Quick question, how many companies/future companies are/will only be using ColdStone to design the game (with the exception to Bryce5/whatever you use to make your custom graphics)? My company , MinuX Computer Systems, will most likely be moving 100% of our developments over to ColdStone by Q1 2003.
Let me know,
Mike
(This message has been edited by minux (edited 11-21-2002).)
I'd advise against doing so - have you used Coldstone much?
It's very intuitive and useful for making simple real-time RPGs, but it's about as flexible as its namesake for other work. But hey, if that's all your company does, (Make RPGs), then I guess it'd be fine. You just don't sound like someone who makes only simple RPGs.
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In general, what exactly makes a game good isn't that easily
quantified - perhaps the absense of things that make it bad? - Words of Wisdom from Glenn Andreas
Where do you want to (url="http://"http://www.macclassics.com/cythera/tricks/rJade.htm")teleport(/url) today?
I have a very small company and intend to only use Coldstone to make Role-Playing games. I AM using much of the graphics that come with the game and supplementing Coldstone's graphics with my own. I find their graphics to be just fine.
As for the flexibility of Coldstone, I'm finding it to be very flexible. But I'm NOT trying to use it for something it was not designed to do.
The flexibility of my game is in the story, the events, the dialogue, etc. At least I find that building it is complex.
I'm sure that Coldstone will become more flexible. Meantime, I think I'm doing quite well within its design perimeters. And before someone says that I'm just copying POG, I'm saying that how I'm using those perimeters is quite different, and the concept is quite different. And that makes it a different kind of game. I am building a complex game with Coldstone. And having fun doing it.
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-- Debra
Danillitphil Productions
Bryce,
Well ColdStone is a unique device. My take on it is if we don't go all the way with it someone else will. We don't want to loose a good incentive in the development arena to someone who steps in because we only have a lukewarm feel about it. My instincts are telling me to go for it, and I think ColdStone has limitless possibilities. It is lacking some crucial things, primarily, it does not have any industry backing
The future of ColdStone is not how well it sells on the consumer end, it is how well it sells on the industry end. I think it is a great tool, and that PoG only scratched the surface of what ColdStone is. Lets face it, the story in PoG is mediocre, the graphics are average, the action is poor, and the character development is almost non existent. While it is a fun game, it will never sell. Frankly, I do not think Ambrosia should use it as a pitch when trying to sell ColdStone. If they got a game that looked as good as Diablo, with the same amount of intense game play ColdStone would become an overnight success. That is what the future of our company is banking on.
Mike
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Go to My Homepage: (url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/ibookcomputerguy/")http://homepage.mac....ookcomputerguy/(/url)
(This message has been edited by minux (edited 11-21-2002).)
Engines are judged by the first game made with them. (Bryce's law of why some engines never catch on.)
Remember Grandeur? Now only a distant memory, it was once a rather promising RPG engine, too. But the demo game that came with the engine was a little sub-par (Fine, it stunk like a dead opossium) and it was rejected. It's dejected author took it off the web servers, wrote an anti-mac manifesto, and coverted to windows. Tragic, no?
Thankfully, PoG is much better (albeit the quality of the story is about the same) than the demo game for Grandeur, but it is still what Coldstone will probobly be judged by by the majority of potental developers. Congrats for seeing beyond it.
A person once mentioned another thing about Coldstone, that seems to be a major issue.
"People just think they'll be able to just turn some crank and magicaly get a game"
(Paraphrased, it's been a long time since he said it)
I think right about now people are realizing that even with such a easy-to-use engine as Coldstone, making an RPG still takes work. Remember how before CSGE came out everbody and their uncle seemed to be planning their gift to the mac gaming world?
How many are still at it? How many will finish major games? I am thinking about 10. Maybe 15. And that's being just about as optimistic as I can be.
Coldstone is a wonderful thing for many people, though, just like REALBasic is. I'm just not the type for it, I suspose. I am planning my own engine... but despite the huge amounts of notes and drawings it has led me to generate, I don't see it being finished any time soon.
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In general, what exactly makes a game good isn't that easily
quantified - perhaps the absense of things that make it bad? - Words of Wisdom from Glenn Andreas
Where do you want to (url="http://"http://www.macclassics.com/cythera/tricks/rJade.htm")teleport(/url) today?
It is unfortunate to say the least that ColdStone whored out to the masses. What I mean by this is perhaps if Ambrosia would have only released it to their developer channel, rather then making it a tool for the rest of us it would have been much more then it is today.
Your right, it is odd, how some people think that if they purchase ColdStone they will automatically create them a game which will be on par with PoG. I imagine most people who have purchased ColdStone stopped using it after a few hours.
Sadly, I think your estimate of Companies who are actually using ColdStone is a bit on the high side. I can only fathom that there are maybe three or four Companies who are using ColdStone.
