Robertbanks2's site

The Monster

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 23:39:13 +0000

Once, there was a great knight who had proven his strength against all the powerful monsters in the land, save one. He had slain dragons and demons and necromancers, but one monster had eluded him. The knight, in preparation to hunt this monster, donned his sword and shield, and made to leave town, telling each person he passed of his glorious quest. Each person he told of his mission responded in the same fashion, which was to say "But you need not hunt this monster, are your great conquests not enough?", to which he would reply, "Of course not! I cannot rest while even a single monster lurks in this world!" and would be on his way before another word could be said.

After saying his goodbyes and acquiring suitable provisions, he left his home in search of the great monster, and before long, he came upon it. The monster was a gruesome thing, with black and red leathery skin, great bat-like wings, and claws the size of daggers. When first the knight laid eyes upon it, he was struck dumb by its sinister appearance as it sat in a sparrow filled fruit tree, stuffing its red covered face. The knight quickly regained his composure and shouted as loud as he could at the thing, "Beast! Come down and fight me, that I might take your head and free my people from your tyranny," causing all of the birds in the tree to fly away and giving the monster a reason to take note of his presence. But the monster did not bother with him, it simply flew away on its giant wings. The knight, of course, made haste in following, that he might not lose sight of the beast.

When next they met, the knight stood on the edge of a cliff, looking down at a shepherd and his flock of sheep. Upon looking up, however, he noticed the monster flying from the top of the cliff, carrying one of the sheep in its massive claws. In his haste to keep up with it, the knight slipped and fell, tumbling head over heels to the bottom of the steep cliff, and fell unconscious at the bottom. When he finally woke, it was dark, and after gathering his wits, he set out in the direction he had last seen the thing heading.

By morning of the next day, he had caught up yet again, but this time, the beast was waiting for him. It sat in the middle of a field, facing the direction it knew he would come from, and on seeing him, it rose and gave a great bellow. It said, "Warrior, leave me, for though your company has been amusing, I cannot allow you to follow me home, as it would cause a great many deaths." To which the knight replied, "But of course there would, I will slay each and every one of you!" At this, the monster knew there was no avoiding combat, and flared its wings in acceptance of the knight's challenge. The knight charged and brought down his blade with all of the strength he could muster, but the thing swatted it away as if it were naught but a blade of grass. The knight was, as you might assume, a bit surprised by the lanky beast's great strength, but nevertheless, he brought a dagger from his belt and lunged. And suddenly, he died. His head torn from his shoulders with a single sweep of the great monster's claw, and the thing continued on its way home.

The End.

Tell me what you think? It's my first real story, and I thought it was decent enough.

On LSX and Ripping

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 08:17:03 +0000

I don't know how many of the forum(or blog, depending on where you are reading this) regulars have kept up with the big Lizard_Sphere_X and Phoenix: Sundered Earth(previously Phoenix DBZ) shit fits that have been going as of late, but they are of significance to the community as a whole, completely regardless of Falacy's personal vendetta against everything in existence. The issue isn't with LSX specifically, but rather the situation as a whole.

My intention in writing this post is not to defame these games or attempt to prevent their listing, but rather to make the general community aware of the potential consequences that may come of the decisions that have been and that have yet to be made.

While I can't say that I particularly care whether this game is listed or not, I am a bit worried about the precedent that the moderators are setting here. That precedent is that we, as a community, voiced through the moderators and volunteers of this site, are ok with what is going on. That we approve of these and other games like them, the thinly veiled transformation from a fan-game rip to an "original" game, with only so much as removing a few references and changing the shading on some icons.

Listing this game, and other games that have done similar things, tells people that it's fine to rip games, as long as they don't shout in your ear that they are DBZ/Naruto/Bleach. It tells them that all they have to do to be allowed the same status as an original game, created through the countless hours put in by real developers, is to change a few names, palette swap a couple of their icons, and write up a paragraph of nonsense backstory.

