Yesterday, I posted a review of accomplishments in this community for last year. As happens each year, actual projects took a very different path than what was originally planned, yet a great amount of growth still took place in this community.

This blog will deal with proposed projects for this year. Some may actually be undertaken, while others may be set aside for unforeseen additions. Let the following serve as a tentative blueprint for the year (presented alphabetically).

3DSPaint
Timeline: (unknown)
Priority: Medium
Scope: Medium

There is still much to do with the 3DSPaint Web app. Some aspects of it can be ported from DSiPaint, but ones making use of the 3D are still yet to be written.

3DSWeather
Timeline: January
Priority: Medium
Scope: Small

Moulder, et.al., have been developing a new section to 3DSPaint.com that educates and alerts those in North American about weather. A beta version of this Web app is ready to launch, and many more features and geographical regions will come later. Since I am not developing the bulk of this project, the scope is small for me, meaning deployment can happen no matter how busy my schedule becomes.

GamePadPaint.com
Timeline: January, onward
Priority: High
Scope: Large

This newest addition to the community has been partially-deployed already and will continue to be deployed in stages. Much of the content will mirror the existing websites, but there will be unique features, too. One notable feature proposed is a video player, but method of upload has not been determined yet. The GPP Web app is coming, too, and will incorporate all the features of DSiPaint, plus new filters that make use of the processing power of the Wii U browser.

Games
Timeline: January
Priority: Medium
Scope: Small

Skunkman and a couple of his co-workers (who are 3DS enthusiasts) have been preparing a few games for 3DSPaint.com and at least one that will be added to DSiPaint.com. Included in these are a puzzle game and a simple RPG.

HullBreach Online
Timeline: (unknown)
Priority: Low
Scope: Large

Both the 3DS and Wii U have nothing for HB Online, at the moment. I have many ideas in mind for both platforms, including real-time 3D models of the ships and planets. Since there are so many other projects to do, I'm not sure what will see completion, though.

Messaging
Timeline: Q1 2013
Priority: Medium
Scope: Small

Those who keep their inboxes and outboxes full have trouble viewing all messages on the DSi and 3DS without running out of memory. I plan on adding a system setting to expand or collapse messages by day when the page loads. If the setting is to collapse them, messages will only load when the day is clicked. Additionally, the messages are single-handedly responsible for all the lag on the database server, because they make up well over 1GB of disk space. I plan on optimizing the storage to speed up server access.

The Mystical Journey
Timeline: All year
Priority: High
Scope: Massive

Since this is really the flagship project of the community, I want to keep pushing its development through to completion. Parts of the game engine and artwork made tremendous progress in 2012. That laid the groundwork for the game actually being released THIS YEAR! Let's make that goal a reality.

Mobile App
Timeline: Q2 2013
Priority: Medium
Scope: Massive

I would like to finally create a native iOS App (and later an Android one). It would incorporate many of the elements of the community that are shared across the websites. Up to this point, the community has focused on specific Nintendo platforms, but I would like to branch beyond that for those who use their cell phones to access the community when away from home. I don't know what would be included in this app or even what the name of the community would be for it (SDK? Saviis?), but components I can see being included are messages, blogs, chatrooms, groups, polls, and a few others. The app would most likely be free with a banner ad on the footer, though I am open to also releasing a cheap one ($.99?) with no ads. Since this is just an early brainstorm, feel free to suggest anything on your mind.

2D Photo Gallery
Timeline: (unknown)
Priority: Low
Scope: Large

3DSPaint.com already has a 3D photo gallery. Since the 3DS supports uploading of 2D JPEG images, as well, I've considered for a while the addition of 2D uploads or of the conversion of 3D images to 2D ones. I don't know the direction this may take, so I am open to suggestions.

Servers
Timeline: On-going
Priority: Medium
Scope: Medium

Depending on how ad revenue fares, I would like to add more servers to the community. The first would be splitting the mail server to its own. This would off-load some of bandwidth and CPU usage to allow more simultaneous connections at once. The next step would be to add another database server to load-balance all the traffic that has been lagging connection. Aside from the addition of new servers, I am always working on making code and server usage more efficient to reduce lag.

Other
There are several unfinished project that need to be completed and bugs that need to be fixed. Rather than listing them individually, I will just note them as accomplishments, when completed, at the end of the year.