New Uploader and Scheduler system for all C3 authors
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Wow, do we really have fifteen songs releasing next week? Seems a tad excessive don’t you think, when three weeks later we currently have nothing?
That’s a good objection. We ask authors to try and slot their songs according to which weeks need content the most, and ultimately it’s their call. We can’t simply tell them not to release their songs becase there are many songs already on the scheduler. We tend to do that with our releases: if the scheduler is crammed we bump our own songs. However, there are 2 more variables here:
1) “Weight” of the songs. We generally judge a week’s output by how popular the songs are. If we have 10 songs in a week on the scheduler but they are mostly obscure, we don’t consider that week necessarily so full that we ask authors to bump their songs.
2) Output volume. We have no idea how many songs authors have collectively in their queue, neither we know have many authors will join the collective next week or next month. So, we really can’t say if 10 songs in a week, in example, means that we have a spike or that we simply are getting more songs each week.
With that said, I’m gonna reiterate this to our authors: if you have no hurry to release a song and the scheduler is already full, please consider bumping your songs one or more weeks so that we can spread the content.
With that said, I’m gonna reiterate this to our authors: if you have no hurry to release a song and the scheduler is already full, please consider bumping your songs one or more weeks so that we can spread the content.+ it also prevents authors from feeling obligated to power out content to fill holes in the schedule, giving them more time to work the charts
+ it also gives you more time to review your own charts and revise them before release (this needs to be done more fwiw)
+ it also reduces the burden on playtest week-to-week if there are a lower volume of charts
My personal preference has always been 3-6 well-polished songs a week, so I’d rather see that than have people feel obligated to pound out a chart every two weeks. I mean, Christ, I can already tell half of the stuff due for next week has seen minimal testing (especially on vocals which are a lingering concern), and I likely will not have time this week to test/review 15 songs (if any), so… yeah. Don’t feel you need to rush them out. I don’t want to discourage you if you feel they are ready, but don’t feel like you’re doing something wrong by delaying… better we know before video recording and prep anyway.
I try to get my songs on the schedule first to fill up weeks just as you say. In the case of doing a pack of songs it is so the pack can stand out a little. But inevitably things fill up. But I guess having many contributing authors is a good problem to have.
First of all a quick note: while introducing some changes, in the last couple of days I also introduced a bug that prevented editing of some songs. The issue is now resolved, so if you have songs that need editing you should now be able to change what you want.
Then, the important part: we have now changed the “privacy” settings we had in place. From now on, instead of being platform-wide, it’s gonna be left to the single admins. C3 Admins will still be able to hide all their songs or individual songs but by default all new songs added to the scheduler are gonna be visible to all authors. Individual admins will still be able to set their songs to not show up by default.
I’m probably missing something obvious, but how do I add a song to the scheduler? I’m logged in, I see the schedule, I’ve uploaded the song and…I’m not seeing a button or anything to add an entry under Nov 8th, when I’d like to schedule my release.
I’m probably missing something obvious, but how do I add a song to the scheduler? I’m logged in, I see the schedule, I’ve uploaded the song and…I’m not seeing a button or anything to add an entry under Nov 8th, when I’d like to schedule my release.iirc it should be down at the bottom, under the table, unless something broke, if you are cleared for it.
If not you need to phone one of us.
” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_wink.gif”>Hello all. We are starting to get more and more songs from our authors and that’s nothing short of awesome. For that reason, we have been restructuring things a bit in terms of what we need to check and how. We wanted a system that gave us a good control on releases, that allowed us to give the go ahead on the songs to our authors as efficiently as possible and that helped us streamline things as much as possible.
That system is now ready and it requires very little effort on your part. In fact, all you need to do is go back to adding songs to the scheduler. The golden rule is always: as soon as you are sure you’re gonna deliver, but only if you’re sure you’re gonna deliver. The only difference now on your part is that while you add your songs to a specific week, those songs are on the scheduler for planning purposes only, which means that the week you choose is just a preference, because we still to need to check the song and if the song needs fixing it could be bumped to account for the time needed to fix it. We will try our best to check songs as soon as we can but there’s a ton of stuff we always have to do, so please be understanding knowing that we will try to accomodate everybody’s preferences. All the usual considerations on “pre-empted” weeks and trying to fill the scheduler and not crowding specific weeks still apply.
