I'd leave it teh way it is. Trying to focus it on pokemon will not get anymore people active in it than if you left it general. I absolutely detest the set-up of having a Pokemon forum where they have a little topic for every frick'n town and what-not... it's plain annoying and lacks the quality that RPGs were based off of. The most successful RPG forums that I've seen, have no such stucture but use the structure we do now.

If the RPG were to recieve its own forum/board, THEN I'd suggest making a seperate forum slice for different genres. :3



OH OH OH...
TPM, WHAT POKEMON DO YOU WANT AS THE MASCOT?
... Just wanted imput, because I thought having one would be a good idea if I wanted to create banners/etc.

[mr_pikachu]

OH OH OH...
TPM, WHAT POKEMON DO YOU WANT AS THE MASCOT?
... Just wanted imput, because I thought having one would be a good idea if I wanted to create banners/etc.

I am so incredibly tempted to yell "PIKACHU!" But I don't want to risk turning TPM into a cliche by pushing for my personal fave... nngh! *twitches*

I'll look at some of the archives this weekend. From what you all have said, it's very likely that we can draw a lot of material from our own past and just make it sharper. Strong writers, thankfully, are something TPM has in abundance. Now that we're getting a clearer picture of what we want on launch, it sounds like that resource will lighten our workload dramatically. Editing isn't easy, but it's simpler than creating new content.

[firepokemon]

Bulbsaur4: No I'm not saying you have to focus on pokemon. And I'm not sure I get your point. I'm just wondering what about RPG can be done on the site? RPG highlights? RPG reviews or what. Though interestingly I though Dracoknights thoughts were interesting.

As for pokemon mascot. I've always been a fan of flying pokemon, I recall Lugia (which is lol psychic) was a popular choice. I think there would be something quaint in having RBY/FRLG starters. Charizard?????

----

Anyway in regards to what information necessary for Diamond/Pearl/Platinum.

- TM/HM list
- Major items (do a more thorough item list later)
- New pokemon (ie. the new lot for 4th generation)
- Gym Leaders
- Elite 4
- Legendary pokemon
- For Platinum rotom formes.

I think that would be sufficent for now. Clearly eventually we're going to want to cover Pokemon Contests, Honey Tree, All items, Secret Base, The Underground, Battle Tower, Swarm, Radar etc etc. We're gonna have to cover a lot. But if we focused on a few things now and kept adding to it. I think that would be suffice.

[firepokemon]

I would edit the page. But TPM colours traditionally are black and blue. Now I'm not sure what colours we're using for the actual site. But if we keep colours largely to what the forums are. Surely it makes sense for the pokemon to be Suicune or Blastoise or something blueish and TPMish?

[mr_pikachu]

At present, the color scheme is similar to what we have on the forums. That can certainly be changed if we like, though; I mostly just wanted something to show upon the initial proposal. It's a framework, and that framework can easily be adjusted.

[firepokemon]

Well I'm happy to stick with TPM's current colour scheme ^)^. But for me as long as it looks right I'll be happy.

---

So my thought train is running. We gotta start submitting stuff. Gym Leader pages, tm/hm list, looking through old sections of TPM and fixing things up and like. Writing pages on Natures, compiling pokedex data etc etc. And right now there is no space for it.

I'm not sure if admins themselves can create forums, or super mods or what. We could I guess use the pokemasters.net forum. But I think a new forum with access granted to members known. Ie. just make it so you either must be registered to view the forum so we got no randoms looking in. Or even going further than that and granting it to members known to everyone else. Ie. No random new person with 1 post by his name able to access the forum.

In that forum, could be a post for the locatordex, a post for the pokedex, a post for natures, a post for diamond/pearl Gym Leaders, a post fixing up a section in Gold/Silver/Crystal. That way we can see what people are working on. But also edit things or point out areas that may need to be elaborated on, changed or fixed. That way content is getting done and people are posting real things down and others can review what people have posted and the like.

To me it makes sense and means we're actually getting the process down. So thoughts? Comments?

To me this makes sense

[Roy Karrde]

Well I don't wanna really repeat what I have already said before in other topics ^^ I really think our strength is the creativity of the forum and that any website should play to that instead of one upping Serebii. Also if anyone wants to, there is a program called Keyhole TV in which you could watch Pokemon as it airs and probably get the info on before Serebii by a few hours.

ANYWAY if anyone wants 3D Models of things like Cartridges, Cards, etc, I would be more than happy to provide them.

[Blademaster]

OH OH OH...
TPM, WHAT POKEMON DO YOU WANT AS THE MASCOT?

Something that represents us. Something that was on top of the world for awhile, then kinda went to shit and vanished, and now is coming back...

Perhaps... an Aerodactyl? A Ho-Oh? Maybe a sturdy Bastiodon?

[Jeff]

I was thinking either Moltres or Ho-oh. Given that we're rising from the ashes, I think a phoenix would be appropriate. Also, both are old-school pokemon, Moltres being a first-gen pokemon and Ho-oh going back to the first episode of the anime. I'd prefer to use an old pokemon as our mascot than a new one since TPM goes way back to the early days.

[Drago]

I'm liking Ho-oh as the mascot as well; not only for the phoenix reference, but a partial throwback to the old Mewtwo/Lugia/Ho-oh logo.

[Andrew]

I am proposing Jynx! Or Aerodactal.

Failing that, Squirtle for being adorable! Whatever it is, I reckon it should be one of the original 151