that's a good find regarding earthbound. people earlier were saying, oh, don't care about this stuff, think of earthbound, and just make your writing good. the answer to that is:

[GOSUB C69082][FLAGON 00B][1F 41 05][1F EB 03 06][1F 15 03 00 0E 01 01][1F 61][1F E7 03 00][1F F3 03 00 03][DELAY 3C][1F F4 03][LINE][OPENWIN 01]@Ah![DELAY 14] Here’s the problem, and it’s not too tough to fix.[PAUSE][LINE]@Hang on for a second or two…[PAUSE][CLOSEALLWIN][DELAY 1E][1F EA 03 00][1F 61][1F 00 00 B3][1F F1 E2 01 10 01][1F 61][1F E6 E2 01][1F 07 02][DELAY 3C][1F 03][OPENWIN 01]@There![PAUSE][LINE]@That should do it![PAUSE][LINE]@Now, if [GOSUB C91FBA] board,[DELAY 0F] the Sky Runner will take [GOSUB C91FDB][PAUSE][LINE]@back to Winters.[PAUSE][LINE]@With Dr. Andonuts’ help,[DELAY 0F] I can modify the machine to fly to Summers.[PAUSE][LINE]@…If Dad, I mean Dr. Andonuts,[PAUSE][LINE]@is not available, I’ll have to figure it out by myself.[PAUSE][LINE]@Anyway, let’s go back to the lab in Winters.[PAUSE][LINE]@…That’s it…[DELAY 14][LINE] Go, machine,[DELAY 0F] go![PAUSE][CLOSEALLWIN][1F 15 6A 00 0F 01 01][DELAY 01][1F EF 6A 00][1F E8 FF][1F 61][1F EB FF 06][FLAGON 28F][GOSUB C7DD7D][1F ED][1F E5 FF][1F E9 E2 01][1F 61][DELAY 0F][1F 1E E0 01 06][DELAY 5A][1F 15 D1 00 A2 00 FF][1F 15 E6 00 A5 00 FF][1F 21 C2][1F EF E6 00][1F E8 FF][DELAY 01][1F 61][1F ED][1F 15 D1 00 96 00 FF][1F 21 BB][1F EF D1 00][1F 61][1F ED][1F 15 D1 00 9E 00 FF][1F 15 E6 00 A0 00 FF][1F 21 C0][1F EF E6 00][1F 61][1F ED][1F 15 D1 00 97 00 FF][1F 21 BB][1F EF D1 00][1F 61][1F ED][1F 15 D1 00 9A 00 FF][1F 15 E6 00 9C 00 FF][1F 21 BE][1F EF E6 00][1F 61][1F ED][1F 15 D1 00 98 00 FF][1F 21 BB][1F EF D1 00][1F 61][1F ED][1F 15 D1 00 A6 00 FF][1F 21 BA][1F EF D1 00][1F 61][1F ED][FLAGON 26D][1F 21 DA][1F 17 6F 02 A7 00 01][DELAY 64][1F 17 6D 02 A8 00 01][1F 61][FLAGOFF 28F][GOSUB C7DD7D][1F 15 6A 00 A9 00 01][DELAY 01][1F EF 6A 00][1F EC FF 01][1F 61][1F ED][1F E5 FF][1F F1 69 02 8D 00][1F 61][1F E6 67 02][1F E6 69 02][1F E6 6A 02][GOSUB C6CB97][1F F1 6A 02 8E 00][1F 61][1F E6 6A 02][GOSUB C6CC31][1F F1 6A 02 90 00][1F 61][1F F1 69 02 8F 00][1F 61][19 26 06][FLAGOFF 26D][FLAGOFF 2EC][FLAGOFF 030][FLAGOFF 305][FLAGON 276][FLAGOFF 00B][1F 41 06][1F E8 FF][END]

from what i can understand from the above, it appears as if each delay in each textbox of earthbound is individually coded, with a precise delay duration carefully chosen, except for the general-purpose [PAUSE] which seems to be a shorthand for a specific duration that is often used

i don't think a lot of people are going to proofread large amounts of text for free; often you have to pay someone for something like that. proofreading is often done at a rate of $4 a page, so this post sort of feels as if you're trying to get something for nothing...

well, make sure that what you do doesn't interfere with readability of course, i think that's the most important thing; fluffier text may be harder to read

another possibility is something kartia did, which doesn't involve the textbox at all, but stuff outside of the textbox. when the characters are talking, keep the game at normal brightness levels. however, when a character is talking *internally*, besides putting it in italics, you could *also* darken the rest of the world, outside of the textbox. that gives the impression that it's an internal private thing

i agree with pandara and sinclair; one thing to realize though is that there are many different reasons why procrastination happens, and many different solutions, there is no "the answer"

some reasons:

some people procrastinate because they have low self-control. as that article mentions above, some people just have inherently less ability to delay gratification than other people. some kids can force themselves to wait 15 minutes to get 2 marshmallows instead of one, some kids break down in 30 seconds. it's not really your "fault" per se if you are the latter type, it could just be genetics or something too, or parental examples etc., some people have ADD and have an actual brain problem with impulse control

some people lack energy because they are have bad diets or don't exercise or don't get enough sun or something. in such cases fixing those problems usually fixes the procrastination. we aren't just our brains, the problem isn't always in the brain, we are our bodies as well, and the problem is sometimes in the body; some people lack energy because their body literally lacks energy (freely available ATP etc.)

