Edit history:
LotBlind: 2019-04-10 12:09:52 pm
LotBlind: 2018-02-27 11:16:16 am
LotBlind: 2016-10-31 12:11:36 pm
LotBlind: 2016-10-09 01:18:20 pm
LotBlind: 2016-10-09 01:16:50 pm
LotBlind: 2016-10-08 10:14:19 am
LotBlind: 2016-10-04 12:46:40 pm
LotBlind: 2016-10-04 12:45:26 pm
LotBlind: 2016-10-03 10:26:59 am
LotBlind: 2016-10-02 10:37:25 am
LotBlind: 2016-09-25 10:59:09 am
LotBlind: 2016-09-25 10:58:25 am
LotBlind: 2016-09-23 04:48:05 am
SDA's mission statement is to host at no cost high-quality, verified, and usually annotated speedrun videos that have a permanent residence on the SDA server, and to provide a platform for planning and documenting these runs together. In order for us to be able to continue the perpetual quest, we're relying on a 100% volunteer workforce. The more volunteers we have, the more we'll be able to get done, including the long-term goal of expanding SDA's functionality to, for example, support full archival of every game's run history so the "permanent residence" part actually holds true. Here's a little recap of what the SDA process entails:
- Finding verifiers, communication with them and with the runners. Uploading verification files on the server.
- Timing the runs.
- Creating the game pages (i.e. the pages that actually have the runs):
Editing run comments, sorting out correct categorization, creating StatIDs (the 5-second long intro and outro)...
- Writing the game page intro texts and front page updates.
- Encoding runs if all encodes aren't provided by runner
- Updating the front end (i.e. what people actually see on the site) e.g. with new updates.
- Bug fixes/maintenance.
Some of these tasks tend to require some independent research done by the SDA staff to make sure we've got the right idea about your game. There are also simpler kinds of tasks that are possible to perform without heavy interfacing with the SDA backend:
- Verifying the runs.
This only requires e.g. having been around for a while, or having had a run accepted so you have a gist of what SDA is looking for. You can also just start by looking at previous verifications to see what kinds of points were brought up to help get you into the right mindset. It can sometimes take a while to verify a run, either if the run length is high, and/or if it's difficult initially to understand the mechanics. We CANNOT rely on always finding people who have existing knowledge of the game to verify (hence the public verification system), so some extra effort on the community's part is required here. You don't have to sign up for public verification, just read the guidelines linked in each verification thread and pick a run.
- PRC - Pre-Release Check
This is a phase between accepting the run to be published and actually publishing it: We want to make sure the files are in every sense okay (sometimes they will have been re-encoded since verification), so another set of eyes is called for to check their A/V quality again. We want to spot check every quality, so it might take something like half the run's total length to do one PRC check. It's not terribly glamorous, but at least it's very mechanical once you've gotten in the swing.
- Taking screenshots for the game pages.
- Communicating on the forums, answering simple questions, sharing one's experience etc.
What everyone's already doing!
If you'd like to support SDA by volunteering, whether or not you have special skills, ask boldly about a task we could set aside for you! The more the merrier. Just PM me, LotBlind. This new section of the forums will be reserved for this general reminder, but also for getting specific "wanted" ads some exposure. It is NOT, however, for discussing the SDA process itself. For that, please go to "SDA Discussion".
- Finding verifiers, communication with them and with the runners. Uploading verification files on the server.
- Timing the runs.
- Creating the game pages (i.e. the pages that actually have the runs):
Editing run comments, sorting out correct categorization, creating StatIDs (the 5-second long intro and outro)...
- Writing the game page intro texts and front page updates.
- Encoding runs if all encodes aren't provided by runner
- Updating the front end (i.e. what people actually see on the site) e.g. with new updates.
- Bug fixes/maintenance.
Some of these tasks tend to require some independent research done by the SDA staff to make sure we've got the right idea about your game. There are also simpler kinds of tasks that are possible to perform without heavy interfacing with the SDA backend:
- Verifying the runs.
This only requires e.g. having been around for a while, or having had a run accepted so you have a gist of what SDA is looking for. You can also just start by looking at previous verifications to see what kinds of points were brought up to help get you into the right mindset. It can sometimes take a while to verify a run, either if the run length is high, and/or if it's difficult initially to understand the mechanics. We CANNOT rely on always finding people who have existing knowledge of the game to verify (hence the public verification system), so some extra effort on the community's part is required here. You don't have to sign up for public verification, just read the guidelines linked in each verification thread and pick a run.
- PRC - Pre-Release Check
This is a phase between accepting the run to be published and actually publishing it: We want to make sure the files are in every sense okay (sometimes they will have been re-encoded since verification), so another set of eyes is called for to check their A/V quality again. We want to spot check every quality, so it might take something like half the run's total length to do one PRC check. It's not terribly glamorous, but at least it's very mechanical once you've gotten in the swing.
- Taking screenshots for the game pages.
- Communicating on the forums, answering simple questions, sharing one's experience etc.
What everyone's already doing!
If you'd like to support SDA by volunteering, whether or not you have special skills, ask boldly about a task we could set aside for you! The more the merrier. Just PM me, LotBlind. This new section of the forums will be reserved for this general reminder, but also for getting specific "wanted" ads some exposure. It is NOT, however, for discussing the SDA process itself. For that, please go to "SDA Discussion".
Thread title: