The Sound Of The Fringeworlds

Well, the main machine has been rendering all night, and it doesn't look ready to quit soon. That being where  all the actual work for the blog gets done, and where all the resource files reside, it's gonna be a bit before i can prep pages. So, let's ramble about some of the work on the game for a bit. (Now you know, and can go ahead off somewhere else to read something enjoyable)

For some strange reason, this deaf old coot starting working on sound for The Third Colony. Up until this point, the only audio for the game was opening music, music for a couple of festival/party scenes, and minor sound effects like the Grav Lifts.

But, as we know, the ol' peripatetic mind meanders where it will and somehow it decided that the jukeboxes and stereos needed music. And that background music was needed (though optionally, on a user controlled toggle).
And more than just Hugh Masakella's Emavungweni for the festivals.

I set a hard limit of 50 songs, and fewer would be better. Currently there are just over 40 songs installed in jukeboxes and on data disks scattered around the game which the game player can install into their own music player.

(EDIT: I should also have noted that the craze on PoD9 is for 20th Century music, mostly latter decades.)

Popular Jukebox Songs
song (artist)

Bad To The Bone (George Thorogood & The Destroyers)
Blasphemous Rumours (Depeche Mode)
Boogie In Your Butt (Eddie Murphy)
Church Of The Poison Mind (Culture Club) 
Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd)
Dead Man's Party (Oingo Boingo)
Dear God (XTC)
Get It On (Marc Bolan & T-Rex)
Goin' Down (The Monkees)
Heavy Metal Poisoning (Styx)
I Touch Myself (The Divinyls)
I Eat Cannibals (Total Coelo)
Institutionalized (Suicidal Tendencies)
It's A Mug's Game (Soft Cell)
It's A Sin (Pet Shop Boys)
Jump (Aztec Camera)
Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Is In) (Kenny Rogers & The First Edition)
Killing Moon (Echo And The Bunnymen)
Kiss (Art Of Noise & Tom Jones)
Lady Killer (The Vandals)
Love Missle F1-11 (Sigue Sigue Sputnik)
Mama Told Me Not To Come (Three Dog Night)
Nowhere To Run (Martha Reeves And The Vandellas)
Obsession (Animotion)
Sex Machine (The Flying Lizards)
Ship Of Fools (World Party)
Stop This Crazy Thing (Cold Cut)
Super Freak (Rick James)
Superstition (Stevie Wonder)
Tainted Love (Soft Cell)
The Masochism Tango (Tom Lehrer)
Tush (ZZ Top)
Urban Struggle (The Vandals)
Walk The Dinosaur (Was Not Was)
We Got To Get Out Of This Place (The Animals)
Welcome To My Nightmare (Alice Cooper)
Where The Streets Have No Name/Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You (Pet Shop Boys)
White Lines (Don't Do It) (Grandmaster Flash)
Why (Bronski Beat)
Wild Thing (Ton Loc)
You Sexy Thing (Hot Chocolate)

Part of that selection reflects upon the game world, part upon the game creator.
I'll let you sort which be which.

I do hate to not include images, so let's take a peek at some of the boring work going on (mostly because there's pics on the stick leftover from email with my son)

One of the complaints about RPG Maker games is waiting for slow text to appear and having it chopped into little 4-line boxes. These can be very valid complaints, and i'm not fond of that either.

But, it doesn't have to be that way. 
All text messages in T3C appear instantly, with the exception of the occasional dramatic pause inserted. And those are measured in quarter seconds.
And as for that 4-line limit on the text blocks...

Really - it doesn't have to be that way. One simple line of code and textboxes expand to fit the need. (I also avoid the word wrap plugins that lead to those awkward mid-sentence breaks.)

And a lot of the boring work i've been doing is interface bits. Every district has a News Stand from which one can pull the daily news feed. Now it has a simple full screen display & interface -

As you can see, they're not big, detailed stories. But they do carry the basic happenings of the world outside the player's view, and set up ongoing plots and potential quests, as well as merely set the tone of the world.

I've mentioned that the colony is contained in disconnected cavernous pockets carved within the mining planetoid. These caverns (or Halls) are connected via a TransMat system. Each Hall has one or two Primary TransMat Stations that are connected on the Alpha Network, and each TransMat may link to two destinations. This can make it a tad tricky to learn one's way around PoD9.

Fortunately, you can pick up a Free TransMap from Admin or at Terminal Island (the Offworld TransMat station) -

So, now you're all good and ready to run around, right?

Maybe not so right?

Maybe very wrong?

OKAY.
We gotcha covered.

That map is more than just a "pretty" picture. It also remembers where you've been and becomes a Quick Travel map allowing the player to jump straight to any previously visited TransMat -

As i said. Lots of boring little detail stuff. But it's slowly turning this mess into more of a 'game' along the way.

stuff by -3- (2020)

Hermit Ramblings

Some of you may likely have noticed what i didn't when i headed out on my monthly supply run: 
It was Labor Day.

So i traveled down the hill, into the city, and found that Costco was closed. And grocery stores hadn't received deliveries leading to many items not available. In general, a terrible supply run.

