Hello everyone! So let’s see how we’re doing at Seventh Sanctum!
- I’ve got some rough plans for the next few months, we’ll see how they work out after a little polishing and planning. I’m not planning anything as big as the rewrite for the next year because that took a lot out of me.
- As you saw, Way With Worlds is back! I plan to revisit the entire column line to rewrite, expand, or in a few cases just leave some old ones alone. Think of it as Way With Worlds updated – as I have a lot to add from my experiences!
- Didn’t see a lot of enthusiasm for a blog, but let me note that it will be basically running as part of the site but not take over the site – I don’t want to turn the site into a blog, so much as have one that belongs to the site if you get my drift. The purpose is the tools first and foremost – but it’d be nice to have content and people commenting on it and interacting. I’m still assuming adding a blog in Q1 or so – and a little feedback would help (even if it’s “really, don’t”).
- Do have a few more formatting tweaks I may try, so stay tuned!
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Years ago at the end of the 20th century and the start of the 21st I began writing a column on worldbuilding and fiction – Way With Worlds. This was the age when people were suddenly able to get their works on the internet, via websites and journals and email. There was a slow simmer of amateur writers, should-be-pros, would-be-pros, fanficcers, and more. A column on worldbuilding seemed in order.
I’ve always had ambitions to write fiction, had worked on shared-universe newsletters, played RPGs, and more. Worlds were part of what I liked to do, and a good setting, a good living world/universe made things come alive. So I expressed my theories in hope of helping people, to use my knowledge gained over the years, and of course because I’m not overly good at shutting up.
The columns sat online for years when I decided not to continue them, and every now and then someone will read one or mention them to me. Over the years I do less fictional work directly, yet am still involved in worldbuilding when I help friends with games, edit books, and when I run the inspiration site Seventh Sanctum. Of course, I still have plenty of opinions.
Now even more people are writing, and making videos, and self-publishing. So I decided to revisit the columns and rewrite them, expand them, and use what I learned in over a decade.
And the first question is still as burningly relevant as ever? Why Worldbuild? (more…)
(This was originally posted at Ongoing Worlds. And yes, it’s a Seventh Sanctum column that’s not an update. A trend? We’ll see!)
Look Back In Randomness . . .
In 1999 at a gathering of anime and Mystery Science Theater Fans, I commented how some anime attacks sounded randomly generated by computer. Suddenly it struck me that it would be easy to write a program to do that, as I’d written code to do superhero names and names in the vein of Elfquest characters. A few notes later I had enough ideas to try and I made an Anime Power Generator.
Then I began thinking of other options. And more random generators emerged. Then I put them on my web site. Then they took over the website.
Then what is known today as Seventh Sanctum was born. Eventually it encompassed over 150 generators. I just kept making these things for 14 years.
So in 2013 I realized that perhaps I had to update the years old design, and go modern. Fortunately Bootstrap provided me the framework I needed, and I proudly updated it in a mobile, adaptable, and honestly easier to read and simpler design.
This is when Dave contacted me. He and I knew each other from when I interviewed him at MuseHack. He noted that I had many random generators for people to use in writing, art, and of course RPGs. But what is the role of randomizers in RPGs anyway?
I’d never thought of it. I just sort of assumed it was obvious or instinctive.
Dave had challenged me, in short, to put into words what was rarely expressed. I was up for the challenge – frankly I wanted to see my own thoughts in more solid form.
So, you run an RPG or play one, or are starting one. How can randomness help you in something that’s so often the result of planning, phrasing, and writing? Many, many ways . . . (more…)
Thanks for the continuous feedback folks. So a few updates
- First, you may notice a color change at Seventh Sanctum – the Blue Is Back. Frankly, a lot of people sort of missed it. So hey, if it’s part of the brand, there you go.
- Several people would like options to choose results back. I’m considering a few possibilities and debating if it’s worth restoring. But the feedback is appreciated.
- I’m considering a slight layout change with the comments to leave less blank space – but it actually makes the layouts trickier in some cases. Live and learn.
- Finally – and I really would like feedback on this – I’m considering how to add more content and interactive features. A message board seems a bit excessive and basic, the Disqus comments are nice, a mailing list may be fun, but I’ve wondered what about some direct content with a blog/posting element? It doesn’t even have to be me writing for it but could give a place for a lot of us to post ideas, creativity, theories, advice, and more. I’ve got a rough idea of how I can embed a blog into the site without overstraining it, but it’s pretty basic right now.
