Journalism Interview: Cyberlord
Interviewed by Magnum2k
Magnum2k: What made you join BYOND?
Cyberlord: Initially it was Duel Monsters Online. I had a lot of free time and didn't know about places like Steam or anything.
Magnum2k: I see. A lot of stuff has been said about you in the past, like how you're known for ripping other people's sprites and what not, but based on having conversations with you you seem like a pretty good guy. What made you change?
Cyberlord: Honestly, it was my friends. MDC, Zete, Lige, etc. I couldn't talk to them without thinking about what success's they're becoming, while I'm sitting here in my little ripping corner, causing trouble on BYOND. I was ready to change, and do something productive with my talent and experience.
Magnum2k: That's interesting. So, the BYOND community can now look forward to a new Cyberlord that will possibly be releasing projects in the future?
Cyberlord: You can definitely count on that. I'm not going to be as public anymore, roaming the streets of BYOND, but just know that I'll have something in store for everybody in the near future, in regards to Yu Yu Hakusho Online. It will be the center piece of my career here on BYOND.
Magnum2k: That sounds really interesting. Tell me, what motivated you into making a game based off of Yu Yu Hakusho?
Cyberlord: It's been a dream of mine since the beginning of my BYOND development. Ever since I could remember, I had wanted to make a Yu Yu Hakusho game, though I never had the talent, or creativity. After spending so much time around people like Zete, Xyberman, Hulio-G, KDG, and others, I definitely feel I have what it takes to creative a unique game to bring something new to the table of BYOND Anime.
Magnum2k: That sounds very promising. I have a liking for Anime games so it would be really nice to see a good one released. Asides from other BYOND Anime games, what is so different about your Yu Yu Hakusho project? Can you give us a feedback on the current progress?
Cyberlord: Well first, it's not going to be your average create a character, spawn into a centered location, and go about your anime business. You'll have the option of being a Spirit Detective, or Demon. This decision will base whether or not you are raised on Earth or the Spirit World. You'll have to go through a few beginning tasks to get a feel for how the game works, combat wise, and progression wise. Slowly you'll be introduced to the Player vs Player system, which will be extremely fast paced, and very dependent on hand to hand combat. You won't just be smashing macros and hitting people with spirit guns. YYHO offers many customizable macros for combonation attacks, including a knockback system, and full turf damage. Fighting your opponent will be as detailed as BYONDly possible.
Magnum2k: You're already giving me an urge to looking forward to this game. Is the project being managed by you only? What areas are you working on? If you have a developement team helping you, how many others are helping you create this project?
Cyberlord: The project is mainly managed by myself. I have some help here and there by numerous friends, but this project has been all me from start to finish. The benefits of being a programmer, and a pixel artist.
Magnum2k: I see, the burden is being carried by you only. Speaking about programming, what do you consider yourself as in terms of DM-programming?
Cyberlord: Well, I have about 4 years of programming experience under my belt. I don't consider myself one of the best programmers on BYOND, considering I've been around a lot of extremely talented programmers on BYOND, I know what that would look like. But I do consider myself above average compared to some of the developers we see today. Not everybody learns on BYOND the way I did, and makes it out alive.
Metaphorically, I was raised in the BYOND ghetto, starting out ripping Zeta sources, learning from horrible techniMagnum2k. Luckily I met Yash 69 a few months after, and he began cleCyberlording everything that I thought was programming. I have no idea what would be happening today if I hadn't met Yash. I would be a completely different person.
Magnum2k: That's really genereous of Yash. Do you have experience in any other programming languages besides DM?
Cyberlord: C++ and Python are the major ones, unless you wish to count HTML, heh. I'm in my early stages of both C++ and Python. C++ I began learning in High School last semester, and continued learning on my own ever since. Python was self taught about 5 months ago, again, still in my early stages.
Magnum2k: That's very interesting to hear from you. Now, onto the Pixel Artist topic, do you consider yourself above par? If there's room to improve, what aspect of doing Pixel Art would you like to improve in more?
Cyberlord: Oh there's definitely room to improve. I've learned a ton from Hulio-G, and Zete primarily. I definitely feel like I've come a long way, and am above average in terms of pixel art on BYOND. I wouldn't expect anybody to believe me just yet, but I'll just make this statement saying Yu Yu Hakusho Online will have the most top notch animations on BYOND.