Mercifully, i was able to make another run yesterday to actually gather supplies.
Horrifyingly, i was out in the world with human things everywhere two days in a row. My hermit brain skitters to the back of the cave to withdraw into shadows. Combine that with the terrible bit on Saturday, and i'm feeling rather incapable of safely communicating with people at the moment.

But, i don't want to let the Hermit pull back too far, so a quick non-post post to keep the flow.

I've been doing a lot of work on The Third Colony, but not a lot good to show. Either it's very 'back room' work, or it's very boring work. Insane amounts of boring work.

For example - you may recall the the main UI for the game has a character display window which didn't seem to do much of anything other than show what the PC was wearing...

As you can see in the screen above, in addition to Outfit and Hairstyle, it now shows that Kelly is annoyed in this scene. There are currently about a dozen Status Poses that show Emotional State or Status Effect. Here are half of the ones currently in service to show a bit of what they cover -

Now that might not seem like an insane amount of artwork at first glance, but take a single Status Pose and multiply it by just the Outfit and Hairstyle combos available to Kelly in the first four days of the game -
 

Um, No - she can't get pregnant in the first four days - certainly not visibly so. And the Containment Suit might not look like it needs 3 different versions, but it does in other poses. The Registry Trainee uniform on the right only has two hairstyles - Kelly needs to get her hair taken care of before the Uniform is issued, and she can't change back to the base style until after Training is completed. So i at least managed to chop 1/3 off the needs for that outfit.

And, again - that's just what's available in the first four days. And there's also no outfit, so another full set of everything. After Day Four, swim suits become available, and the week following she'll start playing with amateur superhero outfits, undercover disguises, etc.,. Throughout the game she's got a few dozen outfits.

And then there's Eileen and Ben and Gene. 
Bless that Gene - he's got a severely limited wardrobe in the early stages. But Eileen's a nightmare. If she's been dosed with Lactacid or encountered some other effects, she has six potential breast sizes. Good thing she can't change her hair unless she encouters the Scissor Ghost. Then we have to add a set for Bald and 3 Growth Stages.

Insane enough? 
If not, remember that i'm also rendering walk animations in four directions for all these combinations, too. Then add on time for processing the renders and putting them into the format the game needs.

It's a real good thing that i work on this to keep the brain working, not to meet any sort of deadline or anything, eh? I'd have to fire me for making all these crazy decisions that add insane amounts to the work load.

stuff by -3- (2020)

Fighting To Die

Our incompetent administration has decided, as usual, to attack reality as the enemy when it's inconvenient to their delusions. No longer able to pretend that the Trump Flu isn't there, and having been forced to wear a mask in public after ranting on the evils of mask wearing (though the lying wimp is so damn weak he can't even admit that he was against them previously). So now they're out attacking the medical experts, and Dr. Fauci in particular, by boldly lying once again.

Though, maybe they're not actually lying. When they talk about things like Fauci 'flip-flopping' on masks, maybe they're just too damn stupid to understand things like qualifiers and transitory conditions. Phrases like "that may change" and "Under the current conditions" are just too much for their feeble minds to grasp?

Nah - they're frelling liars, twisting the truth because they know that anybody that'll march along behind them at this point is either too stupid to understand or simply doesn't care as long as they continue to hate the 'right' people.

Oddly enough, contemplating the herd lumbering along behind fake pres, i was reminded of an old Fringeworx short story - I, Marik. Fringeworx, as you may or may not recall, is the web series i did way back in the mid-90s that was recently folded into The Third Colony. And, heck - it's even a prelude to an episode that heavily featured Frag, the character now wandering around in the T3C game whom we saw in the promos.

So, what the frell. It's quite short, so i'm going to run it this morning.

Now, as a matter of fact...

 I, Marik
by -3-

(This is a prequel to "...Of Darkness And Glory" These events take place just prior to Frag's arrival on Lancer's Reef.)


He rubbed his wounded shoulder as he tried to quiet his ragged breathing and draw back deeper into the shadows. He tasted the blood in his mouth and wondered what his name was. His heart racing, head pounding, blood singing in his ears; he wanted something to cling to. To steady himself. He knew he had a name. could almost remember...

This morning. This morning he had another life. He remembered energy. Energy... NRG! He had been an NRG Tech. Clutching at quicksilver thoughts, he name slipped away and his life came to him instead. For a moment, it was all clear in his mind - the intricate details of stopping atomic motion and releasing the energy from inert matter.

Then he barely stifled a laugh. He knew nothing of the energy hidden in an inert body. Now. Now he knew. Energy flooding every cell of his being. Primal energy unleashed from deep within. The screaming might of the wave that carried him through the streets. More than energy - energy lust. The heart and the mind and the spirit all screaming his personal power in perfect unison. The Howl...
He was lost again, any thought of his name, his life, swept away unnoticed. Someone approached on the street beneath him. He felt fresh again, ready to continue. He checked the growl in the back of his throat before it alerted his competition. When the light glinted off her metal jacket, he leaped. He landed with his knee in the middle of her back, driving her into the ground as one arm snaked around her neck and the other hand grabbed her hair and wrenched her head back. Her. face, twisted in anger, was beautiful...green eyes and Celtic features. it was a face he knew well - eyes he remembered.

