 Admin
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         Join Date: Jan 2007
South Wales, UK
Posts: 14,301
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GameSlurp 2.0
Hi Slurpers! 
As some of you know, we've been thinking about changing GameSlurp for a while, in fact the GameSlurp forums were designed to complement the GameSlurp News front end, but that never got launched for a number of reasons (mainly a lack of time needed to dedicate to writing full editorial).
Anyway... where does this leave GameSlurp? Well to cut a long story short, we are no longer reliant upon off-the-shelf software, and can now do pretty much anything we want... and this is where I think GameSlurp is set to come into its own...
GameSlurp 2.0
Slurp. It has to be something to do with slurping and Slurpers!
I think it's fair to say that we all like to keep up to date with information about games, and lap up news on what's happening, what's new, what's hot, and what our friends are saying about the games we're interested in.
So how about a platform where you can make short posts, follow people and people can follow you? Yes, a bit like Twitter, but with a few key differences, thanks to being tightly focused on the topic of games...
You'd be able to include hashtags in your posts, and our system would keep a record of every game and every post that you tag. That way, you'll be able to see what people are saying about a game from the day they take an interest in it, to the day they complete it! So kind of like a review that's built over time. A stream. E.g. gameslurp.com/smack/uncharted would show you all of Smack's posts about Uncharted. Cool huh?
But it won't stop there. Each game (or platform) will have it's own feed too. So going to something like gameslurp.com/games/god-of-war will show you what people are saying about God of War - who's posted the most about it, the most cross-posted posts related to it (such as news items) and so on. Basically what's hot right now for that game. We'll also be able to track links that may be connected with games, so there'll even be an element of N4G thrown in.
The homepage will also have two sections - your feed (posts from people you follow) and a what's going on section - showing the games being talked about most right now, the most cross-posted posts, etc. You need never miss anything important again!
So true to our name GameSlurp, will slurp up everything, whether it's to do with you and a game, or a game, or a platform - all the latest and hottest stuff when you want it.
What's more, I think game developers will be really keen to see this, as I'm sure they'd be very interested to read what people say from start to finish about their game - rather than sporadic tweets or posts that they may be getting from Social Networks. I'm going to contact a few and hope to get a few on board - maybe to give away exclusive stuff to members who's streams they really like or find helpful
I think this can be a lot more fun and focused than other more generic social networks, and a great fit for the GameSlurp community.
The site will get a fresh lick of paint
and will also be a responsive design, meaning it will work perfectly on mobile phones/iPads etc 
What do you think? If there's enough interest in this, it will move higher up my to-do list (I have several projects on the go right now!) but I really like the idea. I think it has the potential to tie in really well with GameSlurp... and it's about time we had something new, fresh and exciting... hopefully in time for the next gen too
As some of you know, we've been thinking about changing GameSlurp for a while, in fact the GameSlurp forums were designed to complement the GameSlurp News front end, but that never got launched for a number of reasons (mainly a lack of time needed to dedicate to writing full editorial).
Anyway... where does this leave GameSlurp? Well to cut a long story short, we are no longer reliant upon off-the-shelf software, and can now do pretty much anything we want... and this is where I think GameSlurp is set to come into its own...
GameSlurp 2.0
Slurp. It has to be something to do with slurping and Slurpers!
I think it's fair to say that we all like to keep up to date with information about games, and lap up news on what's happening, what's new, what's hot, and what our friends are saying about the games we're interested in.
So how about a platform where you can make short posts, follow people and people can follow you? Yes, a bit like Twitter, but with a few key differences, thanks to being tightly focused on the topic of games...
You'd be able to include hashtags in your posts, and our system would keep a record of every game and every post that you tag. That way, you'll be able to see what people are saying about a game from the day they take an interest in it, to the day they complete it! So kind of like a review that's built over time. A stream. E.g. gameslurp.com/smack/uncharted would show you all of Smack's posts about Uncharted. Cool huh?
But it won't stop there. Each game (or platform) will have it's own feed too. So going to something like gameslurp.com/games/god-of-war will show you what people are saying about God of War - who's posted the most about it, the most cross-posted posts related to it (such as news items) and so on. Basically what's hot right now for that game. We'll also be able to track links that may be connected with games, so there'll even be an element of N4G thrown in.
The homepage will also have two sections - your feed (posts from people you follow) and a what's going on section - showing the games being talked about most right now, the most cross-posted posts, etc. You need never miss anything important again!
So true to our name GameSlurp, will slurp up everything, whether it's to do with you and a game, or a game, or a platform - all the latest and hottest stuff when you want it.
What's more, I think game developers will be really keen to see this, as I'm sure they'd be very interested to read what people say from start to finish about their game - rather than sporadic tweets or posts that they may be getting from Social Networks. I'm going to contact a few and hope to get a few on board - maybe to give away exclusive stuff to members who's streams they really like or find helpful
I think this can be a lot more fun and focused than other more generic social networks, and a great fit for the GameSlurp community.
The site will get a fresh lick of paint
and will also be a responsive design, meaning it will work perfectly on mobile phones/iPads etc What do you think? If there's enough interest in this, it will move higher up my to-do list (I have several projects on the go right now!) but I really like the idea. I think it has the potential to tie in really well with GameSlurp... and it's about time we had something new, fresh and exciting... hopefully in time for the next gen too
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Admin
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Join Date: Jan 2007
South Wales, UK
Posts: 14,301
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UPDATES
6th November 2013
As many of you know I have had some rotten luck this year, which has delayed work on the new GS. However I am pleased to report that I started work on it a few weeks ago, and have completed the auth system for the site - so people can register, verify account, log-in, log-out, create a profile with photo etc. It is the real basics of the site but a good solid start.
