Websites

Website development is key to a successful game release. The game’s website is home to both the game itself and it’s community of fans, supporting the success of the release. I can take care of this website for you, high end development, rapid turnaround and on budget.

I have been making websites professionally since 2000, starting straight out of high school. Because of this, I have grown up with the web, which has left me very able to adapt and move with the industry. New language, framework and/or platform? No problem. I always enjoy learning something new!

 

Standard Website

I build my standard websites using well established open source technologies, usually this means either Joomla or WordPress.

  • Joomla is a content management framework for making functional website applications. If your website requires advanced functionality, Joomla will take care of it nicely. Because this is a framework, we are able to rapidly develop components and modules for it.
  • WordPress is a content management application, which allows for installation of plugins. To assist with development, I like to use the Gantry framework which extends the capabilities of wordpress and it’s layout rules.
  • By using either Joomla or WordPress, I am then able to start with a theme licensed from Rocket Theme, which are very high end themes that come exceptionally constructed with many useful components, and are built using Gantry. I will then modify these themes to fit the need of the client. Because I use the theme as a base I can cut development costs for the design because all the advanced features have already been made. Choosing a theme is always a fun step for the client.

 

Cost: ~ $1,250 – $3,000 initial development.

 

Micro Site

Micro sites are used to advertise a smaller aspect of a larger company. For example, a specific product sold by a manufacturer. These act a lot like an online version of a pamphlet, with one very clear call to action, usually having to do with a newsletter or a purchase, and almost always sales driven.

The design work for these sites are very important, secondly is device visibility; it needs to look great and work on all devices. For this reason the best technology would be HTML5 with media queries. There is a great new product for this from Adobe called Reflow, and this would be the perfect use for such a tool.

Cost: ~ $1,800 – $5,000 initial development with custom design.

 

Community

What does your community mean to you? To your game? Does Facebook do it for you, or do you need something more than that? I have worked with a few solutions you may be interested in.

  • A standard message forum. This is the most traditional form of communication for a community and as such is well understood and accepted, but offers limited functionality. A great forum application I like to use is PHPBB, which is still supported today.
  • Joomla + Community Builder – I have been using this winning combination for years, and is really fun to develop and use. There are many great features here, along with a full community of developers and supporters.
  • Anahita – This is a local development project by a couple very professional friends of mine. It started as a Joomla component, however soon became it’s own framework dedicated to building social community networks. This is best used for the serious community website.

 

Cost: ~ $3,000 – $12,000 initial development. *Community sites require maintenance.

 

Online Store

E-commerce is huge! I have developed a large number of online stores, and can offer my support, and development, with the following:

  • OS Commerce / Zen-Cart – These were the first main stream, open source shopping carts to really take off with a large community. For a long time it was strongly suggested not to use these carts any more because they were too old to be secure, however I just took a quick look at their website and they seem to be on their second wind with a brand newe update project.
  • Magento Commerce – A really amazing piece of software, great for a very large store. This software excels at providing a single back end to multiple store fronts.
  • Joomla + VirtueMart – If you already run a Joomla site, then using VirtueMart for your e-commerce just makes sense. This component is very robust, with a full community for support.
  • Shopify – There really is something to be said for web services, when done well… and Shopify is done very well. This service will host your website, and comes with an add-on store full of plugins and services made by 3rd party. Want to integrate Etsy? No problem! Use Stitch Labs, a plugin to your Shopify store that centralizes your products between both stores. There are many examples of other great services available through Shopify.

 

Cost: too many variables to estimate.

 

Custom

Do none of the above options work for you? Maybe you already have a custom website built for you, or require one built? Not a problem, but it does take much more time to build something from scratch than it does to build off of something already built. Please talk to me about your project and I am sure I can help you with it.

Cost: too many variables to estimate.