(September 30 to October 6, 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
Only a few birthdays came and went this week, starting with those for Artemis Macabre, eddie434, rhenzar and ref. And after those, DarknessSpades, Marinaliteyear and Roxas259 had a birthday to celebrate together.
Because he saw one of Save-Point's administrator in one of his other haunts, greenraven decided to pop on by to say "Hey!" and dropped off a gift of an interactive Ruby teaching game. Back in the day, he used to be a jack of all trades, but he admits his skills have deminished from lack of use, The only skills he still has practice with is through a game review and newspaper for his Angel Spire forum. And though he is no longer an active game maker, having six completed games under his belt already, he likes to be social and wanted to visit. Other than the bright neon green he used for his initial posting which bothered Ahzoh's sensitive eyes, he got a big warm hello from Olivia, Ahzoh, DerVVulfman and MetalRenard. With that, he said he planned to hit up the forum games board and bring some life to a few of his favorites.
General Chat
Has it been a while since you've talked to your fellow members here in Save-Point? Do you need to catch up with a long lost friend? Before you do, you may want to find out What's on their mind before sending them a message, though jokes persisted from MetalRenard's commentary on forum's default gender field last week. Pherione noted how the Dutch language could misconstrue its definition in humerous ways, which caught Ahzoh's attention. Though he realized it may not be an original idea, kyonides gave thought to a story (and possibly a n RMXP game) involving two men, one an innocent in corrupt world affairs while the other a thief who couldn't care less. And speaking of gaming, Kain Nobel encountered and fought a nemesis within his own house he could only describe in classic gaming fashion. Revel as he becomes victorious in a hard-fought battle, though success and triumphs were fleeting. Meanwhile, love was in the air as MetalRenard shared his love for the forum, though KasperKalamity questione his sobriety at the time. And as our lupine ambassador of good will, he composed a song for yamina-chan, whom he dubbed the lady of darkness, who returned to say hi after being away for a month. Things hadn't been going as planned and couldn't let herself be distracted. However, she is hoping things to settle enough that regular visits may happen and she can catch up on old times. But she appreciated the sentiment and identified to Ahzoh that she is indeed that Lady of Darkness. Such a phantasienamen didn't stop a hug coming from Kain_Nobel. After that, Ahzoh went back to work on his constructed language, primarily its phonological makeup.
Forum Games & Nonsense
KasperKalamity's game where you Change a letter and change a game is still going strong as Kain_Nobel revisited classic RPG fare with Final Fartasy, a game where a party of misfits must destroy a world-wide taco joint franchise that spawned flatulence epidemic of unparalleled proportions. Meanwhile, Zackwell envisioned Cable, where you join the TV repairman's guild and become a hero in the cable business. And if a new engine is your thing, KasperKalamity envisioned RPG Baker, where you throw real-life ingredients into your Wii U Mr. Fission peripheral.
However, greenraven entered the scene with his new game that changes Your Username into a Drug. The game doesn't care if the drug is a new brand of cigarettes, a bottle of liquor or a new pharmaceutical, it's up to you to post what kind of drug your name would fit. However, side effects, and usage types are requested in the description. With that, greenraven started the game with his own name, citing it as a naturally produced neural stimulant used by druids with no addictive agents. However, the druid's potion is not something available for sale, but can only be acquired through barter. It was followed by a programmer's wonderdrug named TheNetZ, a binary drug that can be bought with bitcoins through a bittorrent protocol. However, while it can temporarily stimulate a hacker's ability, the user may begin to develop an allergic reaction to directX, C# and Microsoft.
Both the Word Association game and greenraven's First World Problems games got quite a bit of attention, by green raven, Ahzoh and MetalRenard, with yamina-chan going for the former while KasperKalamity, MetalRenard, Ahzoh, ntzrmtthihu777 and yamina-chan playing with the latter.
And greenraven returned to play in both theThis or That Game and the classic Rate the above poster's avatar game.
