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Site History
The Raptor's Den has been around for longer than you may realize. Originally launching in early 1998, It has evolved significantly since then - through 3 major redesigns. What you're looking at now is version 4.0. One of the more drastic redesigns, this version bids farewell to the navigation bar on the left, and integrates each game covered into the design of the site. The red and black color scheme is gone, and everything is cheerier in general. In addition to the visual enhancements, there's an overall surplus of info for all the games covered, with all new previews and reviews. I figure that since I'm only covering the games that I own, I could at least go into them with more detail than usual.
Anyways, back to the aesthetics. All of the navigation and template images were constructed through Photoshop 5.5 and ImageReady 2.0. I had to scan in a lot of the game logos from their respective boxes or instruction manuals, and it was hell to get rid of all the background clutter. You'd better appreciate this!
The sections below show what the previous versions of the Raptor's Den looked like.
Version 3.0
This was the first major site rehaul. I destroyed the frames, making a navigation that would work well without them. I got rid of the stone background, and went for a darker red for the template images. I had just recently gotten Paint Shop Pro, and was fiddling with layers. I used them to make the fade effect behind the navigation. I also expanded dramatically upon the previews and reviews sections, adding a bar on the right for media. The image gallery section housed all of the site's pictures, and could always be accessed from the upper-right corner. Plus, I added a Games section that highlighted all of the games on the site and showed what accessories were compatible.
Heh... in fact, that section was an accident. I separated previews and reviews on the left bar, instead of bulking them together like in version 2.0. In the translation between versions, I added previews, reviews, and games as well. I didn't feel like redoing the whole navigation, so I just made up something to put on the games page. It seemed to work pretty well...
Version 2.0
For this redesign, I went hog wild with the frames. I put the site logo on the top, and had it stretch horizontally automatically. The left bar got a lot more links, and integrated with the top bar. I started writing reviews, added hardware, and separated the previews from the codes. I also made a neat little media window thingie at the bottom of the game pages. It used internal frames, though, and didn't work in Netscape (the bastards!). The most professional looking design so far, it was like a super-enhanced version of 1.5, still retaining the color scheme and background.
Version 1.5
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This was just a frames version of 1.0. All that remains is the navigation, which you can see to the right. I added a feedback and links section, but the games section remained pretty much the same. I had started to learn some HTML, and this page was just an excuse to exercise my skills. I was particularly pleased with the feedback section. It remained largely unchanged in the next couple of redesigns.
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Version 1.0
The original Raptor's Den had about five pages. The home page had a greeting and a list of games. The game links took you to either codes or a preview. It was more or less just a bunch of info thrown onto the net - my first attempt at a home page. I stole the stone background from the official Lost World web site. I was fairly pleased, but I knew it would have to be better. This was just in AOL's personal publisher. I decided to learn HTML.
I don't have any pictures of this. Sorry!
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