Hello all,
It's time to start discussing the things we want in V0.4 and one of them is the possible addition of an upload feature.
But before we implement this we need to have a clear vision of how to do it.
In-game / addon site
The upload feature can either be in-game or by using a form on the site (a bit like http://stkaddons.net/).
Although an in-game upload mechanism would be more accessible, it will require more work getting an interface that can be used to upload/manage the addons.
An advantage of creating a web interface for it is that when we decide to change the system the web interface can easily be changed.
With an in-game upload feature it would require us to either release a new version or make the new/updated system backwards compatible with the old one.
Registration and accounts
Another thing to consider is if we allow uploads by anyone or create some sort of account system.
While an account system might hold back some users from uploading their levels it will allow us to add manage functionality like deleting and updating content.
Without such system it would be practically impossible to know which level(pack) is managed by which client.
Repositories and/or rating
Beside the uploading itself there's also the way other users will be able to get this content.
It will preferably be using the addon manager, but if we sort the list alphabetically we might end up with names like 000MyLevel just to get at the top of the list.
To solve this we can add a rating system or divide them into repositories (e.g. featured, puzzles, stories), which can be used to sort the list.
Slightly unrelated, we can also put uploads in a pending list and add them to the addons when accepted.
Of course things can be combined like having both a web and in-game interface as well as allowing registered and anonymous uploads.
Any suggestions?