Journalism Interview: Devourer Of Souls

DoS: Familiarity with the language and the sometimes overlooked aspects of BYOND that it simplifies. For example, I think a lot of people take for granted things like the built-in networking, and the way the hub works to get players into your games. I think it helps, too, that most of the things I want to do with my games are things that BYOND were basically built for in the first place. I also have a bit of brand loyalty, I won't lie

DoS: No serious plans at the moment. I've toyed around with the concept of a Riichi Mahjong game a few times, but I haven't pursued it with anything more than a passing interest. Strategy/RPG games are admittedly my favorites and where I have the easiest time coming up with ideas, anyway, so I'm happy to keep that my focus. I also think that action games are tricky to do very well in BYOND, which is why things like Decadence impress me so much. I don't think I'd be very good at stuff like that, so I'll just keep at what I'm used to, until I get a really good idea for something outside of strategy/RPG.

DoS: A simpler way to manipulate graphics. Even stuff you saw on the SNES back in the day, like smooth rotation of a sprite, changing its hues, and such, without generating dynamic resources or worrying about lag. Smoother movement of things on the screen in general would add a lot, in my opinion. I also think that interfaces could stand to see some improvements or additions; more so 'additions'. The more stuff you can do with interfaces in BYOND means there's more stuff -I- can do with interfaces in BYOND, and I like to find new ways to use the skin elements creatively. I'm happy to see any new features in a BYOND update, though. I think they're probably the things I look forward to the most on BYOND.

DoS: Difficult question to answer. I certainly don't think that more games of this type would hurt anything, and it would be fun to play a variation on the concept. I'm not sure how it all appeals to BYOND as a whole, though, but I would definitely be happy to see some more with new takes on setting and goals.

DoS: Lots. I think the biggest struggle is not knowing how much interest people on BYOND have with roleplaying. That, in turn, raises questions about how much effort you should put into your setting; even if I do all this preface work before I even sit down and work on the game, is anyone going to want to play it? Furthermore, what can I do to convince people new to roleplaying to give it a try? What if these new people find everything over their heads and they end up not playing based on a fear that they'll be ostracized by roleplaying inadequately? Even for experienced roleplayers, there's a certain shyness and nervousness with diving into something new. They might get frowned upon for interpreting something wrong, or making a wrong assumption, etc, etc. All of these concerns can be magnified if it's your first attempt to reach out to BYOND with a roleplaying game; that's why, in SL's case, there's an ironic case of lack of information about the setting and various details, which people ask me about all the time. Furthermore, if you manage to push yourself past the above fears, there's something else to consider; quality of RP in your game, and how to moderate it. It's not easy to instill concepts like what metagaming is, or OOC, etc into new players. And for experienced players, it's often a put off if such things go on. And that's not even getting into design concerns. So, you have this great RPG idea. How do you wrap the concept of RP around it? What things should players be able to do, what things shouldn't they be able to do? How should information in the game be presented to help keep up this atmosphere? It's a very difficult thing to try, but roleplaying is something that can be extremely enjoyable, so it's ultimately worth it in the end, if you ask me.

DoS: I would be lying if I said 'not likely', because it is actually a very real possibility. Though, the next time I am to do so, I would like to also make a 'non-RP' version of the game so people who don't want to roleplay can also play it without worry. Then, if they feel like giving roleplay a try, they can on the 'RP' version. But yes, a definite 'maybe'...

DoS: Well, Sigrogana Legend is a project that has been with me since my teen years in one form or another. Started out on RPG Maker 2000, back when that was new and amazing, moved its way to Well of Souls, a freeware RPG/world creator, and finally jumped to BYOND. The BYOND version is noticably influenced by strategy RPGs like Fire Emblem, probably because back when I started working on it, I had an interest in them after playing aforementioned RPG. I had seen strategy RPGs on BYOND before, and wanted to give it a try myself.

DoS: This was actually a concern that I brought up on our development forums some time ago. I used them originally because I had intended the game to be much smaller than it is now; I had a game idea, but no art, and had no talent of myself to make it. It was the easier solution to go with, than wait around until I could find someone to help out. But as the game has grown, it's something I've wanted to change. The main problem with it is that the mapping and such for the game that is in would have to change to accomidate new icons; with how large some of the game maps are, this would be extremely difficult. To get around this, I've had one of our icon artists make original icons that would fit together the same way; this way, I can just replace the icons, and continue on about my day. That said, it's a pretty big job, so it might be a while. If anyone reading has any iconning experience, particularly with turfs and such, and think they'd like to offer their services, I highly encourage them to get in contact with me, because I am always looking for more artists to help out with certain existing projects, as well as new ones.

