Topics

16

Games / RogueType - An in-browser roguelike game (v2.1.3)

« on: January 04, 2018, 08:40:49 AM »

RogueType is a browser-based roguelike game created by yours truly, and features original music by Jazz Cat. The only system requirements are an ES6-compatible web browser, keyboard, and preferably a widescreen display. This game is 'finished' in the sense that it can be fully played through and is beatable, but in reality it's still pretty far from complete. After playing for a bit, scroll down and read about the additional features I plan to implement. I do not plan to make any money from this project, it's just for fun.


Out of both laziness and an odd desire to make my own map for the game, I opted to not use random map generation. However, most elements of the game are still randomized (e.g. potions, weapons, item drops, combat rolls...). Custom maps can be created manually through a relatively simple text file, and the game readily supports loading third party maps simply by entering the url of the map. Custom maps you've loaded will even persist in the drop down menu between reloads assuming you don't clear your cookies. There is currently only one guest map created for the game by Zeustal, but if other people contribute good maps I may make them default to the game. I know I'm not talking about the gameplay a whole lot here, I think it's best to just try it than try to explain it all here.

Planned additions:
 - Armor
 - Throwable potions
 - An extra boss or two for people to use in custom maps to make things less repetitive
 - Fountains and altars
 - Prologues / random character backgrounds, and epilogues.
 - Shops?
 - Quests, followers, and other friendly NPCs?
 - Vision?
 - Real pathfinding?





Want to create a map for RogueType? I'd recommend playing the game through to the boss at least before attempting this, since it gives you a better feel for everything. Other than that, you really just need a text editor and an online text sharing site (ideally one you log in to so that you can update your map later if you want to), something like pastebin or github gist. Once you've got that download the standard map for reference so you can ensure you're doing things right. Simply use a text editor (or ideally ascii art software) to make your map, and use the table below for reference when placing things in your map. If you use a text editor, you'll probably find it's easiest to first fill the entire contents of the map with walls and then use the insert key to write over individual tiles within it.


x - A solid wall.
. - Open floorspace.
S - The starting point for the player, only one.
+ - A normal door
= - A stronger door
M - A common monster spawn
! - A high-level monster spawn
? - A common item spawn (mainly potions for now)
T - A rare item spawn (mainly weapons for now)
F - Boss stage trigger door (only place one of these, ideally the boss room should face southwards from the door)
B - The Boss.
P - Exit portal that finishes the game after The Boss is killed.
Note: Any characters in the map which are not recognized as valid types will display as errors in-game.


More information can be found on the Github page: https://github.com/Pecon/RogueType/

17

Off Topic / Looking for advice on a good starting handgun for learning & self defense

« on: November 20, 2017, 08:53:40 AM »

I know some of you here are somewhat of enthusiasts, anyone know what handguns would likely work best for both self defense and be easy to train with no prior experience? I plan to get safety classes, but need to bring an already owned weapon to them. I've already reviewed the requirements on buying in California, did the practice test with no issues since it's obviously mostly common sense. My eventually plan is to get a concealed carry permit, but that shouldn't be a factor in what I'm buying now since it's a long way off.

Some of the classes I looked at called for a .380 or greater caliber, so I'd probably want to look in that range? Also keep in mind that my arm-strength is pretty below average, so I'll need something with little recoil. Doesn't need to be something with a long life either, since I'll likely buy something more specialized later on.

18

General Discussion / Pecon's Technic Fortwars - Rules updated

« on: November 17, 2017, 08:18:05 PM »

Rules   FAQ   Quick-start guide   In-depth explanations

Synopsis

Technic Fortwars aims to replicate much of the same appeals of traditional Fortwars minigames, with a few important differences. The main difference is that rather than all weapons being free to use, each player has 'resources' which regenerate over time and influence what weapons and items they can summon into combat. Generator and factory bricks influence the creation of additional resources, creating a path of progression where the player builds their base to be able to produce more powerful weapons and vehicles. Additionally, a system is in place which keeps players who are building separate from those who are fighting, allowing them to build stress-free and at their own pace. This style of gamemode is in stark contrast to something like Base Raiders, because it by design encourages artistic freedom going into people's bases rather than just quick and dirty builds.

