Stray Games

by Falacy
because BYOND.
Falacy wrote:
Even more fantastically for me, that game was made with Unity, an engine that I would be an expert with by now if I had stuck with it, instead of falling back into this pit.

It's not like you were held captive at gun-point and given an ultimatum.

BYOND has its own niche. You can't try to use it as a panacea for all of your game development ventures. The engine is maturing - not at the pace we'd all like - but it's getting there; certainly you can't dispute that?
As to why I'm only releasing a "lite" version of Out of Ammo! (OoA!) onto BYOND.

EDIT: Also, problem with Paradise Falls is... it sucks to look at, and when I tried it out in hopes of enjoying a zombie-based game... I was severely let down.
Since this is posted in Box Zombies, I was wondering if I could get a hold of the host files so I can host it. o.o
In response to Kitsueki
Kitsueki wrote:
1. This game has a professional-looking website to present it, how is your game presented?

The BYOND website looks like it was designed by a 12 year old (it probably was). Could of course make my own, but as usual, BYOND deters devs from such things by not giving proper support for standalone releases. Not much point in making your own website when its entire purpose is to redirect to a BYOND hub, because that's the only way BYOND provides connections. I have, however, worked around this problem by making my own standalone exe, and plan on creating a website for Box Zombies when its ready.

2. Which game modes does your game have? This one has 3 from the looks of it

That game only had 1 mode as far as I could tell, and it was exactly the same. Search for random loot, destroy blocks, build blocks, survive, kill zombies.

3. What's in demand for zombie games nowadays? Are 2D zombie games popular?

There is no demand for 2D games of any kind in today's market.

4. The workload difference. If you were to try your hand at porting over to Unity or whatever.. do you have the ability to make 3D graphics? Do you have extra people to fill those roles? Are 3D games harder to develop than 2D?

The graphics in 7 Days aren't particularly impressive, majority of them I could make, the few others I could just buy from a variety of sites. 3D games are not harder to make than 2D, they simply require a slightly different set of skills. Unity is easier to use and more intuitive than BYOND in practically every way, and 3D modeling programs, like Google Sketchup, are as easy to use as MS Paint.

5. Do you market your game as well as this one?

7 Days had no marketing.

I think BYOND is better suited for RPG's to be honest :)

If by "RPG's" you mean RP Chatrooms, then sure. But Skype is just as effective a platform for such "games" as BYOND.


Magnum2k wrote:
BYOND has its own niche. You can't try to use it as a panacea for all of your game development ventures. The engine is maturing - not at the pace we'd all like - but it's getting there; certainly you can't dispute that?

atom.transparency adds next to nothing to the language, it helps by reducing a few lines of DM code on the developer, and possibly providing a slight performance boost. Though supposedly such icon processing had already been offloaded on the client in a previous version anyway.

I've been on BYOND for like 10 years, I doubt they've made even 10 meaningful updates in those entire 10 years. The addition of basic icon processing is nothing that people should be impressed by, its pathetic that it hasn't been added yet. The only way BYOND will ever become a viable engine is if they add full 3D support, full client sided processing, and optimize their processing and networking capabilities so that thousands of players can seamlessly play in a single server. None of these important changes will ever happen. It took months of harassment just to get pixel movement implemented, something that should have been a common sense default feature from the beginning.

Even if they do manage to release a flash client, which I doubt they ever will, there's little point in it, when you can only get 10 people playing your game before the server hosting it lags into the ground.


UPD4T3 wrote:
EDIT: Also, problem with Paradise Falls is... it sucks to look at, and when I tried it out in hopes of enjoying a zombie-based game... I was severely let down.

Do you mean Paradise City? Because that's not the same game.
"3. What's in demand for zombie games nowadays? Are 2D zombie games popular?

There is no demand for 2D games of any kind in today's market."


http://steamcommunity.com/app/105600
http://www.playstarbound.com/store/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/206440
http://store.steampowered.com/ search/?developer=Spiderweb%20Software

No demand at all huh? Less demand? Sure. But there is demand there, there is the potential for sales. Just Terraria alone has sold over 2 million copies, it's on Xbox and Playstation as well. 'Starbound' another game with a similar concept, also in 2D has decent pre-order sales.

