MaGicBush's site

Lag in BYOND

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 22:56:16 +0000

I am not sure if this should go here or in developer help, but it seems more of a design question. I have been playing some of the newer games on here and most still seem to use the tile-based movement as opposed to the pixel movement. I am working out a game that will incorporate pixel-based movement however. With those games one of the major drawbacks from me wanting to continue playing is the lag. Pushing to move and it takes a while to enter the next tile, or you jump ahead to many tiles at once. Does pixel movement have this issue online? I am sure a lot of that just depends on the server hosting the game, but I am wondering how much it has to do with the actual engine used for BYOND if any.

The game I am working on will require precise movements and attacks using melee weapons and some projectiles. If it is mostly due to the host/server then what are recommended specs for a good server without lag for around 10-50 players at a time(possibly more if it was popular). I am assuming I would have to purchase some kind of server and pay monthly to get anything decent enough to run that many players and not just use my PC(bad upload of only 1.5mb/sec). What type of server would I need to look for as well(link to a good site that could host maybe)?

This is still far off, but I am trying to account for everything at this stage. Thanks for any feedback!

Any interest in this idea?

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 17:24:55 +0000

Hey all I was contemplating working on a new M(M)ORPG based somewhat off of Heaven and Hearth if anyone has heard of it. I tried going back to play that but the lag is horrible and makes it almost unplayable. I have yet to find another game even somewhat similar to it besides Topia online(and that looks like it could tank).

This game would be a permadeath survival world. You literally have to try to survive and this includes eating and foraging for food. Eventually you can work your way up to claiming land and building on it. You would generally start out with a small hovel type building and put a bed in it to restore stamina while your offline. The player essentially would try to work up to joining other players to form a town and later on a nation possibly.

The main focus as said is just trying to stay alive and the "generic" monsters most games have would be non-existent. Things like wolves, foxes, bears, etc would be the only violent creatures in the game which all provide food as well. Players would be allowed to PvP as well but combat would generally be avoided because of the permanent death penalty. Crafting and surviving would be the major focus of the game.

The permanent death would result in the player returning to either a menu or a starting room to remake their character. The only things that might be saved would be some % of LP(learning points) if a character decided to use the previous character that died as an ancestor.

Does this sound like an interesting idea to anyone? Of course I would try to take some things a lot deeper than this with a complex combat system, and belief type system, etc eventually.

Dungeon Crawlers

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 22:28:35 +0000

I am working through the blue book again to refresh my memory, in the past I made a few games but nothing really worth noting. I have decided to return and work on a dungeon crawler idea I have had in my head for some time. I was wondering if there are any decent ones on BYOND right now, and how popular you think they would be if done right and finished?

Also if I go ahead with this project, what's some opinions on how I might go about it? Should a server be persistent, in that new players can join along with old players? Or Should I add in some kind of lobby system like how Diablo works? My intent would be to have a persistent server that everyone plays on with a AH, however quests should have some kind of limit to a party size and be instanced to that party probably(kind of like how Guild Wars is setup, with central lobby areas but quests are party only).

Thanks on any feedback, just taking a small break from the massive guide lol.

*edit* Also glad to see the forums were finally updated to something more readable and modern lol. That old tree system was not very fun.

Verb arguements

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 19:30:09 +0000

Well I am trying to learn DM and have been reading through the guide, I have used DM to even make a game in the past when I first joined here(years ago) but back then I more or less just copy/pasted libraries and others code then modified them to make a paintball game. This time around I am actually trying to learn it myself to make my own code, in doing so I have a question with arguements in verbs.

The DM guide doesn't make much since to me in chapter 4, what is the difference between in and as?

What would the difference be between this:

mob/verb/poke(M as mob in view(1))
view() << "[usr] pokes [M]!"

And this:

mob/verb/poke(M as mob as view(1))
view() << "[usr] pokes [M]!"

Thanks for any help, I will probably run into a lot of small questions like this so if anyone is willing to maybe add me to Skype and help every so often I would be very grateful!

PS3 new ToS Agreement

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:48:13 +0000

Well it seems Sony has now changed their Terms of Service, this new change upon agreeing to it(came into effect today) says you can longer sue Sony(check section 15). However, there is still a legal way to opt out of this new fraud Sony is attempting to pull.

