Alathonia

Re: If your packaged BYOND game is over 2 MB, you suck.

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 03:08:34 GMT

Every once in a while, I browse the Members blogs here to find interesting reads. Sometimes I find hidden gems (nice posts that go unnoticed), and sometimes I find a turd pretending to be a diamond:

The turd in question here is this one, and since I'm banned from SilkWizard's blog, I may as well take up this topic here proper.

However, this isn't about how stupid someone is or isn't. Whats the right thing to be doing, with assets in BYOND?

What sort of file formats should I be using?

For sound: OGG, MIDI, MP3 or properly compressed WAV files depending on the sound in question. Obviously, only compress to the point where there is no audible difference - If you start to experience sound quality loss, then step back up in file size until you don't. Many games use MP3 for longer sounds and compressed WAV for shorter sounds. Bad sound is very noticable, so if theres something you don't want to compress its most likely here.

For graphics: This will vary quite a bit if we're talking outside of BYOND, but in the case of BYOND you should be using PNG's and potentially JPEG files. Obviously, again, only compress to the point where there is no visible difference. This will depend largely on your artistic vision for the game - Palette reduction is better done as an initial choice before assets are drawn, rather than compression.

Is there lossless compression for PNGs?

Short answer: Yes. PNGOut.

Here is a tutorial for PNGOut. The command-line version is free, most of the default options for various values are completely fine.

Short list of the above

1) Compress your PNGs with a lossless compression tool, if possible.
2) Use proper formats for the job at hand (PNG, MP3, OGG, MIDI, compressed WAV)
3) Don't compress or reduce something if it looks worse or sounds worse. Ever.

Now, looking at the Games folder on this computer, here are a few figures:

Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden:
Sound assets: 48.11MB (3MB of Voices, rest MP3s and a few compressed WAV's for sound effects)

Graphical assets: 5.63MB

A note on the graphical assets: Those are only backdrops / backgrounds / tile screens. The characters don't seem to be there, so I'm going to assume they're somewhere I haven't found them or bundled inside the game or something else.

Depths of Peril
Total assets size: 88.1MB

Depths of Peril bundles its assets into zipfiles, and I'm not much into looking inside them all and figuring out how much is sound and how much is graphics.

Galaxy Online
Total assets size: About 90MB

These are all games that have comparable graphics/sound to what BYOND is intended, and all 3 of these games could reliably be re-created in BYOND, with the exception of Galaxy Online, at least if it is to support thousands of simultaneous players as it does.

If you're not developing a game for web play, you don't need to go crazy optimizing a darn thing. People are downloading games regularly that take up in excess of 500-1000MB for smaller games - If your game is 3MB compressed and 6MB uncompressed and the difference in sound/visual quality is noticable, then you shouldn't be compressing at all. You're in such a low ballpark that it doesn't matter. Compress and optimize because its a good habbit to be doing, but not to the point where it has an effect on your intended game vision.

So, taking a look at SilkWizard's 2MB hardcap I really can't do anything except boggle at why you would set such a ridiculously low cap. I agree with Foomer's assessment that doing so only encourages worse-looking, worse-sounding games. If you have other techniques or ideas on how to reduce game size without resorting to reducing the quality of your game, then go ahead and mention them and I'll edit them in. If I'm incorrect somewhere, please point it out =)

Status: Inactive

Sun, 24 May 2009 04:08:50 GMT

Since I joined BYOND back in 2000/2001, I've picked up a wealth of knowledge both from the language and the community. Being a forum moderator taught me patience and respect for differences despite anonymity, amongst other things. As a programmer I grew from a vague understanding of C via text MUDs, to a solid grasp of design principles and object-oriented programming in DM. And as a person I learned to appreciate the small communities that gather online in the presence of games and similar interests; f.ex the people I still talk to now years after I met them online in a game, in Chatters or on the forums.

Nowadays, I don't really find myself with the time or inclination to finish my dream game here, however. As such, and in consideration of the pseudo-responsibilities I've held in the past, I figured I'd give a heads-up to those inclined to care. I suspect I'll still be dropping by Chatters occasionally to insult Haywire or play some CrossFire (or whatever be the fad of the day there), and I'm reachable via MSN.

Have a good one ;)

Life is short: Don't settle

Thu, 07 May 2009 03:27:55 GMT

2 days ago, during some fairly strong wind gusts - an oak tree fell over and smashed into a car driving along the side of the park in question; the driver was killed almost on the spot. Death by falling tree.

