BYOND and Within #9

My schedule is being offset by a week so I'm posting the most recent column early.

Along The Tech Tree's fourth birthday was March 22nd.  If I merge my two columns, this post also marks the 200th entry.  I was told that I should do something special.

What I have chosen is to lower my work load in an effort to improve this column's sustainability.  I will now write BYOND and Within every other week and stop merging content for the Gamasutra version.  If you'd like to help me celebrate further, vote for these two feature requests to depend less on individual volunteers like myself.

Anyway, here's to four years and 200 posts of regurgitating the words of developers...  Oh, I am a real journalist, aren't I? ;)

This edited version of BYOND and Within comes to you from an unpaid volunteer using a game/development portal and software engine called BYOND.  The column focuses on recent developer activity.  Play suggestions are highlighted in the game list.

Within BYOND

As promised, Silk Games have released an update for their retro MORPG NEStalgia in lieu of the Black Sanctum expansion.  Along with some fixes, various features have been added for convenience while grouping, managing inventory, changing names and exploring.  Those who experienced outages this week should also be aware that a new host is on the way for the Zenithia and Sosaria servers.

Forum_account has offered a preview of the next iteration of A Miner Adventure.  Career mode will be expanded with more building options and less frequent, more devastating cave-ins. I find it nifty that one of the new tools will be a mine cart accelerated with bombs.  The lighting discussion in the comments caught my eye as well.

After stating that he requires a team, Oasiscircle released the retro action game Toy Tanks and then made two updates with the help of F0lak.  Highlights include new maps, powerups and leaderboards along with audio courtesy of Eksadus.  Up next are graphical variations and an in-game shop.  Go grab a friend to bounce a bullet into.

Falacy has offered a variety of announcements through a new SG Dev News column.  His Celestial Chaos IP is expanding with resumed work on the sequel and conversions of both a fangame and the former Gold Guardians successor.  An interface and macro tutorial was also written.

Nadrew has posted two versions of release notes for the BYOND classic My Life as a Spy, but he now finds himself contemplating a graphical update while lacking an artist.  All profits go to the game's original creator, Skysaw.  Digital goods, such as a BYOND membership and in-game "Gold" subscription, might be all he has to offer.

(After my initial post, another update was released with more benefits for subscribers.  Buy now because prices will be raised on April 1st!)

The tactical fantasy Surreal Dreams is another BYOND classic that has changed hands.  In this case, Kunark created the game and Vexonator offered a bundle of updates.  The latest, and possibly last, update has just been released.  Not even Vexonator knows what it includes.

Darker Emerald has uploaded his theme music for Dead World.  Me likey.  Check out the multiplayer horror and make sure to listen to his other offerings. =)

KhaosParadox has described his team's progress on the MORPG Eternia.  Matt has been creating larger sprites.  Shadowdarke has been hammering out modules for the engine and writing tutorials for those who would like to help.  KhaosParadox himself has begun using the project in a college course where he has to start a business.  I find the work and external motivation promising.

Kumorii has begun his first original project.  It's a zombie game where the player stands in the middle while battling enemies that come from the left and right.  Importance is placed on timing.  I have not played it, but my own Fused Finale started as a similar concept from a top-down perspective.  I'm curious to see if the fighting will be better served with the camera change. =)

Beyond BYOND