I'm still alive and (relatively) well!

[AlphaDawg]

"You last visited: 04-25-2004 at 01:35 am"

Holy crap, has it been that long? Almost four years? I guess it has... would this forum software lie to me? ;)

So anyway last night I'm chilling in front of my computer doing nothing productive (as is often the case), when I get an IM from BigJoe. We start talking about ZC (which as you may expect I haven't touched in a couple of years). He goes into great detail about all that has been added since I was last around. It all sounds interesting, so I decide, what the hell, let's download it and take a look around. It was then that I started reminiscing, about the good times (and some bad, but mostly good). There were times I was thinking of coming back before... but this time there was no turning back.

So having been bitten by the ZC bug again, I decide the next logical thing to do would be to come back here. After somehow managing to remember my password (I think it came to me in my sleep, I am not joking), here I am.

I've got some unfinished business I'd like to take care of. Such as this "Conquest of Sarpadia" quest of mine that, thankfully, I remembered to back up. It's about 95% complete and I intend to finish it. I was thrilled when it opened without any difficulty in the newest ZQuest. And speaking of ZQuest... I still have my original tutorial available. I'm not currently able to host it online, but maybe somebody else is... they're welcome to do so. I'm not totally against working on it again sometime, it's just that I have so much catching up to do.

I'm currently unemployed (though hopefully not for much longer as my unemployment runs out in a few weeks :() so I will be around. And I intend to stay around. No more abrupt departures for me.

[Nicholas Steel]

absolutely awesome, you da man *hi five*. :)

[XMuppetSB]

Oh my god! I wasn't even here when you left, Alphadawg. Nice to see you here for the first time!:)

[Aegix Drakan]

And the influx of oldbies continues!

Welcome Back AlphaDawg!

[Dechipher]

Dizzamn. Welcome back man.

[Nicholas Steel]

Yea, i wasn't here either when you left :P but i was around when you tutorial was still online, probably lurking tho. your tutorial was a huge help for me :)

[Gleeok]

Welcome back. I too used your tutorial when I picked up zc for the first time. Very helpful. Points of great interest in the new beta, in order of greatness:

Scripting
Enemy Editor
Item Editor
...other stuff like dungeon carving and combo alias, more zq hot-key features, screen flags, etc.
Subscreen Editor


And good luck with the employment.

[Russ]

Wow, I never thought I'd live to see this day! Welcome back!

[phattonez]

And here I had completely forgotten about alphadawg. I typed in that website so many times I had it memorized by keystrokes "casadealphadawg." It's been a long, long time.

Welcome back.

[ctrl-alt-delete]

Holy shit. Welcome back, man.

It's been a looong time.

I remember us having our Dallas vs. Philly fights.

Hahaha.

[Beldaran]

I still don't like Donovan McNabb, but whatev. Nice to see you again. ;)

[Prrkitty]

Welcome back AlphaDawg. I think I came in around the time you were disappearing. 'Tis always nice to see olbies slip back into the fold...

[AlphaDawg]

@ ctrl-alt-delete: Sorry, I don't recognize your name. Were you posting under another name when I was last here? I still love talking smack with Dallas fans, once the season starts up we can get it on! Or should we unite to go after the New York Gnats fans?

@ Beldaran: Boy, has McNabb been through a lot of ups and downs since I was last here! The Super Bowl, the TO saga, the injuries, and now the persistent trade rumors (mostly manufactured by ESPN I believe). It looks like everything's cooling down now though, and I expect McNabb to have a huge year. Now to get a WR for him to throw to...

@ everybody: Thanks for all the kind words. I noticed my tutorial is in fact still available online. That's awesome. It's great to read how much it has helped the next generation of quest designers. It's also great to read how some of you have picked up where I left off.

[phattonez]

I guess that you haven't heard about the new reputation system yet.

http://www.armageddongames.net/forums/showthread.php?t=84883

[Zelda_Warrior]

Holy crap, so long ago

Your tutorial is pretty famous still, just that it's getting outdated.. A lot of people still get redirected to the alphadawg tutorial sometimes when they have just started

[AlphaDawg]

I guess that you haven't heard about the new reputation system yet.

http://www.armageddongames.net/forums/showthread.php?t=84883

I have not. Looks like quite a mouthful. I'm guessing that's what explains all those pretty green gems under people's post counts. I'll put on my professor glasses and get on it.

[Freedom]

I thought you died man.
;)

[Breaker]

welcome back dawg

[Pineconn]

Oh yes, [your tutorial (http://www.armageddongames.net/forums/showthread.php?t=91177)] still helps hundreds of ZC newbies. Heck, I used it back in 2005 when I was a ZC n00b myself. I'm actually thinking about making my own tutorial for ZC 2.5....

Anyway. Great to see you back here, even though you left far before I've even heard of AGN and ZC. Make sure you come back here often, you hear? :)

[vegeta1215]

Hey Alpha, glad to see you back! Hope things have been going good for you (aside from the job).

[MoonCheese]

Welcome back AlphaDawg, even though I registered long after you left. Your tutorial helped me learn ZQuest back when I started using it in 2003.

[Russ]

You know, I think everybody who uses ZC can say "Your tutorial helped me a lot!" I know I would have been hopelessly lossed without it.

