Describing End Result

When this is all up and running, I see the "final" version being something like this:

A new user to the site sees the welcome message, a big "Play Game" button, and a status of the current game state (player rankings, completed quests, etc.) There are also links to wikis, blogs, and forums, as well as the various group pages (when public).

They create a new user account, confirm their registration, and are taken to the 'Create New Character' screen. Here, they see a basic avatar, space for a character name, and the initial options. These include specie (human, kraken, droid), gender, and class (military, government, corporate, or freelance). That will alter the basic avatar with ajax, and further customization is allowed there. (Ideally, it would create a sprite on the fly, with color choices for clothing. That's much further down the line...)

This will create the character in the db, but its location will still be null. They will need to enter the stats, etc, on the following pages.

Finally, they will be taken to the 'Terminal', the central room players begin in the substation. This will have an image of the terminal, a box with the initial welcome message, a list of other players/objects in the room, and a map of where people are & where to go. There's also a list of actions available in a sidebar, many of which are available by hovering over the minimap.

That's all for now.

Aaron