[Project Complete] Website for a games company - $600 [Archive]

JustinLloyd

11-03-2004, 04:54 PM

(Admin code added by Palmer - 65F705291R)

Seems that there may be a lack of response due to overwhelming requirements. Okay, here's the edited version, same requirements, simpler to understand.

Note the deadline has been extended.

Name of the company is "Infinite Monkey Factory".
Our company logo can be found in the revisions forum with my name on it, I'll post a proper link once the design is finalised.
The company logo will most likely have an orange background (slightly brighter than what it is now)
Our by-line is “Games that think.”

Deadlines

The confirmed deadline is 5PM PST (-8 GMT) on November, 29th. This is to give anybody with last minute ideas chance to submit them and still have a relaxing Thanksgiving if you are in the US. I'll make a decision on the winner by 6PM that same day.

Notes
Other than a few key elements I would like someone to inject completely fresh ideas in to the website and if that is a complete redesign, that is acceptable.

Details

Domain name is http://www.infinitemonkeyfactory.com/ and also at http://www.imf.la/. The fact that we are in Los Angeles, CA is completely irrelevant to the page design.
Main competitors: http://www.bigfishgames.com/ http://www.popcap.com/ http://www.gamehouse.com
Software game company aimed at mature adult audience, i.e. older than thirty and predominantly female, professional, intelligent people.

Bear In Mind

Always keep these words in mind: Fun. Bright. Cheerful. Tongue-in-cheek. Puns. Innuendo. Gender neutral.
Should be relatively high contrast.
It is okay to be technologically sophisticated with the implementation, so long as it works on Mac & PC.

Looking For

I prefer to see a yellow colour scheme.
Would like to keep the drop shadowed text on the section headers.
Would like to keep the drop shadowed text for performing emboldened body text.
Relatively large fonts.
Would like to keep the floating bubbles (floating monkeys?) that are inside the transparent glass pill buttons. Anywhere else we can use this sort of thing?
The design should be able to handle pages being of different vertical heights.

Not Looking For

No frames. Never. Not anywhere.
Stay clear of: Cutesy. Sharp edges. "Edgy." "Hardcore." Link to something I'm not looking for: http://www.templatehelp.com/aff/preview.php?aff=palmer&skin=17&locale=en&currency=0&pr=yes&src=yes&nt=yes&help=yes&sample=yes&faq=yes&nmg=yes&auth=yes&down=yes&chm=&hide_flash=0&search=&PHPSESSID=ce81b362a4795b8053567079a9e12f30&referer=http://www.templateoutpost.com/&i=6434
Stay clear of the whole "generic technology website" look & feel,

Compatibility

Must be compatible with IE, Firefox and Safari for both PC & Mac. 65% of our customers are using Mac.
Multiple transparent overlays are acceptable (transparent company logo, transparent bananas, transparent bubbles, etc.)

Pages
It is suggested that you check the popcap.com, bigfishgames.com and dexterity.com website for pages with content similar to what we require.

Front (main index) Page
* Temporary URL http://www.imf.la/frontpage.asp
* The front page will contain info on the current games we are promoting)
Individual Game Info Page
* http://www.imf.la/betiled/
Individual Game Hints Page
FAQ Page
Contact Us Page
Purchase Page
E-Mail Support
Generic page that can be used for company bio, news, etc
Pop-up page for viewing game screen shots

JustinLloyd

11-05-2004, 01:43 AM

This is a 95% complete version of the company logo. It is probably going to be the orange one at the top. The colour border will be much smaller than what it is currently.

pracus

11-07-2004, 05:52 AM

Do you have the logo in vector format?

JustinLloyd

11-07-2004, 05:30 PM

Not yet, another designer, Christian, is putting the final tweaks on the logo at this time, as soon as he is finished I will post the vector version here.

JustinLloyd

11-08-2004, 10:23 AM

Is anybody thinking of entering this competition?

pracus

11-08-2004, 11:43 AM

Yes, I'm working on it. Please, be patient, I'm very busy now (working on three different designs) but I'll enter for sure till saturday.

JustinLloyd

11-08-2004, 06:44 PM

I edited down the requirements to make them easier to digest. I am still looking for specific things, but hopefully the current requirements will be easier to digest. If you have started work on a submission based on the previous requirements, understand that they still stand "as-is" and your effort is not in vain.

geofharries

11-09-2004, 06:38 AM

Justin,

I am going to enter.

geof

Luc

11-10-2004, 04:03 AM

Do you have a sample of a design you like?

JustinLloyd

11-10-2004, 10:23 AM

Luc: Something open, that isn't cluttered. Big Fish Games (www.bigfishgames.com) is a direction I like. So is Pop Cap Games (www.popcap.com) though with Pop Cap it doesn't leave much room on the front page for much body text. The current design I have on the website www.imf.la/frontpage.asp is very bland. I needed something quick at the time but unfortunately ran out of time trying to finish it and got busy with paying contract work. I'm glad now that I did run out of time.