Rules

1: Do not be a jerk. This includes using the difference in modes to annoy people in the opposite mode. (ie. don't go spraycanning people who are fighting, and don't annoy people who are building with weapons, don't use build mode to make an invincible wall for teammates, etc.)

2: Don't build floating bases. If you have a raised sniper platform or something it should be reasonably possible to reach by walking. Towers are generally okay as long as they're a complete stucture. Floating/unreachable bases ruin the fun and force other people to sink to your own scummy tactics.

3: Do not build in a way that interferes with other player's builds. Building bridges/walkways into/onto other bases will get your bricks cleared.

4: Don't post links in the chat that aren't relevant to Blockland.

5: Don't utilize any exploits that circumvent the general game mechanics. Those exploits should be reported so they can be fixed.

6: Be respectful in the chat.



Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How do I fight?
A: When you first join you'll need to first build a base. You cannot fight until you have built a base and set a spawnpoint in it using the /setspawn command. Once you've done that, you're free to do /combatmode and start fighting other players in combat mode.

Q: How do I get weapons?
A: Once you are in combat mode, you will have a tool in your inventory that lets you buy weapons for resources. You cannot spawn items on bricks beforehand, as this would defeat the buying mechanic.

Q: What's the 'Technic' part of this?
A: Basically, there is a technic bricks tab in the brick selector which has generators and factories. When you have both generators and factories in your base, they increase the rate and limit of your resources. Generators also are used to power many events which require energy.

Q: How do I get more resources?
A: See above answer.

Q: How do I get more tech points?
A: You will earn approximately 1 tech point for each kill you get in combat mode. You also earn about 1/8th of a tech point for each enemy factory or generator you disable.

Q: Do generators do anything other than power factories?
A: Yes, generators are needed to power most events.

Q: Can you refund/move generators and factories?
A: No. Be very careful with your placement.

Q: How do I fix a generator/factory that is on fire?
A: Use a repair wrench on it. You get one for free while you are in build mode.

Q: Do things save when I leave?
A: All things you have built and your tech points are saved and loaded.




Quick-start guide

Step 1: Build a baseplate to start your base.

Step 2: Build a base. (optional)

Step 3: Place a generator and factory in your base (from the technic bricks tab). The strongest start using the 15 tech points is one Basic Factory, a Gas Generator 1, and a Gas Generator 2. You need both generators and factories to increase your resource production.

Step 4: Set a spawn in your base with the /setSpawn command.

Step 5: Enter combat mode with /combatmode

Step 6: Open your tools and buy a weapon(s) using the 'buy weapon' item in your inventory.

Step 7: Kill players to earn tech points.

Step 8: Return to build mode with /buildmode

Step 9: Build more generators and factories to unlock more resources, ability to buy new weapons (and eventually) vehicles.

Step 10: Repeat from step 5!




In-depth explanations

Generators
Generators have three values: their tech point cost, their energy production per tick, and their armor. Obviously, when you plant a generator it'll deduct its tech point cost from your tech points. Every tick (5 seconds) all your generators will recharge and contain energy (¤) equal to their energy production stat. This energy is used by factories and events, explained in the next section. When a generator takes damage from a bullet, the damage is reduced by its armor stat. The player who shot it will get a message that their attack was ineffective if the armor fully mitigates the damage. When a generator is destroyed, it will break like any other brick for 30 seconds and then respawn. After respawning, it will be on fire and the owner will have to hit it with a repair wrench to make it work again.