I agree with you too that the first game is that which all preceding games will be based on. Which is unfortunate. I enjoy PoG, but I think it was sub par by Amrosias standards.
I estimate that the game we are working on will not be finished until two or three years from now. In the meantime, I do not know what other tools/engines will become available before then. I can only hope that ColdStone will remain on par with Blizzards engines.
In the end, it is really sad, how such a wonderful, inspiring, and great product could become nonexistent overnight. It is really sad.
Mike
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Go to My Homepage:
http://homepage.mac....ookcomputerguy/
Howdy,
I think I'm currently in development on a title using Coldstone. The reason I say "think" is that after getting three levels into production, we have found that Coldstone does not even perform on a level that it claims to. We cannot get it to build a working version of our game and we are not alone. There have been some threads on this.
You can view the site we started to put together for the game here it has screen shots: (url="http://"http://www.digitalrain.org/call_of_shadows/")http://www.digitalra...all_of_shadows/(/url)
Until this build problem is nailed down, I would proceed with trepidation. But then again others have not reported these errors. It seems to effect those of use using larger graphics and sound assets for some reason, which strikes at the heart of raising the bar on what is possible to do with Coldstone. Which is what we were, or are trying to do.
If it could actually compile a working game then I don't see why you could not move development to this platform as long as you were willing to work within it's constraints. Before the build problems began, I had accepted Coldstone with it's limits and I was pleased with it. No of course that is all moot.
Cheers,
CG
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Well, I am making a game, but I'm no company. I'm actually a 12 year old girl currently going through 7th grade making a game in my spare time. Yes, it's hard being my age. I can't exactly get my hands on things like Bryce, Poser, etc. In fact the only two graphic things I currently own are ClayScape 3D and Adobe Photoshop 4. Yeah, I did buy a liscense code though for ColdStone. 
Unfortunately, I hit a big big snag. I had to give Stark my folder with all my data in it because it's screwed (load dialog, then black screen, everything seems ok to me, can't figure out what is going wrong). No one else has been able to figure it out, so I had to have stark download the folder.
To see what I have so far on my games check out the link in my sig.
Guess the only thing I can do now is to continue working on one of my sprites (based on one of the sprites that came with the ColdStone CD) until Stark gets back to me...
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"Perish in flames!"
Ghostbusters
Let us all scream that as we pass a windows users on the street, then point and laugh at them.
My game's (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/pfbgames/")site(/url)
(This message has been edited by PinkFluffyBunny (edited 11-22-2002).)
I am also using coldstone. I have three projects going on two that are being made with coldstone and one that I'm making with a programmer friend that will be a third person/ first person shooter - it's a remake of an old sidescroller titled abuse. The coldstone games have yet to be posted onto my site, but there is a forum for Abuse 3 (the non-coldstone game) at: (url="http://"http://abuse.forerunners.org/")http://abuse.forerunners.org/(/url)
My take on Coldstone is the following... It does have it's limitations, but some of them can be worked around if you just try to figure it out. There are some that are just annoying (knowing that allies are in the engine, but not implimented in coldstone for us) And there are others that just bother me and might not be such a big deal to others (bullets passing through walls and enemies seeing you through walls)
Coldstone is a good program and has a lot to offer if you stick to it, but there are some people who just want to throw together a game really quickly (which is justifiable seeing as how coldstone is a game wizard).
The most upsetting thing in my opinion is that beenox had such a negative reaction to the sales and have hinted that besides bug fixes we might never see a 2.0. That is very upsetting for those of us who plopped down $49 for this app - bugs happen and as long as updates don't take years to come out I'm fine with it, but I think that they owe the people who bought the program what the offered in the first place. <--my opinion. I'm not saying that coldstone sucks in anyway. I can understand how some people feel a little burned though.
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Here's my site! There is art, music, movies, and games are on there way!
(url="http://"http://www.sinthesisent.com")http://www.sinthesisent.com(/url)
I've been fiddling with coldstone for a while now.
Despite some people's opinions (e.g Coldstone can only make RPGs.), I think coldstone has broad capabilites.
I am at the moment using it to construct a small application which is a virtual keyboard. Constucting this will be easy, thanks to coldstone's design.
Yes, beenox's response is very depressing. They have effectively left coldstone forlorn in the bottom of the cupboard.
Please forgive my metaphors.
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Poor little Johnny, of whom we'll see no more, for what he thought was H2O was H2SO4.
Quote
Originally posted by nero:
**Yes, beenox's response is very depressing. They have effectively left coldstone forlorn in the bottom of the cupboard.
**
I thought it was bad when they were just doing THE VATZ. But now they appear to be doing (url="http://"http://www.beenox.com/games.html")Tony Hawk 3(/url) as well. It appears they've abandoned us.
