Picture this telly advert:

(black screen, dramatic music, white letters appear)

YOU CAN PICK

YOUR NOSE

(4-across by 3-high grid of doggy noses, zoom out to Brady Bunch headshots of the dogs)

YOU CAN PICK

YOUR FRIEND

(a power ranger, armored troll, and a modern soldier, toy-style)

BUT YOUR FRIEND

KNOWS

(blank)

N O T H I N G

(music stops, pan up from chessboard to troll, looking confused. SFX: Bwah?)

PUZZLEHOUND'S

TOY CHEST

(combat music, montage of puzzle games and MMO-type exploration)

(end)

The basic appearance is of a solo or MMO RPG where you have one character and one pet, which jumps in to fight when monsters appear - but...

The player controls the 'pet' - mostly dogs, a sparse sprinkling of other critters. The human(oid)(?) is an action figure fished out of a literal toy chest and enlarged through the power of your doggy awesomeness, and runs on AI scripts chosen by your commands.

When a monster appears, Friend runs forward to melee, and a puzzle appears. Player's progress on the puzzle does spell damage to the monster as well as possibly casting buff/debuff or healing magic via bonuses/power-ups. Friend's hit points serve as the game timer, depleted by the monster's attacks.

Spell/puzzle effects always operate via percentages while Friend's attack and defense are additive/subtractive and must be augmented by leveling, equipment, or buffs. Each Friend type has a special power - for the trio listed the power ranger could call a giant robot for a big hit once per battle ala ff5-9 summons, the troll's HP regenerate even in combat, and the soldier can use grenades a few times per battle.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

My mother has recently gotten deeply into the "Treasure Mania" Facebook flash-game, but hates waiting for the damn endurance to recover to keep digging. I had the idea to make a slightly different sort of puzzle game where that wouldn't be such an annoyance, like in RPGs where ealing is easy, et viola, game premise. I might even try to make it, as although my programming skills are neither m4d nor l33t one of the numerous free 2d game scripting engines should probably suffice. Mostly I'm just showing off the idea I had, but if anyone here has attempted similar projects via GameMaker, RPG Maker, etc., I'm open to sugestions or advice. I did DL GameMaker 8 Lite and a bunch of rescource libraries (tiles, scripts, etc.) to see if I can give it a shot, so if that worked out there would be the possibility of internet co-op or PvP, if anyone is was enthusiastic enough to care.

Also, I signed up for a free http://grandfantasia.aeriagames.com/]Grand Fantasia account while I'm here where the access is available and the band is broad, and really like it. If you haven't seen the net ads, it's a anime-styed 3d MMORPG with (as noted) free acounts or cheap advanced membership, currently in beta. Whether accounts will remain free when beta ends is another question, but for now at least it is, and if you check down in the Events listing on that page there's an equipment giveaway still going on for the next five days.

- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

http://buildingthefortress.blogspot.com/]The Cubicle of Solitude - I don't know where this guy works, but either he's indispensible or management's remarkably laid-back...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Here's a website for the language created for Avatar:

Learn Navi dot org

And a radio interview with
the Linguist.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

I'm going to spend more text on what I _gave_ vs. what I got, and that's fine!

http://www.maverickarms.com/pages/88security.htm

showed up under the tree for me, I'm VERY pleased.

I gave a Craftsman 3-piece toolbox (rolly bit, intermediate box, top bit), 200 rds. of .380 acp, various gift cards ($500@lowes, 2ea @$100 @ Game Stop, 2ea @
$75 @ best buy), a 7.1 channel surround processor (bastard got me a PS3. I'll show him!)

But the happiest thing I'm on the giving end of is..

http://www.amazon.com/Eco...IG-2-BLADE/dp/B0012MD796

_awesome_.

So what did you folks give and get?
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

OK, I've watched part one.

You will NOT guess the unexpected cliffhanger until you have watched it about half way through part one. After I can only say/type/whatever in respect...

Figures.

Apparently, Disney drove a dump truck full of money up to Tim Powers' house.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Yeahbuhwha? o.O;

--Sam

"Sarsaparilla and fresh horses for all my men!"

...so it behooves me to wish those that celebrate it a Merry Christmas.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

I seem to recall once hearing a parody of REM's "Losing My Religion" that went along the lines of

Quote:That's me at the corner
That's me at the stoplight
Losing my transmission...

For anyone whose Christmakwanzakkah dinner plans include duck... try this. Made it on Thanksgiving (we're not turkey
lovers) and... wow.

--Sam

"It's a YULE TIDE!"

Since I'm going to be away from internets due to being with family in the back end of nowhere:



Like the beloved Liverpudlians have stated. Merry Christmas, folks!
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll