James

[font="Palatino Linotype"]Another game I'd really like to see again is Goemon 5, which I think is also called Legend of the Mystical Ninja or something. It was on Nintendo 64. There have been a couple of subsequent iterations of the game on PS2, but as far as I know there isn't a current-gen version. In any case, I'd really like to see a full remake of Goemon 5 - it was actually a really fantastic game in its own right; the weird humor just made it better! In practice it was a lot like a combination of Super Mario 64 and Zelda: OoT.[/font]

[quote name='CaNz' date='06 July 2010 - 10:48 PM' timestamp='1278416927' post='696661'] i wish i would have known that before... oh well... not like my time was ever valuable. [/quote] [font="Palatino Linotype"]Unfortunately the makers of this IPB software simply called that link "search" rather than "advanced search" - when it is, in practice, an advanced search. We are going to change this ourselves, but it is just worth pointing out that the link on the main nav menu [i]is[/i] for a more advanced/comprehensive search.[/font]

[quote name='chibi-master' date='06 July 2010 - 04:51 PM' timestamp='1278395496' post='696647'] [font="Century Gothic"][b][i]Thus, the great Burner of Aces did seat himself upon a throne of Anthology. He vowed to smite any n00bs that dared to oppose his word, for his word is law. He also vowed to steal their wallets, and that, my fellow patrons, is why we are celebrating this day by taking all the money out of your wallets by force, if necessary, on this day that we did not mention earlier. PRAISE HE.[/i][/b][/font] How's that? [/quote] [font="Palatino Linotype"]That sounds great. Now all we need is some sort of mythology surrounding it...something like: [i]"And the Burner of Aces walked for seven long days and seven long nights. And lo, on the seventh night, the 7 Eleven appeared before Him and He saw that it was good. "Slurpees for all!" he proclaimed. And the disciples slurped and slurped and on the eighth day, they rested."[/i][/font]

[quote name='gallowsCalibrator' date='06 July 2010 - 04:17 PM' timestamp='1278393445' post='696644'] [font="Comic Sans MS"]Better to devote it to Theodore Roosevelt rather than myself, though. Like I need a God-sized ego boost.[/font] [/quote] [font="Palatino Linotype"]Hey, if it worked for L. Ron Hubbard, it can work for you! He was pretty lame before he became the Grand Poobah of Scientology. Just look at Battlefield Earth. [/font]

[quote name='chibi-master' date='06 July 2010 - 02:17 PM' timestamp='1278386273' post='696636'] I'm going to start a religion or something about you now. [/quote] [font="Palatino Linotype"]Now [i]that[/i] would make this a genuine American thread. To keep things in spirit, just make sure it costs a lot of money to gain entry and ensure that it primarily courts celebrities in Hollywood. [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]Sweet. Now I feel truly [b][color=red]American[/color][/b]. Time to break dance. [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]I'm now thinking someone needs to make me a banner that certifies my status as an honorary American citizen. Any takers? [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]Well, I'm officially going back to college in August. I'm actually studying through Open Universities Australia, but most of my subjects are with Griffith University in New South Wales. It will be very interesting to balance distance education with full-time work! Anyway, I'm starting a Bachelor of Communication, with a view to majoring in Journalism. We'll see how that goes - there are a few majors to choose from and I still have plenty of time to decide.[/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]Wow, very awesome! I wouldn't mind dual-citizenship. [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]I hope your friend feels better soon, chibi. [/font]

[quote name='Botar' date='05 July 2010 - 05:06 PM' timestamp='1278310010' post='696548'] Praise all that is America and reference CaNz's Thumbnail of Bandit Keith. [/quote] [font="Palatino Linotype"]That's a good start. :D When I was in Washington D.C. I bought one of those lame copies of the Declaration of Independence (complete with quill!) I'm thinking of getting that framed to put up in my study - do you think that'd be a good way to celebrate too? Or I could just walk outside and yell... [size="6"]"[COLOR=RED]AMERICA[/COLOR], [COLOR=WHITE]BLEEP[/COLOR] [COLOR=blue]YEAH![/COLOR]"[/size] [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]One option I'd like (and please tell me if it's there and I'm just not noticing) is an icon that will always take me back to the game's main menu no matter where I am. If I'm in the practice mode, for example, I might want to jump out of there and jump back into the story...or I might be mid-way through making a drink and I might want to try something else. Having a way to immediately "go back" or "go home" would be awesome. As it stands now, you need to click the Home button on your device and then re-load the game. That's a pretty minor thing, but it would certainly be handy. [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]How should we celebrate Independence Day in Australia? Any ideas?[/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]This is looking awesome - I'm really happy to see more tutorials appearing. Great stuff.[/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]I can think of two games right away: Pilotwings and Blast Corps. The former [i]is[/i] being made for 3DS, although I'm not sure how much variety it will include. I do hope it's as big or bigger than, say, Pilotwings 64. Ideally, though, I'd love to see a brand new Pilotwings game for Wii. Think of that huge island (I forget the name) where you could just fly around as the Birdman. If you increase the size of that island by two or three fold and add a few different things to do, I think it would be a lot of fun. You could even incorporate online multiplayer into the mix. I'd also really, really love to see a new Blast Corps. It was one of my favourite Ninteno 64 games and I think it could be really spectacular on a newer console. I'm not sure who owns the rights to it (given that it was developed by Rare), but I'd love to see it on any console. Although, it could look particularly beautiful on the Xbox 360 - with those giant explosions and physics and stuff.[/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]We are going to be setting this up soon. An Art Studio topic will be created to accept new avatar submissions.[/font]

