Sariat's site

Writers/Creative Minds in the BYOND community

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:59:59 +0000

Who would you consider/recommend/nomiate some of the more creative minds in the BYOND community?

The main reason I ask is becuase I can develop gaming concepts no problem, but when it comes to writing, I get the basics AKA the "Storyline Bible" down but not really anything to transition the story flawlessly or make everything meet up. So I can just create the bare bones of it, but not really give it any organs, tissue, etc

Another reason I am asking is becuase I would love to have a couple of a people to "spit-ball" with as far as brainstorming, bouncing ideas with, or storyline concepts.

I would also like to offer myself as an individual to do this with as well. So if you need to brainstorm with anybody, let me know! My contact is available on my BYONDpage.

BYOND People Maps?

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:55:46 +0000

I know there's a place where people post up what they look like (pic page I think it's called) , but is there a place where people can essentially Geo-Tag themselves?

Just thought it would be cool to see where everybody is from!

NEStalgia -- Bring your 1987 T-Shirt!

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:31:58 +0000

Most of us grew up playing video games, and almost all kids now-a-days have some gaming experience. For those of us in the 18-24 crowd, you remember the Legend of Zelda... the original ones. You remember Contra, Batman, TMNT, Double Dragon, River City Ransom, Ninja Gaiden and many more on the NES. The cheesy dialogue, the 8 bit graphics/sounds and (by today's standards) ancient special effects are are staples of gaming in the early era of modern day gaming.

NEStalgia, a properly titled game by Silk Games , brings you back to your childhood( At least mine...I'm 22!) The start screen, the sound effects, the music, the animation, the opening cut scene, the character creation, even down to the name selection succeed in their job to immerse you in the world of NEStalgia. The storyline piques your interest with the opening cut scene, introduces you to your character and the world of NEStalgia by a mysterious voice narrating on how the controls work, and a couple of "beginner" tasks for you to complete. I think this game does exactly what "Seika/Teridal" attempts(and fails) with it's opening cut scene. The very best intro to a game I have seen so far on BYOND, I would even go as far as to say it feels just like a commercial game.

The Interface
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The interface is great, using only the arrow keys (or W,A,S,D) the TAB button and your mouse to control your character. There is no right clicking, no verbs, no stat panels, all information is displayed easily and flawlessly on the HUD (which doesn't take up half of the screen or block anything important and have several thousand stats). To view your inventory, your click the inventory icon and a box appears on your screen, which shows what you have (with a similar menu to that of most NES games) . You click on the item you need and then you can easily do what you need to do with it fluidly and flawlessly. Everything is very self-explanatory or blatantly obvious.

The Gameplay
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I am NOT a fan of turn based RPG's, I actually hate them. NEStalgia does a great job of making them bearable for me. The battles are never too long, and dare I say, FUN! Although you can travel the world alone in most areas, all of the bosses are best to be tackled with a party system (which is very well integrated!). The great thing about bosses is that they require strategy, instead of just having the team "over power" the boss with their uber stats. The game plays like a single player game with interaction from other players who can actually help you out. There are side quests, secrets, new items to save gold for and purchase, and different abilities that you learn with experience. The game has an exp/level up system typical to those RPG's of the NES.

Graphics and Sounds
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The graphics and sounds are every bit of the 8 bit games that we remember. The animations make me feel like I was just playing a game on my NES (flashing screen for poison/teleportation/battle enters/etc) . EVERYTHING has a sound effect (using a potion, opening a door, etc) and it has the same exact sound that you would expect and NES game to have! The graphics are right on point, but nothing ground-breaking (I don't really remember a beautiful game on the NES... correct me if I am wrong though)

Overall
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The great plays great, feels smooth, and this beta testing has very few bugs. I've only encountered one in my extensive testing of the game! Very minor, too! The game is VERY polished , and I can definitely appreciate what Silk and his people are trying to do here. They are upping the standards of BYOND's games -- and I love it! NEStalgia has the BEST cut-scenes that I have seen on a BYOND game by far. Everything works very well with each other, the game is presented flawlessly to the gamer. Well, almost flawless, BYOND seems to have trouble doing certain things, but Silk and his people are pushing BYOND to it's limits. I highly recommend trying the game out, it is very fun and addicting. Great job guys, I can only hope more to come!

PS -- Next project you guys have should be out of the middle ages, and something more modern! Either way, I can't wait for this to be done, and see what else you guys have in store for BYOND!

BYOND Member Recognition

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:36:58 +0000

I think there should be a status icon provided by BYOND for people who buy/have/become memberships. For example, have an icon saying 2 year BYOND Member, 3 year BYOND member, etc

Just something fun, and extra so people can get another little perk for their membership!

Edit: So if you look up by my name on the forum/blog posts/hub etc it will have my icon (2 year BYOND Member/supporter/etc) And maybe also something for memberships gifted?

