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Work in Progress / Block Verse - (screens & demo)

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Bizar Guy
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Posted: 15th Oct 2005 21:57 Edited at: 3rd Dec 2005 01:15
This game was originally called BlockMan Remix, and was entered in the puzzle compo. It suffered from faulty controls, lag, and in general not a long enough development cycle.
This is version 1.1, and the difference between it and the compo version is the difference between night and day. Almost everything has been fixed, the levels have been rethought, and the controls are more responsive and far simpler (it also supports joy pads). There are two tutorials in the game, and now every level of the game is on a different world. The visuals have been updated, and the game is now less static and more alive.
There is still more to be done before Block Verse is finished, but I felt it was ready for a new demo. The demo includes the first six levels. Three other story levels are complete, but I've left them out, as this is a demo. The levels select does not work in this demo, as it doesn’t include a save feature yet.

DEMO
EDIT: This is the new and improoved demo!!!!
http://www.cusound.com/download/games/BlockVerse_Demo.zip

Here are some screens:




I know there are still bugs in the game, and I would appreciate it if people could point out any bugs they can find.

I'm also interested in how far people get in the game, and if they think a level is too easy or too hard.


Check the WIP board for updates on Block Verse
Advancement Games
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Posted: 15th Oct 2005 21:59
The screens look nice. I think I may download.

C. Nom De Plum
LordoFire
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Posted: 15th Oct 2005 22:56
Lookin nice bizar, I love the effects on the boxes! I'll download the demo when I get a little more time but it looks great.
-Evan

When it comes to programing, I'm on fire!
Formerly known as flame master...Changed name because I do not flame
soapyfish
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Posted: 16th Oct 2005 00:40
I really like the graphical style, 'tis top stuff.


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Megaton Cat
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Posted: 16th Oct 2005 00:56
How did yeh do the cell-shading on the boxes/character?

I'm out of touch.


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TDP Enterprises
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Posted: 16th Oct 2005 02:07
Quote: "I'm out of touch"

ur not the only one...

“A lot of people approach risk as if it’s the enemy when it’s really fortune’s accomplice” - Sting“
.......S-S-D-D.......
Sergey K
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Posted: 16th Oct 2005 09:45 Edited at: 16th Oct 2005 09:47
nice graphic!

@Megaton Cat: i think its an effect from some shaders..


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Bizar Guy
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Posted: 16th Oct 2005 16:58
Thanks all!

Quote: "i think its an effect from some shaders.."

Nope! This is made in DB Classic. I have DB Pro, but I got it while I was far into making this, and it didn't convert well.

Quote: "How did yeh do the cell-shading on the boxes/character?"

It's actually really simple. In my modeler (3D Canvas), I copied the model and painted the copy black. I then made it slightly larger than the original model, and inverted it. I then just placed it in he same place as the original model, and I got an outline! I also did the same thing for the energy beam, only I colored the outline yellow. The only thing I did in the code to get that effect was set the ambience at 100.

Has anyone tried the download?

devastation
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Posted: 16th Oct 2005 18:06 Edited at: 16th Oct 2005 18:07
if it was black and slightly larger, wouldn't it cover the whole smaller model?

and I jsut love your textures!

downloading now. My roadrunner wants 12 more minutes for the download. growl!

verydevastating.com
MiR
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Posted: 16th Oct 2005 21:15
Quote: " if it was black and slightly larger, wouldn't it cover the whole smaller model?"

Not if it was inverted.
Great screen shots. I´ll download tonight and play tomorrow.

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Drew Cameron
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Posted: 17th Oct 2005 00:29
Just played it Bizar, it's good!

Definately liking the cell shading man, liking the gameplay, liking it all really.

Katie and Drew return!!!

Louiz ofRohr
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Posted: 17th Oct 2005 00:32
Wow.. Great game, Bizar!

Smooth graphics, nice puzzles, main character is cool, cool musics..
oh! And nice storyline.. I like the planet.. =D

A big problem:
The Rising Water level should be larger and more difficult.. that level rocks!