[quote name='Charlie' date='02 July 2010 - 12:16 PM' timestamp='1278033412' post='696290'] Yo, like the new digs. I have a feeling that the punctuation in my screen name screwed with my account being transferred when the site was updated. My screen name was Heaven's Cloud (damn apostrophe, you always have to spoil a good time). Now I think I am sort of mashed in under the name [url="http://www.otakuboards.com/index.php?/user/395-clouds-heaven/"]Clouds Heaven[/url][/] and have inherited a goatee and now live in British Columbia...on the bright side I am now only 21, so legally consuming alcohol in the US in still a new and shiny feeling. I'd sign in and change the information but my old password isn't jiving and I have no clue what ancient email address is connected to my old account. Anyways, I was wondering if there was a way to salvage the old profile? I know I don't visit very often, but I have my nostalgic moments when I like to come back. look around and post. [/quote] [font=palatino linotype]Hey, good to see you back again! I will sort out your account. I'll either email you with further info or I will PM you here on OB (to your username [b]Charlie[/b]).[/font]

[center][img]http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee132/Runaway511/almagest%202/gustave_achard-1.jpg[/img] [img]http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee132/Runaway511/almagest%202/cole_dreadnaught.jpg[/img] [img]http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee132/Runaway511/almagest/catherinesaraavatar.jpg[/img] [img]http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee132/Runaway511/almagest/beatrist-chronicle.jpg[/img][/center] [blockquote][font=garamond][b][size=6] [right]Secret in the Mines[/right][/b][/size][/font] [hr=#000000]100[/hr] [font=palatino linotype] For several moments, the elaborate sitting room was completely silent, except for the occasional click-clack of porcelain. Beatriste and Cole sat beside one another on a long cream couch, their bodies turned in opposite directions. Beatriste sipped her tea nervously and Cole's eyes seemed fixed at some vague point on the floor. Gustave and Catherine sat in luxurious brown armchairs. They were each balancing a cup of tea on their laps, but neither seemed terribly interested in drinking it. As Cole fingered the jagged edges of his torn shirt, he sighed deeply and glanced up at Charles, who was perched against the edge of Cole's writing desk, his arms folded. "Tell me again, Charles, why is Fonty involved in this mess? Isn't it enough that Leonhart has completely lost his mind?" Charles pursed his lips. He couldn't talk about the photographs; while he did not even know of their contents, he was certain that whatever predictions they revealed, Fonty took them seriously. "Leonhart is his father," said Charles. "I think Fonty is worried about him..." Beatriste interjected. "Worried about him or about what he might do?" Charles did not respond to this; Beatriste seemed furious. Whilst she loved Cole, nobody could deny that their marriage carried with it an important political dimension. It was also, she suspected, a way for Leonhart to guarantee that the Almagest family would forever have a stake in the Dreadnaught Mines. Beatriste had felt significant pressure to marry Cole and it was merely a lucky coincidence that she actually loved him. And now, after years of pressure from her father, his sudden change of heart threatened everything - not just her marriage, but potentially the entire relationship between Czenovia and Anova. In any case, Beatriste harbored a growing desire to see her father come undone. He had existed for years in this way; getting what he wanted and facing little opposition, even from the Czenovian Monarchy. It was as though the New Globe sat firmly in his palm and he could do as he pleased with it, even at the expense of his own family. "It's this treasure hunting business," said Cole. "It is driving everyone mad." Gustave and Catherine looked at each other as Cole said this. "I think you had better show them," said Catherine. Cole, Beatriste and Charles all looked up. "Show us what?" asked Cole. Gustave reached into his pocket and produced the map that Olivier had given him. He had been able to decipher the map over breakfast with Olivier, Victoria-Ann and Liana. After breakfast he had discussed it briefly with Catherine over the phone. While the meaning of the map was now clear, neither Gustave nor Catherine truly understood how the map was related to the symbols on Edith's dress (except that, of course, they were both of Xear origin). As the others passed the map around the room, Gustave explained its meaning to them. He made sure, for now, to exclude the part about Berthold Black. "This may explain why Leonhart is in Brigit Town," said Cole. "And given that most of this city is made up of mines, we can safely assume that the artifact must be somewhere down there." Beatriste raised an eyebrow. "Surely you are not suggesting that we undertake an expedition into the mines! This madness must stop; we do not want to give my father any more reason to compete for these artifacts." "No," Cole shook his head, "my intention is not to hunt for treasure. But if Leonhart is here, he must have some idea that the next artifact is also here. Should he try to enter the mines on his own, he might be killed - without the proper knowledge, traversing those mines is highly dangerous. I need to warn my staff so that they can be on the look out for him." As afternoon approached, Cole's staff loaded up his steamcar. Such preparation would not normally be necessary for a trip to the mines, but Cole needed to be prepared for any eventuality - especially the possibility that he might be staying there for some hours. Victoria-Ann had pestered him in an effort to join the mission and Cole suspected that she felt left out. He did not mind being accompanied by Victoria-Ann, but suspected her mother would have something to say about it. In any case, the mines had to be put on alert. If Leonhart turned up, what would he do? Potentially he wouldn't be alone and if he decided to bring an entourage, the possibility of violence was too high to risk, especially given that nearly all of the miners were Anovan - it was doubtful that the richest man in Czenovia would receive a warm welcome from such a group.[/font] [hr=#000000]100[/hr][/blockquote]

