The Magic Man is setting your head on fire!!

To graphics or not to graphics!?

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 05:52:02 GMT

Simple question really.
Use graphics or not? The advantages/disadvantages are obvious, but I will list them anyway. (by no graphics I mean ascii graphics)

Graphics

Pros
Looks better, therefore more likely to get people playing the game
More flexibility, graphics can look like whatever I draw them like.
What you see is what you get. If it looks like a dragon then it probably is a dragon. You don't need brains to figure that much out.

Cons
Larger file sizes
Harder to use

No graphics

Pros
Small file sizes
Relatively easy to use

Cons
Doesn't look as impressive
Less flexibility, I am limited to whatever characters BYOND supports.
Requires use of imagination and brain to work things out (a D does not look like a dragon, no matter which way you look at it).

Also, examples.
With graphics the game would look like this
http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/files/sc1.png
Without it would look like this
http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/files/sc2.png

So, what would you prefer?

Roguelike features

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:25:38 GMT

Quick question really!

In a Roguelike game what sort of features do you like to see?

That is all, now answer.

Yo

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 05:09:30 GMT

Hellor or something like that. I've been away for a bit due to various things (break, new computer, new job blahblahblah) and not done much of anything in that time.
And so I return today to work on a project and realize two things. One, I can't be bothered to work on it anymore. Two, even if I did I can't remember what anything does in it, and sloppy coding and lack of comments don't help that.

And so I will give it out.
It is a fairly complete RPG, lacks content but a lot of the systems that run the game are in place.

It needs 4 libraries, due to new computer I don't have them on or remember exactly which ones. One is a random map generator by sd_ someone or other, a text handling library and a quest library by Deadron, and a sorting library which I used to sort lists but have no idea who made it.

After you got those 4 you can download this and do whatever with it (doubt most people will find much use for it though).
http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/files/RPGsr.rar

Also, I am handing this out in the exact condition it was left in when I finished with it. Likely it has bugs and more in it. Deal with it.

I hate MMORPGs

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 08:26:29 GMT

It is official. I now hate the MMORPG genre, a lot.

World of Warcrap/Walkingcraft.
An overly large game world (enjoy the hour walk, 50 minute on a mount or half an hour flying to the next town!) with fuck all to do.
Horribly game mechanics (+1.291292108% damage improved from +1.2838273%!! Until you level up, then it's effective bonus is 1.23293823%) and some of the worst game design I have ever seen. In Wrath of the Lich King end game content is accessible to everyone!! Who has done pre-endgame content, which requires you to do pre-pre-endgame content, which requires you to do pre-pre-pre-endgame content, which r... to do pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-endgame content!!! Obviously, each of these comes in the form of some crappy dungeon you can do once every 3/5/ days and need 39 other people to get a slightly improved set of armor which makes it possible to do the next dungeon. (Since there is 39 other people and the drop rate for each of the 12 pieces of armor you want is about 0.2% enjoy doing this dungeon about 1000 times before you can go to the next, and repeat this 20 times before you get to the end game content avaliable for "everyone").

Age of I was released a year too early(Conan).
I paid �29.99 for this game expecting something decent, it had a nice list of features and reportedly had very little grind. What I got was a game that was full of bugs, either the beta testers in this game didn't report bugs, or the developers were to lazy to fix them, because it is quiet literally impossible to play this game for more than 2 minutes without running into a bug (usually several).
All the content and features promised in the game are NONE EXISTANT. If you look at the list of features this game has and they make you consider buying it then consider this. None of those features are in the game yet. Additionally, once you reach a medium level, around 40 everything you had to do suddenly dissapears. No quests, no dungeons, no nothing but GRINDAN.
On top of that half of the game is... Disabled so to say. Things like stats, equipment and feats (character customization) have basically no effect, mounts which should increase movement speed don't work and so on.
The game is also horribly designed. It is possible for a level 10 crappy sword of I am a rusty, blunt piece of shit to be more powerful than an ultra rare 0.001% drop rate off the hardest boss in the game level 80 sword of god slaying (and this is usually the case). Balance is none existant too. Necromancers get the short end of the stick, I have a level 40 Necromancer and a level 10 Demonologist. The staple attack spell of them both is... Stupid to say the least, Demonologists spell deals 70-100 damage, uses 36 Mp and burns for a low amount of damage over time. The Necromancers spell deals 70-110 damage and uses 240 Mp. (Balanced if I ever saw it, and at higher levels it is common to see groups of 3+ enemies at once, which you have to fight together to do anything, only a Necromancer barely has enough Mp to kill one of them)
The game is just... So horribly unfinished it shouldn't be on sale right now at all. Buying it is like paying to take part in the alpha testing of the game (that is right, alpha, not beta because this game is nowhere near ready for beta testing yet).

