DKC Atlas Forum

[Qyzbud]

If you have any ideas to help make DKC Atlas a more attractive, useful, accurate and definitive resource for the Donkey Kong Country trilogy, please post your suggestions here. For those not yet aware, DKC2 and DKC3 will receive just as much attention as DKC, but until the DKC section is a bit more complete, I'll be focussing entirely on the first game of the trilogy.

Thanks for your suggestions!
-Qyz

Note: This topic is for discussing the DKC Atlas website, not this forum. Discuss the forum here. Thanks.

[Jomingo]

It's a really unimportant, but maybe the site could have more of a DKC color scheme. Instead of all the blues and purples, make it different shades of green. Just a suggestion, and as I said it's not important.

[BlueTronic]

It's a really unimportant, but maybe the site could have more of a DKC color scheme. Instead of all the blues and purples, make it different shades of green. Just a suggestion, and as I said it's not important.

Green? Wouldn't it be yellow and red?

[cfh]

I think the site looks great, but the forum needs to look more like the site.

[Qyzbud]

I agree that the forum needs to look more like the site, and I do intend to work on that. This forum is coded in PHP, which I'm only beginning to understand, and I have to be online to develop it, unlike the site itself. I don't have much internet access at the moment, but in two weeks I'll have internet practically 'round the clock, so expect lots of improvements and updates during that time.

Oh, and Jomingo... I am guessing by the 'blues and purples' that you were referring to this forum, not the DKC Atlas site proper... There's a separate board for forum-based suggestions, and they are most welcome, so please direct those suggestions to this board instead: DKC Atlas Forum Discussion

Thanks for the ideas, guys. Keep 'em coming!

[cfh]

Isn't there a .css file you can just go in and change the colors? That's usually how templates for forums work, the PHP is just for the technical stuff like connecting to the MYSQL database, I think. You probably know more than me.

[Qyzbud]

Yes, it's true that the basic colours are set by CSS, which certainly helps. I've found it a little confusing just how the complex .css file of phpBB3 is structured, though. I'll play with it again when time permits.

[Myuu]

May you please give this forum a better look it really hurts my eyes.

[cfh]

Hurts your eyes? How? The colors are pretty calm. It's like the opposite of the DKU :p

[Qyzbud]

You may be right. Pastels are really harsh on the eyes, aren't they...

I do plan to keep working to improve everything, but I must say I'm lost as to what you mean.

Oh, and as mentioned above, forum discussion goes on here.

[Tiptup Jr.]

I don't know. I'm with Myuu on the color thing, it's hurting my eyes too. Perhaps I got so used to the DKU that that's how my brain perceives a normal forum?

...

Yay, Smiley!

[Qyzbud]

...So I guess you use Blackle instead of Google, too?

Maybe until I've changed the colours, try this approach:

Shades, baby.

[BlueTronic]

That's what I told someone from OCR who said the DKU was making there eyes bleed.

Wear sunglasses. That should help.

[Cyclone]

What? How can these forum colours hurt your eyes? I quite like the the colour skeme and layout of these forums. It feels friendly and clean. While they aren't 'DKC" colours per se they do kinda go with the rest of this site in my opinion.

The DKU on the other hand... oh my that hurts my eyes and gives me eye strain after a lot of reading. When I close the page or look away from the monitor I see an after image of blackstreaks from the text. grrr LCD monitors are so bright.

But I guess the DKCatlas forums could be a little darker maybe a few shades of green to go along with the rest of this site. but in my opinion don't make it black and white

oh and one thing to keep in mind is that most people on these forums probably came over from DKU so theres a big contrast between the two.

[Kowbrainz]

A lot of it depends on your monitor type and settings. I'm using the prosilver skin for the forums right now as posts wouldn't show up for me on the other skin, but from what I could see the colours were fine... not sure how they'd cause eye problems.

[Qyzbud]

Kowz, that should be remedied now... Could you try switching back to atlas1 and let me know? Cheers.

Yeah, the DKU gave me eyestrain too, but it certainly had its own look. Hopefully people will adjust.


Anyway, please no more discussion about the forum colours in this thread. The topic here is the DKC Atlas website, not the forum!

[Kowbrainz]

Ah, thanks for that. All good now.

[Tiptup Jr.]

