Skip to main content

Salazar Games Remastered- Now Online!

New version of the Salazar Games website is online:  www.salazargames.com- I'm very pleased with the way both the games auto-layout and the media presentation developed:

Main Page:

Excerpt from Media Page:

 Excerpt from About Page:

Some interesting hurdles:
1. Auto-loading of games:
In some extremely old versions of the SG website, I would add a separate page and custom box for each game available in our games list- a tedious hour-long process for what should have been essentially a single row in a SQL table. Eventually turning to this method, I modeled a template that pulls the game info from the SQL database with php, then fills three columns in a feed style with game tabs with some greedy column-height based javascript. However, I wanted the ability to test this code locally, with relying on the Fatcow-hosted SQL database. To keep myself from working with a blank game sheet, I changed the route of database, and type of information pulled, based on the pages observed URL- thus from localhost we hit the local repo, and from salazargames.com we hit the Fatcow repo. This ended up being an incredible boon, as I could much more quickly edit the local repo, to add option buy buttons, etc.

2. Making custom Paypal buttons (without using images):
Paypal has system built into their button creation that allows users to customize the button by adding their own images. The problem is, this keeps the buttons from having any interaction-defined image changes, leaving your button static on mouseover, click, and focus- which is detrimental to positive user interaction.
The solution? The forms that paypal uses for their button only depend on the post request to paypals server, with the proper button ID (held in the images "value" field in their copyable embed code). If you grab this code, you can swap out paypals button of a submit button of your own choosing and styling- in fact, you can use the same form they give you, just with the replacement submit button as follows:
As long as the ID matches, Paypal doesn't care. In fact, this makes for rather easy storage of paypal links in the SQL database.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Drone Control for Unnamed Game

Put some morning hours into improving motion control for our virtual (big thanks to +Parke Bowman  for the sprite!) in the tower defense- granting some unique/odd angles to explore with the camera:

Color Wheel Visualization

Colors are core in good design. Studies of visual recall and the impact of branding, fashion, and flags show consistently that the first thing we notice in something, and the last thing we remember. In design literature, there is a great deal of research/intuition in the emotions of colors- that blue is calming and builds trust (and is therefore used in every social media site today); red evokes power and passion (increasing metabolism and appetite, lending to its ubiquitous use in fast food chains); yellow quickly attracts attention and can be playful (light/pale yellow) or a warning (bold yellow)- the list goes on. In an effort to explore this association, I'm building a color selection system to ask internet users how they feel on a given day, as a color. You can check out the current version here . To progress, you can click on a color to see similar colors in the wheel. Once you're happy with your color selection, hover over it to get the rgb color, then send it to me o

Microcosms

New sets of my photos are online- just put the first 20 on 500px! They're viewable here:  https://500px.com/noahpicard/galleries/microcosms , and once my upload limit resets I'll be putting the next batch up. Here's a few of my favorites: I've titled the group Microcosms because that is what I've been aiming for in my photography- capturing tiny pieces of our world, themselves little cosmos. Sometimes that means highlighting and capturing the texture of things; getting into the crannies and seeing tunnels, valleys, ridges. Other times it is an attempt to recreate objects as essential items of a smaller life: a water puddle becomes a bath, pool, spa, an acorn a hut, a railing a railway. In this objective it continues my earlier grouping "Within Wood"; I have a deep appreciation for wood.