Factories
Factories have four values: their tech point code, their load, their capacity (not shown on brick image), and their armor. Planting a factory buys it for its tech point cost. Every tick (5 seconds), all the energy that was not used from your generators in the previous tick is pooled and then processed by the factories. The total amount of energy that can be processed is equal to the combined load values of all your factories. Processed energy becomes resources (Þ) at a rate of 1% (ie. 100 energy becomes 1Þ). Factories also passively increase your total resource capacity by their capacity value. When a factory is destroyed, it will break like any other brick for 30 seconds and then respawn. When a factory takes damage from a bullet, the damage is reduced by its armor stat. The player who shot it will get a message that their attack was ineffective if the armor fully mitigates the damage. After respawning, it will be on fire and the owner will have to hit it with a repair wrench to make it work again.

Advanced Weapon Fabricator
The Advanced Weapon Fabricator is high-cost technic brick that allows you to build stronger 'Advanced' weapons (Which are denoted by [Adv] in the item list). While fabricating an item, the fabricator will consume 300¤ and 3Þ per tick. You will need to balance your power and resource production around this if you want to have any success. The item the fabricator is fabricating will be destroyed if the fabricator is destroyed or if the owner switches to build mode. The fabricator can be paused and resumed by the owner as needed, but the item it is fabricating cannot be canceled (technically though you can cancel it by switching into build mode).

Events
Most events require energy (¤) from generators to work. Players can also provide some of their jet energy to power small events if there are no generators around. The amount of energy used by an event depends on the effect and scales significantly with certain things such as spawnProjectile, heal, zap, and rechargePlayer.

Brick damage
In technic fortwars, all bricks have a health value proportionate to their volume. When hit with a projectile weapon (anything other than melee and the Sniper) or within an explosion, they lose health if the owner of the brick is in combat mode or is offline. This means that players in build mode cannot have their bricks destroyed. When a larger brick drops below 30% health, it'll make a crumbling sound to indicate that it's close to being destroyed. Destroyed bricks respawn after 30 seconds with full health. Baseplates connected to the ground have a massive health boost that makes them very hard to destroy. Any brick that has taken damage can have the damage reversed with a repair wrench.

Teams
Players can generally team up by giving each other build trust. Players with trust won't damage each other or their bricks, can set spawns on each other's bricks, can ride vehicles together, and obviously can build bases together as well. Teamed players cannot share resources, items, or generators/factories, as this could defeat the progression of the game. Players can also create 'guilds' to organize themselves and have their own private teamchat. Guild commands: (As non-guild member) /createguild [guildname] (As guild leader) /invite [playername] /dismiss [playername] /promoteleader [playername] /disbandguild (As any guild member) /leaveguild /listguildmembers. Players within a guild have a private teamchat that can be accessed with the normal teamchat key. Guilds are only a grouping/communication mechanisim, you still need build trust for the game to treat you like teammates.

Credits:
Conan - Custom bricks and models, built mesas.
Zeustal - Built lots of roads.

19

Off Topic / Robert Muller has impanelled a grand jury.

« on: August 03, 2017, 07:10:55 PM »

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-robert-mueller-convenes-grand-jury-in-russia-investigation/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab6a&linkId=40556755
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/03/politics/mueller-grand-jury/index.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/special-counsel-mueller-using-grand-jury-in-federal-court-in-washington-as-part-of-russia-investigation/2017/08/03/1585da56-7887-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_grandjury-6pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

To recap, Robert Muller is the special counsel leading the Russia+Annoying Orange collusion investigation. The main reasons to impanel a grand jury are to either indict or to collect more evidence in secret, among other things; many people are speculating the former.

Someone's probably close to getting impeached.

20

Off Topic / The creators of ProtonMail have launched their own VPN service, ProtonVPN

« on: June 20, 2017, 03:36:11 PM »

They are offering a free tier of service, so if you were curious about potentially using a VPN they're probably a good place to try it out at right now. Presently there aren't any speed differences between the free servers and the paid servers, but most likely free users will start getting throttled once more people start using the service.