"EVERY KOREAN CRAP FEST EVER"
Hahaha. First you are hit with some shitty website in broken Engrish with a whole lot of totally irrelivant artwork. 99% of the time it uses some broken or barely functional flash navigation system.
Then you have to register with some horrible service that will give your email address to every company on the face of the Earth that deals with spam (expect 1000+ emails a day).
Then you have to download the game... Using some crappy "program" they have made which requires you to use activex which will have massive security holes that leave your computer open to every virus in existance and then some.
Once you've got everything downloaded and hopefully installed you finally get to play the game. It looks cartoony and overly cute, plays like shit, is horribly designed and made (Koreans must still be using Windows 95 or something with 10 year old graphic cards, because I am constantly having problems with windows Vista compatability and any newer graphics cards). There is nothing to do in the game except for killing some cute looking but weirdly named monster... Several hundred thousand times in the never ending quest to get stronger.
The game also probably has a "cash shop", which sells a bunch of stupidly over powered, way over priced items for real money (+500000% exp for a year, only 20 buxx!!!!!!)
I could go on and on, but this game probably has nothing to do, looks like something I vomitted up, has horrible English (and I am willing to bet parts of it aren't even in English) and constantly shoves their cash shop in your face.

I could go on all day, but RAGE...
I hate MMORPGs now, and am going to dedicate my life to DESTROYING THEM AND ANYONE WHO WOULD THINK ABOUT MAKING ONE WITH MY ARMY OF RAGE FILLED EX-MMORPG PLAYERS.

I have sussed it out!

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 10:06:25 GMT

The reason why BYOND isn't too popular.

It is simple really. Compared to programs of a similar nature BYOND... SUCKS... Badly at that.
Go here and compare http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?act=idx
Game Maker is a program that is about as easy to use as BYOND, and designed with the same idea in mind "make games easily". It does that, and I use to use Game Maker a long time ago, back then it wasn't too great, sure it could do things but it was slow and didn't have a lot of functions it could have had (such as graphical or online functions). Three years later, it has all these functions AND MORE.
Seriously, go and look at some of the games and tools on those forums, some of them are mind blowing (advanced AIs, physics you'd expect to see in a commercial game, highly advanced graphical effects and more).

Game Maker is about the same level of program as BYOND, easy to use, quick to produce results but it sacrifices a lot of things you could do with a real programming language. But everything BYOND can do so can Game Maker, ONLY BETTER.
An example would be Game Makers online features. BYOND is suppose to specialize in this area. But Game Maker can do so much more and with a few plugins it is just as easy (if not easier) to do.

Game Makers community is also a million times better than BYONDs.

I used Game Maker as an example, because it is one of the less technical and less powerful programs out there for making games... And if Game Maker is this much better then just imagine what the really powerful programs are like...

(Game Maker is admittedly not "free" so to say. And without paying a small fee you don't get all the functions it offers. But that fee is the same as the price of a BYOND Membership.)

:[ When you compare something like BYOND to other programs of a similar nature... It really doesn't compare at all (unless you are comparing it to a program that is 8 years old).

Maybe this is the reason BYOND is not exactly growing at a fast rate. Because the only "advantage" BYOND has over any of these other programs is that you can make a "game" in about 5 minutes with it (if you want to call your average anime game a game that is). Other than that BYOND is (in comparison) so old and outdated it is just not worth using.

Maybe bring BYOND up to a level that compares with these other makers would make people more likely to use BYOND... But that would take a hell of a lot of work.

Someone explain Linux to me...