[quote name='Justin' date='01 July 2010 - 11:19 AM' timestamp='1277943582' post='696231'] And how in the world would that work? Would you have a dedicated team of analysts pouring over massive amounts of personal personnel data from networking sites across the Interwebs? Or would it be a bit more Holy Grailish, with a noble council of elder knights scouring the world house by house, blowing trumpets and heralding their usernames at every door? That last bit would take a lot of funding, I think. -Justin [/quote] [font="Palatino Linotype"]Maybe we can start a Second Hump War? That might attract some attention. [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]Hm, okay, I will go back through my messages and see what I can come up with. I just can't guarantee that it will follow the original structure completely. Heh. [b]Edit:[/b] We now have a proper left and right indent as we did on vB. Just use: [code][blockquote][/code] This will produce a double-sided indent effect, which you can see on my last post in The Almagest Expedition. You can also re-produce a horizontal line by using the [code][hr][/code] tag. If you put something like: [code][hr=blue]100[/hr][/code] This will produce a blue horizontal line that is 100 pixels wide. We will publish a full list of updated BB code for OB soon, so that you can see exactly what options there are. [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]I would suggest, if anyone thinks this is a good idea, to actually link to our own member-created tutorials as well as some professional ones. Perhaps it might be fun to have two categories that we link to from this topic? After all, our members have a range of skills and sit at a range of levels. In terms of what is best for learning, though...I really think that'll be up to each member themselves to decide. Having actually studied graphic design myself, I think it's fair to say that many fan artists on the web aren't looking at this as a career but as a hobby. A grounding in colour theory and composition and so on (fundamentals of design, it might be called) is wonderful...but if your goal is just to create a beautiful wallpaper as a hobby, then I don't think it really matters much. Also, there will be a lot of amateur artists who simply want to learn the most basic elements of Photoshop for fun; in which case, these tutorials are also valuable. I'm really happy with them and I'd love to see more! [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]I've updated the first post in this topic to try to fix up the issues that occurred when the software changed. You guys will notice that your old posts don't look quite like they used to - that's just because some of the formatting for the site has changed now. I won't be going back to edit all of my old posts, so they will just have to stay that way. But any new posts I make will be formatted correctly. I did want to try to fix up the opening post in this topic a bit though, since we'll be referring to it quite a bit. There are still a couple of little changes I want to make, but so far, so good. What's next? Is anyone interested in moving this RPG along any further? [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]I never finished the original Portal (my Xbox died before I could and I haven't replaced it), but I'm [i]very [/i]eager to play Portal 2. I always thought that Portal was one of the most cleverly-designed games I've ever seen. It looks like there's a lot more variety to Portal 2, which is very welcome. I like the fact that the core ideas are being expanded and the environments have become more varied. As much as I'm looking forward to Portal 2, though, I'm also really hoping to see Half-Life 3 at some point within the next decade. The episodic content is okay, but I am kind of over this idea of episodic games already. [/font]

[quote name='Vivian' date='28 June 2010 - 12:04 PM' timestamp='1277687062' post='696077'] [color="#9932cc"][font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]These new emoticons remind me tremendously of the Servbots from the Megaman Legends series. Observe: [img]http://i46.tinypic.com/vrc9l4.jpg[/img] Coincidence or not, I approve. :D[/font][/color] [/quote] [font="Palatino Linotype"]Thank you for posting that - now I like our emoticons even more![/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]We are actually still working on that Around the Network nav item - it should be completed soon. I forgot that we have it on a live skin and not a test one. Good spotting.[/font]