For those under a rock, ProtonMail was one of the first user-friendly services offering entirely encrypted email service. They have a very good threat model and are based in countries with good privacy laws, making them an excellent choice if you're concerned about government-sanctioned surveillance. If you're not concerned about that, then most likely any regular VPN is enough for you to avoid ISP tracking.

https://protonvpn.com/

21

Off Topic / Intel indirectly threatens Microsoft and Qualcomm with patent war

« on: June 10, 2017, 11:55:37 AM »

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davealtavilla/2017/06/09/intel-puts-microsoft-and-qualcomm-on-notice-regarding-windows-10-x86-emulation-on-snapdragon-devices/#5d9d2c2f28e2

Forbes' website is horrible so I'll try my best to write a synopsis here.

Intel recently wrote a blog post alluding to them taking action to protect their intellectual property shortly after Microsoft announced Windows on ARM and their plans to use Snapdragon 835 ARM processors. In particular, Intel refers to Microsoft's plan to support running applications compiled for Intel's proprietary i386 architecture (the 'normal' desktop applications you're probably used to) on Microsoft's new ARM operating system by utilizing emulation of the i386. Intel claims that emulating the i386 architecture is a direct violation of their intellectual property, and points out how in the past they have won lawsuits regarding the emulation of their architecture (see Intel v Transmeta).

My opinion is that Intel currently stands to lose a huge market share if Microsoft moves away from Intel processors, and are going to fight heavy handed to keep that share as long as possible.

Link to the intel blog post: https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/x86-approaching-40-still-going-strong/

22

Off Topic / China uncovers network of Apple employees selling customers’ personal data

« on: June 08, 2017, 08:22:15 PM »

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/06/08/china-uncovers-massive-underground-network-apple-employees-selling-customers-personal-data/
https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/8/15762968/apple-china-employees-consumer-data-theft-scam
http://www.pcmag.com/news/354208/20-apple-employees-caught-selling-customer-data-in-china

Chinese authorities say they have uncovered a massive underground operation run by Apple employees selling computer and phone users’ personal data.

Twenty-two people have been detained on suspicion of infringing individuals’ privacy and illegally obtaining their digital personal information, according to a statement Wednesday from local police in southern Zhejiang province.

Of the 22 suspects, 20 were Apple employees who allegedly used the company’s internal computer system to gather users’ names, phone numbers, Apple IDs, and other data, which they sold as part of a scam worth more than 50 million yuan (US$7.36 million).

The statement did not specify whether the data belonged to Chinese or foreign Apple customers.

...

The suspects, who worked in direct marketing and outsourcing for Apple in China, allegedly charged between 10 yuan (US$1.50) and 180 yuan (US$26.50) for pieces of the illegally extracted data.

23

Off Topic / 21 cakes

« on: May 04, 2017, 02:08:53 AM »

24

Off Topic / If you opened a paypal account before you were 18, close it now.

« on: April 30, 2017, 04:43:31 AM »

https://medium.com/@iDemonix/paypal-is-still-one-of-the-worst-online-examples-of-customer-service-42f3c13f6cd0

Can confirm, actually happened to me. People need to stop letting themselves be abused by paypal and kick them back into irrelevancy.

25

Off Topic / leopard.hosting - Now with shorter URLs!

« on: April 21, 2017, 06:28:12 AM »

leopard.hosting, the continuation of justfilehosting.space, is now almost two years old! While justfilehosting.space started as just a hobby project, it's become a bit more than that now. Contrary to when I started this project, I am now confident that I'll continue running it for the foreseeable future and people will not have to worry about files disappearing. There is plenty of space, and the server shares space with other websites I host as well so it's unlikely that I'll lose interest in keeping the server up.

