(February 17 to February 23, 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
This week, a new RPGMaker VXAce user by the name of Zerbu had joined the community. He's hoping to soon publish his first game, and began to receive warm welcomes from MetalRenard, Kirot, DerVVulfman and Ace.
Compared to the last couple of weeks, not as many registered members had birthdays this week. But IAMSIAO, Kureshin and NubNub had their share of birthday cake. And after that, a single cake had to be divided up amongst dehelus, arcanite, Rui, plain_cookie, Elaxhave, glitchcore and hillbee.
General Chat
One of the entertaining things about joining a forum is to become part of a community. There are many people within that you can ask What's on their mind and join in a conversation. Though, it may be difficult to join one with Ahzoh if he is speaking his custom language of Arkhean. But you can listen to a recording he made, if you wish to hear it spoken.
Games Development
Development Discussion
Most people who come to a gaming design forum wish to share their knowledge as they work on their games, and what better way than to find out What's Up with their fellow RPGMaking Members? To his surprise, Ahzoh discovered an old sprite of his character when googling his name. Steel Beast 6Beets read DerVVulfman's conundrum regarding his need for a mass edit of hundreds of custom charactersets, and congratulated DerVVulfman for a coming up with a solution. Meanwhile Steel Beast 6Beets was on the look for a means to show HP cost for certain skills as he planned to have skills that didn't rely on skill points but actually drained a character's health. MechanicalPen offered a script to show the HP cost for DerVVulfman's HP cost system, but was asked to adapt it to a system by LockeZ. Afterwards, he was thanked by Steel Beast 6Beets for a successful rewrite which sated
Zerbu replied to KasperKalamity as he noted the dangers of flooding if water was at the same level as the ground as it appears within typical maps in various games. And he thought some land around KasperKalamity's trees were a bit barren. However, he felt it was coming along nicely. After that, Zerbu posted a youtube video within the Maps and screenshots thread of the opening scene for his game, Utzu Treasure. While JayRay appreciated the graphics and dialog of Zerbu's game, Ahzoh had some questions about the story after encountering some of the character's dialog. Zerbu thanked JayRay and informed him that his RPGMaker VXAce game was using Yanfly's message system. At the same time, he wished to convey to Ahzoh that there was a lot more material going on between the characters, and had various reasons for what was happening. Wishing to show off a some monsters he garnered from Pioneer Valley Games, JayRay showed off the scene of a massacre. He thanked MechanicalPen for the usage of various keys while using various scripts such as the Gamelog script that he and DerVVulfman coded. Steel Beast 6Beets felt the action must have been fierce with the number of characters fighting. JayRay agreed, and posted a new image, one of a mission/quest window for Miranda Lightmere. However, MechanicalPen thought a minor tweak was needed for visiblity sake.
Upcoming Projects
Now able to support an 800x600 resolution giving JayRay a larger canvas for his highly detailed map renders, Roguehaven is now again being produced with RPGMaker XP. He discussed the expansive map system he had put into use, allowing for special location points and a seamless entry system. He boasts that his game will have an open world MMO feel, but with a storyline. And thanks to the ABS system he is using, he will be able to activate switches or add to variables, thus being able to develop quests to his content. And while you may be able to play from ten specific heroes, another ten more may be unlocked as supporting characters. But not only that, but storylines may become affected by the fates of these, whether they live or die.
KasperKalamity wished to release the latest demo for Arbor's Eve this weekend, but his grandmothher had developed an MRSA (or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) infection. Had the demo been available, members like Steel Beast 6Beets (who had only recently inquired) would be able to visit cities both bustling and tranquil, most notably the walled city of Villageburg.
Trexrell came forth and discussed the founder of the Riddlers in the game, Celestial Tear: Demon's Revenge. A warrior who tipped the balance in the war between humans and demons, Grandeur Maximillion led and taught his men skillful techniques, and the Riddlers spread out all over the world. You can see an image of Grandeur Maximillion resplendent in his steel and blue armor, while weilding a double-bladed pole-weapon. It pleased Trexrell when Ace commended him on his pixelart. While DerVVulfman pondered how skillful Trexrell's latest character could be as he weilded such a weapon, Ahzoh too wondered about how many weapons that man had created to war amongst themselves.
Recruitment Office
MetalRenard did a little editing of DariusSlayer Artist's Wanted add for Space Dust, sorting out the bbcode and fixed the link which previously gave Kirot some trouble. He also asked that DariusSlayer refrain from including a space within his username to avoid confusion with other community members with a Renard appelation, which DariusSlayer immediately performed. Still, he loved the way the game was coming along and enjoyed the notion of an evolving ship. He was curious about the 'Sketch' application that Kirot had mentioned, which Kirot returned was devoted soley for the Mac OS. Meanwhile, KasperKalamity presentd some of his artwork for DariusSlayer's consideration.
Code Support
Though Iqus no longer needed Help editing a script to add icons to pop-up message balloons, JayRay posed that Iqus may like to study the GameLog script he and DerVVulfman had collaborated.
Material Development
Scripts Database
DerVVulfman added a variant script into Selwyn's original Resolution so users may create games up to (but not limited to) 1024x768.
Script Requests
Pia Carrot placed forth a request to have a system that added a Voice Toggle so his game may play audio clips (be it .ogg or .mp3)) when activated. He inquired about the use of multiple folders and whether ME was better than SE for the feature. JayRay provided an example how a parallel process common event which could suffice while DerVVulfman made his own evented example, not seeing the need for an actual script. DerVVulfman also stated his preference for the SE folder. He also informed Pia Carrot that the system doesn't let one arrange audio in multiple subfolders, noting that it doesn't allow new folders where one could a subfolder in the Graphics folder by editing the Cache class. MechanicalPen, however, preferred MEs in respect to voiceovers. And he thought about how to schedule the voiceovers so event commands don't become too messy. He also gave thought to bypassing the conventional audio playback system in Game_System, opting for a more direct approach with the Audio class's system so he could use subfolders, something that Pia Carrot was happy to hear.
Resources Database
JayRay presented us with a youtube video of his Da Vinci Sprite Templates in action, specifically the female character performing various actions. However, he admits that aligning these characters is going to be a very meticulous process.
Creativity Section
Art and Design
Having now acquired her long awaited graphics card and a copy of Daz Studio, Olivia resumed Experimenting with 3D to 2D digital design. Her recent venture had her alter the imageof a woman through various cellshading stages, while her next goal would involve line borders and lighting. Almost immediately, JayRay sent word that he enjoyed her achievements.
Literature Section
Though Uruhara created a thread for his upcoming story, Beyond the Night Sky, he admitted this week he usually doesn't announce things this early. Right now, the story is only at a coonceptual stage and he's not sure anything will come of it.
Well, that's it for this week.
"Housework can't kill you, but why take a chance?" - Phyllis Diller (1917-2012)
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.