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I didn't dress up for Halloween.  I haven't in years.  Children didn't roam my street looking for candy.  I can't remember the last time they did.

I wasted time in Bloodline Champions in order to wring some use out of the in-game costume I was offered.  Then I decided that grinding for coins in a game which allows trolls to cancel matches isn't fun.

I could have enriched my mind with the wonders of the universe instead.  I should have.  But I feared it would eat my soul!

Within BYOND

Silk Games released a podcast episode and two updates for their retro MORPG NEStalgia.  The latter include large lists of bug fixes and balance tweaks to smooth over the changes brought by the previous update's skill trees.

Brettpenzer released a demo and multiple updates for a platformer called BlockWorld.  Players are invited to toggle the platform layout during mid-jump as they attempt to reach highlighted destinations in roughly 20 single-screen levels.  Thus far I've only really succeeded in having time run out while I bump my head on the ceiling. ;)

Responding to D-Cire's recently finished contest to create a school-related demo, library or game, GreatFisher released and twice updated a demo for Another Day At School.  It's a puzzle adventure.  At one point I wondered whether the school was just window dressing for a scary tale.  Then I ran into a timed set of equations and realized I might be SAVING THE WORLD WITH MATH!

Inspired by Storm Ops, Kaiochao has released a demo for a more pixelated variant called BYOND Ops.  It's a shooting gallery.  Players take the role of a sniper who has to gun down enemies as they march and shoot across the screen.

SamuraiJei released one level of a sidescrolling beat 'em up called Street Warz.  There's a combo system, but I'm not sure how it works.  I managed by using the default attack to punch air into enemies standing a foot away until they fell down and I could walk away.

Despa1r released a small demo for an RPG called Xendar Zendar.  The interface looks clean, but there doesn't seem to be much to do at the moment other than choose one of fourteen characters to walk around trees and chickens.

Timing the release before Halloween, Acebloke added a year's worth of updates to his multiplayer zombie rush SurviveThis!  Amongst a plethora of bug fixes, changes and new features, what stands out to me are the earmuffs subscribers can wear to drown out the zombie noises.  =)

Acebloke's economic/military sim Wargames has also received multiple updates, but lacks release notes.

Techgamer has posted release notes and hosted test servers for his MORPG Vault of Heaven.  Individual resistances have replaced with general stat scores, inventory submenus are available and the first non-placeholder tileset has been created.

Vexonator released multiple bug fixes for Surreal Dreams.  Finding out the specifics again involves delving into the game's forum to read the type of player feedback I wish BYOND had more of.  There's even videos.

Also posting a video, Bravo1 has made progress on the movement and collision of Chasm.  The platformer has been redesigned to be a blend of metroidvania and Phantasy Star Online-style MORPG.  Meanwhile, Bravo1's team-based vehicular combat title Tanx has been undergoing a conversion to use BYOND's native pixel movement.

In my last column, I disregarded banners, title screens and drugged survivors of zombie hoards.  UPD4T3 has now posted a mockup of Out of Ammo's flailing PvP arena mode.  With the help of programmer Albro1, a demo should be available soon.

Oasiscircle has continued to post videos of his lane-marching RTS Corsair.  Progress has been made on buildings, resource management and user-defined unit groups.  Corsair and other projects were discussed in his interview with Enzuigiri for DM Blog.

Forum_account was interviewed by EnigmaticGallivanter for the Journalism guild.  The creator of A Miner Adventure discussed his various libraries, the upcoming Tiny Heroes and his work outside of BYOND.  More recently, Forum_account has been posting a series of programming tips.

Higoten ran a tournament for the DMcast involving WildBlood's RTS Omnipotence.  Congratulations to Frostbeard65 for being the last god standing and recipient of a free BYOND membership.  The full list of participants and accomplishments can be found here.

I finally attempted to participate in Screenshot Saturday.  However, it appears the website only grabs from Twitter so the Google+ hashtag is limited to its social network.

Anyway, my post includes the map generation algorithm in the action adventure I've been slowly working on (and off).  Most of my recent effort has actually involved the overworld, but there was a minor change to the upper cliffs which I think fares better than the previous squiggles.

Beyond BYOND

For those in need or merely interested, here's AbleGamers' guide to Starcraft II.  (Keep that site in mind when designing your games!)

Don't settle for a brief mention of activity.  Get games featured!  (Want to review?)

I viewed this with a potato.
I read the first paragraph then came straight to the comment box to tell you that Bloodline champions sucks >_>.

Now I shall read the article.
"I didn't dress up for Halloween. I haven't in years. Children didn't roam my street looking for candy. I can't remember the last time they did." - You make it sound like your street is the scariest street in town. :p
"I didn't dress up for Halloween. I haven't in years. Children didn't roam my street looking for candy. I can't remember the last time they did."

We don't even celebrate Halloween in Australia, and we had more kids on the street than you! ('cause the supermarkets and media are trying to cash in on it, so it's being adopted...)
Halloween was cut down to three hours of 'Trick or Treating', which didn't leave much room for it. States are making Halloween obsolete.
now that video... was awesome
Woot, got mentioned. Now I have to stick with it.
Yeh my first mention, thanks :D.
Sorry I didn't blog updates to Wargames, I was, then it had a problem, and then I needed to make sure it did work. So today I have blogged with all three updates and a in-game competition for a Wargames subscription, check it out.
@Acebloke: You mean "check it out", right? Impulse links, people! Impulse links!
De-synced videos, sadly. :(
Albro1 wrote:
Woot, got mentioned. Now I have to stick with it.

And we know how that attempt has worked out for you in the past.
Oooh, big boy likes renewing posts to diss me. -ignoredasofnow-

Oh, and it seems that UPD4T3 left. I went to Disney World for a week, and came back to nothing in the dropbox except the .dmb and .rsc. He also hasn't showed up on my Pidgin list. True colors shown, I guess.
Albro1 wrote:
Oooh, big boy likes renewing posts to diss me. -ignoredasofnow-

Oh, and it seems that UPD4T3 left. I went to Disney World for a week, and came back to nothing in the dropbox except the .dmb and .rsc. He also hasn't showed up on my Pidgin list. True colors shown, I guess.

I've had spotty internet, and haven't seen you online. I needed a little more progression and had Mes take control of the project in my absence.
Alright then.