The Weekly Gazette 02-18-2024

[DerVVulfman]

(February 12 to February 18, 2024)

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

Announcements and Updates

DerVVulfman made a report that The Year of the Spammers continues, new tools now put to use to confirm suspicious activity and altered security questions that he said could confuse AI bot services. In fact, most of those whom he found suspicious revealed themselves with off-site spam activity with hundreds of reported malicious activity. However, he added that a new influx of members includes those that discovered RPGMaker XP available on steam for free.

Occasions

Having now acquired RPGMaker XP for free on Steam this week entered Canvance. An aspiring game developer, he admits to be an amatuer in pixelwork, music and coding. However, he plans to persevere in making his first game. He thanked both kyonides and DerVVulfman for the scripts they had posted, later greeted by both scripters.

General Chat

Last week's News of the World was hit by the Special Council's revelation no charges would be levied against U.S. President Biden due to his age and failing memory. But now, it was released that Top Secret material vanished under Biden's care during a recent vacation. Democrats are very much worried about his age while Biden's lawyers push to have criticism of his age squashed. The recent death of Alexi Navaldi, jailed by Putin after having survived poisoning years earlier hit this week's news. Over 400 who attended a memorial for Navalny were arrested by Putin's forces, such may be why Ukraine President Zelensky suggests regime change in Russia is coming. And while U.S. Democrats use this to push spending aid to Ukraine, their Republican counterparts say that the U.S.'s own security must come first and blasted the proposed spending package for legislation designed to target Trump were he to win the next election. Of U.S. security, migrant crime hit the news with Meth and Fentanyl trafficking, sanctuary cities cutting funds to citizens, MS-13 joining Venezuelan gangs, and drug cartels placing landmines along the southern border. To combat this, Texas set up a military base to combat illegal human and drug trafficking. But despite this and the impeachment of DHS Mayorkas, U.S. President Biden has the DHS draft plans to release even more migrants. Turmoil in the Middle East continues as Houthis attack more ships in the Red Sea while Israel retaliates against Hezbollah rockets strikes. While China demands Israel to cease fire, support for Netanyahu rises with Netanyahu demanding the release of all hostages by Ramadan or they would attack Rafah. But Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hamas have one thing in common; Iran who is now claiming they are now fully capable to make a nuclear bomb. For former President Trump, bad news and good news. He was fined $354 Million by Judge Engoron and barred from NY business practices for 3 years, though he plans to appeal. But the Fulton AG prosecuting him in Georgia may very well be disqualified, hearing how she paid for her vacation time with her lover. And despite Trump's statements over 'delinquent' NATO members, the NATO Secretary General reiterated that the 2% dues are a minimum and Trump's actions have forced those nations to stop cutting back. Election rigging both in Michigan with graves of still-eligible dead voters and during protests in Pakistan, protests by farmers in Belgium over strangling EU Green regulations and farmers tear-gassed in India arrested over poverty from free trade deals, China's blacklisting of writers like Neil Gaimon from the 2023 Hugo Awards confusing the Sci-Fi community, and much more hit this week's news.
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Tech Talk

China's work ethics hit the News of the Cyber World, such as the evidence of a test track meant for Volkswagon built by Uyghur slave labor, the lawmakers furious about loopholes China exploits to keep slave-labor products selling, and a China-owned fashion company involved in slave-labor practices seeking to be put on the stock exchange. In southern France, a warehouse filled with 900 Tons of recycled lithium car batteries exploded. Cisco plans to lay off 4000 employees to concentrate on AI, the refunds of Apple's VisionPro headsets, the U.K. successfully tested a high-powered laser weapon, and more hit this week's cybernews. A U.K. Lazer cannon?

Recent reports from Microsoft show that Chinese Hackers are now using AI to increase their effectiveness in cyberattacks, such state-sponsored groups from china including Salmon Typhoon, Chromium, as well as state-sanctioned agents from other countries like Forest Blizzard from Russia.

Games Development

Development Discussion

If you're curious What's up among your fellow RMers, kyonides discovered that one is now able to acquire RPGMaker XP for free on Steam. But something caught Melana's eye, a screenshot from Degica's RPGMaker XP advert examples that used graphics not a part of XP's own Run Time Package. A picture around for a while, DerVVulfman thought it might have been part of a separate DLC. And nothing within his recent upload of salvaged tileset resources did Melana find anything that matched. After that, Remi-chan released the 4th track of music from one of her games, and revealed teh second pose of her pigtailed, knife-using demoness.

Complete Projects

During the 2024 RPGMaker Festival, you can now find Starmage's Rave Heart available at Steam for half-price!

Material Development

Scripts Database

This week, kyonides crafted KTroopStates for all three Ruby-Script editions of RPGMaker, allowing you to apply status effects upon enemies when combat begins.

The FancyChoices just received an update, now receiving an RPGMaker VX port. And simultaneously, an RPGMaker VXAce port of ACE HP or SP Recovery Rate was added.

Maintenance was performed by kyonides upon demo for RPGMaker XP port of Falkoner, and upon the RPGMaker XP and VX ports for RealEkuipment. The demos should now operate properly.

An update was made to the RandomSkillKost script, kyonides now preventing a player exploint. Before, you could exit back to the initial Party Command stage and return to combat to reset and generate new random SP costs. But now, that exploit has been removed.

And just before the week expired (and the gazette posted), kyonides released KMustSurvive a script for RPGMaker XP for those that set up battles where the player had to consider some fighting against the party were unwilling combatants, and able to make judgements in relation.

Creativity Section

Music and Audio

For those needing music for their game, do remember that Eric Matyas is Sharing His Original Music and Sound. Early this week, he was able to find time to craft a piece entitled "Cybertropolis" which would be fine for those scenes when one is entering a city of technological marvels. And near the end of the week, a lighter tune entitled "Of Legends and Fables 3" would do well for a game filled with woodland mysteries and magicks.

Now at long last, the Jake Gamelin Suite now includes "Glitch of Shadows", a track for Remi-chan's game Fantasia that features vocals by Emily Goemon.

Art and Design

Just in time for the week of Valentine's, Remi-chan's Neato Arty thread thingy now includes a full color render of the two most evil entities in her game universe spending time together arm in arm. But not only that, but Remi-chan also presented its speed-draw video, the 143rd speed draw she's made over the years.

Literature Section

Before it is even available, you will now find within Remi-chan's Writing Snippets the meeting of the three heroic sisters from Fantasia put to the test of combat against the universe's most enigmatic and devious entities.

Filmography

The latest video available within Remi-chan's Cinematic Theatre is a little dated, made as an invitation to an art exhibition days ago. Forced within a McDonald's parking lot, she is made to answer her own Ego about her ambitious work ethic.

Well, that's it for this week.

"He’s always asking: ‘Is that new? I haven’t seen that before.’ It’s like, Why don’t you mind your own business? Solve world hunger. Get out of my closet." - Michelle Obama

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.