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Sparren

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  1. @dracula In that case these sound right up my alley. Definitely keep me posted on whichever way you choose to go.
  2. I have two projects which could absolutely use them. Neither is a wolf sim, but one of them is a wild canine rpg I've been debating including wolves in... so you have my interest whether you choose to make a bundle or not. How many are there?
  3. Yeah, I'm hoping for semi-realistic. And thanks!
  4. I'm looking for an artist to create several large landscape/environment background images. Size: These will be used as site backgrounds, so I'm looking for something roughly 1200x700px. 1200 being width, and 700 height. Those dimensions are somewhat flexible, but the width to height ratio must be in the same ballpark (width px should be somewhere around 1.7x the height). Images whose height/width ratio does not meet this standard won't fit my needs and will be rejected. Subject: In particular I am looking for forest, plains or grasslands, valley, and jungle or rain-forest clearing scenes as well as multiple time of day/season morphs for some of them. I'd like compete scenes, but it is okay if the central region of the images is a little 'empty' compared to the rest since that region will likely be covered. The details of each piece will be left up to you apart from a vague environment request (ex: forest), and I'm usually pretty easy to please. The only real sticking points I have are the size requirements I mentioned above. I need at least 4 distinct environments total, but will just ask for one to begin with. Probably the forest (doesn't matter if it's pine or deciduous), which I'd eventually like seasonal and day/night versions of. Later, if things go well we can discuss the rest. Timeline: One of my sites is badly in need of a bg update so I'd like to get at least one piece out of the way by mid October if possible (not including time of day/season derivatives). The rest I am much more flexible on. Usage: This art will be used commercially. Therefore, the work must be entirely your own and I require that full commercial use, resale, reproduction, derivation, ect. rights/copyrights for each piece be transferred to me upon full payment for the work. In addition I ask that you acknowledge that I have been transferred these rights in writing. I will take full ownership of the pieces however, you may still show the work in your portfolio(s). Payment: USD via PayPal. Please note: I will not under any circumstances send payment using the 'send as gift' option. So if that is a requirement of yours please do not apply. If interested please feel free to post or send me a pm with relevant examples of your work and pricing. Thank you!
  5. I kinda like your current username @Bravefoot. It's not something I haven't seen before, but it is memorable and looks and sounds pleasing, so in my book it's a great username. ^^ In the end it's all really just personal taste anyway.
  6. I found it pretty simple to pick up. I was able to just jump into it through simple trial and error without following any guides and any gameplay you'd expect to find in a traditional JRPG can be created without really knowing anything about code. Building all the maps and set pieces for the game was a lot of fun and where I spent most of my time. From there characters and events could be generated with what seemed like just a few clicks. The biggest draw for me was the easy availability of so many cheap or free to use art and sound assets packs though. Finding art I can use is usually the biggest hurdle/expense for me in development so having so much at my fingertips from the beginning was nice even if most of it also appears in hundreds of other RPGMaker games. Supposedly a lot can be done to expand its functionality via scripts, but I can't speak much on that aspect. Back when I used it I was just in it for some quick fun and wanted to see what I could achieve with a minimum of effort. I wasn't interested in doing any custom coding and mainly built joke games to share with friends.
  7. What are you talking about? That one is amazing! I've never been good at usernames, but probably my worst were from back when I played Neopets. All of my usernames back then were based on my favorite books and movies. My first Neopets account was called ravenclaw249. Then my mom stole that account (seriously... I let her play once and she took over. Even sent my first pet to the pound without asking because she said it was ugly ), so I left her to it and made another called buckbeakbrave which was marginally better I guess but still makes me cringe. I also had an account somewhere around that time (I don't even remember the site) called 'x__hikarudragon__x'. I don't even think hikarudragon was taken... for some reason at the time I thought those extra characters made it look super cool.
  8. I've played around with RPGMaker and made a couple 'personal' games. Nothing I'd really consider complete or worthy of publishing outside my circle of friends though... I've also made a number of small generic games in Java, Python, Swift, and C++ including rock paper scissors, blackjack, space invaders, tic-tac-toe, battleship, a text adventure, and an rpg for assignments in the course of my university studies. It's something I'd like to revisit more seriously at some point, but I'm not sure I'd ever try to make a career of it. I have a couple Unity and GameMaker development courses collecting dust in my Skillwise account. Unfortunately they're pretty low on my list of priorities right now though.
  9. @Tmra @Digital Thanks! 'Badvisor' was one of my favorites. I'm glad you posted, I've been busy lately and had totally forgotten about this. I still have a handful in a notebooks somewhere I've never shown. I'll try to get them posted when I get home this weekend.
