marking time waiting for...

yeah, so I decided that there really is no better way to waste time waiting for coldstone than to post to the webboard, sooo, I present my "esteemed colleagues" with a question,
"Why is it that with products like coldstone, where the idea is to design a specific type of game, everyone wants to design something entirely different?" This is of course, me included, I remember trying my hardest to assign both a variable and an action to a spell in RPGMaker2000 in order to create progressive spells, and the computer hated me. I imagine some people will have similar difficulty trying to create (quick look to the left, look to the right) turn based combat and parties, as well as some of the coldstone TC's (such as the space opera)that seem to be appearing on the web boards. In fact I think well over 50% of the posts are about doing something that has pretty clearly been said would not be included in coldstone. So, what up B. And, as for expectations of this topic, ramble please, I miss the old BS of the webboard when no one new what to expect from coldstone.

atsumori
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every body wants to bomb the bomb now

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I think many people are thinking of Coldstone as a generic video game maker that can make any kind of game they can think up. Coldstone is simply not that powerful. The only thing that is that powerful is a full blown programming language like C++. While Coldstone may be able to do some of this stuff it will probably be a pain in the butt to implement it. If you have to fight Coldstone tooth and nail to include a feature, such as turn based combat or parties, then you may want to think twice about it. It probably won't turn out as well as you would want. I think the people who use Coldstone for what it was designed to do and don't try to hack in features will be the most successful ones.

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Money is not the root of all evil, Jar Jar Binks is.

I agree with ya there. Time spent fighting the engine is time better spent being creative with what's available. Coldstone has plenty of features that can be used in innovate ways while still not fighting the overall design of the engine. The space game just seemed silly. Escape Velocity already fills that niche, and fills it well. Coldstone just came along for the RPG niche. Enjoy.

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We shall accept payment in a large briefcase. American dollar good for this purpose. LARGE briefcase, remember. -- forge

Quote

Originally posted by Gravitation:
**The space game just seemed silly. Escape Velocity already fills that niche, and fills it well. Coldstone just came along for the RPG niche. Enjoy.
**

...and Coldstone fills an RPG niche on both platforms. Now if only they'd make EV for karmaslap Ow! 😛

I see your point about accepting the limitations of Coldstone. However, I think people will still come up with some cool ways to make Coldstone do things it was never expected to do, just as Frozen Heart did with EV. Some may succeed, others may fail, but I'm pretty sure there will be some cool stuff. 🙂

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.xrrt n re'hbl ,fvug qnre anp hbl sV

(quote)Originally posted by Jynnan Tonnyx:
**...and Coldstone fills an RPG niche on both platforms. Now if only they'd make EV for karmaslap Ow!:)

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Will I be the willow or the rod? You decide.
**

Quote

Originally posted by samuraicat:
**I think many people are thinking of Coldstone as a generic video game maker that can make any kind of game they can think up. Coldstone is simply not that powerful. The only thing that is that powerful is a full blown programming language like C++. While Coldstone may be able to do some of this stuff it will probably be a pain in the butt to implement it. If you have to fight Coldstone tooth and nail to include a feature, such as turn based combat or parties, then you may want to think twice about it. It probably won't turn out as well as you would want. I think the people who use Coldstone for what it was designed to do and don't try to hack in features will be the most successful ones.

**

then why are you still here go get cocoa or carbon...

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Had to change my signature , made me look like a soft punk...speaking of go cop that single By Fatlip: 'What's up FatLip'... SO SAYS THE CHILL!
I shot the sheriff the deputy and head of bank treasury, some mounties in the bounty got a big bounty stressin' me...-MosDef
Setting the record for the most replies/profile updates in a single day...the Chill!

Coldstone is meant for people who don't know / don't want to know C++. Learning to program in that regard is a major investment of time and energy, and my skills are already spread out enough that I don't want to pick up another trade-level-skill for a project I'm trying to realize.

Yeah, there's the argument that we could all go and FIND a programmer to work with, but do you have any idea how difficult that is? Part of the appeal of something like Coldstone is that someone like myself, a media-savvy artist with little to no programming knowledge, could make a game BY MYSELF with time, dedication, and CGE.

Granted, there will be limitations, but limitations are better than nothing. Besides, most creative people will tell you they enojy working within some sort of limitations anyways, it presents an extra challenge.

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People who claim the sky is falling obviously aren't aware the earth is falling, too.

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Originally posted by chill_rx:
**
then why are you still here go get cocoa or carbon...
**

Comments like these are useless and provide no intrinsic value to other board readers. If you don't have something nice to say, please don't post.

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We shall accept payment in a large briefcase. American dollar good for this purpose. LARGE briefcase, remember. -- forge

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Originally posted by sanehatter:
**
Granted, there will be limitations, but limitations are better than nothing.**

This is the point I was trying to make. Don't fight the limitations of Coldstone, work with them. You've got to know how the engine was designed to work before you can make it work in ways it wasn't designed for.

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Money is not the root of all evil, Jar Jar Binks is.

I understand and agree almost completely with what you're saying, but it seems kinda insane that Ambrosia/Beenox would leave out those features which have defined and revolutionized the genre. Perhaps it's an attempt to see something new, but there are just some things you shouldn't leave on the porch.

Saphfire

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