Slight Break…

I’m finishing up on some projects so there won’t be any new posts for awhile - most likely not until July rolls around. The other projects I’m talking about are several things:

Blind Love - a new release
Amgine Park - re-release with more stable engine
Garden Society: Kykuit - re-release with more stable engine
Manga Tutorials CG tutorials

Don’t worry, I won’t forget about this place! :3
See you next month. n_n

Site Updates = More Ad Revenue? Take 2

Last month I posted the article Site Updates = More Ad Revenue? which detailed a surge in revenue during the month of March and April for my site MangaTutorials.com. There are two likely conditions for the possible surge those two months:

1) increased amount of ads within the whole site and
2) frequent updates (i.e. every Monday) with tutorials and art submissions

May was a month where I took a break from updating the site except once on May 20 regarding my return to updating the site with CG tutorials. I’ve seen the stats and the results were quite interesting! Even though I didn’t update the website the whole month of May, I still earned a little bit more than the prior month (April).

But why is that?

Could it be just the amount of traffic I get is what drives the ad revenues plus the fact that I have placed ads in all my pages? Could updates secure repeat visitors but it does not relate to ad revenue?

I’ll take a look and see if updates makes a difference in ad revenue this month.  The results to be posted next month!

How to Make a FAQs Page

Another use for the anchor tag <a> is for FAQs pages or to create jumps to the top of a really long web page. To do this, we need the use of the average link tag; <a href=”"></a>; and a new attribute called name. Name basically marks a point that tells the browser that this point or area is called so and so. You can place whatever you want in the name but just make sure it’s something that is related like “question1″, “artsubmissions”, or “emailme”.

<a name=”question1″></a>
<strong>Question: How can I contact you?</strong><br>
Answer: You can reach me at rio-at-pixelpetunia-dot-com. Replace the words for the appropriate symbols, @ and ., and remove the hyphens.

Now that you’ve made an anchor with a name, here’s how you link to it using the average link tag: <a href=”#question1″>Question: How can I contact you?</a>. The pound sign informs the browser that it should look for an named anchor. Without it, you will be redirected to a 404 error file that the file couldn’t be found or something similar.

When that link is clicked on, it will jump to where the anchor is placed. If for some reason it doesn’t work, check to see if you typed the name correctly in both anchor tags and make sure that no other anchor has the same name. A complete FAQs page should look like this:

<a href=”#q1″>What is this site about?</a><br>
<a href=”#q2″>Who are you?</a><br>
<a href=”#q3″>How can I reach you?</a><br>
<hr>

<a name=”q1″></a>
<strong>What is this site about?</strong><br>
It’s about so and so and this and that.<br><br>

<a name=”q2″></a>
<strong>Who are you?</strong><br>
So and so… or am I this and that?<br><br>

<a name=”q3″></a>
<strong>How can I reach you?</a><br>
By land, sea, and air!

As I said earlier, you can also use anchors to jump back to the top of a page as you see in those “Back to Top” links. To make it, just type this: <a href=”#top”>Back to Top</a> and you’re all set. When this link is clicked on, it will jump to the top of the current web page.

Btw, to link to an anchor in another page, set up your link like so: <a href=”faqs.html#q3>contact me</a>. This will jump straight to question 3 in the FAQs page without the surfer having to go the roundabout way. Now go out there and create long FAQs pages! ; D

CG Tips, Tricks & A Mini-Bio

If you don’t already know, I run a how-to site called Manga Tutorials. This month, I will be covering how to CG artwork in graphics program Photoshop and GIMP. If you’re curious about how I go about CGing my artwork, check these tutorials out! You’ll also find out some things about how I work (i.e. I don’t like sloppy lineart and coloring) and get a feel of how my art will look like.

If you’ve been to the About page of Pixel Petunia, I mention that I’ve “worn many hats” and one of them is as an artist. I’ve been drawing since I was a child and I am mainly self-taught. I didn’t go to art school (I didn’t even have art classes in high school except the one mandatory one in jr high) and I have no formal training. The few art classes I did take were history related or non-drawing related like pottery. You can probably figure out that I specialize in anime-style drawings that can be found in JRPG’s or Japanese games in general.

One of the reasons this art style drew my eye was it’s versatility. This art style can range from cute and cartoonish to realistic plus generally, I prefer the lineart used in this style. With that being said, I do appreciate other types of styles and I am not adverse to drawing them or trying them out and I do plan on making a more “American”-style version of the avatars for those who prefer it.

Bulding Up Avatar Assets

I’m on my way to building up art assets for my upcoming avatar paper dolls. I’ve already created some bases (head and torso) and will be working on the other features soon (hair, eyes, clothes etc). When I say “build”, I mean creating art assets in advance so I will at least have several weeks worth of materials to present. If some unforeseen event occurs, for example, I have some leeway to work with and you don’t get shorted with a lack of new materials. I’ll get some images up later this month for you to look at. Stay tuned! : )

Finding a Good Web Host

Finding a good web host can be tricky particularly if you’re new to the whole process. You can find your new web host by making a search, going to review sites like Find My Hosting, setting up with your domain registrar as GoDaddy provides, or best of all, through word of mouth.

Setting up with your domain registrar is really quick and easy. All you need to remember is that one account and everything is taken cared of from your domains, email and website. GoDaddy, for example is one such domain registration sites that also offer this additional service. I’ve personally never used their web hosting service but from what I hear, it is best only if you’re not expecting the fastest connection speed.

