Nommad's Ramblings

Furcadia Links:

Resource Links:

Simon Potter's Front Page
Sidereal's DS Snippets
Tafyrn's DS Sippets
Phoenix Speak
DSbin

Association of Dream Makers
Mystic Land's Tutorials

Furcadia Historical Society

Furbot Development
DD's Front Door
PatchFusion

DS Systems:

Locator/Ranger Finder
Object/Floor Management
Dream Time
SafeTiles / LifeTiles
Barebones Database
ID Code in a Nutshell
Entry Code Stats / PvP System

More Dream Downloads:

Chess (Mason Challenge)
Barebones Database Dream
Entry Code PvP System
Simon (Memory Game)

Nommad's Ramblings
Home / Archives: 2004 2005 2006 2007

12/21/08:
The Holiday is Upon Us:
Just a few more days until Christmas and then a New Year is upon us. I've been buzy with Cinder Bear and Tarra the last few weeks working on a Christmas Festival Dream: Yeti Mountain. I've never made a Winter dream before so this was a nice change from my usual stuff and a true team effort. Cinder and Tarra did some really great patching and weaving in this one. There is a walk through if you follow the link, but it'll be much more fun if you do the quest without it. I've still not been able to make any major progress in the Spiritscape update so it hasn't been up like I had promised. I will be diving into it again soon and sometime after the New Year I hope to have it far enough along to keep it loaded most of the time. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas (or whatever you might celebrate this season) and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

12/07/08:
Getting Back on Track:
It's been a few months since I posted anything, but I'm still around and still working on the Spiritscape make-over. It's taking alot longer than I'd planned because I've had a lot of distractions and been working on other projects. I am part of a real team working on a Winter Festival contest dream. It's alot different from anything I've worked on before and I've never been involved in any Christman/Winter themed dreams. I've tried really hard not to have my "stamp" all over it too so it will be as much or more the Team's dream than mine. It's truely a Team effort. We all brainstormed ideas and I've DSed the framework for the dream interaction and quest. It's now in the hands of the rest of the team to do thier magic with patching, weaving, and story-telling.

9/27/08:
Spiritscape: Might or Magic
I've been working on a major updated and recoded version of Spiritscape. If you see it loaded in the Library feel free to check it out. It totally strips my old "Barebones" framework from stat tracking and merges the concepts of entrycode stats and the Arenamasters monster system. In the process I've come up with new and improved targeting, attack and defense systems as well as alot of other enhancements. Some stats do transfer, but the new system will not automatically remember stats. New players will have to post in the Forum to activate thier character. I'm always interested in hearing any suggestions about what to include, exclude or add to make it better.

9/16/08:
Guitar Superstars Download:
Guitar Superstars won 1st place in the Festival of the Sun and I was asked to add a touch of it to the Rameen Festival. So, 3 songs and the basics that make it cool will be a part of the Offical Rameen Festival from now on. I don't have any other new dreams in the works and don't have any plans on entering any future contests. Like I promised awhile back, the Guitar Superstars dream can now be downloaded and like all the others it's free to use and modify however you like, just don't try and resell it or any of the patches.

8/30/08:
Rock Fest III winners:
Chii Hirobu won 1st place $50 GD with a score of 5942!
Arashi Hakubi won 2nd place $30 GD with a score of 5292!
Kioney won 3rd place $20 GD with a score of 5258!
Peter held the High Score for most of the Contest and didn't get bumped out until the end, but he also won $20 GD for his great performance with a score of 5026.
And finally I gave Jon Gully $10 as a runner-up prize for his performance with a score of 4590.
It was a Rockin' good time with Pizza and Pongo juice and a few fireworks during the contest for everyone near the stage. I thank everyone who showed up for coming. For those who have asked or are wondering, the dream will be available for download after the Festival of the Sun dream is taken down and the next Festival begins.
Prizes for the 3 contests totaled over $250 Gold Scales and was my way of giving back to the Furcadia community.

8/27/08:
Final Sun Rock Fest III:
Saturday Aug 30th, 1pm-4pm FST
The third and final Rock Fest will be held on a Saturday this time in hopes a News announcement will get more people into the thick of things. Same system as all the others but Double the Prize Money!
1st: $50 GD 2nd: $30 GD, 3rd: $20 GD
Where? From the Vinca > Festival of the Sun > Guitar Superstars or use the dream URL furc://festival12/
At 1pm The High Score will be reset and the Superstars in the dream at 4pm the top 3 Superstar prizes will be awarded.