JustinLloyd

11-10-2004, 10:25 AM

As time is moving on and I'm not seeing any designs I am contemplating extending the deadline by a week to give people more time to work with their ideas. Please note the deadline is now Nov 22nd.

geofharries

11-10-2004, 03:30 PM

Justin,

Sorry about the delay in posting my comp to the forum. I am still making some tweaks to it and will be able to hopefully post on Friday morning.

geof

geofharries

11-12-2004, 07:25 AM

Justin,

Here is my initial entry. I say "initial" because I'm not completely done with it yet but would like to get your feedback to see if I am on the right track.

The content shown is what on your current homepage and I feel in both instances, there is too much of it. Paring the text down would make this page more user-friendly and inviting. Perhaps you could help me out by providing what copy you feel is neccesary while still remaining concise.

I thought the lightbulb illustration was a good idea because it spoke of an idea. As you can see, I've also included drop-shadow headers/links, 3-D gradient background and bright colours to compliment the orange logo and yellow hues as requested.

I believe spelling out IMF as Infinite Monkey Factory is a smart move to let people know what it means. If you feel otherwise, I can remove this text. Finally, the transperant yellow monkey bubbles? I had a hard time finding a home for them in my comp. They just didn't match up...if you're dyin' to have these included, I can do that. Work some magic :)

Your thoughts and feedback are more than welcome!

geof

http://www.greenroomcreative.ca/designoutpost/imf_v1.jpg

JustinLloyd

11-13-2004, 12:35 PM

geof: My initial thoughts about this design are to do with the colour scheme. I'm finding that colour scheme way too busy.

My other thoughts: Yes, I agree there's a lot of text on the front page right now which I wouuld like to see cut down but not by too much. We either go with text (dexterity.com and bigfishgames.com) or icons/screenshots representing each game (popcap.com).

We need to be able to expand the page as we add more games and with more than 50% of the page given solely to the info on the left hand side I'm thinking that this page won't be able to grow vertically.

I have no problem with spelling out "Infinite Monkey Factory" somewhere on the page.

Including our by-line is a good idea.

I would like to see "Download" & "Buy" buttons along with the "Game Info" button associated with each game.

Imagine our site has a dozen games listed and we need to tell you about them all right on the front page. There's only one right now (actually, we don't sell or support that title, it was something we needed to have to kick start the company so it got made for a zero dollar budget (and looks like it too ;) )) but eventually there will be a dozen games and we can't let any of them fall through the cracks on to a "second front page."

Avoid large blocks of black at all costs (yes, I know our logo is black :) ) such as the top & bottom banner. The faint stripes you used on the top & bottom banners do weird things on one of my LCD panels I notice.

Eventually we will lose the "Coming Soon..." section as more titles are released.

Our site will need to grow from what it is, i.e. one game, to what it can be, i.e. a dozen games. The style has to be flexible enough to handle most of that task without needing a complete overhaul.

geofharries

11-13-2004, 05:10 PM

Justin,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

With the colour scheme, I was trying to make it as fun and vibrant as possible so I used lots of bright hues. What matches your logo on the ol' colour wheel is browns and lighter/darker shades of orange/yellow, which didn't have as much punch as purple, green, blue, etc. This is not a big deal though, I don't mind switching out these latter colours for more complimentary, less in-your-face tones. Is that what you had in mind?

I'll remove some of the text and give extra breathing room to the elements on the page. That may also help to look a little less busy. I have a couple of ideas on how to open up the design a bit and allow it to easily incorporate 12+ games at once; perhaps a 2-column layout to the product listings.

Which brings me to my next point. That's a lot of games! How do you envision having them listed - with a screenshot of the game, its game title, a brief introductory sentence, categorized by game type? Some insider direction on how to organize and structure them would be very helpful. I don't know much about the online game industry, my wife loves Mah Jong games I do know that :)

I would like to see "Download" & "Buy" buttons along with the "Game Info" button associated with each game.

Do you want Download & Buy plus the Game Info button for each game listed on the homepage? From a usability standpoint, I'd recommend that you stick just with Download and Game Info links at this level.

Simply having the word "Buy" next to a game they really know nothing about is intimidating for the end user/potential buyer. It's a big commitment, akin to "I have to buy this game right now before I know what it even is?" and that could scare folks off. I'd suggest you take them to a game detail page, sell them on the product, try out a download and then introduce the Buy button. Of course I invite you to comment on this issue and I'll follow your lead.

I can drop the vertical lines behind the IMF title and in the footer, plus remove the dark grey/black colour.

Any other thoughts or feedback? Do you feel that if I made these changes as above we'd be on the right track?

geof

BrianDove

11-14-2004, 04:56 AM

Here is my try at it :)
Feedback will be welcome :yes:

Best Regards
Brian Dove

JustinLloyd

11-14-2004, 12:51 PM

geofharries: There will be one small screenshot or icon for each game, the game's title, a sentence to describe the game, and three buttons, "info", "download" & "buy."

