Suggestions for the website and community resources

[SupSuper]

We get a lot of feedback on OpenXcom the game, but not on everything else surrounding OpenXcom: all the sites and resources set up for the benefit of the community. After all, a game is nothing without its community, so I try to give attention to both in order to keep the game growing and the player experience positive.

However it's become pretty clear they're not doing their job lately. New users often have trouble figuring out where to start and getting into mods, while veterans have to keep working around the same old problems. To help get to the bottom of this, I'm posting this thread to encourage feedback, both problems and solutions. Here's what I've noticed, feel free to share your own.

Website

Nobody views the site. Or if they do, they don't read it. Or if they do read it, they don't understand it. Etc.

For example, new people keep missing that we have a FAQ, or a wiki, or a bug tracker, etc. I don't really know how to fix this without changing the theme or cluttering up the menu. Or maybe it's hopeless.

Forum

Despite the fact that most of the community lives here, the forum has been largely unchanged since the start, so some subforums are incredibly more active than others (I'm looking at you Modding). I think it's time to reorganize the forum structure to meet current needs:

= OpenXcom =

- Open Discussion - Combined "Open Feedback" and "Suggestions" as they're largely the same
- Troubleshooting
- Playthroughs
- Fan-Stuff - Same as "The Rest"
- Contributions - Covers "Development", "Builds & Ports" and any other type of third-party additions. Might need a better name.
- Offtopic - Same as "General Discussion" forum but less ambiguous

= Modding = (time to give it the visibility it deserves)

Work In Progress - Same as "Modding/Experiments"
Released - Same as "Released Mods"
Help - Dedicated place to get help on everything modding
Resources - Separate place for modders looking for sprites etc so they don't get lost with mods
Tools

I'd also like a more colorful sci-fi theme rather than monochrome city, but free themes are awful and I don't wanna make my own.

Mod Site

We're aware the current mod site is, as some have put it, a "dumpster fire". Jo5hua, the creator and host, has not been doing an ideal job keeping the place running but sadly this is outside our control.

However kkmic is currently working on an alternative that will be hosted by us and (hopefully) avoid the current issues, once he's ready to go public he'll post a thread for it.

Wiki

Currently the OpenXcom wiki is very encyclopedic. People have built on what I started, but as a result it's very dry and programmer-centric. Lots of long-winded documentation and references, but no real guides and descriptions for the average player.

The wiki should collect all the documentation the community needs, instead of it being "insider knowledge" passed down from generation to generation. Anything from technical references, how to play and how to install, coverage of big mods, explanations of all the new mechanics and options, step-by-step guides of all things modding, etc. it doesn't just need to be about OpenXcom, it can also cover all the popular mods that are complex enough to warrant some pages of their own. Remember, it's a community wiki, there are no wrong answers, everyone is free to contribute!

However, I realize as I say this a lot of people (me included) can't login or make edits due to technical issues. The wiki is also being hosted by Jo5hua and any attempts to get in touch with him have proven futile.

Social Channels

I know most old farts like me don't care about these fancy shmancy "social networks", but the reality is we have a lot of fans planted various networks and they're not gonna leave just for us. For example, setting up a Discord brought a load of fans that were previously just hiding in the darkness.

Of course, I'm still an old fart and can't afford to follow and post on every single network out there, so mostly I just post automated updates. So if anyone has ideas to better use Facebook/Twitter/Youtube/Discord/etc. to their fullest, let me know. The better our social channels are, the more reach OpenXcom has.

Community Interaction

I know our updates are slow and our news boring and my sense of humor probably a bit grating. Still, if anyone, be they a fan, a player, a modder, a youtuber, a streamer, a press member, anyone that ever wants to talk directly to us they are free to. I try to work extra hard to dispel the notion of the "big scary devs" and try to be as transparent and approachable as possible. Toss us an email, PM us on the forums, talk to us on Discord, whatever works.

Is it working though? Often people seem to run around in circles with issues and questions we can address but they run to everyone but us. Is there better we can do? Or am I just that scary?

We also have a lot of non-English fans, most manage to speak some semblance of English, but a lot just contact us in their native language and I have to make do with Google Translate. I've been wondering how big a barrier that is and if it would be valuable to support them more outside the game, either with interpreters, website translations, dedicated non-English forums, etc. Or would that just be more confusing?