Last Night - staring into those eyes as sweat dripped into his own. Feeling the pounding of her heart pressed to his; the wet heat of her wrapped around him. Their sex had always been good, but last night had been more than great. Like on an animal level they had known something was coming. They were consumed by passion - lust - something ancient and primal. Something that connected them in a more than physical way. Something eternal.

He sank his teeth into her exposed throat, the taste of blood fresh in his mouth again. He chewed savagely and twisted his lover until she stopped twitching. Then sprang to his feet and howled his twin victory. Not only had he eliminated another competitor, but she was his forever now. A part of him. With a gleeful bound he continued on, sprinting toward the colony center. He wanted to howl again, but he held it in, saving it, losing himself instead in the joy of running. Revelling in the power that was his to command.

Yesterday. Yesterday the command came from the Power Core. No more heavy minerals. With no native heavy elements, he was supposed to expand the operation to full planetary broadcast power, on the original schedule, with no more offworld shipments. Bastards! He knew why. His bonuses. He made too many of them, and they were doing some cost cutting! If he could get his hands on them...

He squeezed, crushing the windpipe of the stranger in his hands. He tossed the corpse off to the side near a few older ones, and moved on. Trotting at a slower pace, careful not to slip in the ever more frequent goreslicks, he started looking for a suitable weapon. He was getting closer now, his competition more frequent. And soon there would be packs. He must be prepared. Within a few blocks, he spotted a walker mech, attacked and abandoned. Cautious of a trap, he circled toward it, and smiled when he spotted what he was looking for - jutting like the spines of a porcupine, a lateral array of cooling pins. A meter and a half long, only a few centimeters in diameter, and easy to detach. They were probably one of the hardest objects on the planet. Proud of his new battle rod, he stared into its ebony surface. Shiny enough to belie its lightsucking appearance...looking for all the world like a piece of night fallen to his hands. Too black.

This afternoon he was tired. Not from last night's incredible sex, but tired in spirit. It was with weary resignation that he suffered through the inspection tour by the same Home Office nullard that brought yesterday's new orders. Weary in the knowledge the his one year contract had just been tripled in length and quartered in money... This afternoon. Night came 3 hours early this afternoon. And with the dark came glory. Glory and Power and Freedom. And Primal Joy. He felt it and turned to the corp and smiled. The rover felt it , and it knew what was coming; looked like it wanted to run, but frozen in fear. When he pounced on the corporate slug, it screamed. Screamed his name! What was his name?

He could see it now, glittering in the center of the colony plaza. The Web of Stars. It beckoned to him, sang its call over the roar of the crowd. That was all there was for him now - the song and the web stretching into the sky. His rod whistled with the song as it cut through the air, clearing space before him. This was all he had ever wanted, his every unknown desire gloriously fulfilled.
Closer now, his rod striking as fast as his heart was beating. He was Power! He was pure energy! No one could stop him. Hundreds swarmed around him, clawing and clubbing each other. So many that often the dead had no room to fall, carried along by the mob in a danse macabre. But for him they didn't exist - only those in the remaining meters between he and his goal had meaning. They were the fiercest, having fought this far, but that slowed him not at all. Part of him regretted being unable to feast upon them and give them the respect they deserved, but now there was only blood. The stars were his, not theirs, and he would have them. Oblivious to the pain of his now useless left arm flopping at his side, he struck down the last obstacle in his path.
With a roar of triumph he dropped the cooling pin and started to climb the Star Web. His heart sang with victory, his spirit shining like stars on which he climbed, he finally allowed himself his howl. It was a sound from the depths of his soul; a primal song to all who could hear, proclaiming his mastery of them. Telling them that Marik was their better. The best!
Marik! That was his name! The joy in his system reached new heights. He felt complete and refreshed, climbing ever faster. He could see them now. Almost. They had no edges, no boundaries, receding off into more than just three dimensions of space. He looked below and screamed.
"Marik! Marik is your better! Marik is more than any of you - more than all of you!!" Laughing, he continued climbing up to join them. To be with them for all time. Now close, he stopped and joyfully announced himself. "I am here, oh lords. Marik has proven he is worthy. Please, I beg of you, accept me. Please, Oh Lords!" Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes as they shifted forward. He thought his heart would burst, unable to contain his pride and happiness as they drew close to him. The ecstasy left him trembling.


"Thank you..." he whispered as the jaws closed over his head, just before his heart did burst.

...and it worked out for Marik about as well as it's working for the USA.

stuff by -3- (199x)

oh, dren... it speaks!

Some day my spawn might wish to know more of how their ol' progenitor thought. That was a part of my thinking when i launched this blog. I really intended to include more 'memoir' posts that were more recollections and ramblings.

Not a huge percentage, but it might have been nice to maintain at least a 1% average. Hmm...  There's been ... a half dozen or so? I certainly don't think even 10. Out of somewhere between 1100-1200 posts. So we're down by at least a decimal point on the percentage. 

No, that doesn't mean that you're suddenly going to get an endless barrage of ramblings. But it does mean i'm going to stop resisting when i get the urge. Often, the excuse i give myself is "No Pictures? Forget that!" So maybe i'll throw in random art and pages when i do this. Could be a good place for some of those Odd old comic book adverts, eh?