8/19/08:
Rock Fest II winners:
Chii Hirobu won 1st place $25 GD with a score of 6216!
Arashi Hakubi won 2nd place $15 GD with a score of 5300!
Tretesta won 3rd place $10 GD with a score of 3258!
I also gave an extra "Runner-Up" prize of $5 to tiger queen who had a score of 3176!
There were a few more people there this time, but still not nearly as many as I'd hoped.

8/13/08:
Sun Rock Fest II:
Sunday Aug 17th, 1pm - 4pm FST
Strut your stuff on stage and drive the crowd wild. The more hysteria your friends, fans, and followers make the more of a Superstar you'll be!
High Scores will be reset at 1pm and the player with the High Score at 4pm FST will be declared the Rock Fest II Superstar.
1st: $25 GD 2nd: $15 GD, 3rd: $10 GD

8/4/08:
Rock Fest I winners:
Chii Hirobu won 1st place $25 GD with a score of 4618!
Tretesta won 2nd place $15 GD with a score of 4248!
Naru-ferret won 3rd place $10 GD with a score of 2904!
I also gave an extra "Good Sport" prize of $5 to Sephant who had a score of 2324!
At times the crowd was pretty tough, but I think everyone had a very good time.

7/28/08:

Rock Fest I:
Now that the Festival of the Sun is underway, and I think my dream is working the way it should. Come be a part of the Sun Fest Rock Fest in Guitar Superstars.
There seems to already be some Guitar Heroes but who are going to be the Superstars?

August 3rd from 1pm-4pm FST
At 1pm The High Score will be reset and the Superstars in the dream at 4pm will compete for the top 3 Superstar prizes.

1st: $25 GD 2nd: $15 GD, 3rd: $10 GD

3/23/1931-7/4/2008:
Miss Jane
I love You Mom and you will be missed, but you'll always be with me in spirit.
You believed and accepted me no matter what.

6/29:08:
Guitar Superstars:
I've changed the name again but this time I'm sticking to it. The dream is not really anything like the Guitar Hero game most people are expecting so I don't want to call it that. I've been doing some visual changes with some patches from Artspace and detailing by Cinder Bear to give it more of the feel of a Summer Rock Festival for the upcoming Festival of the Sun. I will be submitting it but haven't decided yet if it will be for Exibition only or not. Either way I'm setting it up so I can have a few contests while it's up and give away some of the Scales I won from the Spring Festival.
After the Sun Festival I'll add it to my list of Dream Downloads.

6/22/08:
Spiritscape Dream Package:
With the prize I won from ArenaMasters I've gotten Spiritscape a Dream Package. I had already maxed out the 64kb space of the Silver Sponser package and purged 80 accounts to make more room, with 500kb space that shouldn't really be an issue anymore. It also gives me 2000 more lines of DS so I can add more stuff and more than doubles the size I can make the map. I plan on giving the Underworld a major facelift and updating the Hellspawn and Demons. I'm also going to add more functionality to the Dungeon Master controls with a "Custom Adventure/Quest" sytem.

6/22/08:
ArenaMasters II Download:
I won 1st place with ArenaMasters 2 in the Spring Festival and got alot of scales for winning. I do plan on developing it even further at some point in the future. However, as a way to give back to all my fans and people that want to learn how to make monsters chase players around etc. etc. I'm puttng t up for download. Feel free to use it as is, change it and improve it if you can.

6/01/08:
Spiritscape: Wizard or Warrior
My obsession with GuitarHeroes inspired me to add a button system to Spiritscape. It's taken over my obsessive creative drive, but I do have some future plans for the guitar dream. It's more suited for a party or festival atmosphere so some day here in the near future I'll be offering some nice prizes to try and fill it up with rowdy Furres. The Spiritscape database is filling up fast as I try and finish up some of the new features I want to add. I keep having to trim DS lines to add new stuff, but soon I will be reseting the whole thing and really gearing up to get a group package so I'll have the extra DS and map power a Group Package is suppose to offer. Hopefully there will be a nice web interface that goes with it.