Magnum2k: I see. You sound like you really have a lot of confidence in your work. Let's go off topic for a minute -- when you're not on BYOND, what else are you doing?
Cyberlord: I'm still currently in High School, so I spend all my free time in football. I'm the Quarterback at Deer Valley High School, so that definitely keeps me busy, along with trying to maintain good grades. Once the football season is over, BYOND will be seeing a lot more of me, especially in the BYOND Art Society.
Magnum2k: Ah, thats good, keep up the good work. It's always good to run off those cramps that might be lurking around. You said BYOND will be seeing a lot more of you, especially in the BYOND Art Society, what do you mean by this?
Cyberlord: I'm going to be expanding my pixel art and graphic design a lot more, and showing some of it to the community. Art design takes a great deal of time, and I don't want to rush it by doing it during the football season.
Magnum2k: I'll be looking forward to that, and I'm sure the community will also. It's quite safe to say you've been around on BYOND for a while now, if there's any thing to improve, what would that be? There was recently a jaw dropping update that a lot of BYOND Developers will be taking advantage of, what do you think about the Pixel Movement?
Cyberlord: I think it's going to be nice to have around for the developers of BYOND. I haven't been able to test out the full extent of this update, but you can count in seeing it in Yu Yu Hakusho Online if my planned tests work out as planned. And in regards to the former, there's always room for improvement. I would like to skyrocket my skills within the year of 2012, and have it be known that Cyberlord is no longer some ripper who everybody thinks they can talk down to because other people do it. I've been made out to be a terrorist, and I'm going to change that.
Magnum2k: You've changed a lot, I'll give you that. You can't always judge someone by their past. What is/was your favorite game on BYOND?
Cyberlord: That's tough. I suppose it's going to be Dragon Ball Z Onslaught, which is a classic Zeta revision by Quaddw. That game, in my opinion, set the bar for Dragon Ball games on BYOND. Although it was a standard that not a lot of Anime developers were able to meet, as Quaddw is quite the talented programmer.
Magnum2k: Hm.. by that statement I'm gonna assume you were a fan of Dragon Ball Z games? Are you disappointed about the FUNimation conflict that occurred?
Cyberlord: I wish I could say I was a fan of Dragon Ball games, but Onslaught was the only one on BYOND that grasped my attention fully, and that I considered an actual game. FUNimation wasn't that big of an impact on me, but I do find it childish of the person, who will remain nameless, that had FUNimation remove our fan game benefits on BYOND.
Magnum2k: I see. What has kept you interested most on BYOND? We've seen a lot of talented programmers and pixel artists come and go. Does that have any impact on the way you view BYOND today?
Cyberlord: I can't say I haven't thought about leaving BYOND. Sometimes I just lose faith in this community, seeing all the trolls, and our so called moderators, it sometimes shames me, being a redditor to say I'm from BYOND. But there are also those people who just motivate me, and keep me going. I honestly could make a whole list, but off the top of my head, Evi of au, Calus CoRPS, Hulio-G, etc. These people have just always been there, not just for me, but for anybody. People like them are what keep me here on BYOND.
Magnum2k: What profession do you have planned for in the future? Are you interested in becoming a game developer or is this just a hobby? Mostly importantly, do you find yourself becoming a football player?
Cyberlord: It would definitely be great to take my football skills to the next level, but realistically there are a lot of talented Quarterbacks, just in the High School level. I plan on going to Northern Arizona University, and playing football of course. I can't gaurantee myself I'll be the quarterback, it's all a matter of how hard I work in my last years here in High School, and luckily I play Defensive Back as well. In terms of education and my future, my plan is to get into Electrical Engineering. I have a mentor who's also an Electrical Engineer who has helped me greatly, and given me a look on what it will take to get where I want to.
Magnum2k: Earlier you said the BYOND community will be expecting a lot more projects from you, will there be any projects that won't be in the Anime genre?
Cyberlord: Yes. I have an un-named round based PvP game in the works right now, which we won't be seeing for some time. I'll have a lot more information on that project later on in 2012.
Magnum2k: Thanks for your time, Cyberlord. If there's any advice you would give to the BYOND community, what would that be? Especially people who are ripping other people's sprites, claiming it as their own, then make the person who they ripped it from feel as if their project has went to waste.
Cyberlord: No problem. And the only thing I could say is, think of how much more satisfying it would be to have something you can call your own, instead of posting something you know isn't yours to try and impress people who you don't even know.
