We've gone Public!

No, we haven't listed ourselves on the Stock Exchange (anyone wanna buy some shares in LRF?) 😄

We've decided to make the app public-facing, meaning anyone can now browse the site and see what it's all about without signing up or logging in. We initially decided to keep Lost Records Fans as a closed social network since so many of its features relied on user engagement, but we recognise that many Fans just want to use it as a resource rather than a community and that's fine.

If you're logged out and try to preform any action that requires an account, such as adding a Fan Art to your Favourites, or Commenting on a Screenshot, or Buying a Sticker, a modal will pop up, prompting you to either Sign In or Sign Up to continue:

Of course, we highly encourage signing up for a free account to get the most out of Lost Records Fans, including an entire Dashboard section with analytics, charts, tables, content management, Bug Report, Feature Request and Content Report in-app updates, live Notifications, points earning, live Achievements, Unlockables such as Stickers and Pin Badges and really unique interactive pages including a 90s style Sticker Album to place them in, and Pin Badge Showcases to show off your earned and purchased Pin Badges.

For Fans who want even more, we'd really appreciate you helping us to keep the lights on after spending so long building this app by considering subscribing to a Premium Account, with extra perks including weekly points drops and access to exclusive Unlockables.

But ultimately, thanks for being here at all. Take a look around and see you in hell! 🙌

Olivia Lepore won her award for her performance as Swann Holloway. I really enjoyed her voice acting and am glad Lost Records is getting some recognition it deserves 💜

Hello and welcome to Lost Records Fans!

This webapp has been in the making since Lost Records: Bloom & Rage was first revealed at The Game Awards on December 8th, 2023!

Its creation coincided with my interest in learning React development. React is a JavaScript library originally created at Facebook and now used by some of the largest companies in the world. It allows fast interactive experiences that 'react' immediately without page refreshes. Think of Liking anything on Facebook and seeing the number of Likes update immediately. It is primarily a frontend library, meaning the UI users see and interact with. NextJS is a framework for React that allows server-side rendering, mixing both frontend and backend disciplines in one system.

I also created Life Is Strange Fans over 10 years ago. That site is built on Wordpress, and while it has many custom features, Wordpress is really not the ideal platform for such a community-driven site. I do plan to relaunch Life Is Strange Fans as a webapp very similar to Lost Records Fans eventually, but for now, Lost Records Fans is my main project. It represents everything I would want in a community app, with exciting features like an interactive Sticker Album and realtime Notifications.

I am a sole developer, and so it did take me longer to finish that I would have liked, but the Fans have been incredibly patient and I'm so happy to finally welcome everyone in!

Here are some ideas for the first things you could do now that you're part of this community:

• Head to your Profile and add some more details not available at Onboarding - this includes adding a Header Image, a Bio and Social Links
• Explore the Activity Feed - this includes the main Activity Feed showing all updates as well as more streamlined versions: Follow Feed shows updates related only to Fans or Creators (Fan Artist, Cosplayer or Video Creators) you're Following. Thoughts Only shows the latest Tweet-like short-form thoughts from Fans. Comments Only shows only Comments around the whole site, and which content they're related to.
• Start unlocking some Achievements and earning Cove Coins and Pin Badges! You maybe have already noticed some rewards hitting your account. Head to the Achievements page to get some more pointers on what you need to do to unlock some more. And visit the main Unlockables page to discover even more Unlockables including Stickers in blind packs to help complete a Panini style Sticker Album!
• Some of those Achievements are rewarded for active engagement on the site, so start adding some content to your Favourites, Comment on things, and maybe even post some content yourself. You can post your own content if you're a creator such as a Fan Artist, Cosplayer or Video Creator, but it's also perfectly okay if you're not and want to upload content by creators on their behalf - just be aware that if they later join the site themselves, they do have the right to claim ownership over the content. You can also post Screenshots (whether directly from the game, using the game's awesome Photo Mode, or Edited creations in photo editing software) or even post long-from writing in Articles such as Analyses or Reviews.
• Follow some fellow Fans! Visit the Fans listing page to view all fans on the site and hit the Follow button to add their activity to your Follow Feed. You can also Follow them anywhere their Fan card is listed, such as on the main Activity Feed.
• List your Unlockables for Trade on the Trade Listings marketplace! If available, you will see an option to list an Unlockable such as a Sticker or Pin Badge for Trade on their individual pages. Simply select the item you wish to trade it for and any Fan that has the item you're after can initiate the trade.
• You can also Sell some Unlockables back to the site! Every Fan gets 30% of the initial value back, while Premium Accounts, Superfans or Ultrafans, get double at 60% of the original value.
• Search your heart out! Use the Search bar in the top header (or at the top of the slide-in menu on mobile) to search for any kind of content on the site, from Fan Art to Unlockables and even other Fans!
• Your Dashboard is your management suite. Manage your Profile Settings, Notifications Settings, Spoiler Settings and Other Settings here. View charts with detailed metrics, tables with rich content including your Earns & Spends. Add, Edit or Delete the various types of content. Manage your Follows and Favourites. View your Unlockables and your different types of requests including:
• Feature Requests: Got an idea of a new feature? Let us know!
• Bug Reports: Spotted something weird or just plain broken on the site? We appreciate the feedback.
• Ownership Requests: Take ownership over any of your content already added to the site by other Fans.
• See what's coming on the site Roadmap.
• See what's been added in our Changelog.
• Track all your Contest Entries whether in Giveaways or Creative Contests.
• Still stuck? Read our comprehensive FAQ for more details on just about everything.

Launch Giveaway

And to celebrate the launch, we're running a Launch Giveaway, with awesome prizes including the Lost Records Soundtrack Vinyl from Kid Katana Records and branded fanny packs from Don't Nod themselves!

Head here to enter now!

Thanks once again to everyone for putting up with all the delays. Feel free to introduce yourself in the Comments below.

See you in hell! Or... you know, around the site 😀

PS: If you're a Don't Nod dev that's happened to join the site, let us know so we can give you your special Don't Nod role and Badge!