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Ladies and Gentleman,

As I've eluded to in other posts (especially here), coming up with a new look and feel is very important for a lot of reasons. Well, here's the first stab at something.......... completely different.

Brace yourself. This will be very... very... different. Here goes: An Idea of a New Look (v1). 

My take.... I think it's a crazy new look, and I think it will really attract (and keep) a lot of the visitors who pop-in, play a storygame or two, then leave. 

That said, two things that I'd like to see in a (v2) of this mock-up are:

1. Logo - would be nice to see a more identifiable logo, maybe with a branching or something
2. Navigation - we should probably think of items like, "Play"; "Create" or somethin that, instead of just "Storygames" and "Help"

So... what do you guys think?

well it is interesting to say the least.

The dark background kind of gives off a teenage-angst vibe

Love everything else though. Just don't make it harder to navigate, I've always loved how easy it is to get around the site. It kind of set it apart from other places for me.

Agreed. It really looks like its would attract a teenage crowd, and probably put off some of our more mature guests.

the black flowers don't help.

I thought it was going more for that turn of the century Victorian look rather than the emo teen vibe.

It's mostly the background which is giving off that vibe. Everything else feels like you said.

Yep, that's what we're shooting for; retro Victorian. 

But I do agree it's a little dark, especially on my laptop (normally runs 65% brightness) and my phone; so, we'll try lightening it up or maybe shifting hues.

I agree with you guys. I love this! I think its more victorian than emo. Especially if you turn it to a sepia tone or something if people still think its too dark. I love it though!

I like it. I think it looks rather...I'm trying to find a better word than seamless, but I guess that'll have to do.

I also agree with what Bo said (Bo said that, right?), that I don't want accessing the various features of the site to be complex or confusing, but from what I see, it doesn't seem like it'll impact that.

Yah, in fact, we should try to make it easier to navigate and access various geatures.

HOLY FUCK IT'S AMAZING! 

Anyhow, the only problem I do see is the background.  It feels pretty dark, as if everyone in the site was on their computer in a dark corner of the room.  Can you do a lighter background?  Maybe something to signify that it's a choose-your-own story.

It's certainly a different look. I like the new buttons, etc, but I'm not a great fan of the background. Why not make different backgrounds that members can choose from, that way everyone has a background he likes.

I like this idea but it would be hard to implement. I think we should avoid a black-flower background though.

  Edit: Also where is the "My Stuff" button?

The navigation will most certainly change, I'm thinking it will be like PLAY | CREATE | COMMUNITY | HELP. There will definitely be a MY STUFF option somewhere.

The look in general is awesome, but I have a wide screen so there's this wide patch of white to the right of my screen. But, who cares? It still looks awesome. Two thumbs up man.

There's a white patch because its not the actual page, but is an image. Also, your browser probably zooms out to fit the image on the page, as mine does. The actual site will (likely) not have that issue.

I agree with everyone else that the background is too dark. Perhaps an off-white background, like the bone color we currently have, would be best.

I quite happen to like the new background a lot. In my opinion, it's cooler than the design we currently have.

I get the Victorian feel, but I still feel like the site looks emo for some reason. I just can't quite shake it.

I love it in it's entirety. I agree with Bo, keep the easy-to-navigate-ness, but otherwise, golden. 

I like the new look as a whole, but along with most others I think the background could use a little lighting up.

HOLY SHIT!!!!!!

It looks good. My first impression was actually a western feel, not Victorian. I think that's probably because of the hanging sign in the top left, like saloonish. I really, really like it , though. Who drew that??

Maybe if they can change it to a lighter shade of black? It's not that I don't like the black background, it's just the fact that it's such a dark shade that throws me off.