Mr_Marvellous

Well, firt of all, welcome to the boards, noticed it was only your 8th post and secondly, thanks for your coments about our site.

Finally, I'm really pleased you're posting here. I've always loved your work and at the same time have always missed it because it was on the US boards. Great to see you here, and I look forward to your posts in the future

I'm writing a piece of fan fiction based on our characters, and never let it be said that I don't do my research, I'd much appreciate it if people would answer these questions. You never know, it might be useful for others as well.

What do you like to see in a piece of fan fiction?

What puts you off reading the stories published on the boards?

What types of story do you like and is there a specific genre that you feel fits well within the COH/COV universe?

What mistakes do you think have been made in the past (no names please, unless it's your own )?

If the story was provided as a PDF (so that formatting could be maintained like a proper book) would you see that as a benefit or would it put you off reading the story?

Do you prefer serialisations or one self-contained story, no matter the length?

Given that we are concerned with writing for the COH/COV universe, how close to the action in game do you expect a story to be?

How much artistic leeway do you, as a reader, allow the writer to have before you give up on a story?
For example: A story has Statesman in and reveals something about him that is not mentioned anywhere else, nor is likely to be again.

Thank you very much

I don't suppose you'd like to nominate us for creative geniuses would you The site went live in April and there's a link to the original thread (with Hidden_Healers quote) in my sig.

Well, we had a bit of a break, as you can see, but we're back now and the first update on the site for some time is Little Ms' Diary which has had day 23 added.

Miss M is currently writing more and we will now be releasing them at regular intervals.

Pleas have a look and read the lot if you've not before. They really are a good read.

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Please do not ever use Flaming Pear plugins, ever.

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I think that's a little unfair. You can do some (note some.. not alot and I wouldn certainly not advocate it being used too much) good things with Flaming Pear and Eyecandy plugins. Thing is, they are very situational.

I do think people disregard them too much now because a bunch of people got hold of them and used them for EVERY effect for EVERY website for a good few years.

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Great news this accoldae was rumoured to exsist agaes ago but obvioulsy wasnt until now.

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We need all of them. We've not done anything on Mr and Miss at all. I expect we'll be able to join in at some point

I'll be around and free... um I am around and free tonight if there's a spare place but it sounds like you have enough.

Anyway, invite Ankh if you do.

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The creative genius section seems to have stalled in October too - was that merely a limited time offer, or is it another community thing that has just died.

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Actually, that's because creativity does actually stop in October

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I have a friend who's current coursework suddenly requires her to construct a flash website, she asked me for help but I dont use flash.. and I thought of you lot and Mr. Marvelous.

Are there any (links to) tutorials/guides/advice that could be of help?

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Well, firstly, if there's anything you want me to look over for you, PM me.

You might want to take a look at:
flashkit.com
tutorialoutpost.com
webdevelopersnotes.com

The third is a link to a 'flash basics' tutorial.

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I see what you're saying about the vocals

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Hehe, what I meant was ... you're in luck, it isn't me singing this time, it was on the last song I posted up

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D'oh, Didn't hear that one. I liked this though. If I can get off my bottom this weekend I will have another song up soon, my first COH one

I like that

I see what you're saying about the vocals but they're not that bad.

Um.. yeah I'll help too if you want to know anything. Sorry, I've only just seen this.

Here's a few things you might like to remember or questions you should ask yourself. I will try to stear clear of advise already given as most of it is prety sound:

Should I use flash?
There are pros and cons in using Flash but as the software develops the gap is closing. There are still some sites that would not benefit from the use of Flash. Having said that, if it can be done in Flash, and that's the way you want to do it, then go for it.

The reason for this is simple. If you are designing a site that needs to do something (a shopping site like play.com for example) you have to make sure it is stable and it works. The best way of doing that is currently PHP/ASP/JSP technologies. You aren't doing anything like that. It's a fan site. It doesn't really count in the greater scheme of things and as such you can legitimately concentrate on design over content just like designers, artists, musicians, film companies and games manufacturers do.

So the bottom line is, around 97% of users have flash according to NPD Research in September 2001. It supports audio, animation, and advanced interactivity and is relatively easy to learn. It integrates well with other Web technologies and is bandwidth efficient. There is no reason why you shouldn’t seriously consider using it but you do need to ask yourself: Will it give me the type of site that I want to have and can I make it work?

What do I want my site to be able to do?
Have a look at pages like Hotscripts, Flashkit or other fan sites and see what is actually possible. Then ask yourself, what is it I want my page to do. Don’t make it too complicated, especially if you’re learning and remember, if you have content that needs updating then YOU have to be the one to update it. This is so often overlooked and you are left with very out of date pages on some sites.

What do I want it to look like?
Get Photoshop or the Gimp or something that lets you play around with Graphics and has lots of tutorials on the net. Then go off and start looking at other sites and decide what style you’re looking for. Break the different elements of the page down into Navigation, Title and Content and move them around until you get positions that look good for you.

Line up your graphics. Seriously it makes a huge difference if the eye can draw lines through or down the side of content.

Don’t separate navigation. This is a basic usability rule. Don’t make the user click too far from the main navigation area. You can separate it by page, so sub navigation can have a separate area but in that case it is always best if that is part of content that looks separated from the main site.