Web stats show that a lot of people turn up on the site and immediately click "buy" because they've acquired the game through another channel & a lot of e-mails are of the form "how do I buy your games?" Web site users have a tendency to miss the obvious. The other thing is never to underestimate the power of the up-sell. We want people to purchase our games so we give them lots of oppurtunity to hit that "buy" button.

I get the feeling that the entire design is "enclosed." That's about the best word I can find to describe it. The demarcation lines between areas don't really draw the eye to any one area for me. It feels like a "Wired" or "Maxim" magazine. Lots of colour, sidebars, callout boxes, and inline quotes, there's no clear flow from one area to the next that takes me to the games -- and more importantly, ;) the "buy" button.

+ The light bulb
+ Highlighting our defining qualities
+ "Download a free game today"
+ Use of our by-line

- Overall colour scheme
- Enclosed layout
- Not enough room given to our games
- Areas of the web page feel to separated.

It's not that I really dislike this layout, I just don't think it will work (as it is) for this particular website.

======================

BrianDove: The links at the top to "main page", "FAQ", etc will need to be much more prominent. I won't suggest anything for now, I'll leave it up to you to experiment. They completely disappear into the noise of the

I'm definitely down with the open layout though we will need something down the right hand side to just border the page. The most important items should be top row & left column.

The colour will definitely have to change, it's too close to Big Fish Games. I'm down with the yellow, but the blue will need to be re-worked.

Try and demark our company logo with a solid background colour and give it lots of room as we are going to be animating it, changing it, and generally screwing around with it just like Google does with theirs.

+ Layout
+ Highlighting our games (when we have them)
+ Banner across the top
+ use of yellow
+ use of banana(s)

- "Main page", "FAQ", "Contact Us", etc across the top
- Overall colour scheme
- Font used on "Infinite Monkey Factory"
- Size of font in body text (but that just might be the way you took the screenshot so I'll let it slide)

To All:
Another point, always use "buy", not "purchase."

Use fewer words when possible. "more info" rather than "more info about this game." "Tell me more" is even more powerful.

The extensive blurb we used for the initial game will not be shown on the front page in the future as our ludography encompasses more game titles. We needed to fill space, the best way to do that was take the game blurb and post that on to the page.

Bananas & monkeys = good.

Clearly defined buttons or clearly defined underlined links = good.

JustinLloyd

11-14-2004, 12:53 PM

One more point: "Free" is a good word. "Play for free", "download for free", "Free download." Use it liberally.

geofharries

11-17-2004, 07:55 AM

Justin,

Here is my completely revised design. I am providing two comps: one with a dark yellow background and a second with a light yellow background.

I've taken a new direction with these layouts; opening it all up, giving more space to the games, getting the colours down to a minimum level (not a lot of different colours, just bright, complimentary hues) and incorporating much of your feedback from my first attempt. The page scales easily, simply add more games to either column as you see fit.

You'll notice the bananas in the blue header portion...well if you're going to have infinite monkeys you just have to keep infinite bananas in stock :)

Of course, I welcome your feedback and suggestions.

geof

Dark Yellow Background
http://www.greenroomcreative.ca/designoutpost/imf_v2.jpg

Light Yellow Background
http://www.greenroomcreative.ca/designoutpost/imf_v2_5.jpg

JustinLloyd

11-18-2004, 11:01 AM

geof: That latter design works much better. The light yellow background unfortunately isn't going to work. On my Toshiba tablet the colour all but disappeared so the darker yellow works better.

Having said that we are probably going to make the background of the logo yellow so the colour scheme would change slightly. (don't fix yet). This isn't finalised yet, it comes down to a final decision today when everybody gets together for the weekly meeting.

I do like how you paid attention to the fact that we will be having a "featured game" at some point in the future and also the "top picks" and "all-time favourite" sections. The titles for those sections would need to be bolder (don't fix yet), and we would want some sort of vertical divide between the two categories.

For your design we also need to consider putting in demarcation lines or very simple borders between each game.

I would also like to see some kind of side bar (like on Big Fish Games) on the left that we can list all of our games in. We only require a single sidebar as we are a developer & publisher of our own games, not of other developer's.

The top menu and the side bar receive the most hits, so non-interactive elements, or least important elements should be relegated to the right or the top right. I note you put the copyright tag in the bottom right which is good. We can probably lose the "About IMF" from the top menu, change "game hints" to "hints." Also, don't get completely fixated on having the text on buttons be horizontal.

The bottom menu I'd like to see buttons, rather than just plain HTML links.

Should we choose your design, feel free to rework those transparent bananas too, I'm not much attached to them :)

I would really like to see some other designers throw in their hat and see what they can come up with.

geofharries

11-18-2004, 11:21 AM

Justin,

Thanks for your positive feedback. Did you want me to make those changes you're asking for (demarcation lines; left side bar; drop About IMF from top nav; Change Game Hints to Hints; footer buttons instead of text links) or wait until you've chosen a winner?

