Weekly Digest 3

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ID:52819
 
Jan 6 2009, 8:18 am
Keywords: digest
This week we start out with a few notables around the community. Some of it isn't quite new, but is definately worth checking out all the same!

Efencea, by Vermolius and Tayoko
Vermolius very recently released a test version of his game Efencea, which he calls a 'PvP tower defense RTS'. The hub entry has this to say:

Efencea is a two-player versus defense game. There are two factions that players may choose. Robots and Aliens, which are green and purple respectively.


Its quite cool, check it out!

Stolen Lands, by Lavarion
Stolen Lands isn't actually a new game-- Its been around since 2006, in fact. To quote the hub entry:

StolenLands is a semi-class-based real-time RPG with customization yet a relatively simple system.


For a review of Stolen Lands, check out the one Mikau wrote.

Foomer's Single Player Games guild now has a great offer

The Single Player Games guild recently announced that its opening its doors for developers who are working on single player games and want help
getting exposure and feedback. To quote Foomer from his announcement:

Single player game developers may be provided with a forum for their game and the ability to moderate it, and free access to post updates or other useful information to the blog as long as you keep your posts clean and professional and don't abuse it.


Grinding My Gears Off, by Danny Roe of BYOND RPG

This article is actually from back in November, 2008. It presents a 5-point list of alternating do's and don'ts that all relate to the nature of grinding in games today. Definately worth a read for anyone developing a game that involves character advancement!

The first 'Along the Tech Tree' of 2009, by ACWraith

Along the Tech Tree has been a Thursday' staple at BYOND Strategy for a while now, bringing you cool things from BYOND Strategy and the occasional YouTube video or five. If you haven't ever read Along the Tech Tree or you missed the most recent one because you were too busy still trying to figure out how you got married in Las Vegas on New Years, check it out right here.

Questions to the community

Part of running a community is always trying to keep yourself in the know-how on what people think, like and don't like. While all opinions aren't always equally useful, they're always worth considering. Keeping this in mind, we'd like to know how YOU think things are going. In the Comments section here (or e-mail to [email protected]), give us an answer on some of these questions:

1) Do you play BYOND games, develope or create them, both or neither?

2) What do you think about the idea of Achievements for games, like virtual badges you can gain both as players, game developers and surfers of byond.com?

3) How often do you visit the different guilds?

4) Is there anything you wish you could do with BYOND Guilds, that you can't do right now?

5) What do you think about the idea of contests that take place in BYOND games, featuring real prizes for players?

6) What kind of game would you most like to see on BYOND? (PG-13 please)

7) Would you like to see more Members features, and if so what?

As a last (but definately noteworthy) addition to this weeks Digest, I'd like to take a moment to point to the first article in a community project by Alathon, Stephen001 and Tiberath called DevTalk. The project will feature the 3 developers weekly, each taking turns to present that weeks article. Stephen001 has the following to say about what DevTalk is:

"DevTalk is about showing how game developers think and implement game features, solutions and systems. Both from a practical and theoretical perspective."


See you next week, folks!
Jan 6 2009, 8:45 am
(In response to #2)
Achievements sound like an interesting idea. They probably wouldn't work for some games, but the idea of achievements linked to special in-game awards might appeal to many.
Definitely something to try out
Jan 6 2009, 9:07 am
im going to respond to these questions.


1) Do you play BYOND games, Develop or create them, both or neither? Both

2) What do you think about the idea of Achievements for games, like virtual badges you can gain both as players, game developers and surfers of byond.com? Yea Mostly For The Developers cuz they have to work REALLY hard for there game to get noticed. Original And Rip should get noticed

3) How often do you visit the different guilds?
Even if i dont have a membership i visit byond guild alot like the Dbz Guild DBO productions guild i see the updates on there games news about the updates
4) Is there anything you wish you could do with BYOND Guilds, that you can't do right now?
i dont know

5) What do you think about the idea of contests that take place in BYOND games, featuring real prizes for players?
its really fun not knowing who will get it
6) What kind of game would you most like to see on BYOND? (PG-13 please)
more code geass death note action and anime games
7) Would you like to see more Members features, and if so what?
add videos to the hub and easier instructions easier way to add host files on the download thing.
Jan 6 2009, 9:08 am
I think achievements is a great idea. It's something BYOND definitely needs to try, however they should be allowed to list which ones they wish to display, otherwise the ones they acquire from rips would clutter up the more meaningful ones.

