(February 4 to February 10, 2013)
Welcome dear readers to the latest issue of the Weekly Gazette! Here in the Gazette, we give you the news in brief of what occurred in the past week as well as provide any news happening in Save-Point itself
Official Area
Occasions
Glad tidings always occur each week, and among those are the birthdays of our members, such as those of RavenXCross, [Thread=3020][Highlight]Huraa, deathangelmagnus, repins[/Highlight][/Thread] and Jeicob-PC. But that was only the start of the birthday celebrations this week as GreenBanana, revolverwinds and MuGe9thD all shared the same birthday, as did esn23, MaoCao and MOAL the very next day. After that, MaksimKage, Villain, panjoel789 and pixelman202 were able to share some birthday cake together. However, Alistor was able to have a birthday cake all to himself. And this Sunday, we had a birthday celebration as Kerdukie, jurbu, Natsu Dragneel and Acetonide all shared their special day together.
Meanwhile, ntzrmtthihu777 says he is now Legit as he finally purchased and received his product key for RPGMaker XP which he had been planning to do for some time, having used a cracked version for these past couple of months. He relishes the feeling of legitimacy.
General Chat
Once and a while, you may want to learn about the comings and goings of your fellow members. Fortunately, it is easy to find out What's on the mind of your friends in the Save-Point community. Though the news article that MetalRenard found regarding a food producing firm sounded disconcerting, he thought the comments left behind in the Yahoo News website to be hilarous. And Olivia displayed proudly the schedule she plans to use for college and her compooter time.
Meanwhile, you may want to have a tune to listen to while you're working on your game which is why we ask our members What are you listening to right now. This week, RosyPosy was enjoying Domino the Destitute, a hard hitting video by Coheed and Cambria, since Coheed is putting together a double-album. Polar opposite in style, Taylor enjoyed listening to various songs by Mirai Nikii including Egoist from the first vulume of the Deus OST. DerVVulfman noticed that there were two music threads of the same nature and merged the two, though Taylor was confused which of the two topics were the original.
Not long ago, kyonides was on the look for some Basic or Intermediate PHP guides, afterwhich MetalRenard provided a link to one. However, it was a site that kyonides was already acquainted. Since then, Kore recommended visiting php.net and to read the comments below the individual function definitions as they can point out, not only how the methods could be used, but how to bypass known issues.
If you want a good chuckle, our Funny Pictures Thread which has seen only marginal activity in past months had a boom of activity this week. It started off with MetalRenard's day at the beach, but one that was hopefully uncommon.. After that, Olivia thanked KasperKalamity while posting an unusual purchase at a store. Could it be related to a recent news article that MetalRenard mentioned finding in our 'What's on your Mind' thread? Meanwhile Kasper found shots of cats posing as humans, whether real or imagined. And DerVVulfman posted a pair of comic shots, one involving the recent Avengers movie that he thanked MarianFrae for providing, and another he also saw a TV celebrity post that teaches why you should never make fun of anyone's name. Meanwhile, ntzrmtthihu777 found a video clip from Final Fantasy VII with Vincent acting in a slightly uncharacteristic manner.
Games Development
Development Discussion
He had to put a vampire game review on the back burner, but that didn't stop Samven from finding an entry for the fourth episode of the IndieSam Exposure! This time, Samven showed off Exit Fate, a highly detailed and well planned and written RPG game from Pywritechnics.com. Not a typical fantasy epic as one would expect, this game is more ground in a realistic setting with heroes with distinct personalities and mysteries and questions layered upon one another as political intrugue ensued as a rival nation threatened the land. The game has wonderful and rich graphics, and though the music is not original it does come from Miki Higahino's score for Suikoden among other pieces. It is not a game for the casual gamer expecting a light story as the plots and innuendos abound in this epic. But Samven felt that it is a must-have, and that there would be no excuse to pass on a game such as this.
Upcoming Projects
DarkSpartan came in to tease everyone about the work he's been doing on Insanity Alley. And what better way to do that than with a teaser image? His most recent version includes a nearly complete, and now expanded, map of the Prison Ship. But can our runaway Idol rise to the challenge that awaits her?
RGSS Support
JackMonty was having Issues with changing the formation in Charlie Fleed's CTB as he wished to have five characters lined up in a row rather than using the default formation layout. DerVVulfman pointed out that he, as the maker of the actual animation system, had a formation layout script that he kept as a separate add-on and suggested its use. On reading, JackMonty had since updated both the animation system in use and included the formations system which gave him the party lineup he desired.
Tutorials
It had been a while since Olivia asked how to run RPGMaker XP after Installing RPG Maker on a Linux, though KDC did reply that all he assumed that was needed was to run it as if it was a Linux program. But ntzrmtthihu777 came by and described how to run windows programs in wine from both a terminal and from the gnome desktop. Taylor wondered if RPGMaker XP was still buggy when run in Wine, and ntzrmtthihu777 replied that it still seemed so though he planned to look into it more.