There's other games like To the Moon which while I don't have sales numbers I know they've done pretty well, they also managed to secure a place on steam.

Spiderweb games, also 2D (isometric) have sold more than enough to keep 3 developers + freelance contracts in business with industry salaries.


It honestly sounds more like you're upset that someone else made a similar concept successful and you're trying to find ways to blame it on someone or something other than yourself.

You'd be far better to take that frustration and turn it into a reason to become a better developer and businessman.
Those 2D games are basically 1hit wonders. Nobody was demanding them, they still aren't, they just happened to come out and get fantastically lucky somehow. Look at angry birds, there were hundreds of catapult games exactly like it before its release, but somehow the Birds vs Pigs theme earned them millions of sales - not because people were begging for the next great 2D catapult adventure.

As for these claims that I am still here, I haven't done any meaningful BYOND work in months, possibly years. Even Box Zombies, which is the only project I have any interest in whatsoever, barely gets any work done on it. I am reluctant to work on a project that I know will be a failure, and even if it had any chance of success, I would have to do huge amounts of extra work (on top of already having to create my own standalone and account systems) to get it to the desirable levels - basically creating custom client sided/networking and distribution methods since BYOND's are such garbage.

I am, however, working on a Unity project at the moment, so perhaps that will turn out better than anything on BYOND. It certainly can't end any worse.
I won't lie, I was here for the anime games, let it be Falacys own DBZ games or DragonBall Online. Even Naruto games ( Non rips ) But it's obvious the site is dead now.
" [...]I am reluctant to work on a project that I know will be a failure, and even if it had any chance of success, I would have to do huge amounts of extra work[...]"

I hate to break it to you but I don't think you're a game developer at heart. Someone who legitimately enjoys developing video games and bringing their ideas to reality isn't just someone who is good at programming. You need to have a passion for what you're doing and actually care about the project. You're far too concerned over what will be successful or not when you should be ecstatic to bring your world to life.

For the record, I admired you once upon a time but you've become more akin to a spoiled, bratty child that bullies other kids for not having the latest toys. BYOND isn't the greatest by any stretch but people still like it, what it makes and have fun with it. What else should you be concerned with? BYOND is a learning/hobbyist engine for people who like game development but aren't ready for anything serious. Just get off your high chair and leave already. I'll be awaiting the day that I see a AAA title developed by you. Good luck.
In response to Kumorii
Kumorii wrote:
I hate to break it to you but I don't think you're a game developer at heart. Someone who legitimately enjoys developing video games and bringing their ideas to reality isn't just someone who is good at programming. You need to have a passion for what you're doing and actually care about the project.

I had that once upon a time, BYOND killed it.

you've become more akin to a spoiled, bratty child that bullies other kids for not having the latest toys

Just think of everyone sitting around trying to play Atari if the PS3/360 was available for free.
In response to Falacy
Falacy wrote:
Kumorii wrote:
I hate to break it to you but I don't think you're a game developer at heart. Someone who legitimately enjoys developing video games and bringing their ideas to reality isn't just someone who is good at programming. You need to have a passion for what you're doing and actually care about the project.

I had that once upon a time, BYOND killed it.

So sad to see so much negativity coming from such a.. big figure of BYOND. :(
In response to Falacy
Falacy wrote:
Drakemoore wrote:
Nestalgia at the very least tried to get on Steam Greenlight, they did a pretty piss poor job at it IMO. But they stepped out of the Byond platform and 'tried'. I commend them for that at least.

So you say marketing is the most important thing, that if you do it, you will succeed, then provide an example of someone who has done it and is a failure?

Byond has nothing to do with marketing your game, Unity has nothing to do with marketing your game. "You" as the proprietor, as the entrepreneur are the sole responsibility for that.