Mon, 19 May 2008 13:23:50 GMT

Long story short, I buy a brand new $1200 PC and it comes with no operatng system. I install Ubuntu on it until I can afford to buy Windows Vista (I intend on having them both installed at the same time).
I guess it looks sort of nice and it runs pretty fast, at least faster than Windows. But... That is about it. I can browse the internet and use IM programs I guess, but I can't use it for anything else. There is like... No software or games or anything at all for it (I can't even install the drivers for the hardware that came with the PC, even the website doesn't have drivers for it :[). Maybe I am just not looking hard enough, or maybe I am stuck with a PC that can't do much other than browse internet, and my old PC was more than capable of doing that (and still is).

Maybe I am missing the point entirely? Or maybe I am just stuck with a horribly over expensive (and over powerful) PC for what I am using it for (internet)?
Someone explain this whole Linux thing to me.

BYOND Anime should be ashamed.

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:32:26 GMT

I know someone who is working on a multiplayer Naruto game, like your average BYOND anime Naruto game.
He also happens to be no more experienced or older than your average BYOND anime user.

Yet he is producing results like these...
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d200/xRobotvsmonkeyx/ LNOPretty.png
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh104/Draft92/ HokageRasenganvsUnknownSword2-1.gif

x_x Alchemy sucks

Sat, 10 May 2008 14:46:29 GMT

And is hard to figure out and implament properly.

System I have right now is that herbs and some other items can be mixed to make potions.
The system works in a relatively simple way, all items used in alchemy can make specific potions, get items which make the same potion and mix them together and avoila, a potion is born (most items can be used to make several different types of potion, so you have to mix and match). Some potions have other requirements too, such as you must used between a certain amount of items and so on.

Seems like a system that appears complex in the game and it works fairly well.
Except it... Needs a hell of a lot of items to make potions. Maybe it is just that I have too many types of potions to make (some 200+). But yeah, right now I am trying to make it so with 50 herbs you can make all those potions (and remember, you might need 3, 4 or even 5 herbs to make one specific potion).
Anyway, the problem is simple. 50 HERBS (+ other items)... Is this too much or not?
It makes finding the herb you do want difficult (because of the massive variety) and it makes remembering what herbs do what even harder.

So :[ Should I keep the system I have now in all it's stupid complexity, or come up with some other, easier to use system? (If so what?)

Progress!

Thu, 08 May 2008 16:32:18 GMT

Actually, screenshots! But yeah, the progress in the game I am making is going suprisingly well.

http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/files/shop.PNG
Added working shops now.

As well as random quests.
http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/files/grq1.PNG
http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/files/grq2.PNG http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/files/grq3.PNG
http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/files/grq4.PNG

As you can see, different NPCs will offer different flavours of random quests.
Grogs quest usually involve killing some humanoid monster because they are negatively effecting his business.
Whereas Azrael offers a quest to assassinate a random town folk (this is the generic assassin guild quest).
Other quests might involve killing pests for the junk shop, collecting materials for the armor shop and so on.
There will also be predefined quests, for the assassin guild this might be killing a certain target in a certain way and so on.

Parts of town (older screen shots)
http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/files/kv1.JPG
http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/files/kv2.JPG
http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/files/kv3.JPG

An example of what the dungeon in the game might look like. (Old screenshot again)
http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/files/ silverbell.PNG

http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/files/ chainmail.PNG
The Chainmail Bikini! Hot armor if I ever sawed it!

A small selection of spells and Missile Storm highlighted (there is about 50-60 spells in that list, out of 200, the other buttons will also display other types of spells, in this case they are Arcane, Divine and Psionic, an about a total of 400 spells will be added, not including skills and bard songs), which is a horrible spell (I also like to call it massacre spell)
http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/files/mstorm.PNG

http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/files/geno.PNG
Here is why I like to call it massacre spell. Because it basically turns everything on screen into giblets :[

http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/files/court.PNG
Unfortunetly crime doesn't pay, and for massacring that church I ended up in court. (Crime doesn't pay)

(Be warned, this game is nowhere near finished and the game might change by the time it is released)

And finally...
http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/files/mcbs.PNG
MUDCRABS! (Most generic NPCs will spout out random dialog when spoken to, this just happens to be one of those lines)

Anyway. Comments, criticism or suggestions are all welcome!

MUDCRABS!

Sat, 03 May 2008 15:58:29 GMT

http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/files/mcbs.PNG
ALKDFJSLKFJSKLDFJKDLS CJDKJDKLSJCLKDJCKLSDJCKLSDJCKLDSC ************** MUDCRABS!!!

RAGE...