Life is too short to settle for not enjoying it, not demanding a slice of happiness just for yourself. And so in light of that (Not the death by tree), I've dropped my internship (which I felt wasn't going anywhere) and will be studying software design at IT University Copenhagen; that, or software engineering at DTU, the Danish Technical University - Come August.

And as I realized thats what I was going to do, I managed to let out a sigh of relief; because settling and barricading yourself in a situation that you know isn't good for you just plain sucks, and drains you of energy that could be used to create, f.ex, the best game in the world!

Most all of this is common sense, and yet so many people (myself included) settle with little or no thought as to the consequence it has on our mind, energy, daily joy and similar - Instead of demanding more for ourselves. Why ? I suppose in my case because I'm so used to not getting what I want that it becomes the daily norm and it starts being okay. Which is terrible, if you think about it - And I have, so I've decided to do away with that notion altogether.

Always always link!

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 02:26:11 GMT

I notice a bunch of blog posts talk about a game, maybe even your own game, but in that post there is not a single link to the game!

I would've checked out the medals for Murder Mansion, but there was no link! Yes, I can go find it in the hub, but I wont - Yet I'd have looked at the game, possibly gotten more interested etc, if there had been a link in the blog post.

I would've downloaded the newest version of Tomb Explorer, maybe even played a game or two, checked out the current standings, etc. - But there was no link to the game in the blog post!

This might make you go, 'Well if you aren't interested enough in the game to go visit the hub, sod you!'; but try not to think like that. This is an attempt to emphasize something: The easier you make it for players to find and get into your game, the more players you'll have. The more times you lure them into viewing your hub entry, the more likely they are to try it out.

So start linking to your games in posts about them, already!

Rupture: Brief Combat Synopsis

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:38:16 GMT

Combat takes place on a seperate map, where up to 3 players and/or NPCs can face off against up to 3 others. You can join mid-combat, which means NPCs can join mid-combat too.

Rupture uses a turn-based model, where each battle takes place between two sides (Left and Right). Players/NPCs on a side all take their turn simultaneously, and then the other side. You have 30 seconds to perform actions with your units, before you run out of time and the turn switches to the other side.

All units have the basic 4 abilities of: Attack, Guard, Swap Position and Use Item. In addition to these 4, units may have up to 6 of their own abilities; abilities use up action points, which are partially regenerated at the start of every turn.

The Attack ability is the basic attack of every character; depending on the class, the range and amount of units hit may vary. Some can only attack the first unit in a row, while others will hit a straight line of units; some may attack flying units and others not.

All player parties have a 'main' character in their group of units. If that main character dies, the rest of that group automatically flees. Main characters are typically stronger than the rest, having access to more abilities than regular characters do.

Some attacks can be chained together to create combos; these are specific attack combinations from differently classed units, from the same group, during the same turn. The combo attack replaces the last attack in the chain with the combo.

Breakin at work

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:50:07 GMT

So last night at 1 in the morning, I got a call from a colleague who is listed as first-contact if an alarm goes off at our photostudio. She asks if I know anything about it, I answer no and get back to bed.

This morning I step into the studio as the first person, and notice all doors are wide open - Something we never leave open inside, because its cold as heck. Another colleague arrives, and it turns out someone broke in through one of our doubledoors by prying it open with force; which shouldn't have been possible, but apparently was. The alarm trips at 01:03, and security arrives at 01:25 to disable the alarm and close the gate again.

The unnerving thing about all of this is that they went very specifically after highly priced items, that you wouldn't normally necessarily assume were highly priced. Cameras (2 worth 100000DKK each) and video cameras (2 worth 350000DKK each) are a no duh, but things like little plastic boxes with load balancing calculators (for figuring out kiloton load on constructions) that aren't heavy, and a very plastic-looking video mixer worth almost 250000DKK stolen, next to a much cheaper one worth only 50000DKK that looks more fancy...

I count stolen goods worth approximately 1 million DKK, which were small enough for a single person to carry in the two camera bags he stuffed everything into (ours, gone from studio) and the video mixer which had a handle you can carry it in. Thats 177,547USD. The person literally took every single high-value, light-weight item in our entire studio; things from different rooms, some placed in obscure areas. I'm not police, but this was either an inside job or an ordered job from someone who hired someone with extreme knowledge of highly priced photo, TV and movie equipment (and even event rigging equipment, the load balancing equipment stolen).