A cool pic of my shop

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 03:56:18 +0000

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My shop at night :D

Left 4 Dead 2 : Looking for people to play with

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:00:37 +0000

So I am HUGE online gamer, I LOVE L4D2 and I just want to play with some people WHO HAVE MICS and USE THEM. I have a couple of campaigns that I haven't beat yet.

So, if you want to play some L4D2 with me, add me!

My Gamertag is Phranksizzle so feel free to add me

Check out myhome-made Halo Costume for Halloween!

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:38:37 +0000

Allright, so first and foremost I have never done this before. I used cardboard and duct tape as well as buckles straps and foam inserts to keep things in place. The worst possible thing I could have done was FIBERGLASS THE OUTSIDE of the suit. I didn't sand it and went straight to painting it so the first night I was poking/scratching people. Another thing, I spent WAY too much time trying to create depth, after I fiberglassed it, almost all of the detail was gone except for the major stuff. Also, the suit was way too clunky and nobody knew who I was. Except for the guys. I got "Megaman" or "Sub Zero" a lot. Shoulda stuck with the green. Hindsight is always 20/20. It took me about 40 hours and a week to do this. I didn't put a visor because I couldn't see clearly, and if you're going out on halloween, you need to be able to see all the costumes. That's the best part!

Anyway, what do y'all think?

Here's when I primed it.

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And here is the final product.

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I should have used a hot glue gun WAYYY sooner, it would have knocked my time down to like 20 hours.

Where do you see BYOND in 10 years?

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:24:28 +0000

Where do you see BYOND in 10 years?

And

Where would you LIKE to see BYOND in 10 years?

For me, I think BYOND will see a more mature base
and with all of the efforts to truly create polished games, I think BYOND will see a greater influx of developers and dev teams but will still not reach it's full potential unless the staff AND the community step thier games up. (Mostly the community -- I think once the community creates more revenue for BYOND, the staff can advertise like it should!)

As far as wehre I would LIKE to see it in 10 years. I would like to see it progress to have it so that people could actually make a living on BYOND like they do on Steam. I would like to see a player base in the 100,000 + mark with high standards of games. Publicized game drops, etc. I for some strange reason would like to see BYOND in HS/College Level programming/game design classes to get people a chance to make thier own games.

Discuss.

Submerged Status Update

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:59:46 +0000

Hello all of you Submerged faithfuls! Once again here is an update, as well as more info about the action oriented, survival horror game "Submerged"

First off is the near complete fire/explosion/gas leak disaster in the form of a video! Enjoy!

Note The doors are now complete and they do slow down the flow of gas leaks. So basically, these types of explosions won't be a common thing (but possible!)

Nadrew informs me that the round system is nearly complete, but needs a little final touches and many of our smaller systems are complete. We are pushing for a playable/testable product fairly soon and are making GREAT progress!

Now, from the design part, today we will introduce you to COMBAT! This is just a small sample of how we plan to implement combat into the game.

Combat
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Combat would be easy to control, but difficult to master. Each player has two slots for actively using items. Some items take up both slots (think of how you hold a shot gun). If you are wielding a ranged weapon (long range tazer, pistol, etc) you will use your mouse to send an invisible projectile to where you click. (Can't shoot around corners,etc)

Most items would be blunt/melee weapons (Pipes/Sword/saw/blow torch etc) and attack anywhere infront of the player (IE, you can't swing behind you unless you turn around).

The part what makes everything interesting is that we would want the players to be able to manually counter/dodge attacks . In order to make people stop trying to dodge every hit, if you try to counter/dodge and miss, you will fall down/be exposed for a couple of seconds. With a successful counter, the player would be able to disarm an attacker or hold them down, etc

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Once again, the pace for Submerged will be fast paced, no right clicking verbs, etc. The gameplay will be flawless and play with two buttons/mouse and directional keyboard.

As always, feel free to show us some love, hate, comments, suggestions, etc

Submerged Status Update!

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:43:44 +0000

Howdy all you Submerged faithfuls (I think we've officially created a buzz!) Anyway, as you know Submerged is the survival horror game based in an underwater compound. Read the earlier blogs for more info!

This week has been a rather slow week for us, but we still have some progress.

Here is a video of the Fire disaster we introduced last week. We have started (not finished) to add gas and oxygen. Here is a video to show you an example.

Oh I can't wait to be in this game, so much danger, so much fun!

And now from the design aspect, here is how the intefrace is going to be. The look and feel that we are going for is similar to that of a polished, professional commercial game.

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Notice in this interface that you will not have a health "stat." You will be aware of any major damage to any parts of your body (Broken leg that may slow you down, cut damage to the stomach, burns on the hands, if you are bleeding, etc) but you will never officially know how much more damage you can take or how much longer you have to live!

You will only be able to carry two items(one per hand, some items take both hands) and carry one smaller item. Submerged will have minimal buttons, no verbs, no stat panels, just a very easy to learn/hard to master scheme.

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This is just another possible interface that we might use. Note the simple design on both interfaces.

The purpose and the look/feel that we are going for with Submerged is the "Less is more" approch, giving you the absolute bare basics.

Feel free to add any comments, questions, or concerns about the project!