For those unacquainted, here's the basic principals behind leopard.hosting
 - Anonymous, no account required to use.
 - No tracking or advertisements.
 - No annoying download pages, most files will download immediately. (?)
 - Media like images, video, and sound will display directly in the browser without an annoying landing page.
 - Upload files up to 100MB in size.
 - Compatible with ShareX via a custom uploader config, supports delete urls.
 - Funded by donations. (sometimes, anyways)

26

Off Topic / Pecon writes a forum system (New bbcode parser, finally!)

« on: April 11, 2017, 11:49:27 PM »

For those not acquainted with this project, a little over a year and a half ago I wrote a forum for the boss battles website. A while ago I decided to take that forum and create a more standard forum system from it. I'm pretty bad with naming, so I initially named it REforum; but I've since settled on Agora as the permanent name for the system. I guess the basic overall mission is to make a simple forum system that focuses on being lightweight for both the client and server, and having an especially small data footprint.

https://github.com/Pecon/Agora

The most recent update was a complete rewrite of the bbcode parser, making it much more reliable.

Current development goals:

 - More structured method of constructing pages, for a more consistent experience done
 - More site-wide settings, especially ones that let the administrator brand the site/community. done
 - BBcode interpreter overhaul done
 - Change the name of this forum already. done
 - Private messages
 - Multiple boards
 - Search feature
 - Installable themes / add-on system?
 - Automatic updates?

If you would like to help, the most needed things right now would be:
 - A new default banner graphic representing the new system name, Agora.
 - A default favicon.
 - A background image/texture, maybe.
 - You may also make a pull request if you would like to contribute code changes.

Keep in mind that if you wish to contribute, you cannot use any copywritten materials. So for example if you made a banner graphic, it can't feature any image or photo that isn't original work or in the public domain. Some good sources of public domain images can be found at creative commons, nasa, or a few other select places that produce content exclusively for public domain use.

Preview of how stuff maybe kinda looks right now:




If you want to try it out, you can find a link to where I'm hosting it on the github page. Not gonna risk linking directly to it.

Special thanks so far to:
Insert Name Here - Created banner graphic
Eon - Created default avatar graphic (also rip)

This is a repost since the original topic is too old.

27

Modification Help / BlockDoc - A Blockland coding wiki (Now hosted on blockdoc.block.land)

« on: March 22, 2017, 01:53:31 PM »

BlockDoc is a wiki that strives to be a good reference for Blockland-specific coding and modification. There is a lot of content already, but it also isn't really complete either. I'd like to ask the modding community to help me in continuing to build this potentially powerful resource. If you feel like helping, note the list below and jump into any topic you like! Sorted somewhat by importance.

The Essential Functions List needs pages created for the remaining functions which do not have one.
The Datablock List needs the remaining datablocks added to the list. I don't really expect many pages for the datablocks themselves.
The Class List needs some pages for the more important classes and their respective method functions, like TCPObject and fxDtsBrick. The list could also do with a section at the top highlighting the more frequently used classes since the list itself is somewhat daunting and most of these classes don't actually see much direct use.

Current significant contributors (Thanks!):
- Pecon
- Xalos
- Zapk
- Ipqµarx
- TheBlackParrot
- Honno

28

Add-Ons / Re: [Boss Battles] Pet shop mod (Bugfix update)

« on: March 17, 2017, 08:58:45 AM »

This one took a while to do, since it was part of Boss Battle's reward system. It's been converted from the Boss Coins currency to normal points, and includes settings to change or eliminate the need to spend points. I've also tuned up the mod as a whole a significant amount.



Important commands

• /petshop - Displays pets available to buy
• /buypet [petname] - Purchases a pet from the petshop
• /pets - Lists pets you own
• /herepet [petname] - Spawns a pet you own
• /recolorpet [petname] [color] - Purchases a color override for your pet. See the reserved post below for a list of colors.
• /renamepet [petname] [description] - Changes the pet's descriptive name.

Preferences
The following commands are set to each pref's default value. Copy and paste one into the server console with the value changed to update a preference.