And, of course, there's always T3C. Remember i mentioned heading off to work on Big Sys the other day? This is Her:

(Yes, the hair is data streams)

She's the computer at the Registry - the organization that supports and coordinates the super heroes on PoD9.

On with the old man ramblings...

So... our Fake President still can't cope with the Trump Flu and continues to think ignoring it will make it go away - "like a miracle" in his own words.
Y'know, if he wants a Memorial Garden to distract from his incompetence, how about one to the hundreds of thousands who are dying by his inability to deal with, or even truly acknowledge, a deadly crisis? (Yes, i know we haven't quite yet hit 150,000 confirmed dead from the Trump Flu in this country, but we're still on the upswing since our 'leaders' have yet to with the virus numbers instead of their own numbers)




Here's a tip:
If you speak in code words and phrases - you are a sheep. Those words are given by your shepherd to keep you herded with the other sheep. Just because they point to others and say "See? Sheep!" doesn't mean that you aren't one, too. Only, if you know sheep abound, you should know better.



Mindfulness is not new. I've been practicing it to greater and lesser degrees much of my life at the prompting of Socrates who told us "The Unexamined Life is not worth living."



Every now and again, i have an urge to add a new word to the language. Today's word is

Hydrostatophiliac: n. One who enjoys sexual relations with tentacles. (ref. Hydrostatophilia)

(I didn't say they were good words.)



It's often hard for me to believe that this society can solve any of its problems. One cannot fix what one cannot acknowledge nor talk about, and we've reached the point the we even censor the word censor. Redact is a censored version of Censor to avoid discomfort. Remember when we had the honesty to use simple phrases like Military Censorship to protect secrets?
That's been censored now, citizen. Move along - nothing to see or talk about here.




Some have wondered why, with my seeming attitudes expressed here, do i not use phrases like "people of colour" and LGBTQETC+. Allow me to pontificate...

How is "People Of Colour"(Good) better or different from "Coloured People"(Bad)? To my perception, it's more technical terminology - distancing rather than bringing closer. The more it sounds like a technical term, the more it sounds like you're talking about a disease or condition instead of Person. I'm simply not comfortable with the term on either level. So, maybe you'll see me use the term 'Woman Of Colour' to talk about Zoe Saldana, but otherwise... not likely.

As for LGBT... - get serious. It's supposed to be an inclusive term, but nobody can say it so it alienates, and right from the start of it - LG - female and male homosexuals can't even come together in unity. I personally lean towards omnisexual, and i'm not stupid enough to think that if the Angels had visited Sodom & Gomorrah in female form, then God would have been cool with the way the locals behaved. (Seriously, people - wtf? Is it too discomforting to realize it must be about the laws of Hospitality which our entire civilization has abandoned? Hmm...)  So i in no way mean to disparage any who take comfort in the term - but for me, it's a term of divisiveness. Both from the internal segregation and the external un-communicability.

And, of course, being a hermit by nature, i'm not prone to jumping on a bandwagon just because it's heading my way.

Dren. 
We really need another picture by now - probably well before now. Let me see what's laying loose in the files...

Ah - this piece from Skip Williamson might be over a quarter century old, but it still works all too well...

Just change the old instamatic camera to a phone, and it's fully modernized.

page art by Skip Williamson from Gag Reflex #1, the rest by -3- (1994, 2020)

Our Flibbertigibbet Brummagem Snollygoster Fake President

As we all watch the fiasco of what happens when Fake President meets Real Crisis, a lot of us are running out of things to call the Twitter Twit. Sure, a lot of newer words like 'fucktard' might be more worthy than he is, but those really belong to the kids, don't they? What about us oldsters trapped in his clown horror show?

After all, you may have noticed that pretty much the only time i use his name is when referring to the Trump Flu. This isn't a "he who must not be named" kind of situation. It's most definitely a "it isn't worthy of a name" and is way too in love with it. Trump Flu is the one place he's earned his name, so i say let's let him have that one. 
That leaves us wondering how to refer to the critter*?

Might i offer a few classic suggestions?


FLIBBERTIGIBBET
A person who is regarded as silly, flighty, irresponsible. Especially one prone to excessive talking.

BRUMMAGEM
Something cheap and showy; especially used referring to cheap, gaudy jewelry.

SNOLLYGOSTER
Someone self-serving, especially a politician, whose actions are motivated by self-interest rather than higher principles.

Well, i suppose we should have some imagery in here, should we not?
Let's see...

How about a little tale i'd call "Mistakes Were Made" -

Apologies to Rowley, Prodes, and Quatermouse.

Now, if you'll pardon me, i'm off to indulge in a bit of my usual gadzookery* in other arenas...

page art from Animal Weirdness #1 by Geoff Rowley and Prodes, modification and ramble by -3- (1974, 2020)

===

*(If you want to argue that he's vegetable or mineral instead, i won't put up a tough fight)

**(GADZOOKERY
The use of archaic words or expressions.)

Dia De La Cabeza Muerta

It's one of those days...

Brain not talking to me just now. And doesn't want to prep pages. And Mel doesn't want to play. So, here's a few random images from work on The Third Colony. That's obviously another shot from Alyce: Glass Wonderland above.