Speaking of winning, if I do win (fingers crossed!) do you want the page output as HTML 4+ tables with CSS or XHTML 1.0 Transitional/Strict with CSS? I am much more comfortable with XHTML as I've been using it full-time for the past few years. The design will not render all that well in Netscape 4.0-4.7, but you'll be golden in Win IE 5.5/6, Netscape 7+, Safari, Mac IE 5 and Firefox. You also get faster download times and easier maintenance with a XHTML design...plus better search engine results.

One last thing. After having reviewed my comp these past couple of days, I'd like to change the body font to Lucidia Grande/MS Trebuchet instead of Verdana. This font looks nicer overall and would match the button text better. It's compatible with the vast majority of browsers and those that don't like it would output Verdana in its' place. But I'll wait for your decision on those top paragraph questions before I proceed.

regards,

geof

JustinLloyd

11-18-2004, 02:24 PM

geof: Hold off on the changes so that you aren't doing work that isn't necessary. I'm down with the whole XHTML 1.0 strict philosophy. The original site was supposed to be XHTML compliant but it breaks the standard in quite a few areas as I never had time to clean it up.

Netscape 4.x users I'm pretty much going to ignore. They are a very small part of the market most likely running very old hardware. We're concentrating primarily on Windows XP and Mac OS X users so you have to hit IE 5.0+, Safari, Firefox and whatever the currently popular version of Netscape is.

DesignGeneral

11-18-2004, 06:03 PM

Hi Justin,

I can have something for you on Sunday evening or Monday morning.

Cheers,

Adrian

BrianDove

11-19-2004, 12:29 AM

Here my updated version Justin :)

Brian

JustinLloyd

11-19-2004, 11:01 AM

DesignGeneral: Sounds good, I look forward to your submission.

geof: I've really studied your design and it just doesn't work for me. There's just something about it that doesn't make it gel together. I know you removed all the borders and toned down the colours but there is just something about it that doesn't make me want to investigate the products further.

BrianDove: Yes, I like that. My only criticism is making the very top most menu bar more prominent. Either make it really large and stand out or put it below the site logo. I can see how you've given the company logo lots of space for future growth. I like this design so I say we put it to one side and not do any further work on it until we see what other people submit. No sense in doing premature work. :)

To All: I'll probably extend the deadline a few more days then close the competition. I was just hoping for a bit more response in the end game but it doesn't look like it is going to happen.

[edit: forgot to finish my thought to geof]

Anne

11-19-2004, 03:55 PM

I was just hoping for a bit more response in the end game but it doesn't look like it is going to happen.

More response comes here .. :)
I'll work on an entry tomorrow

Anne

pickadesign

11-19-2004, 08:48 PM

I'm going to try and get an entry in for this by tomorrow, been working on multiple contests, but will get an entry in as this seems like a very interesting project.

pracus

11-20-2004, 07:07 AM

if you could wait till 24th of November, I'll be here for sure :)

geofharries

11-20-2004, 08:14 AM

I'm pulling out. Best of luck with your venture.

geof

pickadesign

11-20-2004, 08:45 PM

I'm almost done with my entry, will be posting soon.

pickadesign

11-20-2004, 10:29 PM

updated screenshot later in thread...

JustinLloyd

11-21-2004, 12:04 AM

pickadesign: I like it. I'll post further feedback on Sunday night after I've thought about it some more.

Anne

11-21-2004, 02:31 PM

Here's my entry

Anne

dualbase

11-21-2004, 07:02 PM

Here is the Dualbase one:
link (http://www.dualbase.com/soum/dualbase--soum--IMF.htm)

grey means: background color/texture not chosen

will

11-22-2004, 12:12 AM

Hi, this is my sample.

I used the "Monkeys in the barrel" monkey to enhance the concept of game and monkey at the same time. I used all around the concept of banana-jungle-monkey so this subject is well noticed :D

Also I made a background for each page with the "Monkeys in the barrel" that will be very easy to use and apply.

The concept is very simple yet attractive and catchy. Also the monkeys can be animated everytime the mouse passes over them. In fact the whole top can be in flash allowing with this a more dynamic animation of the shapes.

Let me know your ideas,

*** NEW IDEA ON THE WAY ***

Ian

11-22-2004, 04:18 AM

here's mine

http://www.ianjamescox.com/clients/templates/imf.gif

and with a different menu

http://www.ianjamescox.com/clients/templates/imf2.gif

belladonna

11-22-2004, 05:08 AM

Hi!, here is my try, it might take a little time to load cause its not coded yet and the flash images are not optimized :blush: .

VIEW THE FULL SIZE ANIMATED VERSION! (http://www.myown.com.ar/julieta/do/imf/)

http://www.myown.com.ar/julieta/do/imf/belladonna_imf.jpg

JustinLloyd

11-22-2004, 10:30 AM

So many good entries, so many thoughts. I knew the designers at Design Outpost wouldn't let me down. :)

Okay, I'm going to have to stare at these for a little while and think about what works and what doesn't. I'll attempt to post feedback by tonight for everyone. Right now I'm totally overloaded at the office.

