Jon Bon

Thanks pol. Ha, yeah speedtest is my best friend, it tells me when my provider is ripping me off on bandwidth, gotten so many free months because they keep screwing me.Yeah I am going to have to look into my provider and see what they do for servers etc. My hope is to possibly be able to rent space on my server to others etc, and hopefully recoup some costs. So you think if I had the described setup, with like 1mb upload speed, because that's my current max package for public setup with my current provider, would I be able to host my own site on my server, and possibly use the server for other things too. Like maybe a first person shooter server, or a hamachi server(file sharing server)? Or would I need a higher upload speed. If you could pick your realistic ideal upload speed to dedicate to a server what would it be? Thanks for all the advice this is priceless.

Perfect. I definitely intended to research this on my own, but having researched so many different things in my day I knew that if I was lucky someone would give me years of their experience in a few minutes of my time, which is the jump in the right direction I needed. This was an awesome reply man thanks a ton. This has at least the terms and process I needed to know and understand, I definitely didn't realize it had this many aspects. I am going to likely spend today researching this so that I can get it all out of the way soon and have a better idea how to progress towards it over the next few months to a year. I had a feeling it would cost a few grand so nothing is surprising me so far heh. In the mean time I do have a few questions you might be able to help with. As far as servers go, what kind of dedication is best? Would/could I run a server off of a pentium 4 windows xp with 2 gigs of ram and 2.8 Ghz proc, if it was only being a server with a dedicated 7mb DSL internet line? This is the setup I was planning on creating, and was hoping it would be sufficient enough of a server to do multiple things with it. If you know about servers that information would help too as I have to research it. Do you think you would be interested in learning the rest of the material you don't currently know and possibly doing more of this in the future? I would definitely take the help you can currently offer and glady pay you for it, but if you already know the seed knowledge it may be something to consider looking into. If this is something you would want to do I would look into getting you the necessary E-Books, or whatever was needed to learn the subject matter. Something to consider. Getting help like this turns what would have been a week into a day or two of research, so I really appreciate the help. Also this thread will then be filled with oodles of great stuff. In any case, I will almost definitely get your help on the steps you can aid with when the time comes, and rein burst you for your time. Well, I am off to go read. EDIT: Found all the information one would ever need to know about domain names. http://www.icann.org...t/learning/faqs

I believe a worthy quote should be one that comes from an accomplished person and is relative to their life but at the same time is wise enough to be relative to everyone's life. Of course anyone can spout wisdom but to practice and to preach it is what (to me) makes a quote worth passing around to others. In all fairness your quote from your teacher is quote from him, but he is using a known saying and did not invent that. Your quotes however I assume are from you and original. I disagree with pretty much every one on many levels, and think you should not use them. But two of them are actually pretty good. Your quotes shouldn't be cryptic at all, they should be direct, a few of them could be reworded to get your point across much better. Like number 6 should be "Why be different, just be you." But then it wouldn't be a quote hehe. Anyhow I really like "Laziness is not an excuse for ignorance." and I think you should cut it off there as that is as cryptic as it needs to be, the rest is implied. Your best quote is "There are more retarded people with IQ's of over 100, than those with IQ's lower than 69." That's worthy of people actually repeating. That should be the new politically correct thing to say to people who use retarded in every day settings. The rest of your quotes are laughable (to me) and reek with inexperience. Anyone can give wisdom to anyone else, but I think to be quoted you should also be accomplished as well, but that's just my opinion. Cool read none the less!

I like the map you made, looks sweet. I can't say about the tileset because I don't have the originals to compare, but they look fine to me.

Introduction I am now nearing the point where I would like to make an official dot com for my production company. The problem is my knowledge on making websites is limited at best. I have no problem doing the work myself and learning what is needed, the problem is I do not have the time to research everything required. What I need is someone who is experienced in such matters and who has the free time to talk with me about what starting a website entails. As well as taking the time to teach or guide me in the right direction for the necessary steps. I am willing to pay to contract this persons time for helping me with this, and if they want I am also looking to hire someone to help me with the website long or short term(depending on their availability) in the near future. I am looking to recruit from this site because I am likely to find someone who shares similar interests in video games, so If you think you qualify and this interests you then keep reading. Details I wont go into specifics about what I want the look and layout to be, but I will go into my need/expectations of the site. It would be a business type site, no forums, but have the ability for staff to be assigned passwords and usernames and then be able to log in to access staff related pages. I don't need anything too crazy, just a few pictures, link it into a blog which can be run through another site, likely only be a few pages of public browsing, and a few more for business purposes. Needs What program if any do I need to buy to build the site? Where and how do I purchase a dot com for the cheapest possible so I own it permanently, not through another company? What kind of upkeep costs would a site of the above detailed size incur? Conclusion I am ultimately going to need someone to handle these aspects of my business for me, but at the same time I want to know at least the very basics and really as much as possible. So this is a good opportunity for someone in this field to get something on their resume and maybe even work with me long term in the future. If this is your career of choice, this may be a a good chance for you to get in from the ground up, I can't guarantee my success, but I can guarantee you paying work. If you have any follow up questions please feel free to post a reply here. If you wish to apply please send me a personal message so we can discuss this more.

