(March 30 to April 6, 2015)
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
Announcements and Updates
This week began with the creation of A new forum rule regarding user accounts that restricts incoming members from using vulgar, base or degrading within their username, avatars or signatures. While some existing accounts may already have such content, DerVVulfman added these rules only apply as of the posting date. But he added that these rules will apply to any member wishing to change their username and/or account content. MechanicalPen and MetalRenard noted they recognized the need for such a new addition to the forum's rules while DerVVulfman gave an example of a troll who had previously entered with such a name and content solely to cause mischief and trouble.
Feedback and Suggestions
This week, Kirot wondered if it were permitted to have a Forum Role Play or Play-by-Post thread and asked for suggestions on how one would be handled if permitted. DerVVulfman replied not long after by stating he was involved in a similar thread years ago, though it was more towards storytelling. At the same time, he offered various suggestions on stat-keeping and player participation for Kirot if he were to be running the game.
Occasions
There were a few birthdays we got to celebrate this week, starting with bladezuez's, reyalp's, romzkie's, guilhermelink08's, Reaverbot88's, MisakiMinamino's, Nik Meister's and bootmgr's. And it wasn't long after that before we got to celebrate the birthdays of VVOrlov, DazACreamer, Mythros, Cosmicvids, greenraven, RyanC, candikitten182 and Enigmaeffect. After that, the birthdays of Lunarea, Izanagi, arnaki3000, zeroonea, santipi, athreus, ohnolionz, TripleBrass, SoulPour777, newchallenger1991, MooseTheTitan and j.lester.greenberg came and went. And this Easter Sunday, the birthdays of ShinobiChef, Cacapo, Tortura82, Arnie, saucetu1234, edmondedi, deoboropk, RMXPokemaniac, Plus C, ♥SCIENCE♥ and fara_irdayu had come and gone.
General Chat
Catching up is easy within our community as people tend to let you know What's on their mind. But when Samven mentioned he got a new job, he suffered a blown arm courtesy of DerVVulfman and MetalRenard. Bounty Hunter Lani found a teaser video on Youtube for Kamelot's album, Haven, a clip video that MetalRenard said was similar to something that Blind Guardian also does. However, she lucked out with another album by Kamelot entitled Veil of Elysium. Luck didn't go yamina-chan's way as strong gusts blew the the roof of her greenhouse. But luck and some quick thinking went KasperKalamity's way during the final performance of his play. The performance was a success, even through the accident that buried him under a tablecloth and all the utensils therein, as some sudden adlibbing turned a potential disaster into something special. Meanwhile Charlie Fleed was offered a job in Darlington UK, but not in the gaming industry and he's feeling a bit flat. Still working on the Vrkhazhian tongue is Ahzoh who posted some examples of his new language feature called the 'familiaritive' . A form of verb case, the 'familiaritive' denotes if the subject is on good terms or bad. KasperKalamity was aware of a similar feature in Latin. But Ahzoh pointed out the difference with it and his word form. And yamina-chan, who is not at all into horoscopes, saw and admitted that a description of her sign's sleep habits were on point.
Meanwhile, a bounty hunter discovered that listening to music with a lot of instruments and chorus can aid her in a night's sleep. So she dicided to post within the thread that asks What are YouTubing after choosing to listen to the 2012 debut album of AtomA, Swedish band known for their atmospheric, apocalyptic, heavy metal sound.
Games Development
Development Discussion
Taylor wished to show off his creativity within the Maps and screenshots thread as he's been using particle effects for the render of battle animations. The animations assumes the use of a front-view battlesystem, so some effects came out nicely while others did not fare as well. You can see various shots of his work in ice blue, burning yellow and other such color sets.
Bounty Hunter Lani's topic, the Common Sense Corner had become an instant success, having over 20 posts and 250 views within the short two weeks since its debut. This week, the discussion followed thoughts behind how magic and ancient objects may hold more power and potential than newer technology. Members like Taylor, MetalRenard, DerVVulfman, Charlie Fleed and yamina-chan voiced their opinions ranging from why ancient things may remain useful, arguments on modern technology being a perfected form, the nature and use of magic having been lost, how the creation of ancient items remains a mystery, and potential side effects. For a short time, KasperKalamity gave a good example on how a game should instruct the player how the game's mechanics work, using a built-in tutorial of sorts. Once Bounty Hunter Lani read his singular post, it made her think about the game's NPCs, and how useful they could be; but to be cautious on not having tons of dialog that force the player to wait. Since then, the discussion of NPCs continued between Bounty Hunter Lani, DerVVulfman, yamina-chan, Steel Beast 6Beets and Taylor. The bulk of the talk involved the use of slang and regional colloquialisms, how one can use event code to shorten and bypass cutscenes with an suggestion to ensure important cutscenes be viewed at least once before allowing a bypass, and of course, how they should not be seen as merely filler but as an integral part of the environment with lives of their own. While Bounty Hunter Lani attempted to steer the conversation towards concepts of quick-returns to previously ventured areas, and adding inconsequential NPC dialog that may appear once and a while, MetalRenard turned it towards a game's learning curve. He was curious whether anyone thought a game should have an easy or hard learning curve, citing two games with diametrically opposite systems. In responce, DerVVulfman supplied his own thoughts and examples how a game should supply an easy tutorial of sorts towards the player, using games from Bethesda Softworks and a pair of RPGMaker demos he had made. Bounty Hunter Lani thought it was getting a bit technical, so she decided to steer the conversation towards why game characters almost always wear the same outfits every day, and suggested that things could get smelly. DerVVulfman interjected his own thoughts on the subject. And while she was worried about things becoming technical again, she appreciated his concept of a laundry day counter and added that NPCs may change their attitude after the player fights a smelly beast.
Upcoming Projects
Though there had been some work done within School of Magics, KDC fears he deleted the project which would force him to begin script hunting and restart anew.
Some weeks have passed since trexrell reported anything about Celestial Tear: Demon's Revenge, but one does become busy when hammering away at their demo. The latest post that trexrell supplied included a scillouetted death, a world map in progress, and an animated render of their battlesystem in action.
And Mr.Evaan has just invited everyone to the world of Mother 5, a fan game based on the Mother series of games. Made with Game Maker 8.1, the game follows a thirteen year old boy named Bennett as he is is caught in the midst of a war between the government and a secret society. Psychadelic backdrops, a battlesystem akin to Earthbound, and plenty more are available for those wishing to venture onto Mother 5.
Code Support
Last week, DerVVulfman came to Raou's assistance and described how to handle and adjust the Speed of Meagan's Particles, one which Raou thought was very helpful and more helpful than the pdf that came with the script. As such, the topic was considered solved and was closed.
But Raou needed some more help with a Custom Save/Load screen that a scripter named Bruno Lima made for him. While it initially worked, it stopped being reasonable. As such, he supplied attached screenshots and the script in all three pieces. Tigurus Fae had no issues with the system when he used it within a fresh project. However, Raou says he cannot say the same as nothing appeared within the save file slots.
Material Development
Scripts Database
While he didn't actively bump his topic, Taylor performed a change to his Bitmap Number script that primarily involved the battlelog.
Special Projects
ReGaL (RPG Game Lab)
The Talk Box
There has been more work done Regarding ReGaL's features. Just before the month of March ended, DerVVulfman made it so consumable items could be used more than one time. A feature very similar to the one within RPGMaker 2000 and RPGMaker 2003, one could create an elixer that had three doses before it was used up,
Well, that's it for this week.
“What’s Wal-Mart? Do they sell, like wall stuff?" - Paris Hilton
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.