BrianDove

11-22-2004, 10:30 AM

Will try something new :)

Brian

JustinLloyd

11-23-2004, 01:45 AM

My brain hurts...

I'm still staring at the designs. This is going be a tough one to decide on, I just know it.

pickadesign: Other than the colour scheme (brown), the size of our logo, and design of the buttons on the individual games, I like it. Concepts that will make use of characters from our games really get me to pay attention.

Anne: A little bland. It could well be the brown. I'd also like to see more use of characters and graphic elements that highlight either products or features.

dualbase: I am thinking the same thoughts when I look at Anne's. It's a little plain. I can see where you would insert various game characters but the page doesn't leap out at me and make me want to find out more about the games, or even buy them without finding out more about them (It happens. A lot.)

will: I like the monkeys at the top. No flash. I'd love to see them animate and do clever things but not in flash. I would like to see the side bar listing our games to have more impact. The individual games would also need to be punchier, nothing makes me want to click on them now. I know we have just text to put in the page at this time but imagine I have a dozen of the hottest selling titles available.

Ian: Two words: Brown.

Actually, you deserve more than that. Too much text, not enough zap. Again, forget what the web site is right now (just text and a boring game with bad graphics) and work with what it will be. The contrast needs fixing too, on my Toshiba Portege the brown on brown blends in to a single, dark... erm... brown.

belladonna: No Flash for navigation. Again, you’re focusing on what we have right now, not where we will be when we launch more games. Show me lots of games, show me how to find out more about them with buttons that make me want to click and very little text on the front page. We can get all talky on the individual game pages, remember that this is just a single page out of a set of six and it’s our entrance foyer to company so it has to make you want to find out more.

Closing thoughts:
Why is everyone putting “screenshots” as a menu item? :) Very strange.

Brown. Monkeys can be brown. Poop is brown. So are corduroy trousers. The teeth of British people. And the patches on the jackets of college professors. All brown. Of all the items I just mentioned only one of them would be considered interesting. Do you see my point? No brown!

People don’t read. Which is ironic when you realise that word games sell so well in this market. The text on the IMF placeholder website is really just filler. When we launch our new website all that text gets junked.

Free games! We're giving fun stuff away for free! (okay, it's not very fun right now, we're working on it). We give you your money back if you aren't completely satisfied. We’re trying to build a ravening community of fans (consisting of professional accountants, soccer moms and the attractive blonde who works in the office across from me) that sell our games on word of mouth. We want our customers to have a good time, at the computer, alone, with their clothing on! If sellers on eBay hadn't used the idea first we'd have exclamation marks, "L@@K", and "RARE" all over the page. :) The products are really important and they have to stand out really prominently. I’m seeing some very good ideas, but I think the person that nailed it the closest in their overall vision so far is BrianDove with his two iterations.

pickadesign

11-23-2004, 08:16 AM

Hi Justin,

I'm going to make the adjustments you mention asap and you show you and updated screenshot.

Thanks

will

11-23-2004, 11:57 AM

Well, I took what I though was best from my previous design and created a new one. This is more rich in colours and shapes. I integrated the monkeys in the barrel as part of the design and use them to make the structures enhanced. In blue background I placed also some bananas that give the site the final touch for an funny concept.

Another thing, since I won't be able to use flash I though some subtile animations (like the monkeys opening and closing their eyes) can be more usefull to not overcharge the balance achieved and to avoid extra weight in the load.

Let me know your ideas,

http://www.myown.com.ar/will/imf/sited.jpg

will

11-23-2004, 07:34 PM

This is another idea or arrangement of the structures in the main page. I supressed 2 sections to place some eye catchy screenshots of the posible games. Also this is a good way to show you how versatile are the ropes all around the structures.

http://www.myown.com.ar/will/imf/sited2.jpg

will

11-23-2004, 10:12 PM

Well, this is my last one, promise :D

Here there is a completely new conceptual design. I have already covered the monkey-banana concept but I wanted to give it a shot to the factory-industrial idea that, i think, will be more appealing to the game fans.

On this one I still keep the yellow as the more powerfull colour but in contrast I use the shades of gray to create structures more technologically conceptual enhancing the screenshots like if you were seeing them in futuristic monitors as well as leaving the gamer the sensation of an environment design specific for him/her.

Take care and enjoy it,

http://www.creativesouls.com.ar/will/site_industrial.jpg

pickadesign

11-23-2004, 11:50 PM

removed

pickadesign

11-24-2004, 12:38 AM

removed

dualbase

11-24-2004, 12:23 PM

Hello Justin, you said:
dualbase: ... and make me want to find out more about the games, or even buy them without finding out more about them (It happens. A lot.)

well, i though this is what the site is supposed to do: selling games, no?

Otherwise, if you think I could change things in the design that'll make it works, please tell me and I'll give a shot asap.

cheers,

pickadesign

11-28-2004, 07:54 PM

I think I'm going to make a few more adjustments to the template again to see how I can improve it. Look for another screenshot soon.