You should put a detailed diagram of the Kong family tree under the characters section. Does this site support the notion that Cranky is the original Donkey Kong?

On another note: I'm used to the forums now. No need to go changin' the colors, even if I do use Blackle.

[cfh]

It's known for certain that Cranky is the original DK, the confusing thing is whether he is DK's father or grandfather.

[Jomingo]

I can't wait for the character section to be updated, but I don't think that there should be a family tree. The only things we know for sure wouldn't make much of a tree, and anything else wouldn't be considered cannon, therefor there is no way to make a good legitimate one.

[cfh]

Maybe there should be several family trees, representing different theories? This is a DKC archive after all.

[Jomingo]

Yeah, but this site is a more informational site. It's about the facts, not theories and speculation. I don't think that any kind of fanon or ideas like that would fit in with the rest of the site.

[cfh]

Yeah, I guess you're right.

[Qyzbud]

Tiptup Jr. posted a copy of the Wikipedia-sourced Kong Family Tree here, and discussion of that nature ensued.

As Jomingo accurately pointed out, DKC Atlas is for the hard facts, not for storyline speculations. I guess some element of speculation is welcome (in regards to the upcoming 'Mysteries' section), but no, fanon doesn't really fit in with the rest of the site.

That said, any known relations to other characters can and will be noted in mini-bio section of each character.

[Qyzbud]

Guys, I've been trying to think of a better name for on of DKC Atlas' menu categories: Secrets & Oddities...

The current name just doesn't seem like the best option, but I can't think of anything better sounding or more fitting.

The sub-sections are:

• In-game Cheats
• Tips & Tricks
• Warps/Shortcuts
• Glitches
• Mysteries
• Unseen Scenes

Secrets & Oddities is rather fitting, but any ideas for a better name?

[BlueTronic]

How 'bout Secrets and Findings?

[Qyzbud]

Not bad at all.

I'll consider that one - other ideas?

[Cyclone]

How 'bout Secrets and Findings?

or "Findings and Secrets" j/k


hehe I know these are lame but here goes....

Treasures
Treasure Maps ← DKC 'Atlas' Theme?
Island Treasure
Island Secrets
DK Island Secrets
DKC Treasures
Treasure Cove
Treasure Cave
Treasures and Secrets
Secrets and Treasures
Secret Bannana Hoard
Banana Hoard
Banana Hunt ← cheesy I know
Banana Stash
Cranky's Secrets

or plain and simple "Secrets"

but to be honest I like "Secrets and Oddities" !

[cfh]

Secrets and Findings is the best alternative... but I don't see whats wrong with Secrets and Oddities.

[Cyclone]

Yea I agree with cfh. What you have right now is clear and descriptive.

Qyzbud is it the word "Oddities" that is bothering you about the current title?

[Qyzbud]

Thanks Cyclone, lots of good suggestions.

I'm glad you don't mind the current one. I think it's fine, but I'm sure a better expression's out there! Yeah, oddities is the part I'm wondering about... I've only had one piece of negative feedback about it, and it was from my girlfriend. She's not very fond of words, though.

On the subject:

Are there any other section titles that should be re-worded?

[Cyclone]

lol after looking at that list again, they all seem a bit babyish...

anyways...

I like 'Factfiles', 'Resources' and "Studies & Docs". They all seem to fit with the contents of the menus.

I think "Level Info" might be better with something more descriptive instead of "Info"?

maybe...

Stratigies
Level Guides
Level Maps
Maps and Strategies
Atlas Guide
etc

[Qyzbud]

Level Info was in fact called Level Guides previously... maybe you even remember that from the preview I showed you. I changed it while I was adjusting things, because somehow 'Guides' made the formatting too wide, but 'Info' looked just right. Trivial reasoning, but I know you have an eye for balance and aesthetics, so I'm sure you understand. Still, I could easily adjust spacing/width to get it lookin' good after a textual change.

Level Info does sound a bit vague. Guides might indeed be better.

What do others think?

[Kowbrainz]

I dunno... level info sounds fine to me personally. :/

[Jomingo]

I think there's nothing wrong with the ones we currently have, but I guess there's always room for improvement.

Level Guides does sound better than Info.

About Secrets and Oddities, maybe it could be called:
Mysterious Findings
Secret Findings
Secrets and Wonders
Although, I don't see anything wrong with Secrets and Oddities.