DoS: I think that SL and Teridal are after fairly different audiences, so I don't think it's likely they'll go head-to-head in competition. I like to think, though, that in terms of fun factor, SL and Teridal aren't too far apart; Teridal is an entertaining game in its own right, and I hope that SL is, too. Still, it might not always be that way; Aaiko has a lot of talent working with him, so he could easily slip way up the ladder on me, if he hasn't already.

DoS: I live and die by the golden rule of BYOND; 'Never talk about something you haven't done yet, because you will lose the motivation to do it.' Still, we're going to be adding in some more quests soon, particularly ones that expand on the setting and lore of the game, which a lot of people have wanted for a while now. After that, it's hard to tell; you might expect to see a few new classes, or expansions of existing things in the game.

DoS: I think the hub does a much better job of relaying information about the game than I do. I really suck at it when directly asked, I'm not gonna lie!

DoS: Back in the days of its infancy, BYOND had only one other Duel Monsters game; Duel Monsters Online. It also had only a small collection of the game's cards, which was a bit of a downer if you wanted to play with your real deck and such. So, basically, from a combination of self and player interest, I tried to make a game where you could on BYOND. This was also a time where I was losing the ability to go and play the game at card shops due to monetary/transportation restrictions, but still had a desire to play, so it ended up working out that way.

DoS: We do updates every week as we get relevant card information, which a staff member known as Dante handles for me. There's nothing revolutionary coming down the pipe, but our players seem happy enough with that, so we are too

DoS: I don't think that Duel Monsters Expert is quite the thing people think of when they think of fangames. The game itself is a medium to play a card game; fan-games are usually things like Dragonball Z, Naruto, etc put into game form where there existed none. Some of these are poor quality, and often are ripped from sources, which is where a lot of the stigma that surrounds them come from. That said, I have no personal beef with non-ripped fan-games. Some of them can be downright fun, like Resident Evil Online 2. You probably won't be finding me playing very many, but they're generally harmless!

DoS: To a certain extent, definitely. The existence of ripped games completely destroys any perceived value of any BYOND Anime game from a distance. When you see a game in the Anime section, you often think the worst of it before you even look at it; which is not unwarranted, given the abundance of ripped games, 99% of which are of remarkably poor quality. At the same time, ripped sources can be a starting point for very amatuer developers who are trying to make their own games, helping them learn things they may not be able to any other way. ... But this doesn't change the fact that yes, rips are a detriment to the site as a whole very much.

DoS: I'm just a guy who makes games!

DoS: Similar to others, I found BYOND while looking for multiplayer games to play online. The fact that you could make your own games with it was gravy, and it instantly drew me in to its cold, atomic tentacles and hasn't let go yet.

DoS: I played a lot of video games as a kid, and usually thought to myself, "Hey, that was really neat! But it would be even cooler if they did [X], and [Y]!" ... I even used to send letters to Nintendo Power, giving my recommendations. From then on, I'm not sure if it's by chance or if I actively sought them out, but I've found myself running into a lot of opportunities to give it a try myself. When I was really, really young, we had a crappy computer with VBasic, which I used to program some very, very simple text games to amuse myself. There's just a built-in desire to make things in my head; video games were my favorite things to play with, so as you would expect, it's a natural progression to where I am now, and where I plan to go in the future.

DoS: Programming and writing are two things I enjoy very much. I have no art talent, at all. If art talent were money, I would have starved to death by now. For serious.

DoS: Usually shooting the breeze with friends, or thinking about ideas to use on a game on BYOND. I also have a deep, deep appreciation and love for the detective mystery genre. Aside from that, I often find myself playing video games! Team Fortress 2, Killing Floor, Left 4 Dead 2, or any number of games on the PS2. I can't say I do anything especially out of the ordinary.

DoS: Making games, but I get the feeling everyone knew that already.

DoS: I really don't know. I might've found my way to Game Maker in its infancy, or maybe I would've started to do big RPG Maker projects and such. I know I'd be missing some great friends and experiences if I didn't find BYOND, though.