This is one of the best games on these forums..
so keep it up..

The worst foe lies within the self..

>WorstGame<
Sergey K
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Posted: 17th Oct 2005 00:56
yeah nice game(i was stuck at the level 2) so i dont know how many levels there is, but my question is, how many levels there is in the demo and how many levels u will make in the full game?


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Bizar Guy
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Posted: 17th Oct 2005 03:32
Thanks all! I'm glad everyone likes it. There should be some updates fairly soon, but I got Fable for the pc today, and I've been playing it all day.

Quote: "if it was black and slightly larger, wouldn't it cover the whole smaller model?"

It's just like Mir said.

@Louiz ofRohr, don't worry about the size of the water level. There are two much larger levels like it!! If enough people think I should make it harder though, I can speed up the water or make it a bit higher (but it is only the third level).

@GogetaX, there are six levels in the demo, which I mentioned in my first post. The final game will have nine story levels, and one bonus level. Don't worry if you have trouble with the game, not quite everyone is good at the type of puzzles it has.

blanky
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Posted: 17th Oct 2005 19:34
Woo-hoo! I have lost what little sanity I ever had, but this game ROCKS!!! ^_^
TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 17th Oct 2005 21:52
As I've said before (I think...) it is great fun! And I particuarly like the winter music! Oh, and the calm fantasy one! Downloading again for the hell of it!

[url]andrewneale2004@yahoo.com[/url]
http://www.elbsoftware.dbspot.com
Peter H
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Posted: 18th Oct 2005 02:15 Edited at: 18th Oct 2005 02:17
This game is wicked awesome! (and i mean that in the best way possible )

Quote: "This is version 1.1, and the difference between it and the compo version is the difference between night and day."

heh, that's like my update is going to be... except i've decided to call mine 2.0...

did you use a shader for the cell effect or inverted black models?

[edit] nvm already been answered

"We make the worst games in the universe."

MiR
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Posted: 18th Oct 2005 17:48
mmm. I was playing the tutorial level ad it came up with runtime error 99 when I jumped on the block I´d just placed.

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Thank you for the votez!1!
blanky
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Posted: 18th Oct 2005 21:07
Heh, on the tropical island I had two boxes stacked on top of each other and the bottom one (meticulously and carefully) fell through the floor... >.<

Restarted the level, and that didn't happen again O.o
Bizar Guy
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Posted: 19th Oct 2005 22:47 Edited at: 5th Nov 2005 18:41
@Peter, so you're making a new version of dungeon? Cool.

@MiR, that's strange... There is a bug the first tutorial in the demo where if you turn the camera before you get the key it exits you out, but I don't know why it would do that when you jump onto the block. Where were you standing? Did you change the camera angle? Did you jump before the block had hit the ground? Did you try the game a second time with the same result? Any info may help me fix it.

@blanky, yah- that's a bug in the collision system. I'm well aware of it, and I'm trying to replace the block collision with something that doesn't slow down the game so much in later levels, or have occasional glitches like that. If you know of any free collision system that doesn't take a huge toll on the fps and works well, I'd be very interested in it. Otherwise I'll continue trying to re-code it.

Edit: (this list has been updated once!!)
Here's a list of what I still need to do.
Fix block collisions-DONE!
Update seventh & eighth levels with improved puzzles-DONE!
Improove camera-DONE!
Redo all triggers in the game-(working on)
Make fifth, seventh & eighth levels single objects
Build new ninth level
Build scenery for ninth level
Build bonus something
Add saving feature
Complete level select menu
Finish adding effects
Animate Block Man & Light Drone
Draw final cut scene

I plan to do those in that order, but it may switch around a bit. My deadline is eventually, but I want to finish before the end of the year, hopefully before the start of December.