$pref::server::pets::freePets = false;  Set to true to make pets not cost any points to buy from the shop.
$pref::server::pets::petSpawnCost = 2;  Change the number of points needed to spawn a pet. Set to zero to make it free.
$pref::server::pets::petRenamePrice = 5;  Change the number of points needed to rename a pet. Set to zero to make it free.
$pref::server::pets::enableDefaultPets = true;  Switch this to false to disable the built-in pets.
$pref::server::pets::disallowBadNames = true; Set this to false to disable filtering distasteful pet names.

Custom pets
This mod was designed to be relatively flexible such that you can add new pets fairly easily. Open the custompets.cs file in a text editor and you will find a guide to adding your own pets.


Download: https://leopard.hosting.pecon.us/download.php?f=iibvs&name=Server_Pets.zip

Credits: Pecon (Pet scripts), Aware (Chicken playertype), ArmyUnit (Swift dragon playertype), Reinforcements (Duck playertype), Phydeoux (Velociraptor playertype, Skeleton playertype), Badspot (Horse playertype, Player playertype, Blockland)

29

Add-Ons / Re: [Boss Battles] Shield generator and epoxy bomb (Scientist class items)

« on: March 01, 2017, 01:58:45 AM »

And now the second most desired Boss Battles mod is here. The Scientist class was my feeble attempt to move Boss Battles away from entirely TF2 based classes. Ultimately he ended up being the only unique class in the lineup.



Shield Generator Toolkit

• Toolkit item allows players to set up a shield generator with 300hp, which can be upgraded and healed with a welder.
• The shield generator generates charge each tick based on it's level. Higher level shields produce charge more quickly, hold more overall charge, and generate a slightly larger field of protection.
• Allied players within the shielded area take 80% less damage, with all the damage prevented being deducted from the shield generator charge.
• When an attack on a protected player brings the shield charge below zero, the shield generator takes direct damage for the difference between the damage prevented and the remaining charge. This means that certain very powerful attacks can cause the generator to explode after running out of charge.
• After the shield is broken, it must reach a minimum charge threshold before it will power back up. This takes about 20 seconds or so.
• Although this mod uses resources from Weapon_Sentry, it has the needed files self-contained for when Weapon_Sentry isn't enabled.
• Gamemode_Slayer is required. The mod will not execute if you do not have Slayer installed.

Weapon_ShieldGenerator.zip


Epoxy bomb

• Single-use item which is mounted to a wall.
• Five seconds after the bomb is planted it becomes active.
• The bomb is detonated when an enemy comes within range of it's detonation area, covering them in glue that hinders their movements for 13 seconds.
• The owner of the bomb is also affected by it if they are within it's detonation area when it is triggered.

Weapon_EpoxyBomb.zip

Credits: Pecon (scripts), Aware (shield generator models, epoxy bomb model), Bushido (Weapon_sentry models)

30

Add-Ons / Re: [Boss Battles] William boss weapons + Playertype

« on: February 23, 2017, 08:17:28 AM »

So here it is, the top requested release from Boss Battles is now available.



William sword

• Does 30 damage to ALL players within it's swing area.
• Can do an additional 100 damage to a single target directly in front of the wielder.
• Hold down fire for a second to charge up a ranged attack.
• Ranged attack does a lot of damage at a medium range. Damage at point blank range starts at only 25 but becomes stronger while it's in the air for the first second, gaining up to 200 additional damage. After one second, it loses potential damage at the same rate until it dissipates completely.
• Players killed by the sword do a disintegrating effect.

William smoke

• Does 1 damage and stuns a player for four seconds.
• Also works on hole bots. Mileage may vary with other types of bots.

Weapon_William.zip


William boss playertype

• Normal jump is replaced with a chargable super jump.
• Can right-click to lunge forwards.
• Always has a disintegrating effect when he dies.

Player_William.zip

Credits: Pecon (Scripts), Aware (Original sword model), Carbon Zypher (Sword model upgrades + animations), Jetz (Minor improvements)