some people are just depressed or have other brain chemical issues (although usually with that, they arn't motivated to do *anything*, not even to have fun goofing off with distractions and videogames and the internet)

sometimes people have a bad self-image (going along with what sinclair mentioned) and simply see themselves as the type of person who fails and is lazy, or even sometimes as someone who doesn't deserve to succeed or someone who just won't ever improve themselves, in that case the problem is mostly self-image, and changing your idea of yourself changes yourself. sometimes someone is just told by a parent over and over that they will never amount to anything and so on, and they come to internalize it over time

so basically what i mean is, before you can find a solution, it's important to know the cause, because there are many different possible causes of procrastination, and some solutions don't work for some causes. just saying 'help fix my procrastination' doesn't actually even mean anything because we don't really know the cause of it. it's like asking a doctor to fix a pain without them knowing what the pain is caused by

for me, in my own case, i used to have problems with procrastination but don't anymore. what worked for me may not work for you. but what worked for me is simply not waiting for so-called "motivation" or "inspiration". simply work on your game every day, regardless of whether you feel like it or not. make it a habit. i do enjoy my work quite a bit, but not every single aspect of it, there are always going to be boring stuff like bug fixing to deal with. so regardless of whether i want to work on my game that day or not, i simply do it anyway, i don't think 'oh, i'm not feeling motivated today, maybe i won't work on it today'. that makes no sense because it's relying on a transient feeling you don't control. instead rely on habit, which you can control

if the game gets more difficult as you go on, going back to older easier areas to get items you missed can be very important, because it decreases your chance of dying in the harder areas. this is often limited to some extent by a food / hunger system however, backtracking isn't free, but has a food cost, because every step uses up food, so you need to make strategic choices

if your roguelike does *not* get harder as you get further into the game (which is what it sounds like?), then it probably won't be a very good one, nor is there a reason to backtrack

you can simply use italics or parenthesis for that. it works fairly well. ff8 did that to a significant degree with squall.

http://indiestatik.com/2014/01/01/indie-games-2014/

saturated dreamers was mentioned on this list of the 100 most anticipated indie games of 2014

ya i'm working steadily on it; yesterday i added muting of the sound when the window isn't in focus, which actually required a dll because game maker stupidly doesn't have a way to test if the window is in focus or not

there's a list of 500 games with this idea here: http://www.giantbomb.com/daynight-cycle/3015-92/games/

/thread

i think easy modes are good, but often the problem is that the developer doesn't actually *balance* the easy mode. if you are going to make an easy mode, make sure you actually play through it. don't just cheat and do something cheap by halving enemy hp or giving the player 10 extra lives or whatever. each difficulty mode should be played through and balanced individually. if an easy mode is well balanced, it would not cripple a game. remember also that easy doesn't mean no challenge at all. easy mode should still be challenging, just less challenging than the other modes. but not a free pass or so easy that even your grandmother would get bored with the lack of challenge

i can't tell you how many horrible games that i've seen that devs think are good because their family and friends praise it, haha. you definitely need outsiders to get a more objective / disinterested evaluation of your games

the thing is, when you make a kickstarter, you are competing against *the best game developers in the world*, people who have 10, 20, 25 years of experience, people who are in the top 0.01% of skill and intelligence. being the best artist or programmer among your circle of friends or even in your hometown means absolutely nothing at that level

it's like you think you are pretty good at starcraft among your 10 or so friends, and then suddenly you find yourself facing off against a starcraft korean legend like flash or bisu. you just can't win, it's a different level

so my advice would be to not try to do a kickstarter until you have an established track record and fan base. don't get ahead of yourself. build up your skills and reputation by releasing a lot of games. release 10 or 20 finished freeware games. spend 10,000 hours making games, then spend another 10,000. being good at anything takes time. you can't expect to be as good as people who have put 30,000 hours into something if you've only invested like 1000 hours into it

because after you *have* spent tens of thousands of hours developing and releasing games and adapting those games to feedback, then you don't even have to ask how to make a game fun, you'd instinctively know what was wrong with a game and how to improve it

almost everyone who succeeds at indie games has been at it for a decade or more. there are rare exceptions, but around 9 times out of 10, any given indie game hit was made by someone who has been steadily finishing and releasing a body of work for 10+ years, not people who never finished a game before

(the only two exceptions i can think of to this principle offhand were fez and minecraft, but that's just two out of so many others)

congrats to the winners, and thanks to the two people who voted for mine. i didn't get to vote but i also would have voted for rain world

baldur's gate 1 and 2, and ad&d style games in general

and CLOSED

i will tally the results and post them "soon"

just a few more hours before the poll closes. last minute votes anyone?

dq3+

Remember when everyone was crazy about Japan earthquake?
Yeah, now nobody cares about Philippines and other asian countries, they dont have animus and moe anyway.

it's really crazy. its being reported that there are cities where 95% of the buildings and structures were destroyed. for comparison, Hiroshima  had 65% of structures destroyed from a direct nuclear hit. one area had 10,000 reported dead. literally millions of people homeless and displaced. but mainstream media barely covers it and on sites like reddit it didnt interrupt the circlejerk for a second. and it's not that nobody's reporting on it, it's that *nobody else seems to care*.

