Quick Update
Wow, it's been a while! But don't let that fool you. I have indeed been working on 2.0 all this time :) and wanted to post a quick status update.
As I mentioned previously, the database design has been finished. But since then, it's actually gone through a number of refactorings. Mostly with how the maps are stored while still accommodating for map packs. It may sound trivial, but it's surprisingly complicated and I wanted it to be simple for the user without being a hack like it is now.
I've spent many, many hours trying to decide on a direction for the new visual look of the site. I even dug out some old layouts I did for Mapraider 1.0 years ago (it'll be 7 years this November if you can believe it) to see if they had some ideas. The site has been stuck in a post-1999 design flavor that was "hacked-together" for so long, I really wanted this new look to be up-to-date, well designed and thought-out. Last week I finally had the creative energy and inspiration I needed and was able to put together something that I feel is nearly perfect.
Best of all, the initial production work to translate my Photoshop layout into HTML/CSS is nearly complete and awaiting integration into the back end. No sneek-peeks, sorry ;)
In all seriousness though, getting the visual design done is an awesome milestone to have reached! Putting the new site design and the old site design side-by-side is both invigorating (because it looks so awesome) and depressing (because it makes the old design look like a mess) all at the same time.
The back-end is roughly 50% complete. Because of the refactoring of the database I did, I had to re-work portions of the code to accommodate and that was completed last night.
I'll be doing my best to continue the focus I've given to things over the last couple of months and my goal is that the site will be done, tested and live before the anniversary this fall.
It's really just a matter of cranking through it all now. More soon.