The Nexuiz Brand

[Spaceman]

I suggest dropping free and open source from the line at the top

Nexuiz is a first person shooter that run on ....

and add them to the description lower down.

[[-z-]]

I suggest dropping free and open source from the line at the top

Nexuiz is a first person shooter that run on ....

and add them to the description lower down.

That is phrased the way it is for a very important reason. You may know what nexuiz is, but this homepage should be catered more towards users that don't know.

Nexuiz? What the hell is that? It's not in the dictionary. We need to tell them, fast. The average web-user judges a site in seconds.


When you look at this template, try and figure out where your eyes go and try to understand why I designed the page the way I did.

The Logo is big and in the top left, yours eyes are drawn into it's interesting shape and shine.

How can I identify this shape by name?
Ahh, "Nexuiz... too fast for your grandma to play?!".
Play, so it's a game, and ahh yes, a download now button. 256mb, okay. good to know.

How much does this cost? Will it run on my computer? What's the catch?
Nexuiz is a free open-source first person shooter that runs on Windows, Linux, and OSX

Alright, this game must be crap if it's free.
:watches the video:


Seal the deal with a quick write up, some images, latest buzz and the curious player will have faith in the solidity of this product.

The main menu, though stowed away, raises the user's confidence in the game with proud offers of FAQ, Forums, Downloads, Links, Ladder and Tournament as well as offering invitations to 'come back soon'.

[Psychcf]

Ok, good ideas when putting those elements in. Now you need to stylize it in a way that you see it in that order. Again, there are a lot of things there that can be distracting. You want to remove the clutter in a web page so that the things you want the user can see are visible.

[Spaceman]

We should be grabbing them because Nexuiz is good, not because it's free or open source.

Nexuiz being free and open is a bonus, but not the reason to d/l, install and play it.

I installed Sauerbraten a while ago because of the screen shots, Although I've only played it a few times because of its stupid in game menus. The Sauerbraten website has pages of screen shots, all of them big and in good quality.

Below the Alientrap head logo, add a slide show panel showing off the models. Lots and lots of shots of all the models, with different weapons, randomly appearing.

(256MB) is negative, remove it and replace it with now. They will find out on the next page how big the file is.

The strap line 'too fast for granny' isn't very good, how about 'state of the art fragging' Google search

[[-z-]]

Ok, good ideas when putting those elements in. Now you need to stylize it in a way that you see it in that order. Again, there are a lot of things there that can be distracting. You want to remove the clutter in a web page so that the things you want the user can see are visible.

I tested it on a few friends, the general consensus was as I had hoped. They went to the site without knowing what Nexuiz is. You however didn't and as such I believe you were expecting something different. Try looking at it with fresh eyes.



It's just so weird to hear you say that with

"Urban Terror 4 - a free modern FPS shooter game for multiplayer, urbanterror.net"

in your signature.


I would have never downloaded Nexuiz if the words 'free' weren't written somewhere.

It may not be the reason you downloaded it but it's the reason some people do.

If you are afraid that we'll get ~a bunch of n00bs that don't understand the game the way you do~ what does that matter? It's people interested in the game, everyone has to start somewhere. There a various communities setup for users who are looking for a deeper experience in the game as is the case with any other online game.


The model slide show is a possibility.

I disagree with your stance on 256mb. That fact is open for debate. I'd appreciate knowing how large the file is.

I asked for suggestions on the slogan. Again, it's personal opinion. Yours will be taken into consideration and perhaps a vote will be had for the slogan.

[TVR]

As for your template. There are a couple quirks here and there, including:

->The irony of the 'Help the aliens' caption on the donate button.
->'Too fast for your Grandma to play' subtitle harmfully exaggerates the speed of Nexuiz, which although has a high maximum velocity, also has a low acceleration rate. The use of particular words 'Too fast' could scare away newcomers; consider a phrase more relevant [Simple, fast, intense, and completely free], or omit the space.
->I dislike 'Holy crap, that's Nexuiz? Why haven't I heard of this yet?' because from the way it is written, it seems to be predicting the viewers' reaction and stuffing words down their throat, a bit aggressive and arrogant.
->The embedded video player used matches the gloss of the tool bars well, however the screen shot used as a place holder could involve a map included with the main distribution.
->Download Nexuiz' sticks out and functions like a sore thumb, as it is at the top of the page, before a potential player even is able to learn WHAT Nexuiz is.