5/11/08:
GuitarHeores!
I seem to have gotten bit by another obsession after playing Guitar Hero with my kids. So, rather than go buy myself a Playstation and Guitar Hero, I've made my own version of it for Furcadia! Now the timng for DS is limited so I couldn't do it just like Guitar Hero, but I have made a dream that lets you put together riffs to try and match a music sample. There are 7 samples. Funk, Blues, Rock, Metal, Stones, Floyd, and LowRider. A Stage where you have just enough time to copy the sample (or freeform) and a Practice Area where there are 5 guitars and a "player" that plays the samples and displays the riff button sequences. Two are close enough together so 2 people can play together. Right now players can vote on stage performances, but I am working on a scoring system as well as some "Star Power" effects and bonuses.

4/29/08:
Spiritscape Group Package?
I think Spiritscape PS: is worth working on and updating some more and there seems to be enough interest and need to have a Staff. I've never had staff in any of my dreams, but for this one to really work well it will need greeters and guides basically and Dugeon Masters who can run / host "custom" scenarios.
Some Artists and Writers/Storytellers would be a major bonus for a group too.
So far Stats have only been saved in "Test" but once it has used 50% of it's space, I'll be switching it to "LIVE". Current players can sign-up to have stats transfered to the "Live" database on this forum thread .

4/16/08:
Spiritscape PhoenixSpeak Edition:
I've retro-fitted the Original Spiritscape with Phoenix Speak which does a much better job than my old "Lock and Load" system and commented out the Wolf Howl "extras" and a few other things to keep it under the 8k limit. It's just a modified version of the download without Lock and Load. It doesn't need Phoenix Speak to run, just to save a players progress. The command to be added to the databases does not appear for random visitors unless they have been in the dream long enough to raise a level. However, all you need to know to be added to the PS database is the command [JOIN
I'll be uploading it in AI or Imaginarium to see if there is enough interest for me to continue refining it and/or form a gaming/rp group so it can be developed into a group package dream.The dream URL is furc://spiritscape
And I've started the framework for a new site specifically for Spiritscape

4/12/08:
Updates and Downloads
I've updated the SpiritQuest: Evolution download and removed the skin. It's not really nessicary for the dream and in it's original Festival archive the skin messed it all up. I've also added the Spiritscape to the available downloads. It's the same version that was in the Wolf Holf with an updated skin that adds the F tab and other tab buttons that were added in the last update. There are alot of goodies you can find in those two dreams as far as DS tricks and patches.

4/12/08
Promoted to Mason Head
It's official now, I was asked if I would consider becoming a Mason Head and I accepted. I don't know how good I'll really be at it, but I'm willing to give it a try. There are a lot of new tools to work with and techniques to learn and share. I'm still not up to speed on all of the new things. But, I do know it's the diversity of the talents of All the Masons that fuels new techniques and discoveries we try to pass on to others, and I'm hopeful to see some new faces and share some new ideas with you all.

3/21/08:
Final Testing of ArenaMasters II
Well, for those that have been playing ClanWars: ArenaMasters II I thank you and this weekend will probably be the last upload in this form using my ClanWars alt. It's been a very interesting ride and I can't seem to keep enough accounts open for new players (50 max) without Silver Sponser. But, part of the DS for this was to make it playable without needing Phoenix Speak and have come up with a whole new Stat system that's based on Entry-Codes and Buttons. Phoenix Speak basically replaces the need for my old "Lock and Load" system and is much better since it carries over to new dream uploads. But, for some reason I don't understand and beyond my control the PS database sometimes deletes accounts as well as looses or "falls" back to previous saves.
Anyway, I'll be wrapping it up to submit to the festival this week and probably won't be reloading it in public areas again for awhile. However, since I've managed to keep the DS and map size so small I'll probably be using it as the starting off point of a more permanent dream in the future and use a Silver Sponser Character for the uploads so I am not limited to 50 character accounts. I also plan on updating the "Entry-Code/PvP System" download to include the changes I've made to the basic system as well as the Phoenix Speak add-on that is in ArenaMasters. Eventually I want to make the New Monster AI and animated patches I'm using available as an add-on Module for it too.

