Website Description
Alabama Project is a serious, immersive roleplay community set in Alabama, designed for players seeking deep, meaningful stories and connections. The website features a visually striking landing page with confetti effects, a countdown timer for events, and clear calls to action for joining the server and Discord community.
Features
- Roleplay: Create your character and live your story in an immersive Alabama setting.
- Economy: Work jobs, start businesses, and build your fortune in a realistic economy.
- Community: Join a dedicated community of players committed to quality roleplay.
For this project, I moved away from traditional Single Page Applications (SPAs) to a Static-First approach.
- Astro (Framework): I chose Astro to leverage its “Islands Architecture.” Since the landing page is 90% static content, Astro allows me to ship zero JavaScript to the browser, resulting in near-instant load times.
- Tailwind CSS (Styling): Used for a utility-first workflow. It allowed me to build the custom “dark-mode” aesthetic with precision—specifically the glassmorphism effects on the feature cards and the custom red-to-transparent gradients.
- Vercel (Deployment): The site is deployed on Vercel’s Edge Network. This ensures that whether a player is in Europe or North America, the site assets are served from the nearest CDN node.
Technologies Used
| Technology | Role in Project |
|---|
| Astro | Static Site Generation (SSG) for elite performance. |
| Tailwind CSS | Responsive layouts, typography, and custom UI. |
| Vercel | Global hosting, CI/CD, and Edge delivery. |
Design Breakdown
1. The Hero Section
The goal was immediate clarity. The hero uses a high-contrast typography scale to emphasize the “Serious RP” brand.
- The “How”: Using HTML’s
video tag and absolute positioning with the trailer.
- The “Why”: Gamers make split-second decisions. A clear “Play Now” vs. “Join Discord” hierarchy ensures we capture both active players and community lurkers.
2. The Features Grid
I implemented a three-pillar layout to address the primary concerns of RP players: Persistence, Lore, and Lag.
- Persistent World: Highlights the database-driven nature of the server.
- Immersive Lore: Uses a soft-red background tint to distinguish the “Story” aspect.
- Reliable Performance: Explicitly mentions FiveM stability to build technical trust.
The footer acts as a secondary navigation hub. By including GitHub and TikTok links, we show that the project is transparent (Open Source/Dev-friendly) and active on social media.
“Built for Deep, Meaningful Roleplay”
Key Achievements
- 86/100 Lighthouse Performance Score: Thanks to Astro’s static output (needs accessbility improvements).
- Responsive Design: Fully optimized for mobile users (Discord’s primary demographic).
- Brand Consistency: Maintained a strict color palette of
#D1112E (Alabama Red) and deep neutrals.