Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : Need pointing in the right direction


JaNessa
06-30-2008, 08:53 PM
Hi, I have been running a live rpg msn group site for about 6 years and now want to move into having my site hosted outside of msn because of its limiting nature for my games needs. I am thinking of using dragon game servers webhosting since they are geared toward gaming. So webhosting isnt really my initial concern.

The problem that I have is that I've only ever used wizards to set up websites, ive never done one from scratch. I have been searching the net for weeks for a starting point but cant find anything that makes sense to me. I dont think what I want to achieve would be hard for someone who knew the lingo, but to a total technologically challenged person like me, it seems to be impossible to find the information I need.

I want to create a membership website with log in, a way to create your character from a drop down menu when you join up, member stats that update as you move around the site, ie: posting gives you 5points so your member points update when you post in a forum, a token system to purchase game items off the site ie: when you join up you get 100 tokens or gold etc then you can use them to buy stuff to add to your character.

I do not want to run a rpg game engine in its entirity, i have looked into this and it is not the style of rpg we have already, however, I want to create similar types of modules that the rpg game engines have, like setting up a character and having those stats saved to your member profile. Does anyone know if you can get these kinds of codes seperately without having to install the entire engine?

I have all of the stats and info since the group has been running for 6 years, I just need to know how I go about creating this, what I need to learn to do it, or since I spend most of my days creating new realms & battles for the members would I be better off sticking to the creative side and finding someone to come on board and help with the technical set up of the site?..

See why I need a starting point. Sorry

Declan1991
07-10-2008, 08:24 PM
If you intend on writing all the code yourself, you'll have to do it in steps. Start off by learning HTML and CSS. From the beginning, try to use semantic markup (i.e. p for paragraphs, h1 for the biggest header on the page etc.) and validate everything you ever do.
HTML Validator (http://validator.w3.org/) CSS Validator (http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/) W3Schools HTML tutorial (http://w3schools.com/html/default.asp) W3Schools CSS Tutorial (http://w3schools.com/css/default.asp)

Then from that, look into PHP and MySQL (they are the most common, portable and I would say easiest to learn), for the interactive part of your website.

If you are not interested in learning how to do it yourself (you could probably do it in a few months at most if you try hard), it is very possible to get someone to do it for you.

JaNessa
08-16-2008, 11:17 PM
Thankyou so much, I have started doing the tutorials in the W3Schools site so wish me luck... it is slow going as alot of the time i really dont understand the language... I am a visual learner.. show me what to do once and i can do it and then expand on it... but trying to read it all and figure it out myself is hard work.. i think a few months is ambitious lol, I will be at this a lot longer i think.. but thank you for the info, appreaciate it ..

JaNessa