Well, I've been trying to figure out a good day to continually make sure I release BYOND Weekly. At first, the idea was to make it every Friday. Sadly, last week I had to leave on Wednesday and didn't get back until yesterday night. I'm also leaving this Friday. Hopefully, after this issue, I can get into a solid rhythm for BYOND Weekly's releases on a single day of the week. There wasn't nearly as much news this week. Enough talk though. On with the news!
On The Front Page
PopLava Chat
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Tsfreaks recently made a post in which he announced something he's working on called PopLava Chat. At first glance, it seems like a little chat room. When you look at the side, you notice some boxes you can check. At the time I went on, only the "embedded" check box worked, but the results in the end were pretty cool!
The window at the bottom there which looks like a browser is actually me watching what Tsfreaks is doing in his browser. It's really pretty neat! If you have the chance, I suggest you check it out. He admitted that the concept isn't really necessary or all that useful, but it sure is fun and neat to see. It has more work to be done on it, so keep it up!
In Other News
ACWraith Going Action
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ACWraith made a recent post about the work he's been doing on a side-scrolling shooter!
He's posted some screenshots regarding his ideas. The looks of it seems to be subject to change in the future. Definitely something interesting coming from ACWraith. It'll be something to see how the project progresses!
Kajika Revives Megaman
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After some time, Kajika has begun work back on his Megaman demo and has released a very early beta. It seems that now he's aiming to release a full-on Megaman game with his engine.
For me personally, this is a great thing to hear. Megaman was really the inspiration for me working on my pixel movement stuff. Seeing that demo, it was like a ray of light in all of the darkness. Proof that such things could be possible. Now more than ever before, these things are possible, but also online! Kajika is also trying to make this Megaman game play online, unlike the demo was before. He goes on in his post to explain more things about the project and how it has come about.
The History and Release of Linewalk
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CalusCoRPS made a blog post in which he outlined the history of his Linewalk Demo.
He talks here about how pixelized movement possibilities on BYOND have greatly improved and how he's been working with it himself by creating demos and such. He has also been testing LineWalk online! I went there recently and it -was- online. You might be able to catch it if you go there. Calus says that he still wishes to do some interface and graphics overhauls in the future and also to keep us updated with posts! I'll hold you to that one, CalusCoRPS!
Mecha's RTS Game
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Mecha Destroyer JD made a post in which he talks about the testing of his RTS game in the making and how he views it as a successful test.
He says that he's now working on getting to help in the development progress and working to fix bugs.
Metamorphman's Thoughts And Updates
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Metamorphman recently made a few posts regarding different things he's been brainstorming and working on. The first of which is a game he's been thinking over called Meen Labyrinth. He's made a couple of posts on it, the one I linked you to being the one where he actually goes into some detail about his thoughts on the game mechanics.
Meta also made a post in which he outlined how to make a standalone EXE file for a BYOND game. His old "dmb2exe" utility may be out of date now, but he goes through all of the steps here on how to manually make a true standalone EXE file for your game in a supposedly better and different manner than BYOND currently gives us so that you only need to send one EXE file instead of all the other files that come with the packaging you'd do normally.
The Big Five
BYOND Action
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No recent news. Hmm, I'm starting to see a pattern here.
BYOND Anime
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AllanJ made a post in which he outlined what he believes BYOND Anime games lack most, and what others believe. He interviewed Letsuami ('Head Programmer' for Bleach: Las Noches), ChrisGayle ('Head Programmer' for DragonBall Online 2), and various other anime game players about their views on what BYOND Anime games really lack and need more of.
BYOND Casual
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No news besides the fact that Mikau mentioned in the last issue's comments that BYOND Casual is missing a leader. He said he's looking for one. I recently asked him if anything has been done yet, and he's responded below that he hasn't had time to look for anyone but will try to make it a priority this weekend.
BYOND RPG
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On BYOND RPG's font page, you'll notice that Mikau is placing latest news information regarding BYOND RPG! It's a great way to get information out on what's going on. Unlike the Tech Tree though, it doesn't really get announced out there, so I'm sure lots of people missed it. Mikau asks for your news to also be put up there!
BYOND Strategy
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As usual, ACWraith has posted his weekly "Along The Tech Tree" for BYOND Strategy in which he outlines BYOND Strategy's latest news. He happened to mention BYOND Weekly in the latest Tech Tree. Apparently, he had the same idea to do something like this awhile back. But now, as he says, he can "shove it all on him. Muhuhahaha!". I gladly take this shoved stuff, ACWraith!
Personal Story
I decided this time to add a section I call the Personal Story section in which I give a story from my own personal experiences. I have my blog for reports on my development, but this is more for personal discoveries and other things like that. It won't be a continual section that I have on every time.
How Well Repeat Actually Improved
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Some of you might remember a post I made called Repeat: BYOND's Failure. The post outlined in detail the issue of how BYOND's current key repeat for macros was using the Windows default key repeat, which is meant for typing. I was pretty passionate about the issue, and how I ranked the issue's importance was a bit controversial with some, but the main idea of the article was gotten across to the BYOND Staff and a new repeat was formed. You've probably already noticed the increase in the movement quality in a lot of games you might have played already. However, I wanted to bring something else to the attention of you all.
In that post I made, I linked to two demos. Both demos were the same game, a GameBoy Zelda-based demo using pixel movement. I showed the difference between the original which used while() loops for movement, and a new one that I changed to use the default key repeat instead. The repeat one was absolutely terrible and almost impossible to play for more than two seconds without going mad. It was choppy and ugly.
Recently, I decided to go back, after the new repeat had now been made, and check to see how much of a difference it made. I went and played once again the Zelda demo I showed you all that used the default repeat. The results absolutely stunned me. Although I'd need to work out the issues right now with the movement state and diagonal movement, the smoothness and quality of it is pretty much perfect! The best part is that it takes care of how many, which, and in what order the arrow keys are currently being held for you. For example, I can hold the left key, then hold the right key while still holding left, then let go of right and immediately move left while I still hold it. It's remarkable, and great that it takes care of that pesky issue for you! So, I thought I'd link you all to that demo again so you can see for yourselves just what a change the repeat has actually made.
Zelda Demo Using Repeat
Thank you, BYOND Team (Most likely Lummox?) for this great fix!
Did I miss any news? Do you have any news for next week? You don't even need to be a member! Just send me your news and a link to something tangible via [email protected], or contact me through the pager.
On a different note, you probably noticed the "ad" I put at the bottom of BYOND Weekly and intend to on all of them. Well, I'm thinking about also doing a second ad each week for a game. Want your game showed off as an ad on BYOND Weekly? Do the same as you would giving me any news by emailing me via [email protected], or contacting me through the pager.
This issue of BYOND Weekly is brought to you by Megaman*
Woah... Thanks, Megaman!
*Neither Capcom nor anybody else even relatively associated with Megaman is actually responsible in any way whatsoever for this issue of BYOND Weekly