Let me know!
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
OK so the site launch looks successful. Only two things have come up:
- Some people want to see the blue return. So I’d like to know what you think.
- Depending on the scale the view can get a bit crowded. I can tweak this over time, but my goal was to optimize use of space and device scaling. So if anyone has specific suggestions (make this better padded, etc.) I can prototype them to see if they work.
But we appear to be good! Thanks everyone!
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
If Seventh Sanctum looks a bit different that’s because it is. After months of waiting, it’s out! The updated, Bootstrap-driven version!
So, hopefully you’ve seen it, but if by some rare happenstance you saw this entry on my home site, go check it out!
Now, I’ve tested it, I’ve integrated feedback, but there still could be errors and issues. So be sure to send me feedback!
So some features you should see:
- First of all, you’ve got a more modern, streamlined look. The old site was a bit retro and frankly the text was just a bit too small.
- Secondly, this should scale on mobile and smaller devices. So try it out on phone, tablet, and so on.
- Third, I streamlined the generators. The choice-of-amount really didn’t bring much to the site because people would just have to click again to generate more – and that’s usually what a visitor would want. The new layout should be a bit tighter.
So try it out and let me know if you have any questions or find any problems!
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Sorry for a bit of a delay here folks, got a bit under the weather and had a convention to go to. Not an ideal combination, but had a blast – and got to meet some Sanctum-users there.
So first of all, I did some updates to the Seventh Sanctum test site, Page of Generators. I’d like you to try it again to make sure the updates work.
And after that? A launch this month. Quite looking forward to it.
Still having talks about how to do community building, but a lot of the “old gang” are busy right now. But it’s not forgotten. I’m always open to suggestions of course – the more I think of it, the Disqus links really do have their limits. I may think this over during the holidays when I have some spare time – and yeah, I’m taking some time off.
Redoing the site has given me new generator ideas and I think it’s time to get some out after I got the site updated. Actually the modification of the site has let me really re-examine some of my code so I think I’ll have an easier time of implementing things. Lately a lot of my ideas have been about concept/fusion generators.
Was wondering if anyone has ideas about building a challenge community. Yes I know they’d like the contests back, but also I want to think about writers.
OK, so back at it, I’ve got some work to-do, so check the beta and let me know!
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Thanks for the feedback people sent in – and it turns out a few genertors DID have a formatting bug. Any generator with a single dropdown-box control was apparently prone to a formatting malfunction. I think I’ve corrected it at this time. Be sure to take a look at the beta site, http://www.pageofgenerators.com/.
So now the next question is when to launch and I’m targeting November. I just have to figure out when because things are a bit busy – and the holiday season makes it both easier and harder to do.
Now with this out of the way – unless someone finds anything else (do let me know) – my next concern more before/in the new year will be a community. Disqus is fun and all for one-offs, but right now I’m debating a mailing list, a message board, and http://elgg.org/ which I saw at Trilobyte studios. The Disqus comments are nice, but also have their issues and aren’t as intimate (I’m not planning to get rid of them).
Oh and new generators? Yeah, I seriously have to revive some of my ideas it’s been ages since I did one – and the new framework makes them easier to do – and easier since I just reviewed a lot of code.
So thanks to everyone for the feedback and help.
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Yep, the next generation of Seventh Sanctum is here, and ready for you to test at one of my experimental domains!
http://www.pageofgenerators.com/
I’ve been through my own beta testing, but I’m looking for:
- Any bugs.
- Any formatting/compatibility issues.
- How it works on mobile.
So let me know!
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
To put it simply – the site is now migrated to the new Bootstrap-wrapped design. As far as I can tell it’s done, completed, and ready for testing. Well more testing, migrating over the generators required I validate each, and now my head is filled with random.
Next up I’m going to take a little bit of a break because . . . well yeah, this has been my spare time for about a week and a half, and I haven’t had much of that. Then there’s going to be some testing, and finally, migration. Just remember after the migration I’m really going to need feedback!
If there’s one concern I have it’s that right now the site’s appearance on phones is kinda “meh.” It works, but the branding is off and the control panel scales too big. Admittedly I don’t think that’s a huge deal, but still I’d like to make it better.
Now let’s take a look at the site! (more…)