Thanks

pickadesign

11-29-2004, 08:25 AM

removed

will

11-29-2004, 06:56 PM

Hi, Justin:

Any news about the updates :D

Thanx for the patience,

JustinLloyd

11-30-2004, 12:37 AM

Sorry for the late post for those who were waiting, I was meeting with a last minute "focus group" of er... "old ladies." And to my stunned surprise they all chose the very one I didn't think they would go for.

So the winner is "will" with his "industrial" design.

Thanks to everyone else who entered. Once again I am completely stunned by the high quality of responses. Thanks very much for all your efforts.

will

11-30-2004, 05:12 AM

Thaaaaanks old modern ladies !!! I am really glad for the choice. Double Happy since this one is my very first contest won at Design Outpost and the competition was reaaaally hard. Again Thanx Justin for giving me the oportunity to show you something different and consider it as an option.

As soon as you let me know what would you like the content of the other pages to be I ll proceed to the completion of the project.

(Again thanx !! :D)

JustinLloyd

11-30-2004, 09:10 AM

Will: I'll start posting details on the other pages tonight. We also need to make the front screen have more punch, so I'll be making notes over the course of the day as to what tweaks we should do.

Also, the gun metal grey/black we want to change. I printed out the designs on the colour laser at the office and showed them to a number of people, along with showing them on the low-contrast LCD tablet PC screen. Unanimously everyone said they preferred the "brown" version of your industrial design (it wasn't brown, it was just the light we were under altering the hue of the colour on the paper). So I'd like to experiment with changing the grey to a couple of other colours, including brown and seeing what it looks like on a computer monitor.

will

11-30-2004, 09:24 AM

No, problem. I ll be waiting for the details to complete the project as soon as posible. I'll start playing with the tones to replace the gray surfaces. It would be really helpfull if you already have what you would consider the right one in mind.

Talk to you soon.

will

11-30-2004, 10:32 AM

Since I've created the design in PhotoImpact XL I was able to simulate some lights in order to provide lighting effects to the shapes. I don't know the limits you have in mind and I know that you don't like brown so even some of them would turn to the brown some others will be more gold like.

Here they are:

+ Original (http://www.creativesouls.com.ar/will/site_industrial.jpg)

+ Variant 1 (http://www.creativesouls.com.ar/will/final_b.jpg)

+ Variant 2 (http://www.creativesouls.com.ar/will/final_c.jpg)

+ Variant 3 (http://www.creativesouls.com.ar/will/final_d.jpg)

Let me know if you find that the colour you are looking for is between some of this samples.

JustinLloyd

11-30-2004, 01:21 PM

It's not that I dislike brown, but I've seen a number of ideas from people when monkeys are mentioned where the brown dominates the entire scene.

Of those colour variations you just posted I like all three.

Points:
1. I think final_c is too military. I'm going to pick the colour scheme of final_b for now.
2. The menu options at the very top of the screen need to be bigger.
3. I dig those hanging monkeys.
4. The "Download" & "BUY" buttons need to be larger.
5. Give me an element for a "price sticker" ($19.95) over one corner of one of the screen shots to see what it looks like.
6. The featured game area will need to be enlarged. It's the featured game so we want to give it lots of space including a small area where we can give a one or two sentence description.
7. Give a little space under each screen shot for a three or four word caption, e.g. "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" or "Explore Mayan Pyramids"
8. Change the "Download" button to "Free Download". It doesn't have to be a single button. You could have a button that simply states "DOWNLOAD" and then put a splash across one corner that states "FREE!"

will

11-30-2004, 02:28 PM

Hi, I made all the changes requested. To avoid the overcharged look in the screenshots I set the previously red fonts into black.

Let me know your ideas,

+ Click HERE to view the design (http://www.creativesouls.com.ar/will/final_b.jpg)

Note: You work with Photoshop only or do you have access to Ulead PhotoImpact ? You'll see in PhotoImpact all the shapes can be modified and are tridimensional with lighting and effects and eventhough I can export the work into PSD with layers and make the fonts editable to work on PhotoImpact will make future modifications a lot easier for you. :D (I can always include both files for you to test them and see which one fits your need better).

JustinLloyd

11-30-2004, 02:58 PM

1. I wasn't too clear on my previous post. I'll restate my points again, entirely my fault :)

2. The menu options at the very top of the screen need to be bigger.

3. I dig those hanging monkeys. (I like them! Where'd they go?!?) :)

4. The "Download" & "BUY" buttons need to be larger. i.e. BIG If you need to go to two columns of screenshots then do so, just make sure the games are clearly visible and the buttons are easily clicked.

5. The "price sticker" is going to have to be moved, it doesn't leave enough room for the name of the game.

6. The featured game area will need to be enlarged. It's the featured game so we want to give it lots of space including a small area where we can give a one or two sentence description.