Also if you get them from surfing BYOND.com I can think of an achievement for how many replies posted, threads made, things like that. Also you'd have to have guilds be able to grant achievements.
Jan 6 2009, 9:39 am
Thanks for featuring Efencea here.

1) Do you play BYOND games, develope or create them, both or neither?
Mostly develop.

2) What do you think about the idea of Achievements for games, like virtual badges you can gain both as players, game developers and surfers of byond.com?
Sounds neat.

3) How often do you visit the different guilds?
Occasionally, maybe a few visits to random guilds a week.

5) What do you think about the idea of contests that take place in BYOND games, featuring real prizes for players?
Sounds fun, but what games--is there a bias?
Jan 6 2009, 9:44 am
1) Do you play BYOND games, develope or create them, both or neither?

2) What do you think about the idea of Achievements for games, like virtual badges you can gain both as players, game developers and surfers of byond.com?

3) How often do you visit the different guilds?

4) Is there anything you wish you could do with BYOND Guilds, that you can't do right now?

5) What do you think about the idea of contests that take place in BYOND games, featuring real prizes for players?

6) What kind of game would you most like to see on BYOND? (PG-13 please)

7) Would you like to see more Members features, and if so what?

1: Both, but mostly developing them.
2: I personally think this is a wonderful idea. As a matter of fact, I have created an achievement system and I may be releasing a system with a neat little demo.
3: Despite the fact that i'm seen as an "Anime" guy, I do look at other guilds, mostly BYOND RPG and Action.
4: Nothing really
5: Contests would get more people to join BYOND, who doesn't like free stuff?
6: I would really like to see a really nicley done platformer(sidescroller stuff, etc)
Jan 6 2009, 9:47 am
1) Both

2) This would be interesting. As said before, it wouldn't work for everything, but it certainly would be an interesting thing to add.

3) How often do you visit the different guilds? I visit certain guilds, some more often than others, some once in a blue moon. The main guild I look at is the action guild.

4) Not that I can really think of.

5) I actually see this done alot, I even do it in my own games sometimes. As a developer and owner, I notice that the players enjoy them immensely, sometimes more than the game itself. It is always the competition-type games that seem to turn out more popular just by the fact that competitions are always different and changing with new prizes, while the game itself might not change as much. Competition with other players never grows old.

6) I myself would love to see an isometric Final Fantasy Tactics game sometime. That has always been a dream of mine to make, but I never really got into making it.
Jan 6 2009, 10:12 am
1) Both

2) Well, depending on how it is done the Guilds might become alot more involved then they are now(guilds are basicly just for sorting games at the moment). Also, would make BYOND's itself more involved. Basicly... Good idea.

3) Not very.

4) Basicly the thing mentioned above. It would be very nice if I could set up a way for people to win metals and it's posted on the guild(perhaps top 5 BYONDers with the most metals on games in that guild?).

5) Well, sounds very nice. However, seems also unfair to those spending their money... So basicly, if their willing I guess so am I =).

6) Well, at the moment I am pretty content with BYOND. Honestly though it's more like two types I would like to see. One is a good non-anime RPG. The second is a sidescroller fighter with the following: Characters fall down, pixel movement, multikey holding(using 4.0).

7) Yes... Idk XD! At random...
Jan 6 2009, 10:33 am
I appreciate the link to my article.

1) Do you play BYOND games, develope or create them, both or neither?

Both, namely developing.

2) What do you think about the idea of Achievements for games, like virtual badges you can gain both as players, game developers and surfers of byond.com?

It sounds like quite a nice idea. I'd like to see it expanded on and get a nice variety of user input on the subject.

3) How often do you visit the different guilds?

I often visit the RPG guild and Single Players guild.

5) What do you think about the idea of contests that take place in BYOND games, featuring real prizes for players?

Im all for contests, I would like to see some mini games created for contests in which the high score wins.

6) What kind of game would you most like to see on BYOND? (PG-13 please)

An original single player game with a decent storyline to it.
Jan 6 2009, 10:54 am
1) Do you play BYOND games, develope or create them, both or neither?

2) What do you think about the idea of Achievements for games, like virtual badges you can gain both as players, game developers and surfers of byond.com?

3) How often do you visit the different guilds?

4) Is there anything you wish you could do with BYOND Guilds, that you can't do right now?

5) What do you think about the idea of contests that take place in BYOND games, featuring real prizes for players?

6) What kind of game would you most like to see on BYOND? (PG-13 please)

7) Would you like to see more Members features, and if so what?

1. both

2. seems like a great idea but i think not every games achievements get shown just the original ones...