Justabox and Moonpearl are totally correct. Also remember that the only people who know what the rtp graphics are, are RM users. So people who don't know will go in blind, and assume the graphics are unique. I have a massive icon pack that adds onto the rtp, and moonpearl has the RGSS Character maker, also uses RTP graphics(needs updating, which I handle but haven't recently, but plan to this month). By using my icons and moonpearls sprite maker, you should be able to get much more variety out of it. Look in our signatures for each thing respectively. You are also an active member of this forum, so if you posted requests for alterations to your RTP stuff, I would gladly fill them. So if you need any help with the sprites, start a new thread and I'll see what I can do. I will even try and teach you as I help. EDIT: Not sure which engine you are using. Just realized you were using VX. I can still help with edits to the sprites, but the char maker wont help. Icons may though.

I like the red better, but I think the blond better suits your description. If you aren't set on Nina then maybe try like Nyna, pronounced 'Nine-ah' or some variation like that.

Wow, your stuff is too impressive mate. I don't think people 'get' it, ha. I had to read this three times, look at the pictures twice until I fully understood what and how it did this. With that said, um wow for sure. This is an extremely handy application, and I'll be downloading it when I do my scripting again, it's going to be so easy to setup my sequels now. Cheers, keep up the WAY outside the box thinking, never cease to impress me. I did think of one question though, would having to read the scripts from the files rather then inside the script editor cost any extra processing power, or would it be minute of a difference or none at all?

I am not a lawyer, I can not officially advise you on such matters, I can only show you laws as I know and understand them. To the best of my understanding you need to currently have a copy of whatever media you have an archive copy of, I believe there is a section that actually says you will destroy your backup in the event you no longer have a user license. It's your job to read the law and interpret it to the best of your possibility.

The whole encrypting thing is a tough call. I am fairly certain any rmxp veteran can easily crack the encryption and access the stuff inside. I also believe there are programs that read the .data files and extract the info that way, which I believe also circumvents the encryption. My personal opinion is, if the game is free, encrypt it with rmxp methods, and maybe say you will release the contents for free unencrypted after X amount of downloads. Some people have tons of hours of work in their games though and don't want any ol person using their stuff, which is understandable, so it is really a tough call on encrypting or not. I personally plan to release all my free products as open source, but some scripts and other resources prevent this in their user agreements so it's good to be careful. When I release a pay product, I will likely look into outside encryption methods, but I have't done sufficient research into this aspect yet. By using a downloader or a torrent file your game can still be as easy as "CLICK DIS BUTTON FOR YER GAME", and will even give it a more commercial and/or polished feel to it. I rarely buy the disc for a game anymore, I mostly do digital downloads, so a $60 game that is a few gigs big always takes an hour or so to download, then 20mins+ to install, then I have to patch and update, etc. So I mean a game I am getting for free that has no disc, I don't see why a long download time is unreasonable. As far as game promotion goes, I have a plethora of ideas and tips for that, if you want send me a pm and I can ask you questions about your free time etc, and give you some good ideas on how to promote your product. Your game will likely be worth a reasonable wait, and I have no problem writing you up a glowing review when the time comes, and helping you with popularity on social networking sites etc. Patience=reasonable, and that should always be your target audience, once the true fans come, everyone else will bite the bullet just to be a part of it.

The difference between paying and not paying has nothing to do with publishing companies, it has to do with who owns the legal rights to the product and there for who is entitled to the sales. This is of course in reference to buying a digital version(not rom) of the game, and not a real world copy. It is not illegal, please show me the law that states it is illegal in the United States. Not being prosecuted is not a reason to do something. Just because you can get away with it, doesn't mean you should do it. But for the record, it is not illegal. You are allowed to create a back up copy of any software through any means as long as you have already paid for it, and do not intend to redistribute it to people as an alternative to paying for it. This is the United States copyright law (17 USC 117). For more information on that law please visit this link to Cornell University where they have it posted. http://www.law.corne...ode/text/17/117

I agree, custom music is best. But don't discount a site like Jamendo. You can organize it by popularity and get music little people have used. Also consider if you use music from Jamendo you are helping an independent music artist get better recognized, someone who is in a similar field as you, independent development. I think if you looked hard enough anything you want is on Jamendo.