What will you do when someone removes all of the Naruto references from WOTS(or whatever the newest source is) and changes a few of the icons? Is it alright to rip games as long as it's not an anime based fan-game? I mean, you can't technically PROVE that it's a rip without comparing the actual code, right?

Are these games, "created" by people with no great love for BYOND or this community, whose only interest is to be able to brag to their friends that they "made" a game, to be afforded the same status and rights as the product of our days, weeks, and months of dedicated, tireless, and loving work? And all because they finally figured out how to use the find/replace function in Dream Maker?

This is not a matter of mindless rage or personal disdain for the "creators" of these game, but a serious question to the community that has been a part of my life for years, and to the people who have been given the task of watching over it. Is this honestly what you believe is best for BYOND?

To say, as we try to dig our way out of the pit that we were left in as a result of the rampant and wanton cycle of stealing, ripping, and inevitably spreading of sources, as we try to make this a respectable place for budding developers to get their start, and as we try to rebuild BYOND's reputation, that no, we should not try to do these things, that it's just easier and nicer to do things the old way because we can't stand to hurt anyone's feelings, because we can't stand to step on a few toes on the way, and kick us back into the pit that we have worked so hard to make out way out of.

I recognize that I have no say in the decisions of the volunteers and the staff, but I do ask that they consider the more far reaching consequences of their actions and decisions, and that they ask themselves, is this really what is best for everyone?

If you actually read this whole post, and didn't just blow up in mindless stupidity during the first paragraph, then I thank you for your time and(potentially) consideration.

Programmer for Hire

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 00:34:03 +0000

I am an intermediate level programmer with several years of practical experience using DM. I'm not particularly familiar with any other languages, but I'm working on remedying that situation.

I've worked on a variety of projects, most of which were never properly released, including but not limited to:

MORPGs
Roleplaying games
Action RPGs
Turn-based RPGs
Strategy/Tactical RPG(See Imperatorum)
Sidescrollers(See Warped Dreams)
And a few others

Compensation for my work is payment in money, preferably United States Dollars via paypal(I don't want an admin position on your game, and I don't want a free subscription to your game). The price of said work will depend on the complexity and size of the job, and can be negotiated in a more personal manner via IM, pager, chat game, or other means of communication more practical than the forums.

My personal quips:

I don't want a permanent spot on your team, any work I do is commission only. This is for everyone's protection, not just my own personal preference. You pay me a fixed amount, I get you what you paid for, and unless there is something else you need, our business is happily completed with no fits thrown over missed payments or perpetual deadlines, and everyone wins.

Note that I will, however, fully support my work. If you find issue with it(bugs, glitches, or other hangups that should have been covered), I will be more than happy to do my utmost to fix it. This does NOT count things that weren't covered in the agreement(which I will keep on record).

I don't work for rips, no negotiation. If it's a rip, don't bother contacting me. Anime games aren't out of the question, provided they're original work and you don't act like an 8 year old.

Contact Information:
Email = tamaki-kun@live.com
MSN IM= tamaki-kun@live.com
AIM IM= robertbanksbyond
Yahoo = robertbanks2.byond

Weapon Arcs?

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 18:20:58 +0000

I'm trying to set up a weapon arc that covers 120 degrees of a circle around the player in any direction. I've already got the circle calculations, thanks to a comment on forum_account's site and a bit of fiddling. I just need the weapon to arc within that circle.

mob/proc/halfcircle(var/turf/clicked, radius = 100)
    . = list()
    var/rad_sq = radius * radius
    for(var/mob/m in front(get_dir(src,clicked)))
        var/dist_sq = (m.px - px) * (m.px - px) + (m.py - py) * (m.py - py)
        if(dist_sq < rad_sq)
            . += m

I've also modified front to cover the blocks adjacent to their original coverage, and added diagonals.

Anyone mind helping me out with this?

God Based Roleplay?

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 19:52:24 +0000

Warning, most of this post was copy pasted from a conversation, so the sentences are relatively short and may seem a bit broken up.

