Hi everyone, I suggest to add the following topic to the schedule: Bugtracker software We have already come to the conclusion we don’t want to continue use of GitHub for the TSC project, but have not come to a final decision as to which software we should use for selfhosting. I think it is time to finally make that decision. Valete, Quintus -- #!/sbin/quintus Blog: http://www.guelkerdev.de GnuPG key: F1D8799FBCC8BC4F

Post via forum by datahead <cjj_009@xxxxxxxxxx>: Sorry, in text format (the mailing list really should block non text messages and give an error if possible): 1. Audience + Target Age Group - "Decide what age group(s) Secret Chronicles is targeted towards and consider any special needs for the old Secret Maryo Chronicles fan base, which will be weighed against our new goals." 2. Depth of Story - "Confirm how deep of a story Secret Chronicles will have. Many traditional platformers have thin stories, but there has been discussion about going deeper for Secret Chronicles." 3. Themes - "Discuss the possibility of classical works, social issues, Alex's age and profession, magic, technology, and military hardware as themes. See the story principles document for more info. This is also related to art style." *** 4. Level of Cuteness - "Discuss the level of cuteness in the game going forward. Secret Maryo Chronicles had cuter graphics than even the Mario games, but we have several options for our fork. See the story principles document for visual examples. This has an impact on art style." *** 5. Narration, cinematic scenes, and story formatted text - "Discuss different ways in which the story can be presented for a platforming game. Dumping text on the screen usually will not work for this type of game." 6. Translation websites - "Decide if setting up a translation website is a priority right now. Decide whether Transifex is an acceptable solution. Decide if any other sites such as weblate.org might be preferable. See GitHub issue #196." 7. Bugtracker software - "Discuss Gitlab and any other known alternatives as replacements for the GitHub issue tracker. Discuss the test GitLab implementation posted by xet7." **** *** I will post the Story Principles document and also Danfun64's story submission on our ftp site semi-soon. This gives information for items 1-5 above. **** We need to post the link to xet7's GitLab example in this discussion thread. -- Sent by Chessboard.

Post via forum by datahead <cjj_009@xxxxxxxxxx>: The URL's to the documents had line breaks before. They are corrected here: Story Documents: * Story Principles Discussion Document - http://team.secretchronicles.de/~datahead/DataheadStoryPrinciples.pdf * Datahead's Last Story Submission - http://wiki.secretchronicles.de/StoryDevelopmentDocumentVersion2.html * Danfun64's Story Submission - http://team.secretchronicles.de/~datahead/Danfun64StorySubmission.odt -- Sent by Chessboard.

Post via forum by lambda-11235 <taranlynn0@xxxxxxxxxx>: Proposed topic: * Decide whether to use CEGUI 0.8.x or SFGUI. Holding back the freetype package is starting to impact my system. For users this may pose a bigger problem, as some may not be aware that they should or how to hold back the freetype package. Upgrading the GUI system to fix issue #500 may therefore be a priority. -- Sent by Chessboard.