7. Give a little space under each screen shot for a three or four word caption, e.g. "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" or "Explore Mayan Pyramids"

8. Make the "FREE" splash across each button much larger. Think of it like a yellow sparkly star with a dozen points with "FREE" in the middle. Yes, it's going to cover a lot of the button and part of the screenshot, don't worry, people will get it.

9. Remove the "SCREENSHOTS" menu option from the top.

10. Change "EMAIL SUPPORT" to just "SUPPORT"

11. Make the gold bars that contain the top menu even thicker, then enlarge the font again.

12. Change "FREE & EXCLUSIVE Infinite Monkey Factory Games!" to "FREE & EXCLUSIVE Games"

13. In the opposite corner of the "FREE & EXCLUSIVE" box put "GAMES THAT THINK!" in the same font.

14. Make all the text much larger. The font right now is way too small for my tired eyes.

15. Don't be afraid to break the 800 pixel width. No, really, trust me! :) It's okay to be wider than 800 pixels. That way you can make the "featured game" area wider, you can make the individual games larger, you get the idea.

will

11-30-2004, 03:06 PM

Plz. don't worry and thanx for taking the patience to clarify the points. I'll work on the changes as soon as posible.

Take care,

JustinLloyd

11-30-2004, 03:10 PM

I'm not worried.

I hired a professional. (That would be you)

:)

will

11-30-2004, 05:47 PM

Well, I hope this time I understood well. If not plz. don't hesitate on pointing the mistakes (I prefer direct shots that lead to a soon ending of the project than anything else)-.

I enjoyed the expansion beyond the 800 pix. yet I don't want to turn it into a vice ;D

I increased ALL the fonts and ALL the graphics. I hope this is enough, if not let me know.

Well here it is:

+ BIG INTUSTRIAL DESIGN (http://www.creativesouls.com.ar/will/final_b2.jpg)

Just in case here it is the previous version:

+ PREVIOUS ONE (http://www.creativesouls.com.ar/will/final_b.jpg)

Take care,

will

12-02-2004, 05:07 AM

Let me know if there is anything else to be done :D

Thanx

JustinLloyd

12-02-2004, 07:22 AM

Will, just basically minor changes to that page but everything looks good. I'll post them later this morning, I had to pull an all-nighter to ensure some features in a game got completed. I'm off to bed and I'll take care of this in a few hours when I wake up. You can find the list of required pages in the very first post I made, but if you have any questions about what needs to be on each page please don't hesitate to ask. You can also refer to the current placeholder IMF website at http://www.imf.la/frontpage.asp for page contents.

will

12-02-2004, 09:50 AM

Great !!! I'll wait for the last changes so I ll have a complete design to build each page. Really that doesn't take long once the design is completed.

Talk to you soon,

will

12-04-2004, 11:55 AM

Justin, I am so sorry to inform you that tomorrow morning I must departure in a travel to another province in my country due to familiar problems I must solve immediately and I will be absent till this wednesday so I won't be able to give you feedback on the middle days. If you think you can provide me with the final changes for the design maybe I will be able to work it and the other paging during this day and upload it the sooner the better, if not plz. don't worry because I ll be available on wednesday and then we can complete the project.

Thanx for the patience,

JustinLloyd

12-04-2004, 12:36 PM

Will: Not a problem. Go do what you must. I've been incredibly busy these past three days trying to meeting a milestone myself. I'll post changes this weekend and when you returned next week you can begin work on them.

JustinLloyd

12-08-2004, 01:19 AM

Will, here are the changes I'd like for the front page:
1. Make the page a little wider. About 50 pixels wider to be precise.

2. Remove the shadowing from the stars. I want to see what it looks like.

3. Rotate the star and “FREE” a little bit anti-clockwise

4. Increase the size of the font on the “DOWNLOAD” and “BUY” buttons

5. Move the star a little over to the right and a little down

6. Change the text at the bottom to read “© 2004 INFINITE MONKEY FACTORY, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.”

7. Increase the width of the “GAMES” button on the bottom right.

8. Put the cost of each game back on to the games. Do it similar to how you have the “FREE” star. Make it at an angle, overlay it on the screenshot.

9. Take the featured game area and make it as large as the "Free & Exclusive Games!" area. Place it below the the "Free & Exclusive Games!" section.

10. Move the announcements up to where the featured game section was.

Other pages that are required:
Pages
This is the list of pages that are required for the entire site. Page hierarchy is pretty flat. There's about 9 or 10 pages total, most of them are very similar to other pages so you probably have to come up with about 5 distinct pages.