I tried the demo, and it didn't load at all. I will try on my laptop on windows 7 when I get a chance. But it definitely didn't load on my windows xp.

Exactly. I have known about this for a while now, never seen the videos on penny arcade, but I knew what they were telling me. More people need to know and I'm glad they are spreading the word too. That's why I have spent the past years working on my game development skills. The wave is coming, time to ride it or get hit by it.

A rule of thumb is; if you have to pay for it, you have to ask to use it. With that said, the creative commons is getting bigger and bigger by the day. If you haven't heard of a site called Jamendo.com then I suggest taking a look. It is all creative commons music, there are 6 types of creative commons copyrights and you can search based on that. It is an excellent resource for music from which you can search based on category type and license and you simply need to credit the artist, and release your work under the same type of license (free). It is definitely work a look if you don't end up getting permission for the music you currently have. If you want to use music that current costs money etc, or is licensed as a no reuse, then I would suggest maybe look into finding a way to encrypt the audio before contacting anyone. Because if you can't guarantee people won't separate the music from the product then it's unlikely anyone who doesn't already let their music be shared freely would change their mind. That's just my opinion.

Pol has the right idea. Most of the good/better 'outdated games' as you said, are for sale on either, steam, wii, xbox or psn, which I am fairly certain you don't need a system to buy the games. You go to their website register, buy a game through their vendor system and then you can legally play the rom. I am in the process of composing a guide that shows people how to play roms online with friends. In the guide it has a list, at least for nintendo so far, of games that are sold on which systems, so you can get their user license. Here is the onsite link.

I must say, not much makes me jealous. But this project is definitely getting me there. Keep up the great work Oca.

Thanks, I value your opinion and especially on this topic. BUMP. I would love some more people to fill out the poll, remember to do it before reading the original post.

I again completely agree, I love the work thatgamecompany has done, they are one of my top inspirations. As a hobbyist gamer(game player) I couldn't imagine not owning a gaming capable PC, and at least 2 stationary consoles and 2 portable consoles. It would be like being a skateboarder and having only one board, or an athlete that plays one sport, an entertainer with one craft etc. But as a consumer I couldn't see not being a PC gamer at all. I come from the console era, where console was better then PC, then PC started beating console, and now it's not even comparable when talking about versatility of a PC versus a console. I do however have high hopes for the next gen of console being more PC like in it's design and user function as far as internet, media use etc. I prefer console gaming, but would be hard pressed to not pick PC if I could only pick one game platform. A PC capable of new gaming is capable of so much more then a new age console, PC is a tool a console is not. Like I said though I'm lucky to have chosen this as 'my thing' so I work to get as much of it as I can, but that's not realistic for everyone. I long for a day when all games can easily be released on all mediums and no one will have to choose on anything other then then their preference in game platform rather then company.

Knuckles, I completely agree with everything you just said. This is why I think it's time or independent developers and alternate methods to be used to make games. People whos hearts are in it, whats new and hot tomorrow is defined by today's nerds, not yesterday's fans. Check this amazing site, I wanted/want to do a write up here for it but haven't had the time yet. It's called kickstarter, and is getting a really amazing series(game, table top rpg, book) back going by its original creator, known as Shadowrun. Anyway I think that's the future, moving away from unnecessary large scale commercialism, and making most games through independent and smaller scale operations. Game making technology and the ability to gain the knowledge needed is so freely available no a days, that I think it's inevitable. Anyhow check the link, he comically apologizes for letting his game become a first person shooter for Xbox, my kind of developer and the creator of a great series, one of my top 10 favorite fictional worlds/universe. http://www.kickstart...adowrun-returns

I know man. It should be but I have downloaded at least half a dozen games on the playstation network that were clearly mislabled. Speaking with gamers I have also noticed a huge disconnect in the proper understanding of these terms, like people complaining a game doesn't work right during beta, which makes no sense, since we are there to test it. In any event the proof is in the pudding, check the poll, not everyone agrees what the words mean, as I knew they wouldn't. The point is not to single out people, but to recognize that they may not understand these terms properly. The blame lies with the pros who mislabel their product. I wouldn't say I forgot, I considered adding that but I agree, it does apply more directly to general software, which is why I linked to the life cycle of software release, which covers release candidates, and release, as well as when you would send to manufacture etc. I thought it better to keep this concise and about the comprehension and difference of these four terms, rather then the full release cycle etc. The release candidate is relevant to the topic matter but not really relevant to the purpose of the article.

Wow, yeah this is an awesome link for sure. Any idea if these people can be contacted to use their music etc? This would be an excellent resource base if possible.