I used to be a real techno-utopianist, thinking that the world connected by the Internet would become this amazing place, allowing everybody to communicate and coordinate regardless of region or country or media interests, and it would solve so many problems, etc. but it turns out that all we want to do with that is become this weird monoculture where I can laugh at gaben gifs with dudes in Iran and we can BOTH ignore people dying in 3rd world countries together. I have a friend in the Philippines right now, and all his posts are about his marvel action figure collection. weird shit man.

i don't even think the japan one was an exception. i remember when the japan thing hit there were people saying stuff like 'payback for pearl harbor!!' and so on

the east coast got two hurricanes over the last few years (one of them was hurricane sandy), in the first of them i had to evacuate for a week to my father's place and our building was flooded, in the second one we merely lost power for 10 days (in some ways the second one was worse, even though we didn't have to leave our home, because we had to go 10 days with no hot water or internet or even anything other than candlelight to read by)

i remember going on facebook after we got power back, and seeing everyone happy and snug on the west coast and not even thinking about the east coast at all, and it felt weird to be in such a miserable situation and have other people talking about the new game they just bought or whatever. but i didn't dislike them for it or anything, it just was amazing to me how i was like in this vast east coast area of devastation and nobody on the west coast (or europe, etc.) even took notice. it made me think that, like, even if half of the world suddenly disappeared forever, the other half would just keep going on fine, without much of a care for the half of the population they had just lost. which isn't necessarily a bad thing by any means, though it is a weird thing

the lactating one actually isn't even true -- men can lactate if given female hormones

but yeah, 'we don't understand it yet' is fine, i just had a problem with the idea of 'sex doesn't influence human behavior at all, but it influences it in every other animal except humans'

What is this science that assumes we are magically all exactly the same mentally, emotionally and behaviourally? Our brains are different just as the rest of our bodies are different, they are not special. Studying any animal species will show that in general males and females behave differently, how is that pseudo-science?

I would not say that psychology is homogenous between any subsection of the human species. I'd say your bolded statement is one that I agree with. You cannot make assumptions about a persons mental profile based on their physiology. Even among individuals of a species, any species, there is bound to be a range of expression of behavioral traits. The reason they stand out more in other species, I'd guess, is that their niches require the species to remain relatively stable. A male lion that doesn't exhibit dominant behavior is far less likely to survive in an ecosystem where lions have had prides for thousands of years. In the human species, there is no selection for or against any behavioral traits, we are far too numerous, occupy more niches than any other single species on the planet, and have essentially no natural predators. A wider range of behaviors can be expected because there's no pressure towards any one or the other, and we are apparently capable of many.

i missed a lot of posts in this thread and still haven't read them all, but one quick comment here: what about ants? ants are more numerous than people -- not just by number, but by biomass (there are more pounds of ants in the world than there are pounds of humans). ants are everywhere, on every continent except antarctica (much like humans). everywhere humans live, ants also live. and yet, female and male ants are very different. male ants (i believe) never even leave the colony; they eat, mate, and die. it's the females that go out and explore and bring back food and so on. so i find your explanation here not quite convincing, because ants share all of the characteristics of humans that you named

also, the conditions you named arised in humanity only over the last 10,000 years or so -- prior to that, those conditions were not true. so are you saying that early humans and our early relatives (like neanderthals) *did* have more of sex influencing behavior? if what you are saying is true, then you are basically saying that sex influenced behavior of the cave men and very early humans, but not modern humans

lastly, what are your thoughts on sex-specific hormones? males tend to have different levels of hormones than females do. and it's known that hormones influence behavior. for example, part of the argument that homosexuality is natural rather than a choice is that homosexual men (on average) have different hormone levels than heterosexual men. there's that whole thing with finger length. you seem to be saying that hormones do not influence behavior, or at least that sex-specific hormones do not influence behavior?

i think it makes more sense to say 'maybe sex influences behavior, maybe not, but if it does, that difference doesn't matter very much, and there's so much variation that it's not a good idea to judge someone by their gender, or to ascribe aspects of their behavior to their gender' than to say 'sex definitely never influences behavior'

ah, sorry. but some people actually *do* think like that, so my reply can be taken to be for those people who are like 'nobody needs a kickstarter to make an indie game'

anyway, i am trying to make the game as inexpensively as i can; my computer is 5 years old for example. but the choice is either make a worse game or get some type of funding, so i prefer to try the funding. if i can't raise anything (if people aren't interested in the game) for a kickstarter i'll still do the best i can to finish it without a budget. but it will take a lot longer to finish that way