Here's advertising for one of the most popular eateries -
 

(Yes, Dina Jr.'s pose is intentionally awkward and stiff - and in character)

...Cats Will Play, with Tom Cat and Pritty Kitty (and Manic Monday in the shadows - poor Tom)...
 

...and a recruiting poster for the local force -
 

Yeah, mostly weak bits of filler sitting on hand. Sorry about that. Maybe if we kiss and make up, my brain and i will be back later today with more better.

stuff by -3- (2020)

Curious Glitching

Well, isn't that ... interesting?

I went to post the answers to this week's puzzle pages and found that most of the puzzles themselves are gone from the original post. In fact, most of the pages from the posts that are labelled Trump Flu Blues Prevention all seem to have disappeared from the server.

Strange system glitch? Or are things getting uglier? We may have to make some posts to test and see what happens.

But, not right now. And i'll refrain from posting the answers just yet. Later i'll go back and repost the images that have gone missing.

In theory, we'll have a real post later today. 
Meanwhile, have yourself a groovy Mel circa 1970 -

Trump Flu Blues

One thing about a Crisis - it gives the worst elements in power a chance to strut their stuff and get even worse. In our government, crisis is seen as opportunity, and they're grabbing it left and right.

One glaring example is using the health crisis to force through an agenda that could never pass in normal times. Such is the EARN IT bill attached to the relief package. Not only is it evil in nature, allowing tyrants to be tyrants and giving the government Still More power to see everything everywhere, it also breaks security on everything from your love life to your credit cards to corporate finances.

But that's okay, because Fuck You - we're the government and you exist merely to serve us.

And to show how disgustingly evil it, and the framers of this bill are, they spew lies about it not being about encryption at all.
The Word Encryption Never Appears, they bloviate. 

That's right, it doesn't. They knew that their evils would never be tolerated if they spoke it's name directly, so they Voldemorted it.

You might think that some would be fighting against including non-related power-grabs into the relief bill. No, it's supported by both sides. They're only arguing over how little they can get away with spending, not how much power they can steal. But such is usually the way of the two-party "Freedom Lite" system. 

And, as usual, our government continues to operate in this century under the premise that the USA was always wrong; that the Nazis and Soviets got it right on how to do things. The government belongs to the people? What a stupid, foolish idea. People belong to the government, didn't you know that?

Unless things change dramatically, you'd better get real damned used to that idea because we've been at a tipping point and now they're really started to push things over the edge.

Good luck.

While we brood, picture in your head and ears Will Smith and Martin Lawrence singing their song...

Trump Flu! Trump Flu!
Whatcha Gonna Do?
Whatcha Gonna Do To Avoid Trump Flu?

I'll try to be back later with a real post.
(And we won't even talk about all the military troop and equipment movements going on in this country while everyone is hunkered down. I'm hearing that from truckers on the road, not voices in my head like the rump.)

But it was nice to see our president admit that he's not man enough to accept any blame.

A Brief Aside

I've got to leave the cave and head out into the plagueworld to forage supplies. So just a quickie for now -
 

I get my main propeller-head fix from the Arrowverse tv shows. How far we've come from ol' Jeff asking to put the Flash in a jogging suit instead of that weird costume.

But, i've given up on Supergirl. 

And that's sad, because not only does the show sometimes feature my lifetime favorite superhero group (the Legion Of Super-Heroes), but Jon Cryer has been giving us the best live-action Lex Luthor the world has seen in a Long time.

But, i just can't watch the stumbling stupids any longer. For a year and more we've watched a silly soap opera storyline about how Lena Luthor is going to the dark side because she feels betrayed by Kara and friends over Supergirl's secret identity. Soap Opera dreck has always been the Berlanti shows' weakest point, but this whole thing has just been too moronic. It all hinges on nobody bothering to mention that Lena did know Kara's identity but had to have it wiped out for security reasons, by her own request. We were warned that just flat telling them that they're memories were purged could be damaging, but each recovered the knowledge over time until only Lena was still in Forget mode.

One stupid sentence and the entire year is mooted. But nobody can bother to mention it, and now they don't seem to remember either. By the time they hit their "It's A Wonderful Life" episode i couldn't watch past 5 minutes. The alert on the stupidometer was ringing too loud to pay attention to anything else.

If the writers have to dig that deep into frelling stupid, they obviously don't want anyone with intelligence to be watching.

I'll honor their wishes.

So long, Kara. 
See you next Crisis. 

One For The Game Makers

Sit back; we gwyne get wordy today. 
Ye Be Warned -

As you may know, i spend some of my time noodling with games, in recent times using the RPG Maker MV engine and creation system. The system has a very mixed reputation. Some absolutely loathe it and any games made with it. Others love it and devote themselves exclusively to it. 

I like it well enough, obviously since i'm using it. But part of what i like is the extensibility of the framework. There are hundreds upon hundreds of plug-ins for RMMV (the shorthand name for the system). And since it all runs on javascript, one can add custom scripts to the game. Frequently when some players complain about the games, they're usually complaining about the default system. And those complaints are often very valid.

Probably one of the loudest - "The games are too small! And they're all the same!"