2/26/08:
ClanWars III / ArenaMasters II
This one is built right on top of my Entry Code/PvP System. I've added a streamlined Monster AI system from Spiritscape with Monster Arenas, and a Gauntlet to fight them in. The entry code system tracks how many wins you have and at 25 credits you are given the option to "Level-Up" which will add the player to the DS database if there are "free" accounts. If there are no free accounts, the player can still play but will not level up or collect more than x coins. Coins are used for a variety of power-ups that can be used in the Arenas or Gauntlet.
The Free Coins and Power-ups are all tracked and triggered using buttons, but are removed when a player leaves the dream. Players that have been added to the PS database will still have thier Levels, Experience, Coins and Potions when they return. Right now it is very compact, probably the most compact of any dream I've ever done.
The first Real Test of it was this weekend and it used up over half of the 10kb space free users get.
Besides the usual sort of typo bugs, the DS and button tricks worked very well... the PS even seemed to do what it was suppose to do, but for some unknown reason it lost over half of the saved accounts. So, if you were one of those and there were quite a few of you... sorry about that.

2/15/08:
Another Taste of Obsessions?
There are so many new doors that have opened up for Dreamweavers in the Fox update it makes my head spin at what you can do. I'm trying not to get too taken away with it and am trying to put my ideas and "systems" together in a way that is can be put together as modules... So I've made some minor modifications to the Core-PvP System and added an improved Spiritscape NPC/Monster AI with Kitterspeak Animation. Though it works without PhoenixSpeak and furres can play without being added to the character table, a button will pop-up when a player has scored a set number of points. Clicking that button currently adds the player to the PS database and remembers select stats.
Right now it's just Melee Duels and Monster Arenas, with a Gauntlet on the way.
I haven't decided what to call it yet, but it's starting to shape up like a cross between ArenaMasters and ClanWars.
That is, once it evolves enough so players can join Clans.

2/02/08:
Woah! Fox Update is Amazing!
Real Life has really made it difficult for me to spend much time on Furcadia or working on any dream stuff. I did take the time to check out the new update and the stuff it has added is amazing. I've totally fallen behind on learning or implimenting any of the new stuff all the way back to the last update when they added Phoenix Speak. I do want to thank Nathan for the donation, it's not the donation so much as the acknowledgement my work is recognized and appreciated that encourages me to take the time to try and learn the new stuff as well as make more of my old stuff useable by others.
I have been messing around with the new animation (.fox) system, enhancing the animations of a couple of NPCs in Spiritscape, and though it adds an nice effect it really increases the size of the .fox file when you consider it can add 6-10 images per direction per NPC. I also did some experimenting with locals and found that you can also add animations to local species. I can't decide if I should try and adapt Spiritscape or one of my older dreams to the new system (I do have to fix any custom skin) or just work on something new, or do a break down of my AI monster system in Spiritscape into a template. Anyway the new Fox update is Amazing and hopefully it'll draw me back into Dreamweaving and get me obsessed with some new project... seems I need a little bit of obsession to really accomplish anything.

1/10/07:
New Dream Downloads:
I've often had request to have one of my dreams and I've had people say I should sell them.
I've thought about going back into them and re-writing them, but the more I think about it the more I realize they will just sit there and gather dust. In hopes they might give some insight and inspiration to anyone who can decipher them, my first and second "generation" of database "Lock and Load" dreams are now free downloads for tips, dream credits, feedback, anything, or nothing at all. With only 1 condition.
You may not Sell the dream, ESPECIALLY the patches that come with them since many of the Images have or have had copyrights.
I have thought about updating, adapting and breaking down the core systems into modular templates if I can find the time and inspiration.

1/05/08:
What Next?
Avatars, Phoenix Speak, Button DS and more!
DEP has added so many new features and commands in the last year that the whole art of Dream Weaving and Dream Coding has taken an amazing leap. Now having stats and saving them is easily added with Phoenix Speak. Having to have a Bot in dream to announce player names, bracket commands like [FURRE] can be coded into the dream. And Now with 100 Buttons the special effects and HUD options seem almost infinite... limited only by the imagination. And I almost forgot having Wall DS... that's the core of my new graphic effect systems!
I've only had a little time to play with Phoenix Speak, but I'm certainly thinking about adding it to some of my old dreams... or modifying them to use it. I really think I'll handle stats very much like I have since Lock and Load, but the Lock and Load will be automatic, and only store stats that could be valid over a range of different dreams.
I'm not sure I'll really be ready to much intensive coding anytime soon...
If I can get motivated maybe rework some of my old dreams as public releases...
Spiritscape of course could become and endless project since it was always intended to be an engine.
I'm not sure What's Next.....

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