In the coming weeks I will be adding the base functionality of the site - where people can create posts - and will put it up at next.gameslurp.com where I will need a bunch of beta testers, so if you're up for it let me know or keep an eye out on this thread
15 November 2013 (Post #44)
Hi Guys,
Do you want to see the beta up sooner or later?
I have got the very basics done at the mo - you can make posts, and include #hastags and @people (and they automatically get changed to links). So clicking on a hashtag will show all of its posts, clicking on a @username will show all of the users posts.
I have not added the facility to reply to any specific posts yet, or any type of @user notifications (tbh that will come later as I haven't given much thought on how we should incorporate those features yet).
The benefit of getting it up sooner will mean it's ready for the European PS4 launch and it will also mean you can provide feedback much earlier, and see how the site evolves over time.
BUT you will have to keep in mind that we haven't paid any real thought to the design yet, it will have our logo and that's about it. The design is usually done at the very end, once all the features are in place - so to begin with it will quite possibly look crap!
So over to you. I actually quite like it
6th November 2013
As many of you know I have had some rotten luck this year, which has delayed work on the new GS. However I am pleased to report that I started work on it a few weeks ago, and have completed the auth system for the site - so people can register, verify account, log-in, log-out, create a profile with photo etc. It is the real basics of the site but a good solid start.
In the coming weeks I will be adding the base functionality of the site - where people can create posts - and will put it up at next.gameslurp.com where I will need a bunch of beta testers, so if you're up for it let me know or keep an eye out on this thread
15 November 2013 (Post #44)
Hi Guys,
Do you want to see the beta up sooner or later?
I have got the very basics done at the mo - you can make posts, and include #hastags and @people (and they automatically get changed to links). So clicking on a hashtag will show all of its posts, clicking on a @username will show all of the users posts.
I have not added the facility to reply to any specific posts yet, or any type of @user notifications (tbh that will come later as I haven't given much thought on how we should incorporate those features yet).
The benefit of getting it up sooner will mean it's ready for the European PS4 launch
and it will also mean you can provide feedback much earlier, and see how the site evolves over time.BUT you will have to keep in mind that we haven't paid any real thought to the design yet, it will have our logo and that's about it. The design is usually done at the very end, once all the features are in place - so to begin with it will quite possibly look crap!
So over to you. I actually quite like it
 Senior Member
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Join Date: Apr 2008
Bournemouth
Posts: 1,414
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Hi guys, I love the idea, one of the main reasons I stopped posting (aside from getting married and having kids) is that I don't get as much time as I would like to sit at the of and catch up with everything as much as I would like.
Being able to use something that works with my phone/tablet would be great, I have them on me all the time and would be more likely to keep myself as involved as I could be.
Would you consider a Facebook/Twitter integration into the new design, Azz, or is that ultimately stepping away from the vison?
hope everyone is cool and you are all staying out of trouble
Being able to use something that works with my phone/tablet would be great, I have them on me all the time and would be more likely to keep myself as involved as I could be.
Would you consider a Facebook/Twitter integration into the new design, Azz, or is that ultimately stepping away from the vison?
hope everyone is cool and you are all staying out of trouble
 Senior Member
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     Join Date: Feb 2007
Western US
Posts: 4,494
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I currently use the gameslurp on phones with the "newsblur" app for android. It only gives me new topic postings though. For new entries in a thread, I look at the email that it sends me when there are new posts.
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Admin
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Join Date: Jan 2007
South Wales, UK
Posts: 14,301
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Do you mean for authentication James? (So you can sign in with Twitter/fb accounts?) If so yeah we could add that, even if it is the initial account creation so it pulls in the details from those providers
I definitely agree about the mobile thing. The current project we are working on has a mobile-friendly responsive design, and it's much better on mobile devices:
The project has taken on a bit of a life of it's own - it was only going to be a site to house our breed profiles from another site, but has ended up becoming a bit of a 'startup' as it has an ecommerce side to it too... that I coded myself
The ecommerce side actually took up most of the time and we're just finishing it off now. Hence once it is done I want to get stuck into the next few projects
I definitely agree about the mobile thing. The current project we are working on has a mobile-friendly responsive design, and it's much better on mobile devices:
The project has taken on a bit of a life of it's own - it was only going to be a site to house our breed profiles from another site, but has ended up becoming a bit of a 'startup' as it has an ecommerce side to it too... that I coded myself
The ecommerce side actually took up most of the time and we're just finishing it off now. Hence once it is done I want to get stuck into the next few projects
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Apr 2008
Bournemouth
Posts: 1,414
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Yeah, using Facebook or Twitter to log in could help open up the format to a wide audience.
But also (as I noticed there is no Gameslurp Facebook page) having a feed tied into Facebook or Twitter, you might want to get additional Moderators to post interesting or key posts into the social networks, which can then be shared and passed around increasing the size of traffic from people using the site, if you are going to games companies one of the big things they might want is a high level of traffic, the more folks see the gaming info the more it's of a benefit for the developers.
I'm not sure if any of it would be possible, but I hope my 2 cents will give you more ideas to build on the existing awesomeness.
But also (as I noticed there is no Gameslurp Facebook page) having a feed tied into Facebook or Twitter, you might want to get additional Moderators to post interesting or key posts into the social networks, which can then be shared and passed around increasing the size of traffic from people using the site, if you are going to games companies one of the big things they might want is a high level of traffic, the more folks see the gaming info the more it's of a benefit for the developers.
I'm not sure if any of it would be possible, but I hope my 2 cents will give you more ideas to build on the existing awesomeness.