Front (main index) Page
* http://www.imf.la/frontpage.asp
* The front page will contain info on the current games we are promoting)
Individual Game Info Page
* Generated dynamically from a database for each game
* http://www.imf.la/betiled/
* Must contain a “Download Demo” button
* Must contain the file size
* Must contain a “BUY NOW” button
* Must contain the game price (varies between $19.95 and $39.95) $19.95/$21.95/$24.95/$29.95/$34.95/$39.95
* The buttons for “download” and “buy” should be large.
* The buttons for "download" & "buy" should appear on the screen at least twice
Individual Game Hints Page
* generated dynamically from a database for each game
FAQ Page
* generated dynamically from a database
Contact Us Page
* http://www.imf.la/contact_us.asp
Purchase Page
* dynamic page
* Should be clean and simple
E-Mail Support
* http://www.imf.la/tech_support_request.asp
* This page fires off an e-mail to us
* Should contain our e-mail address at the bottom
Generic page that can be used for company bio, news, etc
* http://www.imf.la/company_info.asp
* Will contain individual bio for each key staff member
* Will contain caricatures of key staff members (these will be drawn by a separate person)
404 Page not found
* this should be amusing & clever and still let the user know that the page they requested does not exist
* http://www.imf.la/404
Pop-up page for viewing game screen shots
* needs to include navigation elements for next picture, previous picture
* http://www.imf.la/betiled/

For dynamically generated pages you should provide a sample of what the page will look like. I'll take care of connecting it up to the backend.

will

12-09-2004, 03:44 PM

Fortunately the family situation was solved but it took an extra day. I am adjusting to the city again but luckily by tomorrow I will be making all the changes you requested.

Thank you so much for the patience :D

will

12-10-2004, 09:01 AM

Here it is the final draft with the changes included. As soon as you approve this design I will use the elements within it to create all the content pages. Let me know if the font sizes, button sizes, etc. are all ok the way they are for me to have an accurate way of reproducing the internal pages.

Take care,

CLICK HERE TO CHECK THE FULL VERSION OF THE SITE (http://www.willdesigns.com.ar/game_final.jpg)

JustinLloyd

12-10-2004, 09:27 AM

will: That looks good. I guess you can go ahead and start creating the other page layouts.

Minor point:
1. The top menu bar looks uneven.

will

12-10-2004, 09:29 AM

Great, then !

I will enlarge the top menu to fit conceptually the rest of the site and proceed with the content pages. We are almost there !

Peace,

JustinLloyd

12-10-2004, 11:05 AM

Will: Sounds good. I might have you change the element for the price of the games but let's move on to the other pages for now. We can always revisit that later on.

One thing I need from you, after you have finished adjusting the top menu can you send me the top menu element as a Photoshop file. I need that piece of the artwork so I can begin the next round of projects. :)

will

12-10-2004, 11:19 AM

Sure no problem. I ll send you a layered photoshop file. Do you want me to prepare the top as an html resizable header, so you don't have to slice it and work it (just to save you time) ?

will

12-10-2004, 01:26 PM

Justin,

I am uploading the layered psd file (Text is not editable, I ll prepare for the final files an editable version of the psd because I am using PhotoImpact and have to make the conversion manually).

Also in the same .zip file I created an html file with the top and the bottom of the site. It's resizable so you will love it and is placed on independent tables so if you only need the header you will find a table containing it all or if you need the bottom same thing as before.

Let me know if they work for you. I'll prepare the inner pages now and try to have it the sooner the better.

Take care,

Link removed to prevent theft

will

12-13-2004, 11:35 AM

I am having all the pages by today :D

JustinLloyd

12-13-2004, 01:14 PM

Will: Sounds good. I look forward to see what clever things you've come up with.

will

12-13-2004, 02:42 PM

Justin: All the pages are in Link removed to prevent theft. Only 1 page is missing that is the Purchase Page since I don't know what data you need to include there. Does it look like shopping cart or something else ?

Do you have PhotoImpact ? It would be great if you can grab a copy of that software since all the titles use an in-program property that allows me to work with the text yet add it a line around it and some other that make the shapes editable. It would be a lot easier for you to edit these files and make the proper corrections than in Photoshop. In ulead.com you can download a 30 days trial that can show you the posibilities. It's a lot easier than photoshop and for my taste a lot more powerfull for web design since you don't have to waste much time to create great ideas.

Just in case I will give you the psd files converted from my photoimpact 10.0 just in case.

Well, as soon as we finish with the posible changes for the rest of the pages I will proceed with the coding.

One more thing: Will you be using a single page created dynamically or will you use a fixed header and frames for the rest of the content ?

Take care,

JustinLloyd

12-13-2004, 08:41 PM

Will: Those look good.

In response to your question about dynamic pages: When laying them out treat each page as unique with a fixed header, but avoid the use of frames if you can. CSS & layers are fine. Once you've laid out the HTML I have a few hours work to tie in extra code.

Couple of requests:

1. Send the PSDs but I'll also go and pick up a copy of PhotoImpact just in case I need to do something with the art that Photoshop can't handle.

2. Can I get a nice splashy element for our game info pages (also used on our ordering page) that emphasises our money back guarantee.

3. Can I get a nice splashy element for our game info pages that has the price, nice and big and prominent.

4. You can find examples of order pages here: https://www.dexterity.com/secure/order.htm?id=6 and here: http://www.dexterity.com/ordering.htm?id=6 and here: https://www.dexterity.com/secure/order-customer-info.htm So it is nowhere as complex as a shopping cart :) If you believe you can make it look really good with a single page I'd like that.