I had an interesting RP game idea about 20 minutes ago.

The game focuses around gods and their supporters. Gods have absolute power over everything within their domain. They can create, destroy, or change whatever they want. The mortal followers, on the other hand, live their lives, and provide said gods with their power through worship. Everything the gods do, all the way down to simply existing, requires that power. Should they ever run out, they are instantly cast from the heavens and become a mortal. Any mortal with a following of believers can become a god.

If a god is malevolent or prone to fits of rage or abuse, his followers will disown him and put their faith in another, rival god, leaving him powerless and defenseless in the face of a rival who has now absorbed all of his power.

The world would start out as a simple series of plains/rivers/oceans, and through the actions of the gods, be transformed into something usable by their people.

"So it'd essentially be like Black and White." I hear you saying, and to some extent that's a decent comparison. It would be less restrictive, yet more restrictive at the same time. You have more power, more control over the world than simply being able to toss rocks and create food, but your power is severely tethered to the will of the mortals, because the mortals aren't AI controlled npcs, they're other players. They won't keep giving you strength after you blow up their house, they'll shout screw you and move to another god.

Now, you might thinking, "but what fun is it to be the mortals?", well, while the gods have oodles of power, the mortals are what make them tick. The mortals have a considerable amount of heft in how things happen, because without them, the god runs out of power. They can also interact with the world, just not to the same extent as the gods can. While a god can snap his fingers and create a forest, a mortal can sow the seeds of a grove, care for it until it grows, and nurture it, allowing it to spread and become the same forest, the only difference being the time it took to do it. A god might flick his wrist and create a lake, but a human can still route rivers for irrigation, dig channels for boats, and create man-made lakes, again, the only difference being in the amount of time it takes.

Obviously, all of this would be scaled to the number of players. It would have to keep track of the number of unique regular players and adjust costs/bonuses accordingly, but that is easier to handle than it might sound.

Obviously, some of the powers of gods have already been stated, creating lakes/rivers/forests and other landscapes, but they would also have the power to create things from nothing, destroy things that exist, and change things into something completely different. They could turn lead to gold, make it rain gems, and wipe out neighboring gods, provided they have enough support behind them. But, even with all these wonderful powers, they have to be careful. If they overuse their powers and run out of energy, they won't be able to sustain their godly form anymore and turn back into a mortal.

So, anyone here have any significant counterpoints that I missed, or anyone who just thinks this would be fun and would be interested in playing it? Anyone think this is just stupid and could never work? I'm game for any kind of feedback.

Imperatorum 7, HUD Stuff

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 01:52:59 +0000

This week, I've added an info display for units and items/equipment. By right clicking any unit, you can view their stats/information without interrupting any turns and after they have moved. Right clicking the items in a unit's inventory, which shows up in their info display, will give a description of the item with any associated stats.

Also, a very small amount of AI refinement again. It wasn't a big change, just a minor bit of balancing.

Anyway, here's what the info displays look like:

The graphics for the interface will probably change soon enough, at this point almost everything graphical is placeholder.

On that note, my artist seems to have fallen off the face of the earth with no explanation or warning, so until I hear from him, I'm going to have to assume he's quit. Would anyone else be interested in helping out? I could also use a decent writer, as my writing would likely cause some fatalities. Compensation is some percentage of the profits from the game, depending on the quality of work and how long you're on the team.

Regardless, that's all I've done this week, at least for Imperatorum. Try it out, give me some feedback. Paco demands this.

Paco is Disappoint

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 20:25:30 +0000

So, I've neglected Imperatorum this week, due to a few things. Mostly I just needed a break, but also, Star Trek: TNG is now available to stream on netflix. I blame this for my lack of work. I did do a little bit, but not enough to merit a full update.

