My Big Project

[dinnerroll]

This may belong in Games, but I figured it would get more traffic here.

K so here's the deal. It's getting to the point in my life to where I feel I should start thinking about what to make of myself. I've been thinking of the things I'm good at and the things I enjoy doing. The one thing I keep coming back to is editorial journalism. I enjoy writing and I feel I'm fairly proficient at it. I also enjoy video games. These two combined led me to video game journalism. I read ign, joystiq, and other game sites and blogs on a daily basis. I feel I'm comfortable enough with the format to effectively pursue it myself.

If I can get all of the pieces together, I want to put together a game blog in the style of joystiq or kotaku. It would focus on all of the normal stuff like previews, reviews, news, game culture, opinion articles and editorials and any other creative ideas that may present themselves.

The purpose of my posting this here is that frankly, I need your help. I need advice, input, ideas, technical help, anything you can give me. I'm thinking that the site would have a small core writing staff in charge of main projects like news and reviews, and we could have people we know or invite people that visit the site to write any kind of opinion piece of editorial and submit them. The core staff would screen those submissions and publish the good ones and either reject or send the others back for revision.

To be honest, I don't see this idea taking off and becoming the next ign, although it would be awesome if it did. I see this idea as more of a platform to get some experience and build a portfolio in a career path that I find interesting and hope others might want to share with me. Thanks for reading all of this; even if you aren't interested.

[Spectere]

I think it'd be neat-o.

One thing that I'd advise is trying to start with a certain theme.  A lot of sites try to start off too big and wind up completely dying because nobody knows what to focus on.

[tommy]

there's already a ton of gaming journalism sites, we don't really need another one

basically everything's been taken. escapist does serious stuff, joystiq/kotaku/destructoid/whatever the hell do news, ign/gamespot/1up do reviews. what are you going to do differently?

[dinnerroll]

there's already a ton of gaming journalism sites, we don't really need another one

basically everything's been taken. escapist does serious stuff, joystiq/kotaku/destructoid/whatever the hell do news, ign/gamespot/1up do reviews. what are you going to do differently?

Like I said, I'm not really trying to do anything different or fantastic. I'm just trying to get some experience writing in a more professional style. If I happen to get a little bit of a reputation as a good writer, maybe that'll carry me on to the next step, but i'd be happy with just the experience.
 

Even though it's going to be a relatively small endeavor, I'd like to try to emulate the major sites as much as possible. One thing i've been racking my brain over is a name. It has to be a short, catch name with widespread appeal. IGN, 1up.com, and joystiq got this right on. No site like redneckgamenewsaddicts.com or superdupergamer.com ever gets any recognition. It has to be just right.

[tommy]

I'd like to try to emulate the major sites as much as possible

you're doing it wrong.

find a niche. maybe freeware, flash games, indie games, something that is pretty underreported (not that there aren't a shitload of blogs about these, just not as many as there are big games).

actually, what hasn't been done is a gamespot for free games. do that. do the hell out of that.

[dinnerroll]

I hadn't thought of that. It's not a bad idea actually. That's why I posted here for help, because I really want some input before i jump in.

[Bobbias]

And make sure that you have a site theme that works well. Nobody wants to try to navigate a site that is ugly, or is hard to find your way around.

On a slightly more technical aspect, what content management system are you planning on using to deliver thee goods? I highly suggest you use something like Joomla or some other one, because doing that yourself is a GIGANTIC pain. I've been working with Joomla a bit on my soon-to-be webserver (currently not accessible from the net due to my router not forwarding ports properly), and I really like it. However, using a default theme is a GIGANTIC no-no in this case. You'll want something unique to your site. I'd offer to help, but I don't know jock about making themes :/ If you ask Sqthreer nicely, he might lend a hand. (No promises... I'm not going to say he'll want to help at all, but you never know, and he does have some experience doing that sort of thing.)

[dinnerroll]

One reason I asked here was for technical help. I know absolutely nothing about any kind of coding and one thing I really wanted to make sure the site had was a unique style. So right now what I need is a name, a tech guy, and people as interested as me that want to write articles. I already have piroteknix and a couple guys from my school, but a couple more would be great.

[Bobbias]

Well, I can help you with any technical questions (as could Spectere, and maybe a coupe other people here.)

Using Joomla, there's very little coding you actually need to do, it was built so that you can edit things with a wysiwyg editor, a lot like forum post things. However, you would still need someone to make a theme for it, unless you used one of the default themes (which really isn't an option here).

[Spectere]

Joomla is so complicated it's not even funny.  People have written entire 475 page books on it.  If you wanted to get started with a heavy CMS like that, I'd weigh your options very carefully, then set up a local web server, grab some reading material on it, and use the crap out of it so that you aren't caught with your pants down.

[Ulti]

I've seen that book before :s

But yeah, sounds like a good idea, I'd be willing to write articles or something for it if you needed help with that. I don't know what good I'd be in a technical aspect though : |

[MortifiedocAlot]

I'm an opinionated fucker, so I'd be willing to write short reviews and such. Also a bigger focus on inde games could help you become more popular.

[dinnerroll]

ok so I think I have a pretty good handle on the format. I'm thinking general game industry news and editorials with a heavy focus on indie games for content pieces. Since those games are on pc, it would be much easier to capture screenshots and videos for previews and reviews and things like that.

I'll worry about the technical side of thing when I actually have a web hot and a site to actually work on.

What I need right now is a name. Like I said earlier, it has to be clever and catchy and have a broad appeal. It can be an acronym, a rhyme, anything. If anyone thinks of anything, no matter what it is, a name or any other ideas just throw it out there.

You guys have no idea how much I'm appreciating your input. There's no way I'd be able to put all of this together by myself. If anybody is especially interested, you can catch me on aim or email or something.

[Bobbias]

Well, I've been messing with Joomla and really like how it works. Sure, it's not some small-ass system and stuff, and it can be complicated, but you can do a LOT with it. I probably haven't scratched the surface of what's possible with it, but I do really like the way it's set up.

[Ulti]

I'll set my mind to work, and try to come up with a name. Hopefully I'll have something for you tommorow.