The Weekly Gazette 03-05-2023

[DerVVulfman]

(February 27 to March 5, 2023)

Welcome dear readers to the latest issue of the Weekly Gazette! Here in the Gazette, we give you the news in brief of what occurred in the past week as well as provide any news happening in Save-Point itself

Official Area

General Chat

In the current economy, one has to manage their finances a bit more. Still, it was restaurant travel that was on the Mind of both kyonides and JayRay this week. Both encountered oddities in prices, and both due to the actions of other people.

There were fifty articles that his this week's News of the World, beginning with the unanimous vote by the U.S. Senate to Declassify the Intelligence report about the COVID-19 leak in Wuhan. But China isn't taking it lightly, warning Musk not to let the report appear on Twitter while China tries to revive theories of their own. Strife with China exists worldwide as the UK Defense Committe finds more Chinese Tech in Army bases, Canada's Trudeau Foundation sending back a $200,000 donation, and a news site founded by former BuzzFeed and NY Times editor and colunmist now partnering with a Chinese Think Tank. Disinformation and propaganda comes out of Russia as well, as the Kremlin staged an anniverary with children in the streets while claiming Ukrain attacked them again. Due to their recent invasion of Ukraine, Finland not only request but had officially been accepted into NATO. In response to that and support for Ukraine, Russia claimed that NATO and the US was now the actual threat to peace. Of more disinformation, U.S. President Biden's former Disinformation Czar now wishes to raise money to sue Fox News and pay for lawyers during Congressional hearings, the former Czar known and caught for pressing bad information herself. Two more train crashes, Biden family headlines, the Fentanyl Crisis, Cartels, and over twenty more articles hit this week's news.

Tech Talk

Social media and hackers hit this week's News of the Cyber World as layoffs took place between both Google's main company, Alphabet, and Twitter. Meanwhile, Facebook's parent company may have to do costcutting as Italy charges the company for nearly $1 billion in sales tax. Malware reared its head threatening gamers, particularly those who enjoy Nintendo Switch and games from Steam, while other hackers target both Windows and Linux Uers. Cyberattacks hit the U.S. Marshal's office and officials in the Government of Poland. Given security concerns, Canada has banned TicTok use on government devices, and Turkey fines the Chinese Social Media service for weak protection measures. AI bots, both unhinged or unsafe for children, Twitter's new zero-tolerance policies, and even the Fortnite lawsuit hit this week's current Cyber news.

China itself has its own particular place of interest as over two-hundred Chinese Hackers were tracked by CrowdStrike as they surged and targeted nearly fourty industry-sector targets around the world. Simultaneously, one identified as Mustang Panda used unseen backdoor measures in attacks against European entities, Australia, and Taiwan.

Sometimes, you need inspiration to work on your project. And other times, a quick kick. When no one wa available, JayRay decided to try something different, and so posted the discussion that transpired between He and ChatGPT. Asking the AI chatbot questions about sprite layering, the bot returned content regarding outfits based on the period JayRay asked. And it delivered cultural and aesthetic content based on descriptions of varied races JayRay envisioned for his creations.

Forum Games & Nonsense

For the past two weeks, DerVVulfman has been posting lists of funny situations, and this week was no exception with the release of 750+ things Mr. Welch can no longer do in a RPG - Part III. The past two threads had already exceeded the title's count by well over four-hundred, the last batch bringing the tally of comical situations and events to over eighteen hundred.

Games Development

Development Discussion

If you're wondering What's up with some RMers, Remi-chan has been dilligently working on her game. Creating one scripted bullet-hell boss battle a day, she has only five optional battles left. But she left a series of videos for the six boss fights she completed this week alone, and noted she would have a live-stream of her correcting errors that DerVVulfman spotted in a play-through. Watch as her three heroine face fluffy tails, knive-wielding temptresses, and get... sheeped.

Upcoming Projects

A stunning new wallpaper is now available to celebrate Starmage's game, Rave Heart. Utilizing AI art technology, he assembled members of his main cast in a spectacular 6720x6679 work in peaceful locales.

Code Support

The thread that Icogil created that considered a z-space problem of displaying sprites turned into a topic as DerVVulfman took Icogil's interest in a Visual Equipment script with varied-sized resources into reality. At the beginning of the week, our werewolf administrator had actually succeeded in doing just that, and continued with updates ranging from using his multiple equipment slot system, to writing the instructions and giving the system its name. His last post was a link to the new script thread for his final product.

Material Development

Scripts Database

Only just recently, kyonides ported EKuipSwitch over to RPGMaker XP and VX, allowing one to activate switches when items have been equipped.

Formerly known as Chicken Knife, kyonides rebranded his fight-and-flight weapon systems under the new name, Knives. And after a few days, added an extra feature to the RPGMaker XP port, a condition that takes effect if the user falls in battle.

New to RPGMaker XP is kyonides's Pharmakology XP, a system that alters healing effects and slip damage. As he often does, an update with more instruction and features to his script was released a day later, though claiming it was unexpected.

Now available for RPGMaker XP is Ah-sung's Paperdoll, the visual characterset enhancement discussed the past two weeks in the support thread created by Icogil. Released by DerVVulfman, it is another system that can apply graphics to character sprites, letting the player see what gear is being work in play. But more advanced, it can use image files of varied sizes... something never been accomplished before.

Special Projects

Red Jester Resources

DaVinci Resources

JayRay has begun much to prepare himself for the grand DaVinci Resurrection, the return to his photo-realistic spriting project. And with that, he gave himself a schedule. He likewise posted devlogs regarding his intent to create fifty-two characters, how he need practice before generating final results, and workarounds for layers for character garment application.

And as a pre-cursor towards the release of his artwork, JayRay discussed the DaVinci Resurrections Actors that he was working on, that it was rebanded, and the use of his newly redesigned graphics in a multitude of systems.

Be aware that (AM1) - Arthur is the first of the DaVinci Resurrection characters by JayRay. With auburn hair, sapphire eyes, and well trimmed beard, you can see this striking feature. (AF1) - Andrea is a maiden in a dress azure with eyes that match, and hair short and slate. And despite elven heritage, (AF2) - Aurelia has a fierce right hook that matches her heart. All three have individual threads, but they all contain spritesheets for various directions. And all are free. But more expert quality renders are available at a price.

Well, that's it for this week.

"The uglier a man's legs are, the better he plays golf - it's almost a law." - H.G. Wells (1866-1946)

PROSPECTIVE GAZETEERS!

If you are the creator of a thread in Save-Point, you have the option of sending/writing your own entry into the Gazette. The Gazette accepts write-in announcements (which will be doublechecked). Likewise, the Gazette would welcome other content such as a comic-strip series, ongoing story arc, or the like.

Just PM DerVVulfman with the submissions. Submissions must be in by 10pm EST.