Official Projects and Main Site updates! ^^

[daj]

So, I totally approve the idea of "official projects" and I kinda dig the idea of uploading sheets for an entire game OST at one go...but something tells me that it'd be better if official projects got their main site updates at regular intervals or something.

Short version: I think it'd make more sense to have monthly/some interval updates for official projects.

Long version:
This is all from my point of view, haha.

I think the main site is a fantastic platform for browsing sheets. It's simple and intuitive. I remember that I checked up the site once in a while for site updates once in a while just to see if -that sheet- from -that game- popped up. A Google search would have solved it, but if there were accepted-and-ready sheets on official projects on the forums I probably wouldn't have found them. Plus, I kinda wanted PDFs then, sp the raw mus files didn't mean much.

Fast forward a little, I got interested in the Undertale OST and I kinda wanted to browse through for nice sheets on the main site, but none of the new ones were up yet...and that's for a project with - I assume - pretty high demand from non-members.

From a business point of view, it makes sense to do an update once in a while just for these official projects, I think - something like "here are some accepted sheets from X project, expect more to come!" can really draw in non-members to the site. It helps even more if the updates are at consistent intervals (months are nice) because people tend to like consistency. In simplicity, releasing OST sheets in intervals can build hype and build our audience

Though, I'm assuming that NSM wants more members; perhaps that isn't the case, because more members doesn't translate to more quality arrangements - or to be more blunt, quality arrangers. Building hype can draw in people who aren't really that into the whole arranging art and NSM becomes more of a community-building site than a semi-professional online publishing house.

That, and maybe it's infinitely easier for the updaters to just do it all at once, haha. Confirm that for me? ^^;

Anyway, fun suggestion to rope in a little more non-members. We're currently doing Undertale and Pokemon DPPt, and those are pretty popular games with decent demand for good arrangements. Think now's a pretty good time to build some hype~

[Latios212]

Traditionally, we've always updated at the end of a project.

Though it is true that the Undertale and DPPt projects are rather large (100+ sheets in sight), and... yeah, I've felt an urge to put some sheets up on site. (Some of the sheets have been sitting there accepted for months now, oops.) Oftentimes, we just get bogged down by the sheer amount of sheets to review, and I think this would help keep motivation up.

This is something I've sorta wanted to do for a while but never bothered to stop long enough to think about it, haha. I'm all for it so long as the other updaters are on board.

[Olimar12345]

Hey there, Daj. I'm not too sure what exactly it is you're suggesting here since the point seems to shift around in your above message. Regarding the update scheduling, this never really works out mostly because everything you see here is done as a hobby. To give you an analogy, having set update schedules would be similar to saying that arrangers would also have to have set schedules in which they must create content. While both of these sound really awesome, they may both be impractical due to this amounting to just being a hobby, with most of us having day jobs or a school schedule (or both).

Ninja'd.

[Latios212]

Mm I don't think the point was scheduling so much as updating partway through to avoid holding everything for months until the end. Like, we have 42 Undertale sheets ready to go right now, which would make for a really solid update. (And that would be 42 fewer sheets to worry about later, and 42 more sheets for main site viewers to use starting now.)

[WaluigiTime64]

I remember that I checked up the site once in a while for site updates once in a while just to see if -that sheet- from -that game- popped up. A Google search would have solved it, but if there were accepted-and-ready sheets on official projects on the forums I probably wouldn't have found them. Plus, I kinda wanted PDFs then, so the raw mus files didn't mean much.

That was basically me for around 5 years lol.

I think this is a good idea in theory, but I feel like having "regular" intervals for Arrangement Projects wouldn't work out well. First off it's just better to upload them all at once, because if they were released regularly they just wouldn't seem special, and secondly, the main contributing factor to this is that different OSTs have different amounts of songs. Compare the Super Mario 64 OST (~36) to the Undertale OST (101+). As nice as regular updates are, it wouldn't work so well with Arrangement Projects, as you'd have varying amounts of updates depending on the game, and the hype would die down anyway (if there were enough songs in the game's OST to require several updates). If my post makes no sense it's probably because I'm reading your post wrong.

Triple Ninja'd.

[Sebastian]

That was basically me for around 5 years lol.

Ditto.