[BlueTronic]

"Oddities" doesn't fit at all. I see nothing "odd" about any of it.

[Jomingo]

Yeah, maybe Oddities was the wrong choice of words.

[Qyzbud]

"Oddities" doesn't fit at all. I see nothing "odd" about any of it.

In-game Cheats
Tips & Tricks
Warps/Shortcuts
Glitches
Mysteries
Unseen Scenes

The first three are 'Secrets' put into the game for players to discover. Actually, Tips & Tricks is partially about unintended actions that are not quite glitches, but perhaps could be thought of that way. (Like DK's Sliding Handslam, etc.)

Glitches and Mysteries are certainly oddities; unusual stuff that's not easily explained.

Unseen Scenes is about things that were intentionally put in, but not meant to be seen. Like beta level designs, unused sprites, etc.

I think oddities is an appropriate term to describe stuff like that. You think not?

[BlueTronic]

"Oddities" only covers 2 passages. We should have a title that categorizes all of them.

Secrets would be under:
In-game Cheats
Warps/Shortcuts


Oddities would cover:
Mysteries
Glitches

Unseen Scenes and Tips and Tricks are still not under those categories. Tips aren't odd because they are finding new and better stradegies to master something, and isn't finding way to get through places what the game is all about? They're not secret because Nintendo didn't even know about them, let alone want them to be secret. Unseen scenes are not secrets because secrets are things meant to be seen, but not seen easily: These weren't meant to be seen at all. They surely aren't odd, because though they weren't seen in the game, they still are not odd because every single place in the game is a scene.

Findings would be appropriate for every one because the whole section is about things that you've found. Is it not? If it's not something you you found it certainly doesn't belong in this section. So why should we call it "Oddities" if oddities is not what each passage would fall under?

[Qyzbud]

The title Secrets & Oddities is not meant to imply that everything within is both a Secret and an Oddity. If that were the case, I'd have just titled it Secret Oddities or something of that nature. The heading contains some secrets, and it also contains some oddities. They are tricky things to categorise, and I want to have the menu as streamlined as possible really. Your Findings suggestion is definitely a good and valid one.

...but 'Findings' doesn't cover them all, either.


As for your claim that unseen scenes "surely aren't odd"; I'll have to disagree. They are very unusual (read: odd) in that a vast majority of players (even hardcore DKC fans) will have never seen them, and only a small handful of them exist in the whole trilogy. Seems a perfect candidate for an 'oddity', if you ask me.

Some good suggestions, although much of what you say really doesn't hold water. Well that's my opinion.

[Cyclone]

Hmm you could always add categories, combine them or move things around.

I noticed that you placed the categories so that the length of the text is smaller on the left/right and larger in the center. Or maybe that was coincidence. I tried something
similar below. Now the main content on your site (which is the Level Info, right?) is in the center of the page. Not sure if that’s good or not though.


Home

Factfiles...
-Kong Family
-Animal Buddies
-Baddies


Studies & Docs...
-PAR Codes
-ASM Addresses
-Physics Studies


Guides & Secrets...
-Level Guides
->Kongo Jungle
-->Jungle Hijinx
-Tips & Tricks
-In-Game Cheats
-Warps/Shortcuts


Miscellaneous...
-Glitches
-Mysteries
-Unseen Scenes


Resources...
-Sound Effects
-Soundtrack Files
-Graphic Layers


Forums



Instead of "Miscellaneous" you could use "Mysterious Findings" which Jomingo suggested, or Oddities in which case you could swap it with Resources
which would maintain the balance. .... or something else that fits those 3 categories.

[Jomingo]

Looks good to me.

[BlueTronic]

The main page should have an artwork section.

[Qyzbud]

Are you thinking promotional art, fan art, or both?

Art is great, but it's not really DKC Atlas' priority. DKC Atlas is pure SNES gaming.

[cfh]

Yeah, I don't think an art section would fit.

[Jomingo]

Yeah, it doesn't fit in with the sites main objective.

[FunkyKong]

I think the forum needs to have more of a Jungle theme.

[Qyzbud]

Thanks for your suggestion, but as mentioned in the first post of this thread...

Note: This topic is for discussing the DKC Atlas website, not this forum. Discuss the forum here. Thanks.

[Jomingo]

Qyz, I guess I was right, maybe this forum's label is a little misleading.