3. im a member off all the other major guilds and i visit them every once in a while depending on what i feel like looking at a certain point in time, i also occasionally check up on other member guilds like the Bandwagon, Graphics guild and some other folks

4. i want to be able to add more games to my guild =_= 100 really is too little for a guild...

5. i dont know :/

6. I'd like to see more of the original or non-rip kind and that of a higher quality than people are so comfortable with

7. More members in our guilds, and maybe some extra features like a page based chat box, or note thing so people could either chat on one's page or leave notes. Also i'd like for rogue nays and yeas to be visible -.- its extremely annoying not knowing who nays your post, if they have the guts to nay they should atleast shouldnt be ashamed of there vote and show themselves.
Jan 6 2009, 12:01 pm
Some of this has potential.
Specifically the achievements, and possibly contests.
Achievements, I think it really should be given a try.. Maybe not on certain games, or maybe a 'played 100 games' or 'played for 100 hours' badge, or maybe certain games get approved to give out achievements, or have to be a BYOND favorite. So rips can't give `em out for ranking..
And contests, maybe. Depends what game, what kind of prizes.. Etc.
Jan 6 2009, 1:04 pm
1) Do you play BYOND games, develope or create them, both or neither?
- Both (Arguably)

2) What do you think about the idea of Achievements for games, like virtual badges you can gain both as players, game developers and surfers of byond.com?
- Couldn't hurt. It's a great way to get people to try new games.

3) How often do you visit the different guilds?
- Not very often.

4) Is there anything you wish you could do with BYOND Guilds, that you can't do right now?
- Think of an original idea for one.

5) What do you think about the idea of contests that take place in BYOND games, featuring real prizes for players?
- Sign me up!

6) What kind of game would you most like to see on BYOND? (PG-13 please)
- Whatever Hedgerow Hall and Survival are. I'd like to see games like them.

7) Would you like to see more Members features, and if so what?
- A full list of all 'live' games, like in the old day.
Jan 6 2009, 1:43 pm
1.) I play.
--
2.) It seems a bit over-used in games today - one site already has a whole network based on Achievements - something different than that.. like Milestones.Meh.
--
3.) I visit most of the guilds on the HUB gamelist, and a few others.
--
4.) I want to see musicboxes/advanced chatboxes in them.
--
5.) That'd be great for the community.
--
6.) I'd like to see a stress-relief game.. as in, a game which holds a pack of modes of stress-relief. It'd be great for me.. really great.
--
7.) I'm not a member, but I know this would be cool for members..{an opinion, though}.
Avatars; specifically homepage avatars.
--
P.S. - Try to make the game-making program more user-friendly.
Jan 6 2009, 3:02 pm
1) Do you play BYOND games, develope or create them, both or neither?
Develop

2) What do you think about the idea of Achievements for games, like virtual badges you can gain both as players, game developers and surfers of byond.com?
I like it.

3) How often do you visit the different guilds?
Not very often since I don't play many games.

4) Is there anything you wish you could do with BYOND Guilds, that you can't do right now?
Yes, have a single listing of all subscribed guilds.

5) What do you think about the idea of contests that take place in BYOND games, featuring real prizes for players?
I think it's kind of weird to be honest.

6) What kind of game would you most like to see on BYOND? (PG-13 please)
Specifically? I would freaking love a Pokemon Trading Card Game, and a real clone of Pokemon Red/Blue.
Jan 6 2009, 6:53 pm
1) Do you play BYOND games, develope or create them, both or neither?
Playing them is less stressful. Homework is bad enough without being pestered about updates.

2) What do you think about the idea of Achievements for games, like virtual badges you can gain both as players, game developers and surfers of byond.com?
Not bad, if they were purely graphical. Nice looking, but not too much of an advantage in game, else, how will others catch up?

3) How often do you visit the different guilds?
Rarely do so.

4) Is there anything you wish you could do with BYOND Guilds, that you can't do right now?
Nope. Since I rarely ever visit them.

5) What do you think about the idea of contests that take place in BYOND games, featuring real prizes for players?
Interesting, and has both a good and bad side to it. Good side? You get to have fun on BYOND while knowing you might get a prize someday. The other way? It'll make me grind for hours or whatever it is to get that prize(Example) and take my attention off my homework even more.

6) What kind of game would you most like to see on BYOND? (PG-13 please)
A game that has sensible owners, moderators, and administrators, is a role-playing one, and one with a good community. Such games, even if graphics may not be top standard, if theres the code, there's the friends, I'll still play.