datahead <automailer(a)forum.secretchronicles.de&gt; writes: I make the following proposal for changing the voting rules’ wording: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Art. 1 §2(2) is rephrased to read: Art. 2 In §3(1)(Nr.3)(2) the words “This requires a two thirds majority” are replaced with “This requires the Relative Qualified Majority”. Art. 3 In §10, the words “simple majority” are capitalised so they read “Simple Majority”. Art. 4 §20 is rephrased to read: Art. 5 A new §13a is introduced after the existing §13 and before the section III. heading with the following text: Art. 6 These changes enter into force immediately after the Declaration of Results of the vote for accepting them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This proposal replaces all majority-related terms in the voting rules with clear terms, which are specifically normed in a new §13a: Simple Majority, Relative Qualified Majority, and Absolute Qualified Majority. The Simple Majority is the majority used for all ordinary votings, i.e. the one for deciding heated topics. The other two majority rules are for specific cases: acquisition and end of team membership, and changes to the voting rules document itself. The majority requirement for changing the voting rules themselves (§20) is not modified, but only made more clear so that there can be no doubt that it requires a 2/3 majority of all people allowed to vote. In the current version of the voting rules it is not clear whether acquisition of team membership requires a 2/3 majority of all people allowed to vote or only a 2/3 majority of the people who actually voted. To address this concern and to bring the acquisition of team membership voting process in sync with the team removal vote — which only requires 2/3 of the voting team members — the wording of the both vote requirements is adapted to the newly defined majority terms. By placing the team membership bar relatively (still a 2/3 majority!) low, lockup of the voting procedure by mass absence of team members is prevented. The hurdle for changing the voting rules themselves on the other hand is intentionally kept high as even if one doesn’t take part on a given vote that does not indicate one wants to voting rules to change behind one’s back. If someone permanently stays absent, it is still possible to remove him from the team by means of the regular removal procedure and thus cutting down the requirements for voting rules change if necessary. As voting rules changes should be kept at a minimum, a lengthy procedure is not a problem, but a feature. I was unsure on how to count people who have participated, but actively abstained (e.g. by posting "I abstain"). I think they should be included into the 2/3 qualified majorities calculation, but not into the Simple Majority one. This would mean that for the votes requiring a qualified majority (either relative or absolute), people actively abstaining (rather than nonparticipating) could bring the vote to failure even though they didn’t vote against it. The above proposal does not contain a clause for these actively abstaining people, but if someone provides a nice one, we should include it. As for the entering into force (Art. 6 of the proposal), I honoured the demand for a flexible voting process for this change. The way Art. 6 is phrased allows to get the proposal into force as soon as it has the required 2/3 majority of the entire team, regardless of whether this already happens here on the ML/forum or finally in the General Discussion. Feedback appreciated. If no objections are raised, I will announce voting as soon as possible so that we can have a result by April 9th. The last day a vote announcement can be made before the GD is 2015-03-25; I definitely want this specific change to be announced prior so we have a longer voting phase. 2015-03-25 is also the deadline for any other voting announcements for the GD, but I will explain this in a separate message. Valete, Quintus -- #!/sbin/quintus Blog: http://www.guelkerdev.de GnuPG key: F1D8799FBCC8BC4F

Post via forum by skarfester <skarfester@xxxxxxxxxx>: My opinions about the topics: __1.__ n/a __2.__ n/a __3.__ n/a __4.__ n/a __5.__ n/a __6.__ The best option is to expand the target audience; there's no need (as a platform game) to focus in a particular age range. To achieve this TSC needs different campaigns and/or difficulty levels. __7.__ A platformer doesn't need much of a story, but is a good complement if we integrate it in the game. For example, we can think the campaigns as "missions", like Indiana Jones films. __8.__ This is related to theme and audience: adding more characters to choose from. This way we can have a female character, and maybe more, for example a "classic Alex", if TSC changes Alex graphics. __9.__ Mantaining a relatively cute comic style works for me: I'd avoid too childish graphics and there's no need for something "agressive", "dark" or "hipster". Cute works for most people. __10.__ If we develop a story we need to introduce it in the game. I'll stick only to visual narrative, without text or speech. That way we can mantain TSC more language independent, and avoids lot of translation work. The problem with this is that a complex story can be hard to explain without words. __11.__ That's the big issue. I'll recap some opinions discussed in [this threat](http://forum.secretchronicles.de/topics/367) and others: - quit lives: the progress is saved so they have no sense. - save points, save states, checkpoints: I'll suggest to automatically save after a completed level. This way the player doesn't need to care about that and can continue playing or quitting the game without losing (worldmap) progress. In addition to that I suggest a new power-up wich acts as a checkpoint. With that level developers can design larger levels without the risk of becoming too frustating. We can add as well arbitrary save-states bought by the players with diamonds, for special ocasions. - diamonds as a currency: if we cannot earn lives, we can use diamonds for buying regular or special items, like save states or "flying" ability to pass difficult areas (very expensive). We'll need an intem menu for this (the pause menu is enough). - quit score points?: they'll have no impact in the game, so we can keep as hi-score ranking information or remove completely. - quit game over screen: obvious. When die, you just go back to the worldmap or the previous checkpoint or save state. - energy system: I prefer a "hit system", because is more simple and straightforward than a energy bar with different damage levels. Now we have small Alex, big Alex and Alex with powers (wich doesn't count as an extra hit). In my opinion is a good idea to reflect the hit status in Alex itself (like small/big Alex) for example in his shoes: red shoes=1 hit left, yellow shoes=2 hits, green=3... We can count the extra powers (fire, ice) as another hit, just losing them when hit. - difficulty levels: with a hit system is easy to implement a difficulty level: starting with 3 hits for kids, 2 for average players and 1 for pros but... I'm not a fan of difficulty levels. Once you end a game in "normal" you probably won't play it again in "difficult", because the levels are going to be essencially the same. I prefer games with difficulty depending on campaigns or levels. Maybe we can rely on level design and add just a "kid" option with extra hits. - pits (no floor): I think we should let empty pits kill Alex instantly, but using them only on special ocasions, such as castle/boss levels. This adds extra challenge to certain moments because even if you are full of energy, a mistake can kill you. We should use pits with static enemies instead, with a way to jump back. I know I rely a lot on level design... __12.__ n/a __13.__ Thank you for reading. These are just my views, and I'm not close to other options. I hope I've given you a couple ideas for the game. -- Sent by Chessboard.