[Countdown]

Wow, there is a lot here. I applaud you for the efforts to improve what is already a great game and community. I'm sure you will get a lot of great ideas from the smart/hard working people on this forum.

Website

Nobody views the site. Or if they do, they don't read it. Or if they do read it, they don't understand it. Etc.

For example, new people keep missing that we have a FAQ, or a wiki, or a bug tracker, etc. I don't really know how to fix this without changing the theme or cluttering up the menu. Or maybe it's hopeless.

I'd like to give your whole post some more thought and provide some more worthy feedback, but off the top of my head, the https://openxcom.org/ website seems like a good place to start.

First, combating the issues you mention certainly isn't hopeless. If you want more people to explore the website and read what is there, it would need to be organized a little different and possibly even get a facelift. The most important information for a new user is in the "About" section, but that's one menu item out of many and the FAQ section is buried a few scrolls deep within that section. You start in the "News" section and none of that info means anything to a first time visitor.

Also, like half the links in the sidebar menu take you to other websites which have a whole bunch more info and links and it's just total information overload and a new visitor could be easily overwhelmed. Some people who aren't totally motivated (or lazy) may just leave rather than read and click around to find the important info. If you click "Mods" for example, you go to a website that has absolutely no explanation or description where not even everything works (as you describe, you're sending people to a "dumpster fire".)

So I think the main OXC website could be completely redesigned/organized. This would be work, but I'm sure people here (myself included) would be willing to help.

However, if you're hesitant on doing too much with the main OXC site, the biggest thing I think you can do is steer people to the Nightlies instead of 1.0. Really, there is no reason anybody should be playing 1.0 at this point. The Nightlies fixes so many issues from that version and has so many more features. Plus, the  majority of mods (certainly no actively updated mods) even work with 1.0. But currently, if you're a first time visitor, based on the descriptions on the main page, you would think that 1.0 is the best place to start and the Nightlies looks a little uncertain. I mean, even the term "Nightlies" isn't 100% clear to those not familiar with open source projects.

My thought would be to either:

1) Take the most recent 100% stable version of the Nightlies and call it 2.0 and just replace 1.0 all-together.

2) Change the setup/language to strongly encourage new users to use the Nightlies and discourage 1.0.

I think that's a good starting point which is an easy change. Then redesigning the site could be a longer term project.

[SteamXCOM]

. I mean, even the term "Nightlies" isn't 100% clear to those not familiar with open source projects.

yes, Some Mount and Blade Warband mods use the term "nightly" to mean an incremental update to an already installed version.
Nightly here means a complete install where the previous version is  irrelevant.

Untill I read the instructions more carefully I was Installing nightlies into the 1.0 folder.

The game ran , however I was getting some odd results if I tried to mod anything, that is until I deleted 1.0 and installed the nightlys separately into their own folder when a new version came out

[ivandogovich]

I just wanted to chime in and concur completely with the proposed re-organizations of the Forums. 

Great discussion, Supsuper!  Looking forward to the improvements.

[The Reaver of Darkness]

I visit the main page every now and then. There's one thing that often keeps me away from it: if I click the big OPENXCOM button at the top right, it routes me right back to the forum. My instinct is to click that button to get to the main site. I don't need it to get to the forum when I'm already at the forum.

But the big thing that makes me leave the main site is that it never looks updated. The "news" section is always full of old articles and it rarely changes. If news were posted there more frequently, speaking of topics relevant to openxcom and the community, then I would read them and become more informed of the community, I could reach out to others and share my thoughts on the attached comments section, and most of all I would be spending more time on the main site which would increase my familiarity with it, likely resulting in me stumbling across features on it that I never knew existed.

[Stoddard]

But please keep the forums English-only.

Being non-native english speaker myself, and having seen such disasters before:

This only splits the community.


Edit:
It's not like I'm not melding Python into OpenXcom's C++ codebase.
But imagine if there were like 23 different languages in it.
And no ABI

[Yankes]

I vote for OXC 2.0
3 years of development, multiple new features, TFTD, lot of bug fix, what else it lack to not be next milestone?