Don’t hide navigation. Make sure the user knows where they are meant to be clicking and if you are using Flash then make sure any loaded content has pre-loaders so the user knows something is going on.

Don’t scrimp when it comes to collecting material. Go into the game expecting not to play, but just to take screen shots and find material you want to put online. You might spend a whole night on this (and it can be fun) but it will be worth it in the end.

Finally, and probably most importantly, don’t expect amazing results out of the box. It takes time. I recently looked through some of the sites I did when I was starting out. They’re awful, but I liked them at the time. I can still see why I liked them, but I have had more experience in making sites now. Let your site grow with your skills. When you learn a new design skill then update your site. Oh, and as much as possible, separate your design from the content so it is easy to update. A good grounding in CSS is useful for this in HTML and in Flash it’s figuring out different ways of using movie clips.

Above all, enjoy the process and enjoy the results

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Well this is obviously a cover from the Barenaked Ladies song... Wich got me wondering why it is here

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Well. I'm writing some COH songs and wanted to test the water a bit

Plus we worked for ages getting it right and if I didn't put it somewhere only the band would ever have heard it

Thank you for the compliment, but it will change slightly before the final mix.

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Am enjoying listening to it now

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Yeah took me a while too when I first heard it, but it has great lyrics so thought I should try.

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Only suggestion I will make is don't spend too much more time tweaking it, you'll only get less happy with it, to me it seems pretty good as it is!!

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Well we spend all this money so someone else will tweak it for us There is a nack to mixing a song that I haven't got yet. This was a quick mix from the desk as it was coming out. We still have another day on this one. Re-recording vocals and possibly one of the guitar parts - but that's just how music recording goes

Thank you both for your comments

18th April 2006

Well alot has happened since the last update. Master and Little Ms Marvellous have reached level 22 and a few screenshots of there journey can be seen in the Gallery.

Also, the wonder that is Little Ms' Diary has now reached day 19 and the family section has been updated with our new character information.

Finally, for those who've not seen it there are 2 songs that I've recorded online. They are not part of the site yet, but it has inspired me to write some COH specific songs and they will be coming to the site soon, along with a Mr and Miss Marvellous theme tune. The songs can be downloaded here:

When I Fall
Pinch Me

Both songs have threads already and I would LOVE some feedback on them, wether positive or negative 'cause it all helps to improve the next one

http://www.marvellousweb.co.uk/PinchMe.mp3

That's what I did on my holidays

Would love to know what people think and please remember, it's not the final edit

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I want more!


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Cool, thanks I will probably post Pinch Me when we're done with it then and I have some COH songs I'm working on too.

Thanks

Well, it's nearly eleven as I'm typing this and I've just got back from a very nice little studio in the middle of nowhere where my band and I have been recording all day. For those of you who don't know, this means we've recorded about 1/3 of a song. Basically a bed track and the Drums and Bass line.

Well not being a drummer or bassist I've had nothing to do all day, but did get 5 minutes to record a song with just me, a guitar and a mic in the booth as they were packing up. It's a little number by Barenaked Ladies and I'd love to have peoples opinions.

It can be DOWNLOADED HERE

It's a bit shaky in places, but I was rushing it

So, what do you think and would you like to hear more?

9th April 2006

Thought I would start a single thread where I can keep people updated with adittions to our site, and it can just dissapear in the interim

2 new updates on the website. Most notably Little Ms Marvellous' diary has had days 10 and 11 added to it and there will me more coming on Monday, if she does her homework.

ALSO

Biographies for Master and Little Ms Marvellous have now been added to the Family secion. Find out about our new characters

http://www.marvellousweb.co.uk/

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The fonts look much better now and I'm really enjoying the diary, I'm also going to assume that any spelling and grammar issues are because it is written by a youngster and not because of limited proof reading.

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yes... that's... exactly... right

*runs for cover*

Actually, I'm dislexic. Would be useless me even trying to proof read it. Miss pointed out a few things this morning which have been changed already. That's the power of having a database back-end.

We have added a new section to our website.

You can now read the secret diary of Little Ms Marvellous as she and her brother join the faily business and start working there way through Paragon's underworld. Just click on "Ms' Diary" at www.marvellousweb.co.uk . Here are a few extracts:

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Day 1
I overheard Mom and Dad talking last night arguing about me and my brother Marcus.
I really wish they wouldn’t but it seems to be every night lately.

Day 2
They were arguing again, Dad says were ready.
Ready for what I wonder??
I hope its not what I think it is. I knew this day was coming.

Day 3
We had a family meeting tonight after school. They told Marcus and me that its was time to enter the family business and that our training was now complete.



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We are hoping to update these daily, time permitting.

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And *bear, not "bare", dear - seems like someone's getting a little too excited.

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Although it's quite a nice pun.

You see, I think we'd win by defauly. Just because we can decide which characters are actually together.

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Is Miss's name supposed to be Melanie? If so there is a typo on her bio

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Thanks, fixed that

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the only slight beef I have is that I found some of the white text quite hard to read (maybe a little too small?)

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I've also downloaded that font. Very nice. Decided to use Arial though and make the point size 12 and the writing white (0xffffff) and more solid. Hope that helps a little.

Thanks everyone for your input so far, it's been great