Songs added to the scheduler by authors in the “established” group will be treated the same as before, songs added by authors not in that group will be marked with a red light. A song with a red light is not ready for release. On the right side of the scheduler you will also see a few new columns. Those are sanity check columns: there’s a column for each instrument and a column for generic stuff (tempo map, song’s metadata, etc.). Each column has a symbol: a grey icon means the instrument hasn’t been checked yet, a red X means the instrument has issues (discussed in the song’s playtesting thread on the forums) and a green check means the instrument has passed the sanity check. Below each icon you will see a two letter abbreviation for the admin who playtested the instrument, so you know who to address in case of issues. Finally, when the song has passed the sanity check you will see the red light turn to green. All comments to your songs can be found in the song’s playtesting thread, as usual.
Now, the only thing we need you to do know is to go back and add all your songs currently in playtesting to the scheduler. And this is very important: if you don’t add your songs to the scheduler we can’t test them, we need to have them there for reference. So, to be clear, if you currently have songs in playtesting (i.e. you have an open thread in the playtesting forums), please add them to the scheduler.
We know we’ve been asking you to change the way you add songs to the scheduler quite a bit but we’re now confident this is the best and most efficient way to go forward, and most of all, we did this to make sure your songs get the attention they deserve in a timely fashion.
We have added a new option to the control panel/scheduler, the ability to upload song packs with multiple CONs and have them count toward the single songs download stats. This opens the door to a number of possibilities to deliver songs in a pack:
– When releasing a full album, a single CON for the entire album can be released alongside the single files
– When releasing a pack of songs that all have 2x bass pedal versions, two packs can be created: one for the single version, one for the 2x version
– When releasing a full album or similar with songs bleeding into each other (like concept albums and similar), you can release single song CONs, a CON for the whole album and CONs to group the songs that on the album are tied together
– When releasing subpacks in a themed week (like in example the Movies week or Halloween), the subpacks can be released on their own
To take advantage of this option just:
1) Upload the new CON (to create a package CON, use C3 CON Tools) and make sure all songs contained in the package are already uploaded and detected by the control panel
2) Open the control panel, locate the package CON and click on the package icon next to the CON file
3) The control panel will now show checkboxes. Using those, select the songs that are contained in the CON file
4) Scroll down to the bottom of the control panel and click on Create package.
Now download stats will record a download for each package and a download for each song in the package, but global download numbers will ignore the package downloads to avoid doubling the stats numbers.
What NOT to do with this:
– Only release package and not single songs: always release single songs alongside packs
– Release songs you know will need some tweaking: remember that if any single song in a pack needs an update you will then need to reupload the package and if you need to change song ID the users would need to delete the package first to have the new version show up.
– Currently, you can’t release packs with songs from different authors. If you need to do it, contact me in Skype or PM to arrange the package
Please report any bugs and issue and have fun with it.
” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif”>That’s great to see finally be added. I’m sure it’ll be received well. Thanks for the work farottone!
If anyone needs help with the Pack Creator, or has some ideas on how to improve it, let me know. It’s something I’ve put a lot of work into with the input of those who have thrown ideas my way.
Some tips:
– put all songs to be packaged in one folder, drag and drop one of them to the pack creator
– click on the -> arrow and choose from one of the thumbnails from the songs you’ve added OR click on the thumbnail to select from one of the many included ones or a custom one
– type c3 in the description field and it will be autopopulated with the same text that Magma: C3 adds for C3 authors
– if you have songs with special characters, click on Advanced ->Set DTA Encoding -> UTF8 for best results
– there is a 4gb max file size limit
A couple of questions, of I may.
1) How does this process work for people who use an FTP program to access their database?
2) Will collab packs also be able/require a pack CON be made?
A couple of questions, of I may.1) How does this process work for people who use an FTP program to access their database?
The system works off our control panel that everybody uses, the uploading system is irrelevant. Just upoad the packaged CON as you would a normal song and then, in the control panel, link the songs contained to the package.
2) Will collab packs also be able/require a pack CON be made?
We are still discussing the “require” part (I don’t like a pack for every week containing all songs, in example, but we’ll see), but as I said collaborative packs can be done, currently it’s just that I need to manually edit them because authors can’t access other authors’ files to add them to a pack. One small caveat: the download stats *for the pack* (not for the single songs, which are the most important stats anyway) will count toward the author releasing the file only. Again, not a biggie since packs stats will just provide information on how interested people are about downloading files in a pack, while our usual songs’ stats will be correct and still paint the actual picture week by week.
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