Overall, the current design appears to be screaming 'Download!!! Download NOOoOOoOwWwWWwWwW!!!', almost as if it was forcing itself upon the user.

[Shoe]

"Too fast for your grandma to play" could very well scare away newcomers who think it's exclusively for the hardcore. I know I've stayed away from lots of games before because I was afraid of going online and getting consistently beaten.

[AceOfThumbs]

First of all, thanks to -z- for putting in the effort on this. Taking the initiative is hard and keeping momentum is harder. I think everyone would agree it is a huge improvement over the current design. (No offense to the designers of the current site. It's just outdated.)

It's virtually impossible to please everyone entirely, no matter what the project is. Design work it is particularly hard because much of it is subjective. It's best to admit right away that it can't satisfy everyone's tastes and all criteria. Attempting to please everyone can make a lifeless disjointed design. You have to discuss who you are trying to reach, what you want them to do and how to get them to do it, then pick a direction and move forward.

Target audience:

Action game enthusiasts - This could include both computer and console gamers. It may be people that have never played an FPS game, but probably wouldn't be people that only play puzzle games or slow paced role playing games.

Desired action:

Download and play the game, get hooked, donate, contribute to the community in some way, promote the game.

Motivation:

Considering the target audience: Give the site an updated look, because an action gamer wants something new. Make it a little edgey (a little aggressive), since action gamers want to shoot something. Let's be honest, we want to go fast and shoot. We want explosions and mayhem. Smiles and welcomes come later when you are already convinced and visit the forum for more. The home page hooks you, the game and community reels you in. Make it fun. It's a game, isn't it?!

Considering the desired action: Make the download easy and obvious. Let them know it's free. Inform them of the file size so they aren't scared and aren't deceived. Give them evidence of the quality of the game with large photos/video. Give them evidence of community with the news blurbs and community ads and links.

Now look at the preview image again. I think it does all of this. Good job, -z-!!!

[ai]

We should be grabbing them because Nexuiz is good, not because it's free or open source.

Nexuiz being free and open is a bonus, but not the reason to d/l, install and play it.

I agree with Z on this one. I think it's important to state if it's free or not as one might be deluded into that this is just a demo or shareware or whatever. And I know for a fact many people only download stuff if it's free. Two of my friends who went over to Linux OSes asked me of any free games, I of course mentioned Nexuiz and they played.

->'Too fast for your Grandma to play' subtitle harmfully exaggerates the speed of Nexuiz, which although has a high maximum velocity, also has a low acceleration rate. The use of particular words 'Too fast' could scare away newcomers; consider a phrase more relevant [Simple, fast, intense, and completely free], or omit the space.

->I dislike 'Holy crap, that's Nexuiz? Why haven't I heard of this yet?' because from the way it is written, it seems to be predicting the viewers' reaction and stuffing words down their throat, a bit aggressive and arrogant.

Overall, the current design appears to be screaming 'Download!!! Download NOOoOOoOwWwWWwWwW!!!', almost as if it was forcing itself upon the user.

1st. The slogan isn't decided yet I presume so I never bothered to say anything about this. But on this matter I agree with TVR.

2nd. Same as above, I never bothered to mention this as I asumed that won't be the final line. And I do not only agree with TVR on this one, I also think this is a bit immature and childish (14 years old kiddies talk ), and to add to that, it doesn't fit with how the community actually is. It might give the impression we see on other game forums (newbies unwelcome; at least that's the impression I get).

3rd. And yet again I agree with TVR. It's good that there's some of the "Download Nexuiz now!!" feel to it, but this is a bit too much. Cause as the page is setup (how all the buttons looks like ads and stuff), this whole site looks like a giant huge add for Nexuiz (with an arrogant coomunity).

But yeah, I too appreciate the work Z is doing. And I don't want to discourage you, we're all trying to help you improve it.

[[-z-]]

Okey dokey, made the download button a little less in your face.