I think this is a good idea in theory, but I feel like having "regular" intervals for Arrangement Projects wouldn't work out well. First off it's just better to upload them all at once, because if they were released regularly they just wouldn't seem special, and secondly, the main contributing factor to this is that different OSTs have different amounts of songs. Compare the Super Mario 64 OST (~36) to the Undertale OST (101+). As nice as regular updates are, it wouldn't work so well with Arrangement Projects, as you'd have varying amounts of updates depending on the game, and the hype would die down anyway (if there were enough songs in the game's OST to require several updates). If my post makes no sense it's probably because I'm reading your post wrong.

I agree with this 100%. Having scheduled regular updates would be fine, but not arrangement project updates. Alas, this is a hobby as Olimar pointed out.

Having one giant update is really awesome. As Waluigi said, If you updated in small increments, the hype would be lost and it wouldn't seem as special if they were dispersed among multiple updates. Arrangement project updates are special if all the sheets concerning that project are compiled into one update.

Forgive my candor, but I'm against it.

[Olimar12345]

Mm I don't think the point was scheduling so much as updating partway through to avoid holding everything for months until the end.

I didn't think that was his point either (which is why I said that -_-'). I think it would be best to just stick to how we've been doing things and just update at the end of the projects. Cutting them into pieces dilutes the momentum and the reward isn't nearly as satisfying, from a motivational standpoint. Not to mention the organization issues that could arise.

[daj]

Hey there, Daj. I'm not too sure what exactly it is you're suggesting here since the point seems to shift around in your above message.

Ahh, my bad there. Case in point, I suggested updating approved sheets from (incomplete) official projects at regular intervals for reasons. Rambled a bit about them reasons, haha xD

Regarding the update scheduling, this never really works out mostly because everything you see here is done as a hobby. To give you an analogy, having set update schedules would be similar to saying that arrangers would also have to have set schedules in which they must create content.

Though yes, now that you've brought this up, I agree ^^

Let's cut back on the whole scheduled update thing. Think the rest of my point is summarised by Latios:

Mm I don't think the point was scheduling so much as updating partway through to avoid holding everything for months until the end. Like, we have 42 Undertale sheets ready to go right now, which would make for a really solid update. (And that would be 42 fewer sheets to worry about later, and 42 more sheets for main site viewers to use starting now.)

Yep, pretty much~

[WaluigiTime64]

Having scheduled regular updates would be fine, but not arrangement project updates.

Yeah, scheduled regular updates would be nice. I remember waiting a whole month and a half without an update. I can fully understand why a regular schedule couldn't work though, as it's just a hobby for most/all of us, and I'm pretty sure there are times where "arrangement droughts" or something occur, usually caused by people having less time to work on arranging. Arrangement droughts can really screw over a scheduled system.

[mikey]

it's true that people WERE excited for an undertale update, but now everyone who likes undertale is either gone or forgotten about it (often with low quality sheets left behind)

[Olimar12345]

^Thats not true. I'm still here and I like undertale.

[Sebastian]

^Thats not true. I'm still here and I like undertale.

Same.
Such beautiful music.

[JDMEK5]

Just to spit out my opinion on this, (I'm assuming this is what you mean):

Mm I don't think the point was scheduling so much as updating partway through to avoid holding everything for months until the end. Like, we have 42 Undertale sheets ready to go right now, which would make for a really solid update. (And that would be 42 fewer sheets to worry about later, and 42 more sheets for main site viewers to use starting now.)

To me this is a case of aesthetics/image vs. practicality. I do see the practical value of what you suggest, both for the motivation of arrangers and updaters as well as accessibility for site users. That being said, there is also an image value to reserving all progress for the end. What I mean by this is it is a way cooler feeling to finish a project and have it all go public in one shot as a surprise, without any public spoiling prior, than it is to have everyone (public) see it coming from a mile away in smaller installments. The emotional rush of finishing a project would also diminish, which could negatively impact community drive with the project that follows. Saving it all for a single unveiling has a much more professional flair to it as well which I also consider and value.

So in conclusion, while I'm perfectly ok to implement this if the general consensus is in favor (which, so far as I'm reading, isn't likely to be the case), my personal vote and opinion stays with doing it as we have; using this small installation update method as a motivation sparker as a last resort, for those times (should they arise) where progress on projects slows to a halt and motivation diminishes. Mind you, the last time that happened (iirc) was with the Gen I Pokémon project that I was in charge of. Latios and Olimar, respectively, have done a spectacular job of keeping morale up and progress.. well, progressing.