MiR
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Posted: 20th Oct 2005 17:38
Quote: "There is a bug the first tutorial in the demo where if you turn the camera before you get the key it exits you out, but I don't know why it would do that when you jump onto the block"

Ah. Well I could have been turning the camera aswell. I was trying out the all buttons so that may well be the case. I´ll just refrain from moving the camera on that level then. Apart from the crash it was all good. Try to get it out for xmas so my bro can see it!

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The Nerd
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Posted: 20th Oct 2005 22:16
Look really nice!
But i've got a 2mb broadband connection and it's downloading with 23.6 KB/sec so it's gonna take awhile before i'm done Will report back when i have tried it.

PanzerGameshere
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here
Advancement Games
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Posted: 20th Oct 2005 22:33
Downloading...
MiR
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Posted: 21st Oct 2005 16:56
Quote: "But i've got a 2mb broadband connection and it's downloading with 23.6 KB/sec so it's gonna take awhile before i'm done"

lol. Consider yoursef lucky I had a tenth of that. At least I could put it on at night along with Bleach soit didn´t matter.

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Cavex
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Posted: 21st Oct 2005 20:24
It seem run very slowly for me and one point seem to get strock.
Bizar Guy
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Posted: 21st Oct 2005 22:21
Sorry about the large download size, but the game has A LOT of media. I'll try and shrink later downloads. There is also a possibility that the speed of that server will increase dramatically sometime in the future, so the download may get quick because of that.

@Cavex, if you're not using a pretty fast computer the game will run slowly. I'm sorry about this, and I am trying to optimize the game. Most of the slowdown is because of the block collision and some of the code that makes it work, which is what I'm working on now. But if you got obvious slowdown on the first level... I don't know what to do about that.

I'll try and get better collision by the end of this weekend and maybe even finish updating the 7th and 8th levels, but I make no promises. Whatever happens though, I'll post a screen of the massive and awesome eighth level by Monday (it's Friday for me at the moment, about 3:20pm)

Sergey K
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Posted: 22nd Oct 2005 00:32
@Bizar: you think your game is large?
wait until u will see my game


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Bizar Guy
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Posted: 24th Oct 2005 06:00
@GogetaX, HA!! No, I don't consider this game even close to large. It's a puzzle game with only ten levels, which I consider small. What I meant was that the eighth level is very massive, and very awesome.

Yay!! It isn't quite Monday, but I've fixed the block collisions, and now the frame rate in the 7th and 8th levels has jumped from 1 to well over 20!! I've also finished updating those two levels and they're nearly finalized.

As promised, here are some pictures of the eighth level in action.



I've decided to make the camera a bit more advance before I make the fifth, seventh and eighth levels single objects. Nothing you'd notice in the early levels, but vital in the last few.

Sergey K
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Posted: 24th Oct 2005 12:55 Edited at: 24th Oct 2005 12:56
haha nice, huge once XD


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Wiggett
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Posted: 24th Oct 2005 14:03
hey what the, did i make that island in the background?? justin?

Bizar Guy
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Posted: 25th Oct 2005 13:45 Edited at: 25th Oct 2005 13:48
@GogetaX, thanks!

@Wiggett, ummmm... no. I made all the models for this game. Thats one of three islands surounding the second level. They're all the same model. Who's Justin?

...So. Is anyone else out there?

Peter H
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Posted: 26th Oct 2005 16:16
Yeah!

level 8 looks huge lol

"We make the worst games in the universe."

Puani Hicaucai
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Posted: 27th Oct 2005 16:22
i just love this game is the best puzle ever

Is the fortune you seek the same fortune you need?
Bizar Guy
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Posted: 28th Oct 2005 06:40 Edited at: 28th Oct 2005 06:44
Thanks Peter & Puani Hicaucai!!

Okay, I've just finished fixing the camera. It wouldn't appear in screens, and you probably haven't noticed the problem in the demo, so I'll just explain it.

In the later levels there are so many walls that finding a good camera angle can sometimes be impossible. This is mainly because when the camera actually collides with a block itself, the black inverted part of the object is all that is visible. Not even the ghosted Block Man can be seen. What I've done is when the camera collides with an object, the camera moves forward.