I did play with a few things for another project I'm working on. I'm toying with a world that expands and procedurally generates new areas at runtime. When you get close enough to the edge of the world, it expands the map and generates land into the area near you. So far it's working fairly well, I've expanded a 10x10 map into a 1000x1000 map without any lag(using a dummy generation proc, just random mostly), and it seems to work moderately well, no glitches or anything yet.

What I'm having the most trouble with is the actual generation of new terrain. Because I'm not just randomly placing seeds and letting them do their thing on a predefined map, I end up with a more minecraft style map, everything is just sort of randomly stuck around with no real consistency. So, I'd like to ask anyone more familiar with procedural generation than I for some tips or suggestions for ways of possibly fixing that.

As for what the generator is actually for, it technically fits the bill for 2 of my non-Imperatorum projects, one of which is a zombie based survival game, something along the lines of Archipelago/Stranded with zombies.

Anyway, thanks for reading, sorry about the lack of updates for Imperatorum for anyone who cares, and I'll be getting back to that next weekend hopefully.

Imperatorum 6, AI and Chapter 2

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 02:04:59 +0000

In this weekly update of Imperatorum, I haven't made as much progress as I would have liked, but I've been busy this week so too bad.

I made the AI less stupid, it now takes into account the stats of its targets in determining who to attack first, placing ranged and support units first, and then targeting progressively weaker units. It's by no means complete, and will probably be the main focus of my updates for a while, as the AI is a pretty important part of the game.

The other thing I did today(I say today because today is the only day I've had to work on things this week) is chapter 2 of the tutorial. I've removed all the real story dialog, as I'm a horrible writer and don't want to cause any unnecessary suffering. Chapter 2 introduces unit placement, water, and healer units.

Well, that's all I did, aside from some routine maintenance on things that were broken and no one will notice because they are only issues on my end. As usual, any criticism/opinions/suggestions/bug reports are welcomed and appreciated.

Imperatorum 5, Pathfinding and AI

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 01:32:26 +0000

So, I've finally gotten around to fixing up some of that ugly pathfinding stuff, what with the units randomly wandering out of their range and going nuts when they try to occupy a full space. I've also made the AI slightly less retarded, but only slightly.

The pathfinding now works, hopefully, as it will for the remainder of the project. It only allows movement over a blue tile and doesn't allow diagonal movement, meaning the units will move along the proper path.

The AI currently attacks the closest unit, as opposed to the farthest, which was a stupid error on my part, and attacks healers first, which isn't really all that important yet, as I haven't got any healers on the first tutorial map.

The tutorial itself now has 3 lines of story, however horrible they are, and I've got my event and dialog system working wonderfully. I'm not a writer, so the dialog isn't particularly amazing, but that will be fixed with time.

Next week I'd like to have a second map with the introduction and explanation of a new unit type/classes in general, as well as some more AI refinement. I sort of have a story laid out, but it's pretty cheesy and I'm doing the dialog as I go, so it's probably even cheesier than the story as a whole.

Anyway, that's all for this update. As always, any criticism/input is welcomed and appreciated.

P.S. Paco is watching you...

Imperatorum Update Number 4

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 02:26:08 +0000

This week, I've more or less been working on an easier to use dialog delivery system. Previously, I was just drawing text for every line separately, but now I've got it set up to receive lists of text strings that are displayed properly. I've also done some balancing for the tutorial chapter.

Most of the changes aren't visible and won't be noticed by players, so unless you just want to try out the more well balanced tutorial, this update shouldn't be too big of a deal for you. It does mean, however, that I will be able to more easily add in additional chapters once I start working on that.

The display changes are more or less for my own convenience, and to make things a lot neater in general on my end. I'm also working on adapting a text string splitter to only split between words at a certain length range, which will automatically split up longer strings for me. As it is I have to count the characters to make sure everything fits properly.

This week, I'll probably be doing more of the same, maybe add a second chapter and a real dialog scene in to show those off. Mostly, at this point, I'm just trying to clean up the engine and make things less annoying to work with.

Until next Monday, may Paco, the bear wrestling chicken, be with you.