I thought I might chip in a bit too:

"What's the very first thing you do when you open a new project in DM?"

loop_checks = 0.

"How often do you abandon projects? Does this happen because of some outside circumstance, or is it because you've hit a wall or something?"

I've always been known for starting up lots of projects, I don't do it as often anymore as I tend to focus when I do any projects on existing ones, especially any that has made any money.

"How do you feel about the Webclient?"

I think it was a positive step, but unfortunately came a little too late. The hype was real, and I think before we felt a need to compete with flash game sites which were sucking a lot of casual gaming away from sites like BYOND. Well flash games aren't hip anymore, either people are playing discounted games or they are playing free-to-play games. We've missed the golden window. Doesn't mean its not still important, or useful; if I can get half my games to run properly again I'll definitely start using it.

"Do you know other programming languages besides DM? You can list up to ten."

I used to, C++ and variants, BASIC and variants, python and general web script stuff.

"When did you first begin using DM? How do you like it compared to other languages (if you know any)?"

I used it originally in 2001? And started developing in 2002 I think. I liked it, mainly because I was no good at network code for multiplayer, in BYOND it has always been built in, its easy as pie. This alone made me focus exclusively on BYOND because multiplayer games was what I wanted to do.

"There's a lot of allegations saying that the community is doomed, or that we're incompetent to make anything worth "saving" BYOND. What's your take on it?"

I've been around 15 years, the doom sayers have been around the whole time. I think BYOND has passed the point where it will "die suddenly" but there maybe a day when it "closes its doors" I think its something anyone who has stuck around is prepared for, and it will be a sad day, but doomed? no. Community exists here, whether its pumping anything worthwhile or not, so it justifies itself.

"Would you consider BYOND as an engine to be oriented towards professional game design, or is it more of a hobbyist tool?"

Hobbyist absolutely, yes a few of us including myself has made a bit of money off of it, not enough to live purely from though. Silkwizard obviously has done the best, but he has fought for it, the rest of us are pretty much getting what we've put in.

"Would you recommend BYOND (as a game design engine) to friends?"

Before? yeah absolutely. Now, not so much, I'm here for nostalgia now, and because I occasionally get enough money for a meal now and then from subscriptions. I find that the engine has weird things now, I get constant crashes in things that used to work, I had to start a thread cause I couldn't work out how big icons worked now, and I scratch my brains when I try to do simple division like 12/4 and get answers like 3.01773392838291829. To me as a casual developer its getting more trouble than its worth with my old code.

"Should BYOND's software be open-sourced?"

No, don't see the need personally.

"How often do you use the Credits / Subscription system that BYOND has built-in?"

I've always used the subscription system for Wargames since like, 2006. Some other games have it also but Wargames is the only franchise that really gets any mention these days so its where my focus goes. I have set up a credit system too but I find my subscription value and the minimum cost for credits is the same, not many people have taken up credits not have I supplied enough in-game features to fully take advantage of it. If I can fix my game, I'll use it more.

Rushnut wrote:

How do you feel about the Webclient?

I'd have to learn a new language, and that scares me too much to even try.

Not true, you can use DM alone and still be just fine.