It sounds simple, and it is. But it took me a while to get it just the way I wanted, and I've been preoccupied with developing a platformer that will reach the wip board as soon as this game is completed.

Edit: I'll try and get more done from now on, because I really want to finish this (I mean that in a positive way, not a negative one).

Bizar Guy
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Posted: 2nd Nov 2005 03:08
Grrr...
I'm swamped in homework at the moment, so I haven't had much time to code. I'll get back to work on this as soon as I can. I AM DETERMINED TO FINISH THIS!!!
I've decided the release date will be Christmas day. Even if I finish long before then, I'll use the time in between to have it tested by lots of people on lots of different machines, and search out bugs.

...Judging by the number of views this threads gotten, I'm amazed at the number of replies, and I've concluded that a Block Dude type game simply cannot be given an attractive name and still make sense.

I'll throw in a screen or two of the first part of the ninth level in my next post, weather I've made any progress or not.

Peter H
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Posted: 2nd Nov 2005 21:03
well look at Cage Complex's
Views: 1,060
Posts: 79

anyway, good luck on finishing the game!

(teehee, Dungeon 2.0 will be released before BlockVerse 1.1 )

"We make the worst games in the universe."

Bizar Guy
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Posted: 5th Nov 2005 17:45
@Peter, that's not fair. I mean, I know my game looks pretty slick, but comparing it to anything the Cage Complex's game just isn’t fair. And I was more surprised because this is obviously a puzzle game, and it's hard to get people interested in them. Good luck with Dungeon 2.0, it will be pretty cool to see an improved version from the compo one, that game was pretty cool (even if somewhat difficult)!

Anyways, no screen of the ninth level, because I've scraped it! I didn't like at all how it was coming out, and it really wasn't hard enough for the last level. I'm redesigning it at the moment, and I've also decided to change what the bonus is, as I just don't have the motivation to make the massive bonus level I had planned. I'll just have to think of something simpler that's equally as cool.

I'm also redoing all the triggers in the game. I think that the way I originally did them is at the heart of most of the games problems, including some of the frame rate issue. This is taking a while, because there are a TON of triggers in the game.

Well, since I don't have screens of the no longer existent ninth level, here are some pics of the sixth level, the last level of the demo. That reminds me- How far in the game did anyone get? I'm very interested in knowing.




So, does anyone have ideas for what they'd like to see as a bonus for collecting all the keys?

MiR
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Posted: 5th Nov 2005 18:30
Quote: " How far in the game did anyone get? I'm very interested in knowing."

I got up to the4th level I think. Form there everything went really sloooooooooooooow so I couldn´t play anymore.

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Sergey K
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Posted: 5th Nov 2005 18:43
whann nice one.. so this is a race against the time eh? nice map


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Bizar Guy
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Posted: 5th Nov 2005 22:12 Edited at: 5th Nov 2005 22:12
@MiR, Hmm, I suspected as much. Don't worry about the slowdown in later downloads though, because the collision system that caused the slowdown has been replaced. And the next time I post a download, it should be much faster, as my server should be getting 16-32 times faster over the next few weeks!! (Jumps cheers for fiber optics)

@GogetaX, Yep, there are three levels that race you against time. The first is the rising water level, where you have to outrun the rising water on a world of endless rain. The next is the rising lava level, where you have to get out of the shoot of a volcano while the lava is rising. The final one is the ninth level, where you're chased by the monster from the story, and you have to get to the door before he crushed you.

Man, I sure do need to animate the characters in my game. If only there was someone roaming the forum looking for things to animate. -Hint hint. [Cough]Xenocythe!!!!!!!![Cough]

The next person to post will start a new page. Just thought I'd say that.

Xenocythe
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Posted: 6th Nov 2005 01:38
Alright, send the models to me by e-mail with a list of animation stuff, how to animate it (What parts of the body) , my MSN is KronosDarkBasic@hotmail.com and my E-mail is rpgmakerx2@hotmail.com .

