Long-needed update

Greetings Patrons!

It sure has been an insanely long time since the latest update. Am I still working on the Sierra Chest? That is a most definite YES. However I should really provide more updates to you guys because the latest update was an embarrassingly long time ago. It's nearly inexcusable and I sincerely apologize for that.

Since the latest update I've partially programmed the membership features of the site (including registration, forums, collection design and more) but then fully focused on adding more content. Of course by doing that, the membership features did not progress further. I will move back to programming now because I really want those features to be launched (and I think you do too :-) ). More on that further below in this update, but let's first look at all the content that has been added.

Completed game pages

- Learning with Leeper: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=360&title=learning-with-leeper&fld=general

- Threshold: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=461&title=threshold&fld=general

- The Prophecy: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=328&title=ween-the-prophecy&fld=general

- Rise of the Dragon: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=377&title=rise-of-the-dragon&fld=general

- Mixed-Up Mother Goose (SCI): http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=235&title=mother-goose-sci&fld=general

- Mixed-Up Mother Goose (VGA): http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=544&title=mother-goose-vga&fld=general

- Battlestar Galactica: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=317&title=battlestar-galactica&fld=general

- King's Quest 2: Romancing the Stones: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=715&title=kings-quest-2-vga&fld=general

- Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=427&title=leisure-suit-larry-1-reloaded&fld=general

- Stellar 7: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=372&title=stellar-7&fld=general

- Codename: Iceman: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=276&title=codename-iceman&fld=general

- Hoyle Volume 3: Great Board Games: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=226&title=hoyle-3&fld=general

- Hoyle 1 VGA: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=378&title=hoyle-1-vga&fld=general

- Fascination: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=384&title=fascination&fld=general

- Hi Res #4: Ulysses and the Golden Fleece: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=197&title=ulysses-and-the-golden-fleece&fld=general

- Woodruff and the Schnibble: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=147&title=woodruff&fld=general

- Sabotage: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=457&title=sabotage&fld=general

- Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=129&title=die-hard&fld=general

- Willy Beamish: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=337&title=willy-beamish&fld=general

- Sierra's Sneak Peeks 2: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=567&title=sneakpeeks-2&fld=general

- Sierra's Sneak Peeks: http://sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=636&title=sneak-peeks-1&fld=general

In addition the following game pages are near completion: Caesar 2, Van Helsing (PS2), Yobi's Magic Spelling Tricks, 3-D Ultra Minigolf Adventures Deluxe, Lords of the Realm 2, MegaMath, James Cameron's Dark Angel (PS2), The Hobbit, Maximum Pool, The Simpsons: Hit & Run, Thexder, and more.

Loss-less Screenshots

While already covered by the website sierrawallpaper, many fans asked to also feature loss-less screenshots of the classic Sierra games. Loss-less screenshots are screenshots that are displayed exactly on the pixel as it was meant to be displayed on old monitors, with the correct aspect ratio and maintaining the exact colors. This implies that the screenshots are enlarged to a 1600x1200 size. I recently started doing so and King's 1, 2 and 3, as well as the Black Cauldron have had their screenshots already upgraded to this loss-less format, so feel free to check those out as they make for great wallpapers. More titles coming. I'm planning to first cover Sierra's AGI games.

Membership features

As mentioned earlier, there have been tons of additions with regards to content, but it's really the membership features that I should get back to working on. Membership features make all the difference in the upgrade of the Sierra Chest. Many have already been programmed and tested, while others still need to be added entirely. The features are primarily:

- member profile page: largely programmed. On your own profile page you can introduce yourself to the community and other members can view it. From this page you can also alter your preferences, privacy settings, manage your personal collection, see your site contributions, member score, medals and more.

- member forums: already built-in, but still has a few glitches that need fixing with regard to external links and image attachments in posts.

- building your own Sierra collection: already present and fully functional. 

- Photo albums: still to be programmed. This will allow members to upload images of their actual collection or collection items, or pictures of themselves with other fans or Sierra alums, with the possibility of tagging the alums so the tagged photos also appear in their biography page. Other members can also give thumbs up and/or comment on the uploaded images unless commenting is disabled by the uploader. 

- box scans: partially programmed (and quite similar to the photo albums from programming point of view). Members will be able to upload scans of game boxes which are then added to the "packaging" section of the game page. Note that if you marked a certain box as being in your collection and it still lags scans, you can see in your personal collection page where scans are still needed of games you own.

- Review writing: partially programmed. Members can write reviews of games and other members can score the reviews. The reviews are also directly accessible on the game pages themselves and the latest reviews are featured on the site's front page.

- Badges: most of the actions a member can do on the site come with a point system and badges which are displayed in the member's personal profile page. This includes but is not limited to: box art uploads, reviews score, forum participation and, of course, Patreon badges. Top members of the current month and year will also be displayed on the site's main page.

- Notifications: Still to be programmed. Much like on Facebook, members receive notifications on top of the screen when people reply to posts, comment on or rate your reviews and pictures, send you a personal message and so forth. In your personal settings, you can also set whether or not you would like to receive emails when notifications occurs.

- Security features: As is the case with all images uploaded by or text written by members, there is always a risk of somebody with not-so-nice intentions uploading or posting inappropriate things, posting things en masse to clog up the web site and so forth. Security features for members to report such happenings or block members and other tools (such as time delays or caps to the number of actions a member can do) still need to be programmed. Admin tools to warn and/or block members are already in place.

Once the membership features are all programmed and tested, I'm inviting a group of Sierra game developers to review all the new stuff and it is time to prepare for the official launch of the membership features. This will be a movie trailer featuring Sierra alumns announcing the launch to the Sierra fans. The idea is to have the launch in October on the Sierra Chest's 10th Anniversary, so that gives me about 5 months to get it all done.

Tons more things happened since the latest update. I should just make it a habit to update you guys more often, and that is exactly what I intend to do from now on forward. Once again my apologies for this very long delay. Expect the next updates to be far more frequent from now on.

See you at the next update!

Rudy

www.sierrachest.com