Searching a web host on your own is not one I recommend you do first. Rather, ask friends (online or not) what they use and recommend. Or ask how their experience with a certain provider was like. Just be aware that everyone’s personal experience differs when it comes to their web hosting provider due to each of our own hosting requirements. Get other’s opinions, visit the web hosting website and scope out the business (does the site look professional? do they have customer service? is there a faqs page?), see if they have a setup fee (some have setup fees and others do not), and compare the prices.

Please note that some hosting services will bind you to a year’s worth or hosting. If you should cancel before the year’s end, you will most likely forfeit the remaining months worth of hosting fees. If possible, get a hosting where you can pay on a monthly basis which will not automatically charge to your account. When fees are automatically charged, they may do so in advance. For example, one hosting I have dealt with automatically renewed my hosting account two or three months before it was supposed to be renewed (or at least when my hosting was established). Read the fine print and ask the hosting provider questions. It never hurts to ask!

If you like what you hear and see, go with the hosting provider that you are most comfortable with! If for some reason, you do not like the service, you can cancel your account and move it to another web hosting service. Just make sure you do not register a domain through them unless it’s a domain registrar like GoDaddy because it can become quite complicated when your former hosting provider “owns” the domain and transfers can get tricky and maybe even expensive (some hosting services charge fees).

As for my personal recommendations, I personally like Rydia.net and Host Max Pro. Rydia is specifically for artists and you can have a huge amount of traffic without having to be moved to a dedicated server which can get really expensive with the average hosting provider. I’ve used them for years and have had no problems though it’s not for the newbie as they do not have a cPanel (area to control various aspects of your web site account). Host Max Pro, on the other hand, is a fairly new hosting provider that I’m using that is very good for new users. They have a cPanel and their customer support is fast, not to mention their prices are fantastic! But don’t just take my word for it, have a look for yourself and ask around. n_n

More Freebies @ Pixel Petunia!

If you haven’t been to the site for awhile, there’s some more freebies for you at Pixel Petunia! You can download several background photo packs, most of them taken at the Bronx Zoo. You’re free to use them for prototyping or for free non-commercial game releases. For full terms, scroll down to the bottom or read the README file included in each download. All images are 800×600 in size. Here’s a few samples for you to check out:

Alice Doll Re-Released

I’ve re-released my Alice doll for ALICE. Not to confuse it with the program, I’ve also renamed it to Alys. Here’s a preview of it showcasing the different face types:

To download it and view the terms of use, visit my other site Ren’aiGames.net. Queries about what you would like to see for this pack will be made at the RG.net site so visit it once in a while to get your voice heard. …Actually, I think one was posted a couple of days ago. ; )

Ready-Made Template Service?

Yes, I know. It’s another idea amongst some others I put out already (and it won’t be the last!) but I’ll mention it anyways. :p

Some recent threads in Indie Gamer Forum popped up that mentioned templates and re-doing the website design. Those two merged in my head and formed into…. :drum roll:

Ready-made template service!

Now, I’ve been doing my own web site design for over 10 years now and I’m at the stage where I’m really confident of my web designing skills. Of course, there’s always new things to learn, imo, but I think I’ve learned enough to make spiffier web designs than the average Joe and newbie web designer.

For a set fee, whoever wants the template can buy it and then use it for their own site. For an extra fee, I can use any images they provide me and customize it to represent their business. Otherwise, if they’re savvy enough, they can do that themselves. Buyers can edit the coding as they wish but they cannot resell it or remove the credit in the HTML file that names me as the creator. With the template at hand, all the buyer has to do is redo the links, image files, place text and their site can go live instantly!

From what I gather, the most popular would be designs for CMS sites, forums, and traditional web pages. Regarding the overall site design, I will be coding in HTML using CSS to control the look of the site and I can also provide it in php format. My Manga Tutorials site, for instance is in php for which I have also designed the forum around the style of my main site.

There’s a market out there for it with big sites like Template Monster leading the way for commercial templates. The downside is that I will basically be competing with services like that along with sites that offer free templates. Then again, if most people go to those sites and use their templates, original web design is lacking and I can build a niche for myself if marketed wisely.

It’s a nice idea but one I will have to put away for now as I really want to get the avatar paper dolls out and started. If you think it’s something really worthwhile and you’d like to use, drop a line and maybe I’ll bring it out this service sooner rather than later. n_n

Searching for the Right Payment Service

Initially, I planned on using Paypal to handle all the payment processes for Pixel Petunia. Last week, I did some research on their shopping cart and found one lacking detail that made me change my mind - no automated delivery of content to the buyer.

When you buy a game online from your usual portal site, you receive an email confirmation of the order, your invoice and links and info on where to download the game, who to contact for help, and so on. I was hoping to find a similar system set up when using Paypal’s shopping cart but that was not the case.

I have considered other services like Plimus and BMTmicro but they specifically deal with software and what I will be providing is not software. Quite a quandary. This left me with one other option and that is Lulu. Lulu is a self-publishing  service that initially was made for the production of books but has expanded to include other material goods like calendars and cds and non-material  (or intangible) goods as ebooks and other  downloadable content.

What’s great about Lulu is that all files are stored with them and when someone orders a file, it will automatically be sent to the purchaser. Download links will be kept in their account for a certain time period until it expires.

What I don’t like as much is that buyers will have to sign up with Lulu to buy items plus with a 20% fee on all goods sold regardless of price, it cuts into my profit margin much more significantly than Paypal would. But for convenience for myself and my customers, I will have to set up with Lulu.

Now to see if they have a shopping cart I can set up… :keeps fingers crossed: