The Weekly Gazette 07-14-2024

[DerVVulfman]

(July 14 to July 8, 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

General Chat

The difference in food costs appears to be on the mind of kyonides, comparing high costs in the U.S. to what it is where he lives in Costa Rica. After that, he's been hearing talk in Latino communities that Trump shoulda been shot. But in his eyes, Trump won't be the last conservative targeted.

Just as the week was about to end, the News of the World was hit by the attempted assassination of former President Trump, one witness actually having spotted the shooter before the incident. But while many, including the Squad, condemned the assassination attempt, reports appeared that top Democrats wanted his protection withdrawn and much worse. It was not the only foiled assassination, the murder of Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger was foiled in Germany thanks to the United States government as was reported by CNN, Rheinmetall being one of the ammunition makers for Ukraine during the conflict. Meanwhile, Russia has issued an arrest warrant for Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Immigration continues to be a problem, Panama installing barbed wire to block migrands while Canada's Trudeau admits immigration had done harm to young Canadians ability to own homes. Israel found a Hamas operation center in yet another building run by the UNRWA within Gaza, capturing terrorists whilst keeping a corridor open for fleeing civilians. Following that, Israel reported that an airstrike in Gaza had taken out Hamas's military leader and senior officials in the city of Khan Yunis. Information showing Iran funding pro-Gaza demonstrators, teachers in the U.K. ordered to depict England like Nazi Germany, the Phillipeans nuclear deal, new warnings about kidnappings in Mexico, and more hit this week's news.
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Tech Talk

There is no love for Chinese Hackers, as the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), ASD (Australian Signals Directorate) and others have reported that numerous cyberattacks have been performed by APT40, a hacking group fully recognized and sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party. APT40 has been using unmaintained devices and abandoned networks in order to appear innocuous Australia commits billions to create a more secure cloud system with deterrents built in to keep the country's most sensitive information safe in this day and age. And Canada will now launch an investigation into China's cyberattacks against their Parliament which was performed by APT31, a sister hacking group to APT40 which is also sponsored by the Chinese Communist Party, a group whom has seven individuals indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice this past March.

This week, AI rears its head with an evil toothy grin within the News of the Cyber World as Intuit plans to eliminate 10% of its staff in favor of AI, how government leaders in AI development could strangle competition just as the Covid lockdowns of 2020, and how Universities failed to detect 94% of all exam papers now able to be generated by ChatGPT. Cybercrime is out of control, AT&T admits cybercriminals stole records of nearly all their client s, Cryptocurrency thefts surge to over $1.38 Billion within just 6 months, and Apple warns all iPhone users of yet another mercenary spyware attack. Unthinkable behavior was revealed this week as the FTC and other groups have noticed "Dark patterns" hidden within subscription services that connote to subliminal influence to deter users from cancelling, and Elon Musk accused the European Union of essential blackmail, that he quietly censort content to their satisfaction for them to waive fines they would employ. For Musk, it was hit or miss. A court dismissed a $500 Million severance lawsuit against Musk, but Climate Activists vandalize his Tesla factory in Germany. Biden reading $2 Billion to boost EV car sales, Boeing's sweetheart deal for criminal fraud charges, Japan finally ending Floppy Disk use, and more hits this week's cybernews.

Games Development

Development Discussion

For those wondering What's up with the forum's RMers, the dicussion of memory use with Steel Beast 6Beet's game revealed that he was using one of Inquisitor's massive tilesets, the entire tileset needing to be loaded in memory just for use. And just as kyonides relied that the whole image must be loaded for even the smallest of maps, DerVVulfman replied how other graphic-intensive systems such as traditional Mode7 features would cause memory spikes. After that, Remi-chan returned with revised versions of her Battlesystem screenshots now that new graphics have been made ready. She reworked the database, remastered the sound effects, and introduced new character art. For this, she created two new videos to introduce them; an agent of chaos, and a remaining, untouched shart of a lost realm..

Complete Projects

It has happened! A Sun-Kissed Fantasy by Starmage had placed 9th in the 2024 Harold Jam at RPGMakerWeb. Along with the recent HawkZombie stream caught on video, Starmage creaed some thank-you art for all to see.

Upcoming Projects

After more than half a year, KasperKalamity revisits his Arbor's Eve with new screenshots of Villageburg, several renders showing the level of detailwork within his walled city. And after that, the interior of a two-floored complex. The work was praised by Steel Beast 6Beets whose eye was caught by plantations and empty lots outside the enclosed area.

Material Development

Scripts Database

This week, DerVVulfman touched up the DerVV's Increasing Stats feature he only just posted, this time adding in a feature where the randomly generated point bonuses may only be randomized at game start rather than each time any character increases in level.

Creativity Section

Music and Audio

More tunes for science-fiction based games are available courtesy of Eric Matyas who continues to Share His Original Music. With a slow and haunting synth keyboard that echoes whilst sproratic electric hums and light taps of a glockenspiel merely appear as accent, one can clearly understand why "Desolation in the Outer Rim" is a perfect title for any scene with a barrent landscape.

Art and Design

Last week, Starmage began her Arts and Training Journey, and her voyage into the realm of hues and palettes continues. First, she introduced us to modest. red-winged Incubus named Delvin, a pair of handcuffs in one of his belt loops. Then she presented the thank you aft for her 2024 Harold Jam entry.

Well, that's it for this week.

"People who live in glass houses... have to answer the door." - Karl Pilkington

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.