  10. @Boltgreywing When you say donations do you mean you'll tax paid currency (currency players purchase by donating real money)? If so I very strongly advise against it. As a player who often likes to support the games I play by donating nothing would anger or discourage me from doing so more than having a portion of the currency I purchased with my real hard earned cash poofed away just because. I paid for that currency. I should be able to spend it. Deliberately parting me from it non-voluntarily is like theft. Especially since as the game owner you have a vested interest in wanting players to need to buy more (since that is where your profit would likely come from)... I'd see it as very underhanded. In my opinion paid currency should never be taxxed. It's amount should already be limited enough (the primary - if not only - source of this currency should be donations). If somehow there gets to be too much in the economy you simply need to push out more content or upgrades for players to spend it on or consider reducing the exchange rate (so that each real dollar buys fewer paid credits). Realism is a noble goal, but not always a good one. When it comes to developing I game I think you sometimes have to compromise between realism and fun. I could be wrong, but a true to life tax system may be realistic, but I doubt it will be fun or appreciated by the average player.
  11. @Boltgreywing If the primary goal of the tax is to remove money from the economy it makes more sense to tax rich players the same as the poor (if not more). Yes, quantitatively the rich will be paying much more in a 30% tax rate than the poor (the number will be bigger...), but qualitatively the amount is equal (you are taking away the same percentage of their buying power each way which is inherently fair). Furthermore, generally those who have a lot of money have an easier time making more since they have more influence, access to resources, and capital to invest. Poorer players generally will not have those resources or much capital they can invest in attempts to earn more money so every penny is harder to come by for them and being disadvantaged by a tax rate skewed in the way you propose would be frustrating. Essentially, at the same tax rate a rich player will pay a much larger amount, but the poorer player will often still 'feel' the tax more even though they pay less. Also, on a similar note to what @Anoua was saying I think there needs to be some 'fair excuse' for such a tax. A lot of games have a small trading post tax which is rather unintrusive because it is in exchange for a service (essentially it is purchasing the right to list a trade/auction). A flat annual tax not tied into some gameplay feature or event could ruffle some feathers in my opinion though (or in the very least trigger some very clever but undesirable tax evasion attempts among your playerbase). It will seem like you're just taking their money for no reason. It's generally better to set up your sinks in a way that feels fair and voluntary like allowing players to spend money on some kind of upgrade (like lair expansions in Flight Rising), adding expensive cosmetic items for them to purchase and collect, or exacting a fee for certain common game activities (like the trading post fee I mentioned). Those are just my thoughts though.
  12. @Digital Great idea! I use Discord all of the time anyway, so I'll be much more likely to check in on and actually use it than any chat here. It's also a great way for everyone here to keep in touch with one another should TGL ever experience some downtime. Can you add an invite link or advertisement for it to the "Important Information" announcement post too? I think it would do a lot to increase the odds new members will notice it (although the Discord users online widget is a great step). I remember VPL had a Discord too but no one ever seemed to realize it was there. When the downtime started I tried to suggesting to a staff member that they post the link to their Facebook page so everyone would be reminded and could stay in touch in the meantime, but I'm not sure they ever received it .
  13. Yes, exactly. Of course it has many other functions as well. I'm still a beginner with GraphicsMagick, but my understanding so far is that much of what you can do with a program like GIMP or Photoshop can also be achieved programatically using GraphicsMagick. For a better idea of what I mean have a look at some of the 'mogrify' command options available (http://www.graphicsmagick.org/mogrify.html). As you can probably see mogrify allows you to transform an image in many different ways. (Layering images to build a composite would use a different command called 'composite' http://www.graphicsmagick.org/composite.html) Yeah. I can kind of imagine why though. Such a project is a large undertaking and not only will it require lots of continuous support and documentation, but the demographics it is probably most attractive to (minors and those unable to afford lots of custom code upfront) likely aren't too flush with cash. Therefore unless it develops a large following and/or a great monetization strategy I imagine it is hard to make a project like this profitable long term.
  14. @Shex Ah, sorry Shex. Guess we overlooked that post. I guess it's not looking great for that project then... Thanks for letting us know.
