CARE, DAMN YOU, CARE! Banner rotation and other perks of being featured don't seem to be a goal of many BYOND developers. Perhaps some just can't be bothered to meet the checklist. (Hey, Aixelsyd.) However, I think others might be waiting for someone else to notice them.

Please don't. Outside of a genre check, some of us are pretty clueless about the games we list. At least I am. If you know of a game which meets the criteria, just alert the guild staff to it in the forums. (Something like Our State is fine. There's not enough activity for a dedicated forum.)

• The Feature Checklist has been updated with a requirement that unlicensed content is not welcome. It's still possible for fangames to be listed in the guild, but they can't be featured. Technically, this was always the case in BYOND Strategy, but it was not stated outright like it should have been. The tyrant who wrote the checklist felt like being more thorough.
• Speaking of that tyrant, BYOND Strategy is now featuring my recently updated robot-crashing game, Gears & Peers, and my daemonic wargame of adaptable units, Flesh and Drone. As usual, both games have been added to the list of review requests in the Disclosure forum... Notice that I didn't wait around requesting second opinions in Tech Tree for weeks. I added the games myself. Perhaps it's a blatant abuse of power. Call me on it or watch me do it again!
• IainPeregrine posted the results of Game in a Day 2009.
  • Oasiscircle came in first with his defense game, Turtle Towers. I reasoned that the game had enough polish to be listed in the guild and Oasiscircle's willingness to continue updating has assured me that I made the right decision. (Plus, I just got another update alert while writing this.)
  • Jp's turn-based tactical game, Gears of War, came in third and has been added to the guild with the news that it might be worked on further.
  • D4RK3 54B3R's RTS, Empyrean War, was awarded for being complete. There doesn't seem to be a hub page, but D4RK3 54B3R has offered a direct download.
• Last week, Calus CoRPS made me aware that some games are available to download again. =)
  • 172.16.0.1/Calus CoRPS' turn-based tactical battle, Fortay is again featured.
  • 172.16.0.1/Calus CoRPS' turn-based world conquest, Infamous Zipcom, is listed.
  • Nategrant and Oasiscircle's base defense game, Palace, is listed.
  • Ginseng's RTS, TribeWars, is listed.
  • Lendgens's RTS, War, is listed.
• Mobius Evalon is slowly making progress on Board Game Chat. The basics for Go and Backgammon have been finished, but it looks like some of the source might have to be rewritten for piece tracking.
• Not that it was getting a lot of activity, but Squeegy's god-worshiping RTS/Action hybrid, Faith, no longer links to its forum. I'd check if it still exists, but I don't know the URL.
• Techgamer is still working on his strategy RPG, Strategy and Subtlety. Updates will eventually include an item system with randomized stats, enemy loot drops, improved maps, AI tweaks, HUD notifications, and bugfixes. There appear to still be positions open, but Redbutton is now providing at least some of the art. (BTW, there's a test server up as I write this and AI if nobody's on.)
• I can't seem to keep Latoma's projects straight. One of his Super Robot Wars fangames is being reverted back to a Gundam-inspired project, but it won't be referred to as a Gundam game. Is it an original IP? All I know is that Latoma has taken to calling me Squidface and Octopusman in reference to my BYOND avatar... which actually looks a lot like me.
• AZA's Build A Space Game contest is looking for prize donations. Contestants may have something to look forward to after 3 months of creating space-based games with themes of either horror, asteroids or scavenging... Other than the games themselves, I mean.
• Aside from Gears & Peers, I've been working on my boardgame, Genetic Fork. The Game Crafter just got some new parts. Together with some dice swapping, I've managed to add another $5 to my game's cost. Normally, that would bother me, but I'll also be offering a lite version and the trade off for better dice and composite pawns seems worth it.
  
  Meanwhile, those offended by my games in the BYOND Strategy featured list can laugh as I attempt to get my Williams-inspired arcade game, Wrangle, Warp and Weep, featured in BYOND Action in the face of criteria that I have no control over.

The Dice Tower finally got around to the final four games of their dual top 100 lists. Melody seems to have energy to spare, but I'm not sure there's enough jelly beans in the world to convince Holly to do any more.

Scott Nicholson is promoting National Gaming Day @ Your Library. Super Smash Bros players are welcome.

Mememolly is back on Rocketboom.


Got news? Robert Florence appears to have kept a 10 minute episode of DowntimeTown on Vimeo and away from his YouTube account.