RMN SNEWS - ISSUE #20

Another hiatus...

Now that another bundle of 10 SNEWSes have been written and released, I am taking another break. It's the usual ol' rigmarole work blah blah blah real life blah blah blah other commitments blah taking a break.

My other projects and endeavours will also be on hiatus. Or, if interest is great enough, I suppose that I can start Befuddle Quest 5 and then assemble the entries. It's not too much effort.

Either way, take care RMN!





Badasses for Hire

RMN's most active topic happens to be a review! (This is good news since we want the activity to move away from the forums and into the various parts of the site itself!) Soliatyre, self-admitted cynic, has reviewed Max McGee's latest release of To Arms!, and, sadly but interestingly, a drama-storm ensued (with 73 comments as of writing!).

Do not be intimidated by the walls o' text - it is an interesting read!






The RMN Comic Collaboration is DONE!

Read it now!





The Game Designer's Manifesto by Strangeluv

post=Strangeluv
This is a 15,000-word document I wrote about a year back on a different site on how to improve the plot and character of your games. People seemed to like it back then. Hopefully those who haven't seen it would find it useful.

This is a highly valuable read for anyone interested in game design and storytelling in games, especially those of us (admit it, you're one of them!) who are bad at storytelling in games. Stop the avoision (I say "avoision", others say "evasion")! Knuckle down and put some effort into your plots!

Start by reading The Game Designer's Manifesto.

Also available as a series of articles:
1. The Gaming Manifesto: Introduction and Part One (Plot Outline)
2. The Gaming Manifesto: Part Two (Conflict)
3-6 to come soon!



On Story Structure by Solitayre

Speaking of story, here is an earlier article by Solitayre on story structure and writing. It is well worth the read.







Who made it?
Max McGee

What is it?
A tactical (?) RPG with a customizable party with up to 15 characters at once.

Why should you care?
C'mon! As if this isn't the biggest wave-maker of the past month. Not for all the right reasons mind, but still...





Who made it?
ShortStar

What is it?
Party picking epic old school RPG quest made in RMVX

Why should you care?
This game has been quietly amassing thousands of downloads, perplexing even the game's creator! Find out what all the fuss is about in this highly customizable and freeform RPG dungeon crawler adventure!







Taking RMN by storm...or at least Mary 4D...Strangeluv has inserted himself in to the RMN community. Kind of like a cancer. Once banned by WIP for Misao shenanigans, the prodigal son has returned and has contributed greatly to the site's content with games, reviews and articles.

In his own words...

RMN HISTORY:
There isn't much to say here as I've only recently joined RMN, which might seem weird to the section of the userbase already aware of me. I should say re-joined as I'd actually been banished a few years back, along with partner-in-crime TFT for the "Great Misao Fiasco of '07"... but let's not talk about that. WIP has given us the pardon and we're trying to make good lives for ourselves here now after scuttling like ungrateful rats off the sinking SS GamingW. See, kids? Ex-cons can be on the SNEWS letters too! It's not too late to quit your life of crime. Stealing chipsets and vaporware fraud? It just ain't worth it, kid. Take it from me. But, in all seriousness, I think the game database was a great idea and I do intend to stay and contribute to RMN when I could, so look forward to that. I am working very slowly on my 4th game project might or might not yield a demo. You can also find me in #rpgmaker.net or #shmup with the ShmupCrew.

And look... one month here and I've already found me a beautiful woman. Her name is Mary 4D and she is the Celes to my Locke, the Molulu to my Mog. Really, I'm just a mountain map and she's the sunrise panorama.


Sigh... She is so beautiful, like a flawless Seiken Densetsu 3 rip...

PERSONAL BLURB:
I'm 23 years old and from the Caribbean, in an island nation called Trinidad and Tobago, and I currently work as a high school Biology teacher (gasp!) My degree is in Environmental Management but my main hobby and creative outlet is writing. I was raised in a household mixed with Hindu and Muslim traditions but I've vacated religion for a couple years now. But what can I say, I still gotta respect it.

SPARE TIME:
As mentioned before, writing is one. And of course, reading. My favourite books would probably be The Catcher in the Rye, The Flowers for Algernon and Life of Pi. I attend writing workshops whenever I could, though some of them can be packed with some of the most tedious people. Sometimes I just like going to the beach or the waterfront to chill out, or playing pool in the local pub, although I don't drink at all. Sometimes I like to just put on a playlist of some Bjork, Leonard Cohen and Simon & Garfunkel and just mellow out after a long day. Great cinema is also a pretty big hit with me. Whether it's Little Miss Sunshine or 12 Angry Men, gimme and I'm set! Sometimes I like to break open the makeup kit and dress up as a woman.

FAVORITE FOOD:
It's gotta be the Trinidad delight, the bake-and-shark, man. They sell those on the beaches here and tourists usually flock to get it. It tastes that good! And when you put honey mustard, garlic mayonnaise or mango sauce in it, those sharks AND my taste buds are in heaven. If it's not that, then it's chicken teriyaki Subway. The only fast food Trinidad has is like KFC and Subway. A lot of magical dates happen in a KFC drive-through or the Subway line, so don't knock it.

FAVORITE SAYING:
"I see myself as an intelligent, sensitive human, with the soul of a clown which forces me to blow it at the most important moments." ~ Jim Morrison of The Doors. I think that quote pretty much sums me up as a person. Oh, also: "Life is hard. Like Battletoads." That one's by me.

PET PEEVE:
In the RPG Making community, my pet peeve is people who talk and talk and plan and plan and never do anything in the end. I can understand how easy it is to fall victim to just being a vaporware designer, but Jesus man, get off your tail and go make a game! Too much planning can be a terrible thing! Wanna know how I started "A Home Far Away"? I broke my leg and was confined to my room for about two weeks and I just opened RPG Maker and began mapping furiously. Of course, I kept a Wordpad file with ideas after this initial.. furor. But yeah, my point is, just go ahead and work on your project. Planning and "ideas" can only get you so far. And the same goes for real life, I guess. You wanna make a drawing or write a story? Just start it! You can always go back and change and improve things.

And well, in real life, I'd say it's people who talk too loudly. Especially in the cinema. Also crappy Michael Bay movies and auto-tune gets on my nerves. That can make me curse more than a Max McGee protagonist.

LITTLE KNOWN FACT:
I still have most of my stuffed toys from childhood. They just gather dust but it's hard for me to throw them out