As quoted from JHawker:

"I'm just getting this out there as an FYI to all PSN users (at least as many as I can). There is a new Terms of Service, ToS, that needs to be agreed to before signing on. In this new ToS you give up your right to a class action lawsuit; read Section 15. You also agree that disputes will be handled through arbitration and not in court. The biggest implication of this class action lawsuit waiver is that you will not be able to be party to a class action suit against Sony. Should another hacker attack PSN and much of our personal information is stolen, you would have to sue Sony individually. This would be extremely expensive and time consuming. So much so that many that might be victim to this hypothetical would probably not seek legal compensation.

I know that the number of those that might actually be party to a class action suit against Sony is very small. But, you should still not give up rights simply to play games online. Luckily you can opt out of this binding arbitration and class action waiver by submitting to Sony's legal department written notice of your intent to opt out. Upon agreeing to the new ToS you have 30 days to provide this written statement. You must provide:

1) Your name
2) Your address
3) PSN account number (discussed below)
4) A clearly written statement that you wish to opt out of the binding arbitration and class action waiver

I've searched the web, my PSN account both onine and on the PS3, and called PSN support to find out where to locate your PSN account number. The best I came up with was from a PSN telephone representative (Bobby, Badge #: 658771). He said, after checking with specialists and supervisors, that for the PSN account number I should provide my email address, PSN ID, and PS3 console serial and model numbers (not sure what the serial numbers are for). If anyone has any other information about our PSN account numbers please let us know.

Most won't take the time to do this, but hopefully I can help a few to opt out of this right stealing legalese.

Send written notice to:

SONY NETWORK ENTERTAINMENT INTERNATIONAL LLC
ATTN: Legal Department/Arbitration
6080 Center Dr. 10th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90045"

The Birth of a Hobo

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 23:26:12 +0000

Well I mine as well introduce me and my friend here, we have been working on the design for a game for a while now and it is going to be coming to fruition soon we hope. I will be handling the coding aspects of the game, while my friend BeRanDone will be working on the graphics. Not much else to say right now, as we get more done I will post more related to the game over time.

The only thing I will comment on is the genre, and it will be a single-player RPG based game. However eventually, depending on the popularity of it I may include co-op play. It will be a unique RPG in that it will be more comic than serious, and thus the art-style will complement it that way. I have never tried such a thing as this, so not sure how popular it will be(probably not at all, but I will be optimistic here *snicker*).

Single-Player Games

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:32:25 +0000

Is it possible to make just a single-player RPG game here, or limit the number of people in a server to say 4? I guess this probably would not be hard, me and a friend have been working on a comedy RPG storyline for a bit and am looking for a engine to put it on(either this or RPG Toolkit, but I cannot seem to get that working on Windows 7). Also the community here is much larger, and the game we have been designing could maybe be fun cooperatively. However I am not wanting to make it into a MMORPG. If there are other single-player RPG games could someone maybe point out a good one or two I could try out to see how it runs? Thanks for any tips!

BYOND and the past..

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:34:43 +0000

Well somehow I stumbled upon BYOND again today when browsing around and watching a youtube lets play video of DF, then saw a video about Spacestation 13. Anyways I remember back when I was about 16 starting out on BYOND and developing a paintball game back then, I had a few players but it had to many bugs to be of any popularity. I got bored of making it, and moved onto I believe Game Maker. Anyways my point, I was checking through the games list and why is there about 50 dragonball Z remakes lmao? What's funny is somehow all of these have 50+ players, and the better games seem to have disappeared since back when I played/made games. What has happened here in the last 8 years?

I also note that somehow my game disappeared, guessing they were wiped at some point :P.

*Edit* Hrm odd, for some reason shows me as having joined in '06. But I know for a fact I joined much earlier than that since I was around 16, and graduated from highschool in '05. Thus it would have been around '03 when I joined.

Dang and another edit lol, but just realized now you have to be a "BYOND Member" to do much of anything. Back then they hosted games for free, along with being able to page/etc. Oh well, times change and money counts so it's obviously understandable(plus it's only $18 it seems for a full year).