7) Would you like to see more Members features, and if so what?
No, not really. Irks me to see ranking boosts still exist *coughthat owner who posed way too much as a staff member and even made a MSN account claiming he was Dantom, and tried to ripcough*. But if it was not a gameplay advantage, they can look cool, that's only sensible. Pure awesome-looks, no game-advantages.
Jan 6 2009, 10:08 pm (Edited on Jan 6 2009, 10:35 pm)
(Without reading the other replies first, in order to stay without bias)

1) I play several BYOND games and would want to play more, but lack combatants.
Occasionally the idea for a game sparks my mind, but I did not yet develop one.
I still lack the level of proficiency, both in game design and the DM language for this task.

2) I like the idea as it is a successful concept on other community platforms, though I'm personally uninfluenced by it, I hope to benefit indirectly through new blood in the community pool.

3) Dream Makers and Help daily (forum).
BYOND whenever my pager drops me news.
The rest, only very sporadically.

4) A more straight forward way to advertise resources and libraries/demos that have proven useful when developing games of the sort.

5) Sure, I'm in, depending on the featured games.

6) A large scaled RPG (big enough map to keep exploring for some time, multi dimensionally balanced character system, decent graphics to attract people) and some casual DMCGI powered browser games to help spread the word of BYOND.

7) Nothing I could of think right now.


Edit - Replies

NoxLupus wrote:
P.S. - Try to make the game-making program more user-friendly.

Could you be a bit more precise?
Maybe you'd want to drop me a line on the pager as I'm very curious about that concern ;)

Chris Gayle wrote:
7. extra features like a page based chat box, or note thing so people could either chat on one's page or leave notes.

Hmm, I agree, though, maybe if editing the layout of the memberpage would get a bit easier all that and more could be achieved through including third party freeware already.

IcewarriorX wrote:
I can think of an achievement for how many replies posted, threads made

Wouldn't that only encourage flooding the forum with even more spam?
Postings like "Oh my eyes" as comment to source code might seem fun, but are actually contra productive even.
Jan 7 2009, 1:07 am

1) Do you play BYOND games, develope or create them, both or neither?

Used to develop, now really just a form lurker, Efencea might get back to playing the few good BYOND games on here.

2) What do you think about the idea of Achievements for games, like virtual badges you can gain both as players, game developers and surfers of byond.com?

I suppose it would be a good idea, but then again it's pretty easy to abuse such a system, "Get an Achievement for joining / ranking XXXXX"

3) How often do you visit the different guilds?

I check into my favorite guilds daily.

4) Is there anything you wish you could do with BYOND Guilds, that you can't do right now?

I wish all of this content was more streamlined, I hate having Members, Games, all that separated, it should be one fluent experience.

5) What do you think about the idea of contests that take place in BYOND games, featuring real prizes for players?

I think they should be more on the site, like our previous contests.

6) What kind of game would you most like to see on BYOND? (PG-13 please)

Perhaps a good remake of SpaceTug or a space based game (SS13 moves too slow for me!)
I think the SpaceTug source is somewhere around here...

7) Would you like to see more Members features, and if so what?

- Perhaps clean up the pager a tad, make it more "fancy".
- I also think our member icons should be used in more places, perhaps on the Pager? Don't know how much bandwidth that would use...
- Getting "NEWS" for updated forum posts, blog announcements, (your blog favorites) etc. through the pager.
Jan 7 2009, 6:51 am
1- Both

2- I like it, it'd bring some new stuff around, and it'd be cool to show off our achievements. :P

3- I mostly just lurk around BYOND Anime, yet I visit the others from time to time.

4- Nothing, really.

5- Depends on what the contests are about.

6- An RPG/RTS mix with a good storyline.(even if it's singleplayer)

7- Yes, maybe a way to change the pages layout ? Mostly I'd lose the orange and replace it by another blue-ish colour. If it's possible it'd be nice.
Jan 7 2009, 11:00 am
1. Both

2. EPIC WIN!

3. I have never heard of them except for the game category guilds

4. no

5. I don't think it'll work

6. A Sonic game, none are ever hosted and the ones that are hosted suck.

7. No
Jan 7 2009, 2:33 pm
1) Both

2) Depends on what the badges do, like if they grant bonuses or just sit there and are to show off. If more could be explained I could give a more accurate answer, but for now, yes.

3) Very Seldom.

4) Nothing that I can think of.

5) Yes.

6) A successful Halo game.

7) Nope.
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