Thats almost 4 people to animate for now
blanky
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Posted: 6th Nov 2005 10:12
*random message of support for the game*
Bizar Guy
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Posted: 6th Nov 2005 15:21 Edited at: 6th Nov 2005 19:02
@Xenocythe, thanks! I'll send the models and how I need them animated via e-mail as soon as I get to the computer I modeled them on.

@blanky,

Edit: Grr... I found some new bugs in the new block collision.

Peter H
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Posted: 7th Nov 2005 16:03
hehe, i was just pointing out that even his game hasn't got many posts-per-views

level 9 looks really cool, sort of the bottomless pit feeling there

*random message of support for the game*

"We make the worst games in the universe."

Bizar Guy
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Posted: 7th Nov 2005 23:57 Edited at: 8th Nov 2005 16:34
Quote: "hehe, i was just pointing out that even his game hasn't got many posts-per-views

level 9 looks really cool, sort of the bottomless pit feeling there "

I meant I was amazed because this is obviously a puzzle game and... oh, never mind; I was amazed and I don't feel like explaining why. I'll admit I'm easily impressed, though.
And that was level six... but glad to hear you like it.

@Xenocythe, I'll e-mail you the models soon (either tonight or tomorrow).




INFO ON LEVEL NINE
Okay, I don't have anything screen worthy yet, but I might by tonight. So for now, here's some basic info on the level.

Level nine is called The Journey Ends, just as the first level is called The Journey Begins.

It features you being chased by the evil block monster that opened the portals, and is similar to the Rising Water & Lava levels. It uses a cool bit of code, so that when the monster gets too far behind you, he starts running fast for a time, so you can't ever get too far ahead.

There is no grid below you like in the other levels, and if you fall off the blocks, you'll be sent back to the starting point or a check point.

The level is broken into three parts, and as you hit a checkmark, a new section of the level will be assembled behind the scenes from the blocks from the earlier part of the level. You will also restart from this checkpoint if you die.

There are three drones and many energy beams in the level, which will kill you if you touch them because you are being chased rather than just taking your time with the puzzle.

The level is made up of many smaller puzzles which need to be completed before you can run as fast as you can to the next one. The way the level is built, the player may have to die multiple times before figuring out how to reach the next check point or the end of the level.

The world this takes place on is a sort of iced over ancient Greek ruins with many cliffs and hills.

To complete this level you'll need to have completely mastered the camera controls, as the level switches directions many times.




Edit: ...I like penguins, so I may have a few in the scenery.

Edit2: New day, but I'm sick. Expect no updates.

Peter H
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Posted: 8th Nov 2005 00:44
Quote: "It features you being chased by the evil block monster that opened the portals"

is that the dude in your sig? he sure looks evil... and blocky...

"We make the worst games in the universe."

Bizar Guy
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Posted: 8th Nov 2005 23:04
I've been sick all day, so I have no updates.

So instead here are some comics I draw for one of my schools magazines.



Peter H
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Posted: 8th Nov 2005 23:19
lol, nice comics

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Bizar Guy
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Posted: 10th Nov 2005 01:40
Yay!!!!!!! I've for the most part gotten rid off all collision problems!

I also just gave the game a boost in just about every area, because I realized my DBC was only v1.2, and I upgraded to v1.3. The game is now faster than ever, and the fifth level runs as fast as the first on my computer (the 7th & 8th run much faster also, but are still not as fast as I want them to be).

I release a new demo soon, with the first 7 levels, animations, an improved menu, and hopefully a smaller download size!!!

Xenocythe
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Posted: 10th Nov 2005 01:44
Bizar, as you know, I'm looking forward to those animations and info stuff.

rpgmakerx2@hotmail.com is e-mail
KronosDarkBasic@hotmail.com is MSN

And finally, how'd you get perfect collision with DBC?

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