The Great Project Reality Timeline

[LiamNL]

Nicely done, never knew that initial planning for PR came out of the DesertCombat mod. Per chance does anybody have the map packs mentioned on the DC fan website?

[[R-MOD]Nate.]

Great work!

[[R-DEV]​Ason]

Nice work! I like spoilers, makes it nice and organized.

[beano]

Originally Posted by tobi-the-fraggel

I totally agree on the 'maintaining' issue. Keeping that thread updated is as problematic though. Deviro is the only one who can edit it (aside from website staff) and no one is watching the data logged in the postings.

Keeping a dedicated website updated could be easier then it sounds like. It just depends on how it is created. If the timeline would be generated out of a database of timeline entries, you'd 'only' need to update this database with new entries. That could be even easier then watching the content in this thread. Imho the biggest issue is creating such a page. Depending on the experience of the one doing it, it can be a tremendous task. For me it would be one, as I am not a web developer. A final page, maybe with an interface to insert new data, could be a lot less problematic though, as long as there is someone dedicated to this task.

However, I guess I do understand the issue you want to point out. Simply as I've denied quite similar requests on PRTA.
It's questionable whether the creation of such a page is worth it in the end. However, I know that you have some talented web developers and I like the idea of a community timeline. Well, maybe someday we can get back to this topic.

Probably the easiest task to do something like that would be to set up a github, where the timeline itself, or every item of the timeline is going to be a markdown file. Then you can use either javascript, python, php or whatever you like to either build static html files from those on a server that always fetches the recent master branch using something like a cron job, or use some script do this on the client side (which is kinda ugly, should work though). A timeline should be easily made using css and a little javascript just for good measure.

Pros:
- Everyone can fork the "PR-Timeline Repository" and add their memories.
- Selected people can maintain the masterbranch effectively to make sure everythings gonna be as supposed to be.
- Decissions, wether something is feasible to add or not, can be discussed.

Cons:
- In order to work on this project you would have to setup a github account and get familiar with it first.
- Engine has to be implemented or build from scratch.

I know of one site which uses this approach to gather informations.
https://alsa.opensrc.org/
https://github.com/opensrc/alsa

A quick search got me this github repo: https://github.com/GR8DAN/markdown-CMS
But I guess that for a dedicated or enthusiast web developer this kind of thing should be easily implementable without using 2nd hand code.

[Deviro]

My response to the feedback so far:

1. I don't want to deal with drama. Most of it is behind closed doors where it can't be archived anyway. Reporting on it 100% factually is impossible. Some of the content in this timeline is already editorialized, I don't want more of it.
2. The PR Forums here are pretty old and outdated. Me putting every month in a different spoiler was just the best I could come up with when it comes to how to present this massive ammount of information to you all. The presentation is not perfect, nor the content is some spots. My other idea was to create an infographic, but that would be cumbersome as well. And my last idea is what the others here started suggesting as well - a website that is easily navigatable and maintained, ala the Metal Gear Timeline.
3. I'm honoured that so many developers have already responded to this little effort of mine. Thank you! But the best is yet to come, right?

[Brotherscompany]

This is so cool!!!! Man l loved this one, to see what happened to the game since l started playing and making me very surprised of the game mechanics that were changed and how were against my shallow memories when l joined!

What happened to the Retro Maps? Why havent l even heard of it and no one talks about it anymore?

[Pronck]

A lot of work put into it! If I remember correctly another War of the Factions game was played in 2013 I believe. It was Netherlands vs. Russia. Commanded by [TP] Behr and me.

Edit: could also be 2014.

[[R-DEV]​Arab]

Excellent work, Deviro!

It's certainly not easy to do all of this. Your work is commendable

I'd agree with others that the Metal Gear Timeline would be a better improvement than adding spoilers. In the long run, it's less editing work in the long run as you don't have to worry about tags.

Plus you can archive some pictures to go with the timeline to aid in illustration which would improve it.

For the time being, my suggestion is to continue on adding to this thread using the spoilers system and then you can mitigate it with whatever system you prefer

[[R-DEV]​Senshi]

A bit sad that the PRT only get a single-line mention in one particular month (start of each campaign), whereas every one-time event out there is spread out all over . But nice work gathering all that data.

[fuzzhead]

Awesome work Deviro on preserving all of this Roch history for the hardcore fans of this amazing game <3