Majority of meaningful marketing comes from word of mouth, and popular youtube channels playing your game. Almost everything else is irrelevant unless you have a million dollar budget for some crazy CG cutscene that has next to nothing to do with your actual game.

I'm currently on the developer team for a established Space MMO, that is in fact 3D and is actually a custom built engine. I'm going to tell you that the largest hurdle hasn't been making a good game but it's been the ability to market it.

Unless this game is EVE Online, I've never heard of it, so you must be doing a bad job marketing, and if the game was good enough, it would market itself.

actually my Rotting Aftermath game (thanks again Strai ;) )
is doing fairly well for a game that isnt even hosted... I do an ok job at advertising (forum Sigs and what not) and I have a sizable amount of people who ask me about it and try it out... alot of them tend to like it and come back to it... Ive gotten a few fans plus the notice of a Resident Evil Forum called Biohaze... So its mostly about marketing and how you present yourself... anyway im sure if it were hosted it would get alot more players (about HU size maybe)

but sadly im on shity wifi so it is not possible at the moment..

anyway you just need to give it time. and try to be as professional and warm as much as possible...


Falacy wrote:
Kumorii wrote:
I hate to break it to you but I don't think you're a game developer at heart. Someone who legitimately enjoys developing video games and bringing their ideas to reality isn't just someone who is good at programming. You need to have a passion for what you're doing and actually care about the project.

I had that once upon a time, BYOND killed it.
Hush falacy... You still got it.. you just gotta think back to the good ole days...

remember straygames.3.forumer.com?
Dreamscape (name will probably change). Made in about a week. Going to push on Kick Starter once we have more appealing art assets and a website.
Not really a fan of cardgames and things that fall under the 'big fish genre'

I've seen your work on Byond and the things you've been able to produce. I feel you can do better than fall into the bottomless pit of casual card games on kick starter.
Wow! That one card game is better than any game that can be produced by BYOND!
In response to Falacy
Falacy wrote:
Dreamscape (name will probably change). Made in about a week. Going to push on Kick Starter once we have more appealing art assets and a website.

your missing the entire point... developing games isnt about making money or using the best graphics... its about making ats in your heart... stop moving to different engines just because of the graphics... yea byond may be outdated and heavily underdeveloped (ive been here almost as long as you so dont try to say i dont know what im talking about....) but its also simple to use and has a community that is dedicated (admit it, the reason why you always comeback is because yu care about it!) all typos aside, byond has much more going for it than unity... watch when the day comes that byond itself blossoms into an engine used by many professional devs for future consoles and pc rigs...
Zagros5000 wrote:
i blame falacys greediness for the lack of players ever since funimation stepped in

In personal opinion this is truly what fucked Byond.
In response to Naruto0727
Assuming you're talking about FUNimation stepping in and removing all DBZ games, I disagree, that did not ruin BYOND. BYOND was not looking to advertise itself as a website where you play fan games, they were looking to present themselves a bit more professionally, with displays of games like NEStalgia, Eternia, and SS13 on the front page, NOT DBZ fan games, so in the end, it didn't hurt or help BYOND.
I find it very ironic the people defending the dreaded anime section here are linked to it somehow, such as their byond key or picture, but to me the common view of most people on byond (that aren't in the anime section) share hatred or dislike towards it.
byond is only succesful cuz of fangames imo
In response to Kryzaldo
Kryzaldo wrote:
I find it very ironic the people defending the dreaded anime section here are linked to it somehow, such as their byond key or picture, but to me the common view of most people on byond (that aren't in the anime section) share hatred or dislike towards it.

Well, I won't lie when I made this account in 2006 I was 14 years old and naturally Naruto which was my favorite anime at the time other than DBZ and whatnot sort of drove me to the site, regardless of the naruto rips or whatever it still was cool to pick the character you wanted and learn everything a anime character would.

Again 7 years later, we bearly have that anymore, while yes it is a good thing it also took away from a lot of people, example Dragon Ball Online was a personal favorite.

I'm just rambling now but I hope you sort of get the point of what I was attempting to say.
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