And, by default, they are hideously small. But plug-ins take them to 1080p and higher. I'm working at 720p simply to reduce resource size and make it more laptop friendly. (I suspect there will be a ridiculous amount of artwork as it grows. Especially since i allow considerably more wardrobe freedom than most games, so many more variant images to multiply the count.)

Many of the complaints are not actually about the system itself. They're more a result of the system. The big problem is that it's so easy to use, and it provides basic default assets. Of course, that's the strength of the system, but the by-product is that Anyone can make games. That's both great and terrifying. And it creates a glut of games with the same look, many with only the most basic 'game' in the game. The signal to noise ratio can be daunting. 

But there is gold in them thar hills.

Let me pause to note how it's amazing that one person can do so much so easily these days. And it's possible to create something so great that other's can't see it, so how does a young creator get their vision out?

Back in early days of computer gaming, one guy created a Whitetail Deer Hunting game. when he brought it around to Interplay, we fairly unanimously thought it was a completely daffy idea. Who wants to play a game about waiting? He kept soldiering on and eventually found another company to publish the game. It was, of course, a monster hit. 
I hope he made a ton of cash off of it for his faith in his own vision.

When trying to achieve your own vision with RMMV (or any system), remember that the defaults are only a starting point. So many things can be modified quite easily, as well as adding your own custom images and sounds.

The map graphics for the system are tilesets contained in simple PNG files. They are easily editable or completely replaceable. They're also scalable, as are nearly all of the art assets.
For example, the default walk sprites* for the game are 48x48 pixels**. For The 3rd Colony i decided to double that to 96x96 for larger figures with more detail. To accomplish this, no elaborate programming is necessary. I just used a larger image file. The system cuts the sprites proportionally, so if you use a bigger picture you get a bigger picture in the game. Stupidly simple.

*(A Sprite is a visual element appearing onscreen on top of the background in a game. Characters, creatures, chests... generally anything that can move or animate)
**(A Pixel is a PICture ELement; the single dots they count to get the screen resolution)
(You probably knew these, but when i'm reading i hate when relevant information isn't included.)

Eileen Sprite - default vs. custom:

(Note that while i doubled the sprite size to 96px, her sprite stands 75px tall. This allows for varying heights among the cast; Eileen is only about 5'9"/1.75m. But you could just as easily use the full frame for larger base figures.)

Plug-ins extend that further. The walk sprites use the most basic possible animation - three frames for each of four directions. (Left leg forward, Legs together, Right leg forward) To make that work, they play in a 1-2-3-2-1-2-3-2... yo-yo sequence. It works, but at a bare minimum level. That's by design, not an error - the intent was to make everything as small as possible while allowing potentially unlimited expansion.

There's a  plug-in that lets you decide how many frames are in the walk cycle, and then plays them in a loop sequence instead of yo-yoing the frames. Unfortunately, the system isn't coded to handle a separate standing sprite, so one must plan the sequence carefully when choosing your stop frame. 
There are also plug-ins to allow you to expand to 8-directional movement if desired.

Of course, you don't actually have to use the maps and sprites at all, Nor do you need to use either of the combat systems in the game, nor anything else of the default assets. It can be used as a framework to present whatever you want to show, as long as you can envision it and provide the visuals and the story telling. (Or even as a training/teaching application with no story telling involved)

Okay - you could just do a black screen and text with no visuals, but there's probably a simpler way.

For me, make it old school. I want the map and the sprites and the characters walking around. I like building new tiles for the map system. I would have loved these tools way back in Wasteland and The Lord Of The Rings days. SO much more fun doing the work now.

But the default assets are merely a starting point. As you saw above, when i changed the size of the sprites i decided to change style completely. You can replace them with anything you can imagine and create. Make a game of Binary Wars with nothing but 1s and 0s fighting it out onscreen. Make some VaporWare with the character being a drop of water trying to not evaporate. The beauty of the minimal system design is that you don't need to create (or coax someone to create) a whole lot of resources. That only-3-frames-for-each-walk-direction limitation can suddenly seem real appealing.

I've got an advantage being a veteran on the art & animation front, but do what You can do to avoid just the generic assets. If you're using the basic style sprites, don't use the provided character sheets. Use the built-in generator to create new characters so they don't see the same people they just saw yesterday in another game. And before you do that, look around - find Generator Parts to expand your library so you can create a wider variety of NPCs.

Absolutely do Not use one of the provided title screens. Players have seen them all over and over before. If you can't create a custom title screen, you can use any PNG file you drop into the img/titles1 folder of your game directory. A kid's refrigerator drawing of lizards feasting on the undying corpse of honey booboo is going to go over better with the players than one of those tired default pics.

Look around for Tilesets. Lots of artists make them and offer them up for creators to use, and new ones appear all the time. Try to learn to use a free art program with Layers at least enough to be able to cut and paste parts of different sets together to create what you want. And remember that you can expand the Maximum number of tilesets in the game to as many as you need - separate sets for every map if you want to go crazy. Use that to customize and create your own distinctions. But remember to make sure it fits neatly into your game world. Don't break the flow of the game just for something you like - save it for the right time. (Or the right game if need be. Do it the L&I way and keep a SOG* file. (*Some Other Game))

And definitely, absolutely, visit and browse deep through some plug-in archives. Get an idea of some of the tools that are available while deciding what you want to do and how you want to do it. And then Use them.
Many of my favorites come from Yanfly and from GALV, and here's a collected list of MV plug-ins to start your search.

First and foremost is the Yanfly Core Engine or an equivalent. Something that allows you to override the system default game size and expand your limits. BTW - nearly all of the Yanfly plug-ins have excellent tutorial vids to accompany them, no matter how simple they might be to use. Others offer tutvids, too - i just like the style of Yanfly's. (Especially since i'm half deaf and they exclusively use large subtitles instead of speech to instruct and explain.)

Hmm...
We seem to have segued into Tips from an Old Retired Pro -

One of the first things to remember is that this isn't the old days when people sat waiting desperately for new games. Indy games are everywhere and in constant states of release. The potential player of your game likely gathered it with other titles and will be sampling to see which, if any, they want to play. 

You know how great your game is, but they don't have a clue. And telling them won't help, the most feeble of game makers is out there telling them the same thing. Be wary of long set-ups and introductions to the game world. Get the player into the game as quickly as you can, and fill them in along the way. Don't make it feel like you're teaching a class before they're allowed to play.

This should be a simple and obvious rule, but that's not always the case: Name your file or folder in a way that people can identify the game.  If someone gathers a bunch of games to check out, the one labeled GameData tends to get pushed aside and lost because the player doesn't remember what it is. They know what those others are, so let's go look at them. If you've got a long name, use an identifiable abbreviation or condense it to an acronym.

Cool Features.
Whenever possible, make them optional. A simple example is the typing noise available (and set ON by default) in popular Message plug-ins, like the excellent one from Yanfly. While a large part of your potential audience (perhaps a majority) won't care either way about the feature, the others will be split into two camps - those who love it and those who can't listen to it. If you choose to use such a feature and don't provide a way to disable it, you're telling a fair chunk of your players to Go Away! before they even see how good your game can be.

This can also be very true with visual features. Atmospheric Overlays can be great mood, but use a light hand, and use them sparingly so they have effect. Constant use reduces them to mere distraction which can become aggravation for the player. Ask yourself "Is this useful, does it provide immersion, or is it just a 'look at me! look at me!' feature?" 
Use Transparency/Opacity levels. Drop the strength down to 20% or less and see what it looks like. Does it still convey the desired effect? If not, slowly work it up until the minimum needed. A lighter touch creates less visual confusion, allowing the player to sink deeper into your game. Adding visuals merely for splash and overusing features can cause your game to feeling like the RMMV equivalent of a '90s Blink-Tagged webpage. Flashy and 'kewl', but soon painfully annoying.
Try to not slap the player's eyeballs.

Another related area - Sound & Music.
By default, RMMV provides sound level settings. Some menu set-ups disable that Very Important feature. Some don't allow access until the game is underway. When your amazing theme music starts blasting out at 100% volume, the player starts desperately looking for the sound controls. If they can't find them, they're just as likely to shut down the game and delete it as to mute their system. There's a good chance they downloaded a dozen other games to check out at the same time, and never even looked at yours because the blasting sound drove them off.
If you have introductory screens, production logos, and such opening the game, don't start the music playing until they get to the title screen and options menu.

On Sound - Level your files. Which is to say, when you're adding in custom sound effects, balance them to play at the same sound level. You can do that either by editing the sound files or by setting the volume level at which they're played within RMMV. Too often i've seen things like combat with one gunshot sound effect at triple the volume of the others, or even louder. People have neighbors! And some other poor bastard was wearing earphones when you assaulted him with those shots. Just a few sounds that are unbalanced in that way can break a game and make players abandon it.

Don't leave your player hanging. Sure, that NPC told them what needs doing, but then they had to break for dinner and it's been hours or days later when they can get back to the game. You don't have to use a full quest journal/log (though there's a few available), but give them some way of sorting out what they're supposed to be doing. Sometimes games will give a scroll or token bound to various quests. The player can check their inventory to see what's up.
Or simply having the player character speak up to remind themself what they're doing, or an NPC if the player is leading a party.
Even in a Sandbox game, a sense of direction can be important.

Try not to obscure your map. HUDs, Overlays, Character Figures - they can all be useful and perhaps even necessary to the concept of your game. But when the player is moving around, anything that blocks part of the map from view can quickly become a frustration to the player.  Especially if wandering encounters are present.

The two main ways to avoid this problem are to allow any overlaid graphics to be toggled, or to make a frame for the game so the data sits outside the map. The latter option works much nicer than it used to with widescreen aspect ratios being standard now. The same information presented outside of the map avoids the distraction and annoyance factor, and allows the player to be drawn into the world of the map view while playing.

Of course, all of this applies only if you're looking to share your creation with the world. (And goes especially if you're looking to use it as a demo/resume in seeking a job in the industry) If you're just making something for yourself, then forget all of that unless it suits you. 

The only rule you need is to remember that fap games should be able to be controlled with one hand.

<pause for crowd response>

Well, that what certainly a big drendump of wordage, wasn't it? And only one measly little image?

Yeah, it's not gonna get much better, but here's a few quick shots from the current state of The 3rd Colony.

First, for those who've yet to meet her, here's Kelly's introductory onesheet -

(Yes, i know it was Eileen up above. There are four character choices, including Ben and Gene.)

While the frames are merely placeholders currently, they show you one of the two options i was talking about for presenting information without interfering with the map itself -

As you can see, i'm sticking with the old school conversation format, though tweaking it to fit my screen presentation. Yanfly's Message plug-ins make that easy.

I'm in the process of scrapping that lighting set-up, though i'm sticking with the system. Since the main areas are essentially constructed caverns, they're filled with dark corners. Again - a plug-in makes this easy. (Terrax Lighting)

Of course, i have no problem with partially obscuring the map when the player cannot move around -

If you're working with renders or other art style to present characters to the player, try to go past the basic set-up. Above we have Moon stepping back as Teela leaps onto Kelly. Once you've got your basics, what else can you convey?

In the pics above and below, note that though Kelly is startled she casually absorbs the leap and the weight of someone hanging onto her. While Moon may look more buffed, Kelly has denser tissue and greater inherent strength. If Kelly pumps up those pipecleaners (which she can over time), she can make her preferred ranged weapon an SUV.

Note the look on Moon's face above. She's not startled or concerned as she steps back out of the way. I take advantage of her introductory shot to hint that she is gay and enjoying private thoughts. Every image can always say a little bit extra with body language, expression, or background details. When there's a background.
And as a bonus, you give your characters more life when you move past the "default" pose (to keep the theme going). Even if you don't convey what you're aiming for, the figures will usually seem less stiff.

(Poddie = Podmate / Roomie. Pods are private & communal living areas.)

Moon, by yon by, is a Security Agent and is indeed quite buff for a non-super. Buff enough to take on a pack of zombiedogs with only a plastic practice sword -

(She was headed to a Cave Rave, hence the outfit in that location)

And for those trying to keep count of how many are in the crowd, here's the current edition of the ever-growing & changing title screen -

(No, that's not a deranged Carrottop. Yes, that other guy is a drugged out Alfred E. Neuman. No, that's not Spider-Man. Yes, it is Night Monkey. No, that's not where his hand is. Yes, he is the only one that can see her. It's called Wawa Aba. No, she'll never admit to bleaching it. Yes, he does have a cybernetic hand. Of course not, he works behind the scene. And, of course the Velvet Frog slipped right between one of the greatest heroes and one of the greatest villains for his slot.)

stuff by -3- (2020)

Mel Alert

Looks like it's going to be one of those days...

As you may know, Mel Tormé signals a lack of blogging today. If things change, i'll post later, but it's not looking good.

Meanwhile, for all the people furious at the rump in charge for epic stupidity regarding a global outbreak - there's an up side to what spews from our human prolapse: He's working to make it lethal to believe Fox news.

Stupidity Kills.

Stealing Mel From ME

Mark Evanier has a problem with people stealing Mel Torme from him. I think i'm gonna do it, too.

Probably no surprise that i'm doing it different than most. I'm not stealing his marvelous Xmas Mel tale, i'm stealing his Mushroom Soup. And Mel.

You see, when Mark gets too busy to blog, he throws up a mushroom soup graphic. When i'm here but having trouble posting, i think ol' Mel is going to be my signal. 

Likely i'm not too busy to post. More probably it's a matter of not being able to communicate, or being unable to gather mental traction, or simply brooding. As a Hermit, as an Artist, as an American without an America...  I'm way behind in my contractually obligated brooding.

Maybe next time we see Mel, i'll catch up on some of that here. For now, i've been scraping off the past couple days and starting to prep a return of L.B. Cole; and not the Funny Animals this time.

Hmm... 
Actually, it might be the first for L.B. Cole here rather than the 1940s Funny Animalphabet. 

So we're overdue.

Anyway... When you see Mel, you know i'm still alive and here, just not ... Here.

It's MEL! (No, i didn't steal it from ME. Mine's better)

More Kelly, Sans Kelly

My best frenemy, my brain, hasn't much been speaking to me. Much zoning and flitting without alighting. Hence the lack of postings. But we don't want to let that become a pattern, so i'll grab some more prep art from the game i've been noodling when noodle i can. 

Let's go with some of the Public Service Announcement posters that are scattered throughout the game world.

You may recall that we've seen one of these before - a PSA encouraging citizens to Be A Hero that featured Kelly's mother, The Golden Lady.

The game takes place on a colony world, though world is overstating it. It's a large planetoid; a mining colony quite isolated from main interstellar society. They've already faced alien threats from outer and inner space. 

But it's wealthy colony (even if the citizenry isn't) and the Registry wants to keep things peaceful. So, besides crime prevention and colony defense, the superheroes are also required to do Public Service work to help maintain the calm.
 

Some might rebel against that notion a bit, but who wants to lost that insurance and medical coverage?
 

Others are willing and eager to comply (and increase their fan base).
 

Some see it as an extension of their Duty To Protect.
 

Some are genuinely eager to help.
 

And some are just having fun on the company credit chit.
 

Wow. 
I think that might even have been semi-coherent.

Tomorrow i'll try to be back, either with more comics and things, or one of those memoir/commentary pieces that i'm supposed to be doing now and then but keep shying away from. Shying so hard that i'll dangle a preposition to escape it!

art & stuff by -3- (2020)