As I've mentioned in other places, I've been working on a new site for the last few months. It's nearing completion, but there are issues to iron out yet.

I've spotted a lot of things that need sorting out by myself, but feedback would be appreciated.

Also, if you would like to make your own puzzles then that would be great!

http://www.stickscene.com

The point of the site is to recreate movie posters or scenes from movies in as minimal a fashion as possible while still keeping them guessable. On a basic level this means using stickmen, but it could be that you only draw the most basic of elements to convey the scene or movie.

I won't be approving every submission, because if it's too hard to guess from the artwork then there's no fun for the visitors, but everything will be looked at.

I did the majority of the programming for the site by myself, but I've had a guy working on it for a few days to polish up the back-end stuff. I'm very nervous about putting this into the public, but I've got high hopes that it could be really popular!

It should go without saying, but just in case, because this is a beta test please don't pass the URL on to other people. I know this is a public forum but the exposure here is limited. I don't want this going around the world at 100% exposure until it's fully ready.

Ohh!

At first I thought the puzzles too hard, but I got a few of them so I'm happy. I like the concept, though I'm not sure if you could submit your own posters/scenes or if it is all going to be done by you and others involved with the site?

I assume the About page hasn't been made yet.

Anyway, isn't it way past your bedtime, Mata?

I got them all. Awesome idea, Mata! I love it! I might even be able to do a puzzle or two with MS Paint.

Ack, I'm awful at this! My film knowledge is laughable. Great idea though.

Although, I'm not sure if you know but on your birthdate it says the year 2006, it would be highly impressive if this was true.

I actually got them all right. I like "the silence of the lambs" one.

great idea!

It reminds me of the puzzles you find in Waterloo station on the escalators.

If you create a user account then you can submit your own images.

I do intend on having a difficulty rating eventually, so that people can rate the puzzle, but I'll only show that after the three clues have been taken. Eventually I'll then make it so that the puzzles can be played by diffifculty.


You assume correctly. There will be more info in there about how to create your own puzzles for people.


Yes, it was way past my current bedtime! *shakes fist at regular work*

I got them all without a problem. I liked the little face on the butterfly for the Silence of the Lambs and the stick-pelt for Breakfast at Tiffany's. I was a little confused at the start, I thought the point was to guess the year, genre and the actors...I was a little miffed when I put 1985 and Michael J. Fox in for Back to the Future and it told me I was wrong...guessing the film title just seemed a little too...easy. *shrug*

Still, it's a funky idea and I had a bad feeling I was going to be on it all day until it told me that it'd run out of things.

Isn't a very-very-beta test an alpha test?

Edit: Doing a random quiz tends to leave out a few, I only got 3, 4 and 5 after going through them manually. I didn't get 4 or 5.

Good point, for the less literal minded people I guess I should say 'guess the name of the film' above the box. Thanks

Bear in mind, I've been picking some really iconic ones for my first few, so they should be pretty easy for people who are very into films.

I hope people will be on there all day when I've got enough puzzles!

A very-very-beta test means that lots of the back-end stuff isn't polished yet. Fortunately the frontend was mostly done weeks ago, so general players won't notice anything!

The random quiz is random (hence the name). I've just tested it and got all of the puzzles, but it took a lot of tries. Given that each has a one-in-eight (at the moment) chance of working then it's not surpirsing that they don't happen very often!

That really threw me. I thought it was a cat or a dog. I guessed '101 dalmations' for that one. In my defense, Stick Audrey Hepburn does look rather similar to Stick Cruella De Vil.

....I couldn't figure any of them out. Great idea though. Answer keys would be a really great idea for something to add.

Heavens to Betsy, this site has a forum too!

I love the concept and the puzzles are adorable, but I'm not too sure about the background. Granted I tend to lean more towards minimalism in the sites I like, but the banners mixed with the orange background make it seem kind of crowded and narrow to me. Anyone else feeling this?

Also, nice picture, Mata! You look very Mr. British Version of the Postal Service Singerman.

When I start from the first one, it goes from 1 to 2 to 7 to 8, why does it skip some?

Err... So it does... Hmm. Thanks, I'll have a look at that.

It's not a pelt in the Breakfast at... picture, she actually has her cat climbing on her on the original posters.

Elph, the site is squeezed so that even people on small resolution screens will be able to see it without things getting squashed. Once it's all ready I might stretch it out again into a variable state, but for web-design purposes it's easier to have things this way.

DD, I've thought about adding 'show me the answer' boxes, but I think I'm more likely to have an 'email to a friend' box. That way the friend can try and work it out for them and I get more hits.

Just a suggestion: could you not use browser scripting for the clues, so that the page does not need to reload each time? I don't know what the site is like on dial up or anything, I just think it's generally more aethetically pleasing not having the site flash gone and scroll back to the top. And I suppose, should you find yourself in dire need of something to do, you could try and make the site conform to xhtml standard. Y'know. if you're that bored.

Other than that, I rather like the site. It's a nice idea. Also I suck at getting flms. I only got 3 of them.

Yes, technically I could make the clues come from a scripting source; however, to do that would mean that I potentially lose three ad-views per puzzle. Given that the site is my attempt to actually make money on the web so that I can spend more time animating I want to maximise revenue in this way!

Ah, sneaky.

It has been known, sometimes.

Indeed it has. I'm not very knowledgeable about movies and I haven't seen a lot of the ones in the pictures (though I did get three,) but the look of the site is very nice. Everything is done in very nice warm tones until you toggle the cool switch that turns everything into the Matazone general color scheme- having the option is nice. I'm glad that the layout is like this site's- that makes it nice and easy to use. The registration form is nice because you don't have to scroll around a lot, and I haven't had to bother with an e-mail notification. Overall, the forum part seems to be very user-friendly.
By the way, the "My Assistant" thing on the other forums doesn't work, but I'm not sure that it'll really be needed until people start posting.

How about inserting an anchor just above the puzzle and linking to that? Should give you the best of both worlds.

That's more tircky, because it's combining HTML and PHP, and the chances are that it will still be a slightly different location on the page than the one that people clicked from, resulting in the 'flash' effect.

Wow, it's looking good Mata!! You had me stumped on a lot of them, I definately needed the clues!! (yes I'm still lurking, bwahahahaha)

*hugs*

(Yes, technically that's spam, but it's my forum so I can spam if I want! )