Scary :/

What the blazing heck

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 10:12:58 GMT

So about 5 minutes ago I opened a letter from SKAT, the tax collection... agency, in Denmark. Apparently they've given me 14 days to pay 42385DKK back in taxes, that I supposedly accumulated in the year 2007.

Some quick easy math tells me that in order to be behind 42385DKK in taxes, I'd need to have earned roughly 100000DKK. And then paid zero taxes from it, which means whoever I worked for would either be failing to report taxes properly or I'd be working for money under the table. Thats an impressive 100000DKK, especially considering the fact that I was *unemployed* in 2007 except for the last two months, where I'm now looking at the paychecks where I was deducted properly in wages for taxes.

What the blazing heck. I can't wait to call them on Monday and figure out if I should consider myself royally screwed (student wages, 42000DKK? Yeah, right) or yell at them for making some huge mistake and scaring the crap out of me. As a point of reference, 42000DKK is about $9000

Rupture

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 09:06:54 GMT

Rupture is a tale of survival, pitting you in the middle of a war gone horribly wrong. Divided and on the brink of extinction, the remaining races have banded into kingdoms and are now engaged in a fierce fight for territory. Will you fight or will you flee?

Rupture features a rich steampunk universe spread across 4 vastly different worlds. Take part in a game that evolves day and night; as cities are raided and burned, dragons scour the forest bed for victims and ancient treasures lie in wait for those who dare wander off the beaten path.

The gameplay focuses on a mix of strategy and adventure. You can control up to 9 characters, all of which can be customized and outfit according to the needs and goals of the player. Banding together in Guilds and Kingdoms allows players to build cities of their own design, and even raid and burn down an enemy city.

I have much more than this in store for Rupture, so theres a little teaser as the tip of the iceberg ;)

Rupture is currently scheduled to go live at the end of 2009, subject to change at any time.

New Years

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:41:00 GMT

Traditionally, new years is a time to look back on the year that is about to come to an end. To fondly remember the good and be happy that the bad is past.

The last year for me has without a doubt been the hardest, most trying year of my life. I've given up a child, lost the love of my life, got fired, lost all money, lost my apartment, lost most of my friends and virtually anything else that was a part of my life a year ago. The past 3-4 months have been a day-by-day battle to try and move on and get back some semblance of a life.

At the apex of the year, I'm happy for the good memories of things that were. Those will always be with me, come hellfire (as it has) or not. And I'm happy that despite 18 hour workdays, no money or real social life and lonely nights, things are moving in the right direction for the first time since last December.

I think my new years resolution will be a simple one: to rediscover the joy of life that I once had so much of; to learn how to smile again. Its so easy to forget the positive, and even a single moment of true happiness can light up a thousand bad memories.

I'm tired of looking behind me and losing track of where I was going. So heres to a good new years eve, and the future to come!

Cheers,
Martin

Rune Weaving Discipline

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 07:08:03 GMT

So work on the actual content of my game has begun; about time.

Disciplines are chosen by players to customize their character. The Primary Discipline is basically the equivelant of a class. Rune Weaver is one such discipline.

A Rune Weaver can tattoo runes onto their body and weaponry, as well as weave runes in the air to conjure a desired effect.

The rune weavers body can be tattoo'd in various different general areas (hands, arms, legs, torso, head, feet), and the 4 elemental runes (Fire Earth Air Water) cause different effects depending on where they are placed. More of the same type of rune in the same location increases potency.

Examples include:

Lightning shield that surrounds the rune weaver, striking back at those who attack him. (Air runes on Torso)

An attack that binds the oponent with water, causing them to slow their movement speed for a period of time (Water runes on arms)

The hands of the rune weaver move faster, allowing them to parry at greater speed (Air runes on hands)

The rune weavers body is hardened by the earthen runes, allowing them to sustain more hits and making severing of limbs a great deal more difficult (Earth runes on legs).

Runes tattoo'd onto the head (1 rune only) grant a long-time reuse ability that is of great power, such as a wall of bracken, a lance of fire, etc.

In addition to this, weaponry can also be enchanted with runes. And rune weavers can weave different combinations of runes (Fire Death = A fireball-like attack) to conjure effects.