Games Development
Development Discussion
It is a simple thing to find out What's up with your fellow RPG Making members, just as it is to share what you are doing in your endeavors. As such, Kain_Nobel gave thought towards personality quirks that may give a character a little more depth. He cited examples such as a brilliant tech guy who once almost killed himself trying to operate a simple toaster oven. But he went further by crafting some extra scenario tidbits for some sideline characters, so they aren't just filler but actual personalities. And on a more technical note, DerVVulfman has begun working on a resolution system of his own. And though he is able to get windowed games to play up to 1024x768 resolution, he is having difficulties to get fullscreen windows to behave. On a positive note, DerVVulfman said the feature runs automatically as he's written his code into the Graphics system itself. Later, DerVVulfman noted quite a bit of success with his resolution system, being able to perform many function, though he cannot get the system to properly change with the classic Alt+Enter hotkey combination. JayRay took a look at DerVVulfman's work, revealing it's name as Resolupins, and announced that the feature can support up to a 1600x900 widescreen format, though the explorer/start bar appeared when he hit that mark. DerVVulfman returned that the system doesn't affect features such as the tilemap, or classic scripts such as Spriteset_Map, but noted that patches could easily be made to fit. On a totally different note, KasperKalamity wished for opinions on a new idea he had for odd characters such as walking-talking spaghetti scones. The idea just sprang to mind after remembering a collection of items called 'Lick em, stick em stupid stamps', but 1-upped the idea with strange entities that can be sustained by good vibes or killed by scolding.
For those that want a laugh, you may wish to check out the Maps and Screenshot thread, though what KasperKalamity posted wasn't a map cutscene but a shot of an event editor containing dialog for one. In it, you can see the reaction of a "....a strange man in strange armor on a strange hill looking for strange mushrooms..." Meanwhile, JayRay showed off a detailed map done in an isometric style showing parts of a city street, buildings on sides no longer present and the pavement crumbling. He admits that there's more to be done, more textures to apply and scenery objects to add in the name of map clutter.
Upcoming Projects
With Arbor's Eve, KasperKalamity is preparing to have a demo ready once he implements his Ride em Stride em Swamp Bubbles feathre that he's shown off in the Maps and Screenshots topic back in December 2013. A daunting task as Kain Nobel said it was months ago, KasperKalamity had spent hours on the feature though nearly ready. But ready KasperKalamity was as he released a demo this Friday, though he had to re-upload it due to a technical start-position problem. But that wasn't the problem that Steel Beast 6Beets encountered as he encountered a freeze problem just extracting the game. However, dialog went back and forth and his problem was shortlived as Steel Beast 6Beets played and enjoyed the demo, reporting that no bugs had been discovered.
There has been big news for Celestial Tear: Demon's Revenge since they started off their Kickstart program. News articles about it setting itself apart from other games, or returning players to the roots of JRPGs are being written by such sites as Indie Game Mag and Cliqist. And if that wasn't enough, Trexrell is elated to announce that a demo will be availble this Monday.
Tutorials
It isn't often that the forum receives a new tutorial, but even less often that the tutorial comes in the form of a game. However, greenraven found and presented to us a game that interactively lets its players Learn Ruby. For those who haven't scripted and wish to go beyond the map event system feature that has been prevalent since RPGMaker 2000 and RPGMaker 2003, greenraven felt it was a must. However, he did admit that some veterans wouldn't really need the system; only something for the next generation of game designers. And originally in the general chat board, DerVVulfman felt it was a must for the tutorials board.
Material Development
Scripts Database
DerVVulfman returned to update The Lycan ABS one more time, however it wasn't for bug fixes but to affect some cleanup and break some of his code into smaller parts. He apparently started his job on the section of his system that handles the missiles, breaking them into smaller parts while seeing that the names of his methods use a standardized namimg method. After that, he revisited his systems' core engine and broke some of it down too. He left a fairly large list of the changes he made in his latest post.
And though the feature may not be original, JayRay wrote and released Map Scroll Advanced this week. With it, you can make the player jump to specified coordinates without needing to scroll the map.
Meanwhile, Kyonides-Arkanthos posted his All Stats Modified system characters can change their stats, skill costs or the like merely by equipping specified armor or weapons. Many features such as HP draining skills may be at your disposal.
And after that, DerVVulfman added the Vehicle Placement add-on for his Super Simple Vehicle System, so you can move a vehicle event around where you couldn't change its position before.
Creativity Section
Art and Design
It is a rarity that an RPGMaker XP game is made beyond the normal screensize, but JayRay now presents that Lost Ages Title Screen in all it's full 1024x768 glory. He even gave DerVVulfman a nod to a suggestion given on how the Anarchy 'A' symbol is spray-painted on the logo.
Well, that's it for this week.
"Here's the good news. If I realize that I'm insane, then I'm okay with it. I'm not dangerous insane." - Charlie Sheen
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.