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[4Sword]

4Sword

ZFGC Weekly

Volume 11, Issue 4 - June 7, 2009

irc.kbfail.net #zfgc

1. Community Announcements
2. Best of the Forum
3. Weekly Awards
4. The Big Question

Community Announcements

-- The Minish Cap engine for the Community Project finally got a reworked version of Goodnight's corner cutting code. The efficiency of the sprite correction has significantly improved, there is no longer a function call to calculate the square root of two, and place_free has been replaced by place_meeting. The corner cutting code is also implemented in a way such that it is reactive and not preventative; i.e. the code is easier to work with as it is less dependent on the rest of the code.

-- Windy seems to have added the ability to leave a comment when you report something on the site. This should help the staff understand what the problem actually is rather than leaving us clueless like a Disney murder mystery. Thanks Windy for the fix.

-- The contest ideas, user badge updates, and rule updates I mentioned in the last few Weeklys haven't been put out yet. To some degree I have been using their inclusion as a Community Announcement just for filler, but they should be getting done or worked on soon. Otherwise, feel free to give ideas in Feedback, we could all use the help of ourselves.

Best of the Forum

The Circle of Life, and It Moves Us All.
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=34378.0

Subject for google results when they google their own names (oh yes, it shall be done.).

All of you buttfaces get your asses back here and make this place fun again! >=^(

*cries*

Seriously folks, a site that's been around for little over 2 months with no real advertising has more activity than a forum active for 5 years... If someone gets 250 posts in a month, they DOUBLE our activity o.o... This is sad.

SO! I'm calling all of the ZFGC elites to come outta your holes and get your asses back here and help bring back what this place was all about !

When Will My Reflection Show Who I Am Inside?
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=34331.0

I'm gonna be working on a cartoon for ZFGC, and I wanna get a buncha ZFGCers in it Post a picture of yourself, link to an avatar that resembles you, post an art/giftart/fanart of your online persona, draw some caveman-ish sketch of yourself in paint and save it as a jpg and upload it to imageshack to be horribly resized... I DON'T CARE.

A Tale as Old as Time, a Song as Old as Rhyme.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/990/990149p1.html

New Zelda!

Weekly Awards

Graphic of the Week
TomPel's Wind Waker Titlescreen
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=34351.0

I messed around with this for the fun of it.. 



I do have to mention that I did cheat though as I didn't draw everything pixel by pixel.. Your titlescreen really does look cool though and something about it made me want to mess around with it. ^^;

Dev Tool of the Week
Xfixium's GM Alternative Room Editor
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=34366.0

Title: Game Maker Alternative Room Editor (GMare)
Dev Tool: c# .net 2.0
Language: English
Requirements: .net 2.0, DirectX 9, SlimDX
Downloads:-NA-

GMare is an alternative room editor for Game Maker versions 5 through 7. Offering more user friendly tools to create rooms quickly and easily. The rooms are created in separate project files which can be shared easily within a dev team environment. GMare rooms can be exported to an image, binary file, or directly to a Game Maker project. Multiple rooms can be put together for export also.

Just putting this up here in advance. Working to get it done this weekend or at the end of next weekend. I also will be sharing a .net library that could help other projects with GM project related data. As it has the ability to read and write projects. Credits to IsmAvatar for her documentation on the various GM project file formats.

Audio of the Week
HyperKnight32's Golden Sun Remix
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=34352.0

Hey guys, it's been awhile, it's been even longer since I posted anything here .

I recently upgraded my music software and a few days ago got a program called Dimension Pro. Here's the description found on the site:

"Dimension Pro is the critically-acclaimed synthesizer that combines real instruments with advanced synthesis, giving you endless sound possibilities."

I also got some expansion packs for it and discovered some neat orchestral instruments, I really wanted to make a Golden Sun track and I found one. Took me hours to learn by ear and get everything right but here's what I've been able to do so far, I feel it's incomplete but this is the first draft:

http://www.box.net/shared/nm4iotpqz0

Comments and feedback would be nice, I think the overall sound quality is better than what I've done in the past ^_^.

Big Question

Last week's question: What Zelda character should have been in Super Smash Bros Brawl or should be in a future Smash Bros game?
Summary of answers: Saria, Rosa, Vaati, Midna, Ganon transformation, Tetra, and Zant.

This week's question: Would it be better to make the Minish Cap Engine board for the Community Project public now even though it is not quite done so perhaps we could all try working on it?

Author of this week's issue: 4Sword

[Zaeranos]

Zaeranos

Re: ZFGC Weekly

I don't think it will be a good idea. Allthough many people working on the engine could speed things up, it also would start making the engine cluttered. If the base of the engine isn't finished yet, then the base will be cluttered. And without a solid base it could lead to problems later in the game.

So, in other words. It all depends on the status of the base? Maybe it is better to focus on the Ripping of Resources from the Minish Cap first.

[Martijn dh]

Martijn dh

Re: ZFGC Weekly

Letting everybody work on it themselves might work, but not without some coordination. Like Niek said it will probably clutter so it may be better to not make it public. A half finished product won't boost the site's activity as much as a finished product anyway. Anybody not willing to help is just willing to see and they won't react well to something half finished.

Maybe you could release sections. Like problems, requests and/or finished subsystems. Enough to keep the eager busy and it will keep progress far easier to manage.

You can also join the "Horn of Balance" community on:
Free demo: https://hornofbalance.itch.io/horn-of-balance-pre-ks-demo
Discord: https://discord.gg/redHXyZ2Gc
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HornofBalance
Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hornofbalance/horn-of-balance

[Source]

Source

ZFGC Weekly

No.

The very existence of flamethrowers proves that sometime, somewhere, someone thought to themselves "You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire." - George Carlin

(!@#$%)

Hear the haunting words (They'll find you alone)
lost children with no heart are crying (Turning their hearts into stone)
and you're the lost mother they're calling
Go now, run and hide (seek more than vengeance)
I hear them crying at night (your pain is their satisfaction)
outside when the planets are falling (for the rest of time)
They want to feel and know you hear them (Go now, run and hide)

• 

[4Sword]

4Sword

Re: ZFGC Weekly

So, in other words. It all depends on the status of the base? Maybe it is better to focus on the Ripping of Resources from the Minish Cap first.

Initially focusing on ripping resources for an engine is a little irrelevant due to the nature of an engine. A lot of basics are already ripped as well; basic enemies, NPCs, tiles, and Link's initial abilities. Ripping graphics though ahead of time could still be done elsewhere.

Letting everybody work on it themselves might work, but not without some coordination. Like Niek said it will probably clutter so it may be better to not make it public. A half finished product won't boost the site's activity as much as a finished product anyway. Anybody not willing to help is just willing to see and they won't react well to something half finished.

Maybe you could release sections. Like problems, requests and/or finished subsystems. Enough to keep the eager busy and it will keep progress far easier to manage.

I agree that there has to be coordination. Turning the engine lose to the whims of individuals wanting to do many things is reckless, while turning it lose to individuals tasked to do certain things is smart. The "product" or stable releases will be controlled so that the quality can be maintained.

In terms of subsystems, I agree as well. I had the idea of using GML scripts as "place holders" for the events of the objects with code that is being worked on or that is subject to change due to implementation of features. This would allow those working together to upload just the GML script files which could be imported into Game Maker or just copied and pasted; text files also work with revision control systems which could be considered.

No.

I am responding out of courtesy.