Say it ain't so...
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Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
"Logic is futile"-Scott Adams
(This message has been edited by spitfire (edited 11-22-2002).)
Tony Hawk 3? There's Tony Hawk 4 out now...but not on computer! Heh.
Yeah. Limitations...I'd like to see an update soon! Plleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaasssseeee? Pretty please with little sugar bits and chocolate syrup and a cherry on top?!
Forgive me if that was annoying. I am not feeling exactly myself, with a strong headcold and all...School burns my brain...
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"Perish in flames!"
Ghostbusters
Let us all scream that as we pass a windows users on the street, then point and laugh at them.
My game's (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/pfbgames/")site(/url)
Quote
Originally posted by .:
lekel osuos jo jkjk sjki ai iau iaui aua uaui uai uia sdjkfj skdnfk hkasdh fiysdiu9sd7 a87udf89u sd8ufisd7 8fsd7u8fsd uifdu87 8sdij 8sdf7u aisduf8 suadfi 8asd7fi jsdif7 s8dauifji asd7u8f7 usdafyu 78sd78fsd 7
These are not the spam boards. Atleast put a sentence in. Sentence spam is not as bad as that crap.
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"Perish in flames!"
Ghostbusters
Let us all scream that as we pass a windows users on the street, then point and laugh at them.
My game's (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/pfbgames/")site(/url)
I agree with _. uia sdjkfj.
Also, PFBunny, I just checked out your game's site and I really liked your sprites. There is just something magical about old school sprites. Maybe because I'm old. Also, I have a suggestion, or something you might want to look into at least. This may be of interest to anyone using old school hand drawn sprites with CS's stock background art. Open up the grass tile in Photoshop (I know v4 has this), go to Filter>Pixelate>Facet and watch what it does to the art. We've experimented with a couple different styles and thought this little effect worked pretty well to give the CS backgrounds that Super Nintedo look. Use the offset filter to touch up the tiling seams. Um, anyway, if you find that helpful, cool, if not, ignore me. I'll go away.
This is where I say we are making a game too. We are still very excited about what we are being able to make CS do and, although we do not have a website or a title yet (working title: Arx Immanis--we'd use it, but it's a rip off), progress is being made at a satisfying rate.
And this is where I tell everyone else to keep making their games. There is a shortage of RPGs on the Mac, and while it certainly was exciting when Spiderweb went isometric, I still crave something different. I renew my previous pledge to play every game made by CS.
myshkyn
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"I'll give the fans just what they want, and nothing else at all."
Quote
Originally posted by myshkyn:
**
Also, PFBunny, I just checked out your game's site and I really liked your sprites. There is just something magical about old school sprites. Maybe because I'm old. Also, I have a suggestion, or something you might want to look into at least. This may be of interest to anyone using old school hand drawn sprites with CS's stock background art. Open up the grass tile in Photoshop (I know v4 has this), go to Filter>Pixelate>Facet and watch what it does to the art. We've experimented with a couple different styles and thought this little effect worked pretty well to give the CS backgrounds that Super Nintedo look. Use the offset filter to touch up the tiling seams. Um, anyway, if you find that helpful, cool, if not, ignore me. I'll go away.
**
Now, if only I could see how it looked in my game...Waiting patiently for Stark to debug it. Thanks for the suggestion!
Btw, I got those sprites from the coldstone add-on files. There's a bunch...You just have to seperate them from eachother. The description of them was something like 'Zelda-type characters'. I thought they would suit the characters I was doing, and I don't have enough time to create my own, being in school and all.
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"Perish in flames!"
Ghostbusters
Let us all scream that as we pass a windows users on the street, then point and laugh at them.
My game's (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/pfbgames/")site(/url)
I'm using those sprites from the Zelda-Type sprites file too (curiously enough I'm also twelve years old.).
I use the Zelda-type sprites because I had all of a game set up; music, story, sounds, programming, battle sequence (namely ellrx's brilliant Turn-Based battle method.) and even graphics.
I lacked, however, sprites.
I changed the sprites around a bit, though. Colours were my main modification.
I think the add-ons page is centrafugal to the continuance of coldstone development.
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Poor little Johnny, of whom we'll see no more, for what he thought was H2O was H2SO4.
Quote
Originally posted by nero:
**< Chemistry joke in sig>
**
It works better this way:
Charlie was a chemist, but he isn't anymore, for what he thought was H2O was H2SO4.
H2O = Water, H2SO4 = Sulfuric Acid, for anyone who didn't get either joke.
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In general, what exactly makes a game good isn't that easily
quantified - perhaps the absense of things that make it bad? - Words of Wisdom from Glenn Andreas
Where do you want to (url="http://"http://www.macclassics.com/cythera/tricks/rJade.htm")teleport(/url) today?