Material Development
Scripts Database
A couple weeks ago it was fishing, but now it's gardening as DerVVulfman released Holly's Harvest, a script that lets the game designer create a Harvest Moon like system. The player can plant seeds, grow crops and harvest them, even having to deal with certain things like seasonal changes and needing tools to gather the crops.
And DerVVulfman gave his Item Combine Option script a bump to version 1.1, fixing a bug wherby the system wouldn't properly return control to the ITEM menu system.
After that, DerVVulfman developed Ccoa's Caterpillar / Wachunga's Footprints Patch per request for DuongCool so he can get both Ccoa's Caterpillar and Wachunga's Dynamic Footprints script to work together.
Script Requests
Last week, DuongCool wondered if anyone knew How to make a Foot Print show on multiple terrains which was answered by DerVVulfman. DuongCool thanked him, but now had an issue as the footprints script he was using conflicted with a caterpillar system byt ccoa and the visual enhancements scripts by Rataime.
Resource Requests
Working dilligently on his project, ntzrmtthihu777 is now on the lookout for Various Final Fantasy VII Sprites. particularly those of a few NPCS and enemies. The problem is he also wants them to be in a particular art style and provided reference shots so he doesn't get a mix of conflcting styles. Insofar as the creator of the sprites he does have, he hadn't discerned who he may be. But he saw a youtube video displaying them freely, so he assumes they are public domain graphics.
Creativity Section
Art and Design
After seeing a lack of people commenting on Rose Guardian's artwork within DeviantArt, she wondered if her art even worth looking at. However DerVVulfman replied that there are probably countless people visiting who don't leave any form of feedback while other visitors may be more concerned with their own work. And MetalRenard pointed out that he has nearly two thousand subscribers to his youtube and soundcloud channels but only around 20 or so comments left behind. Rose Guardian appreciated the responses, having worried that she had no views the last time she checked.
Having used a template from Manga Studio Ex as a base, Rose Guardian wondered What was so bad about the picture she posted. Apparently, the past person who left feedback for her sayd the character's anatomy was messed up, which upset and confused her since she used a template as a visual basis. The only thing that ntzrmtthihu777 could see as an issue was merely a pinky finger, though both he and Rose admit that hands are always problematic, and MetalRenard felt the character proportions were on the spot. KasperKalamity cited that the stark color differences and inconsistant outline thicknesses could be an issue and both he and MetalRenard suggested trying another painting program. MetalRenard suggested using Sai, but Rose Guardian used Sai though she would like some more advice on how to use it to soften edges. In that, MetalRenard has no expertise, though he remarked that Olivia may have some. Kore continued the remarks about the character's shading and linework but continued to discuss how the character appeared both skinny and muscular at the same time which he thought was a dychotomy. However, he thought it was a good start though he felt that the shading is probably what needs the most work and practice. Likewise, millarso thought the character linework needed work, and thought some stray lines were not even needed. He wasn't familiar with Sai which MetalRenard and Rose Guardian mentioned, but he thought that a program with a good blending function that can smear colors together could help her with her incremental shading.
Having taken a break from music composition, a new thread was created to show off MetalRenard's doodles as he began showing a youtube video of a drawing series and the picture he sketched based on their lectures. As a complete beginner, he requested some feedback on his attempt while noting that he knows that one eye was too high. In responce, yamina-chan advised him to avoid using the video lectures as the lessons they offer are for later, and that he should begin with simpler line tracing techniques so he can get a grasp of why an artist drew lines the way he did. After that, he should have a foundation on which to build. MetalRenard appreciated the advice, but he dislikes how the trace drawing method sounded like studying and would rather jump in straight away and hear about the mistakes he's made. Rather than dissuade him, yamina-chan instead encourages his continuance as she remarked that mistakes are how one improves. As an alternative to the tutorial videos, she posted some tutorial links that, while she wouldn't really reccomend to start with, the information and lessons they give are quite valuable. MetalRenard was elated on seeing the links and thought that the material within proved quite interesting. He hadn't tried them as he prefers to first do research before diving into anything.
Well, that's it for this week.
" Last week the candle factory burned down. Everyone just stood around and sang, 'Happy Birthday'" - Stevem Wright
PROSPECTIVE GAZETEERS!
If you are the creator of a thread in Save-Point, you have the option of sending/writing your own entry into the Gazette. The Gazette accepts write-in announcements (which will be doublechecked). Likewise, the Gazette would welcome other content such as a comic-strip series, ongoing story arc, or the like.
Just PM DerVVulfman with the submissions. Submissions must be in by 10pm EST.