[wolfreal]

I support the OXC 2.0 idea.

About the web page: I submerged in oxc and their mods thanks to the web page, but it is true that after knowing the forum (And reading the respective "Use nightly") I have never visited the web page again. Maybe it is a good idea to gravitate the web page around the forum. For example, a main page describing what is OXC, a little history, some links to let´s play, photos. A second page about news, and everywhere a reference to the forums and/or the wiki. I think the installation link on the wiki should be highlighted. (And please, put a reference about how to do a local portable installation ).

It is going to be great to have a functional mod page. I get hooked again with XCOM and the OXC port because of the mods and the (not precisely functional) mod page. I think I´m not alone. I think publicity could be done, and a lot of help could come from showing what I think are the main mega mods (Hardmode, area51, Piratez, Xfiles).

It could be a good Idea to have some place to give info in another languages. I am a native spanish speaker and even when I comprehend perfectly English (but write/speak like a toddler xD) , I think there is a lot of people that don´t speak English and is interested in playing this port. But I don´t think that more than some forums threads on native languages and some main pages in the wiki (Installation, first steps, how to install mods, some tips for playing)  are necessary. This is because in the end, the main discussions are going to gravitate toward the English language.

In the end, I think OXC is a wonderful project, with a big potential, but need a better image so it can grow in reach. It have a lot to offer outside of hard core Xcom fans.

So, to give some more concrete opinions:
Website: Declutter, gravitate around forum, show news, wiki, faq, and forums.

Forum: The structure that SupSuper suggest looks great to me. But changing colors... better to have a poll.

ModSite: PLEASE!. At least, showcasing and forum links.

Wiki: I like the enciclopedic, but it is true it need work. Install guides, faq, first steps in game, some tips and general strategies, and mods installation are needed as main pages, Those pages could be in several languages. The rest could grow organically.

Social channels: Automatic updates on the social channels are ok. Just a reference to all medias in the main page, and a request for all the community to make references to this medias when talking about the port. It is hard to do everything yourself. Maybe some people want to be social media managers there?
 
Language: As I say before. In several languages: A short project description, some important wiki pages, and some sub forums threads for help in particular languages. But I think not more is needed, too much work, not too much trafic.

Hope this opinions could help. I can translate wiki pages to spanish after they are done.

Thanks for all your magnificent work!

[NKF]

Two suggestions:

The forums do indeed need a choice of light and dark themes. The light theme would more mobile device friendly as is it very hard to read the forum's grey on black on a smartphone when you are out and about.

The other suggestion is regarding keeping the website up-to-date might be to make it a wiki. You would still need to restrict some pages to administrator access only such as the landing page, but then you can outsource much of the work and rely on the power of the community to keep everything up to date. Not to mention self moderate. It's a crazy idea, but crazy ideas sometimes work.

This doesn't eliminate the need for the official wiki. which is still there for its encyclopaedic presentation of information. Of course, there is still the ongoing issue with contacting our absent host... 

[tkzv]

Here are the problems I encountered. Can't say how many people are affected by them.

For programs like Firefox "nightlies" often means an experimental prerelease that may fall apart, not something you'd normally use every day. Perhaps you need another name? Or another milestone release?

Data patches for UFO and TFTD are tucked into the last tab. I needed my face shoved there to see them. I think milestone and nightlies should link to them.

Bug tracker was not working 2 times out of 3, when I accessed it.

The idea that guests can create tickets, but can't attach files, seems odd.

Getting Linux versions of OXCE and OXCE+ was hard. I ended up teaching myself some git and cmake to build my own. If they can't be hosted on the modsite, can there be an easy to find compilation manual? The manual for nightlies in the Ufopaedia is fine, only needs a few extra lines to select a branch.

P.S. Speaking of OXCE and OXCE+, it would be nice to have their reference in Ufopaedia.org too.

[niculinux]

Getting Linux versions of OXCE and OXCE+ was hard. I ended up teaching myself some git and cmake to build my own. If they can't be hosted on the modsite, can there be an easy to find compilation manual? The manual for nightlies in the Ufopaedia is fine, only needs a few extra lines to select a branch.

Having also some builds of the abovementioned in AppImage format would be fine as heaven, minding all the very inexpert linux users like me