  15. Background Some time ago on VPL (shortly before the most recent downtime started) I posted a topic challenging myself to brainstorm and share a new game concept every day for a month with the hope of better developing my creativity. I managed to keep up with it pretty well at first (although I admit I was often a bit tardy when it came to the sharing part), but unfortunately once the forum went down I started to lose motivation and abandoned the challenge altogether. I do hope to try again at some point though. Despite the failure I still wanted to share the 14 concepts I got through with you all. I don’t claim any of them are brilliant or super original, but I had fun dreaming them up anyway. Feel free to let me know what you think or what could be improved. (Please forgive the concept names though I didn't try very hard with them. They're just there for the sake of having something to reference each concept by.) Note: All of these concepts are free to use. If you do develop one I’d love to hear about it though (most of them are games I’d probably love to play). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I use a notebook for my brainstorming so most of the concepts still need to be typed up. I'll get to that over the next few days (ideally...no promises). In the meantime here are the... Concepts I had posted to VPL before the downtime: Supply train – You’re in charge of a supply caravan/supply camp tasked with keeping your kingdom’s army fed and supplied. A strategy/resource management game. How well or poorly you do will impact the army’s performance in battle and the skills/abilities/units available to you in battle. You get to play through the battles but all stats, army composition, skills, upgrades, ect. depend upon your performance and decisions in supplying the troops. You win the game when your army has successfully pushed into the enemies’ territory and taken their castle. You lose by either allowing your entire army to be wiped out (this can happen outside of battle via desertion, starvation, disease, or in-fighting or inside of battle by losing all of your units and having no reserve forces) or by getting pushed all the way back to your castle and failing its defense. ________________________________________________________________________________ Campaign Break – You’re the general (or quartermaster? who would be in charge of an encampment?) of a medieval military encampment. The campaign season has come to an end and now stuck far from home you’re tasked with keeping your troops alive through the long harsh winter months. In this rouge-lite strategy/resource management game you’ll need to build, upgrade, and fortify an encampment to ensure your men’s safety from both the elements and beasts/bandits in the surrounding forests as well as manage your troops supplies, health, training, and morale to ensure they’re ready to jump back into action when the ice thaws in the spring. How well or poorly you do this and how many men remain once the ice begins to thaw will determine your ending. Succeed and your kingdom might just have a chance at fending off the enemy come Spring. Fail and the kingdom is surely doomed. Perhaps include the new campaign’s decisive battle as the last task in the game… how many have survived, their supplies, and their morale will all impact how difficult the battle is/resources, units, & skills available/if it is even possible to succeed. Win or lose this battle and the game will end. It’s result will determine the game’s overall ending. ________________________________________________________________________________ Siege – Your castle is under siege. Try to survive by upgrading, repairing, and supplying your troops, citizens, and castle until reinforcements arrive. But they aren’t guaranteed… You’ll need to negotiate with the king and nearby lords/estates for relief. How well you do at this will determine the number, strength, and speed of the reinforcements you receive, but they’ll all come at a cost. Can you save your estate? And if so just how much of it will remain? It should be possible but incredibly difficult to win the game without reinforcements or with just the standard guaranteed reinforcements from the king (whose strength/effectiveness will vary based on your diplomatic choices). Twist: ________________________________________________________________________________ Badvisor - Congratulations! You’ve been selected as one of the kings new advisors. You’re also a filthy traitor! Choose one of several nefarious motivations and get to work running his kingdom into the ground. Lie, cheat, bribe, and manipulate your way into the kings confidences in this game of betrayal and political intrigue. Win by killing off the royal family or by causing the kingdom to devolve into anarchy. Computer or tabletop game? Potential for either. If tabletop maybe multiplayer where 1 plays as the king a few play as loyalists and others play as traitors. ________________________________________________________________________________ World Reborn - An archaeology/conservation themed sim/pet site focused around the discovery, care, and revival of extinct animals and plants. Many years ago some kind of disaster struck causing mass extinctions. Now the balance of nature has been thrown off and the planet is struggling to support life. Your task is to help revitalize the planet’s ecosystems by reviving and reintroducing its long lost species to help restore the balance and a new hope for human civilization. Players must explore and research to gather the genetic clues and materials which will allow them to restore new species to the world. Along the way some of their revived pets will have to help them. What’s left of the world is a harsh place, and the plants and animals who remain are fearsome. Enabling a revived species to really thrive in this world’s harsh environs will take special preparation and consideration. Make the wrong choices and your revived creatures might not be off the extinction list for long. ________________________________________________________________________________ Mythic Preserve - A sim/pet game where the player is charged with running a wildlife refuge for dangerous and/or endangered mythical creatures or monsters. It is their job to hunt, capture, relocate, rehabilitate and contain these creatures for the protection of the species as well as that of the vulnerable public. In this game there are pets and ‘residents’. Pets are loyal companions who aid and protect you while performing your job. Residents are creatures who have been relocated to your preserve and must be protected and cared for. Residents are sometimes (but not always) malicious and must be carefully managed so that they remain healthy and do not escape back into the wider world where they can harm or be harmed by others. ________________________________________________________________________________ I'll add the remainder of the concepts in future posts
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