skarfester <automailer(a)forum.secretchronicles.de&gt; writes: It is an interesting possibility, but if we did it like that, I’d rather have the worlds be missions, not the campaigns. A campaign should be the outer story around the list of missions. Kinda hard to compare to the Indiana Jones movies then, though. I agree with datahead’s sugestion of creating a hybrid of an RPG game with platformer style. This is an unusual combination that may offer interesting possibilities in the gameplay. This is not opposed to a story-centered idea. Look at danfun’s proposal (DNr. 16/1). More characters get available later in the game, and that can very well be female or other characters. It is a difficult question. Bugsbane has multiple times complained that our current styling is heavily inconsistent, so we need to focus on some kind of cuteness level in any case. That level is then what we need to make all graphics into. I don’t think this is a good idea. Both stories suggested until now — danfun’s and datahead’s — focus on a rather deep theming. Both involve the Great Library, and lots of books, datahead’s proposal includes Dr. M. making Shakespeare quotes. There will be no room for such things in a purely visual novel. Don’t worry about the translations. I have worked on games with a seemingly endless amount of translation strings (namely Freeciv) and one still gets it done. Once we have a more widespread community, there will be more people translating the game. As of now, we have translators for Finnish, French, German, Portuguese. If we can get ciro back into the game, we might have an Italian translator. That’s a nice amount of translations already. I will reply to this in a separate email. Vale, Quintus -- #!/sbin/quintus Blog: http://www.guelkerdev.de GnuPG key: F1D8799FBCC8BC4F

Post via forum by skarfester <skarfester@xxxxxxxxxx>: That sounds great :smile: gameplay and bought. However, to prevent people from stacking them, the price for the save powerup should always be exactly 75% of all your jewels They have to be very expensive, for having like 1 per world. However, players probably need to buy other things, like standart or other special power-ups, making it harder to stack a single item. Another option to avoid stacking is resetting the inventory in each new world (jewels and power-ups) or implementing inventory limits (X jewels max, 1 max item of each kind...). This enhances the RPG experience because you need to know what you have and when to use it. We need to think about allowing to re-enter a completed level, because that can be used to stack jewels quickly. Our hero is in an important mission, so going back is a waste of time. What about _another_ item for re-entering a completed level? like a clock or something... rather not think so. I thought to activate the checkpoint just by taking the power-up. Traditionally checkpoints are a fixed thing, like poles. In my opinion is more interesting that to activate the checkpoint you need to find the power-up and catch it (similar like we do with lives, now that we are removing them). how the level is to be played. Totally agree. areas for shortcutting, for example he places a "shortcut start" point before a difficult area and a "shortcut end" point after it. Good idea. Doors or teleporters can be used for that. taken should not have such an impact on the gameplay it has currently. For example, if you have firepowers, getting hit should not remove those from you. I disagree. Fire/ice/ghost are a big help, and maintaining them is a challenge. The more you manage to keep them, the more you can take advantage of. If powers are not going to be removed when hit, then they should be temporary, like ghost berry. damage points when you fall of a platform high above the ground when you hit the ground. Interesting. I'd just use static enemies below high platforms, but it's an option. -- Sent by Chessboard.