BYOND and Within #18

One of my cousins, 20 years my junior with paid music gigs and unable to treasure the Rock And Roll Nerd video I shared, said he wanted me to convert one of my songs into guitar tablature for him to learn.  I had a MIDI version laying around.  I listened to it repeatedly.  I changed instruments around and transposed a couple octaves.  I recognized that it would be perfect background music for a game I'm working on.  I was reasonably happy with myself...  Anvil Studio 2011 just ate it.  GAH!

This edited version of BYOND and Within comes to you from an unpaid volunteer using a game/development portal and software engine called BYOND.  Rather than play suggestions, the column focuses on recent developer activity.

Within BYOND

Silk Games offered a preview of the skill trees for their MORPG NEStalgia.  Version 1.51 was released with targeting hotkeys for battle and the news that moderator Caer Death is recording videos of in-game tournaments.  Episode 9 of the official podcast might be the last one for a while.

Bravo1 has uploaded and updated a demo for Tanx.  It's a shooter where players earn ranks to customize vehicles while competing against both the environment and other players.  AI opponents are included.  Progress has been displayed with a plethora of videos.  I recently played and, though I'd like to see text spam removed, it controls well. =)

Megablaze released a project called Freeze Bomb.  It's just a minigame resembling Whac-A-Mole with more targets and prediction...  That is, unless you're a column writer who misinterprets a line of the instructions, limits your clicks to random background graphics and then wastes space in the release thread suggesting that the developer might not understand the importance of the imaginary design's map generation.  Feedback filters are important. ;)

Yusuke13 has released and updated a quickly developed game called The Arena.  It offers a place where players chat over turn-based battles while increasing their stats.  The game comes on the heels of an announcement regarding a guild intended to promote simple projects with original IP.  The Simple Developments Guild should be up and running in early August.

Due to what I assume was an inability to teach them Tic-tac-toe, Acebloke nerfed the androids in his military/economic sim Wargames.  The civilization-building Wargames 2 was also updated with new research, new units and more.

In the absence of a new gameplay video, Forum_account offered a post describing how he cleaned up the programming for the boss fights in his upcoming platformer MORPG Tiny Heroes.  Meanwhile, the Sidescroller library it uses has been updated with fractional movement and more along with its sister library Pixel Movement.

Oasiscircle has been impressed by the network performance of his team's gravitational shooter Rocket Down after installing the latest BYOND version and replacing his pixel movement with that of Forum_account.  A new video has been provided.  It looks nifty.  (I do question whether the colorblind will notice all of the HUD changes though.)

Taitz has displayed more lovely screenshots of his upcoming customizable fighter, League of Power.  They were accompanied by interface improvements and a description of the character classes.  The game was recently featured on a segment called Greenlight which blog owner Argonus hopes to continue.

Inspired by the input of Terraria and the tools BYOND has provided since her last visit, AlexandraErin has ended a long hiatus to resume work on her MORPG RetroQuest.  With monochrome graphics to remind the younger generation of the world before 8-bit, badgers and bears have been revealed as pets...  I recall Lexy using the former to beat the fur off of me in her older MORPG, Hedgerow Hall.  Frelling badgers.

Discovering that people are still playing Faith, Squeegy has returned to update the multiplayer god-worshiping action/RTS hybrid.  The server is down as I type this, but his post states that the source has been restructured, the graphics (possibly not pictured) have been replaced, atheists may survive on their own, new miracles have been added and more.

Still working on a college course-inspired business venture, Writing A New One and the rest of the Eternia team have released more screenshots and opened a forum for their upcoming MORPG.  Eternia: Prologue is expected to be playable in August with a PvP server available in September as they add more content.

Dpheonix7 is continuing to convert his RPG War of the Magi to his own IP.  Environment and character graphics have been replaced.  Sound effects have yet to be implemented, but a video has been posted.

Similarly, Lige and MDC have been converting and improving their round/objective-based fighter, Invasion.  Some of the graphics are placeholders, but AI has been added.  The pair are seeking background music.

Chris Gayle has provided a WIP video of Armored Units.  The vehicular combat project developed with Zane444 now has 360 degree movement.  The recording seems a bit choppy, but hopefully a game will come out of it.

I'm still trying to decide on the mechanics of my procedurally generated action adventure game, but I finally sat down and implemented my map generation using Prim BSP and Prim Grid.  I think it came out rather well...  Granted, most of the algorithm I provided was tested in either the library demos or MeanderGall.

Beyond BYOND