[The_Amaster]

Hey, hey, hey, welcome back Alpha Dawg. I joined around a year after you left, but your legend has continued.

[King Aquamentus]

O.o good timing. wrote a small ZC tutorial as well pointing folks over to yours for further questions. Hi!


...me, BigJoe, and Hypercrash have a project for the next version of ZC (which may thankfully mean we have a lot of time to do it.) Talk to any of us if you want further details/are interested.

[Sam Atoms]

OMG. You're back. I thought this would never happen. I've been waiting for this day for longer than I am even aware. I had given up all hope. This was a big surprise.

I so want to play Sarpadia. I wanted to beta-test it when you made the announcement 5 years ago but I didn't have the time to do it. I was a teaching assistant for an undergrad chemistry class at the time. If you'd made the post 6 months earlier or 6 months later then I would have been able to do it.

You (or anyone else) won't know me from Adam's house cat so I should explain it all. I was once known as Foxx, but my account got corrupted in a hacking attack on the forums back in 2006 in January. I rarely come here anymore, mostly because I've just plain grown up and moved on. But every once in a while I like to stop by and see what's happening in the ZC scene.

I'm sorry to hear about your job difficulties. I may soon be experiencing the same, since I'm on a research grant that my department wasn't able to renew and it expires at the end of August. In several weeks I'll start looking for a new job, most likely in computer simulation of chemical systems. Wish me luck.

[me2]

Awesome, welcome back.

You can never leave this place. I leave at 6-month intervals before I come crawling back. I think the most I've been away was 14 months, and I still came back.

[bigjoe]

Wow, I didn't know you were Foxx. o_o This just keeps getting better and better.

Anyway, welcome back Alphadawg. Hope your stay is enjoyable.

[erm2003]

Welcome back Alphadawg! You wouldn't know me either since I joined just after you were gone. I have actually been hosting your tutorial online to help a lot of new people as they start using the basics of ZQuest. It has been a lot of help. The link is in my signature. It's great to see you around!

[King Aquamentus]

As you may have noticed, War Lord is running things now and Eckels has disappeared. Valerie also appears much more rarely, but released a sequel to Mario's insane Rampage. Actually, there were a lot of sequels. check em out.

[ctrl-alt-delete]

As you may have noticed, War Lord is running things now and Eckels has disappeared. Valerie also appears much more rarely, but released a sequel to Mario's insane Rampage. Actually, there were a lot of sequels. check em out.

Warlord has always ran things.

Eckels always disappears.

Again, welcome back, man.

I say we should gain up against Giants fans. They did win the Bowl, afterall.

Besides...I do not think the Eagles are in any position to fight with Dallas right now.

We have a really complete team.

[Joe123]

Hrm.
Alphadawg is definately a name I've seen floating around quite a bit here.

Welcome back.


And thanks for the tutorial, it was extremly useful a while ago, and great to direct other people at now.

[AlphaDawg]

Besides...I do not think the Eagles are in any position to fight with Dallas right now.

We have a really complete team.Maybe so but the Eagles, as always, have an ace up their sleeves... this time they plan to have Jessica Simpson in attendance at every Cowboys game this year. Not just their two games against the Eagles. Not just their home games. Every game. You'll be longing for the glory days of 1989! (For those not in the know, the Pokes went 1-15 that year, including a Thanksgiving Day whitewash courtesy of the Eagles.)

Anyway it's nice to see a lot of my old friends still around. I suppose the more things change, the more they stay the same.

I just finished Sarpadia to my satisfaction. I'm going to do one last run-through to make sure there are no major bugs. If all goes well I could be releasing it very soon!

[Pineconn]

Make sure you submit it to the quest database (http://www.armageddongames.net/zeldaclassic/submission.php)! We've been having a terrible drought of quests, and yours is the storm cloud that we need.

Everyone knows the Steelers will own next year, anyway. With an 8 year extension, Roethlisberger will be the Steelers and the Steelers will be Roethlisberger. ...But I won't interfere with this nice, happy reunion.

[me2]

I remember all the regulars from 2001 and 2002. I guess in the last 6 years everyone grew older and moved on with their lives (I still haven't finished high school!). I wish some of them would pop up more often.

But what can you expect from internet communities? Eventually everyone will slowly stop appearing and people lose touch, since the web's a limited medium.

[Aegix Drakan]

>_> Well, once I get a job (later this year, probably...hopefully), my activity online will probably drop a bit ( :shakeno: )

But I still plan to post! I am an internet addict and PROUD OF IT!

[Pineconn]

I intend on posting regularly for the next five years at least.... so AGN will live for at least half a decade more. And I'm hoping this thread isn't turning into another one of those "Whatever happened to AGN's golden days? Boy, I sure miss them..." threads. ;)

[Russ]

And I'm hoping this thread isn't turning into another one of those "Whatever happened to AGN's golden days? Boy, I sure miss them..." threads. ;)
The way I see it, this is the Golden Age. The community is meshed together so well that we have a whole topic where we just say whatever pops into our heads.

[DarkDragoonX]

Woah, how did I miss this thread? Welcome back, Alpha. Been a loooooong time.

[Joe123]

The way I see it, this is the Golden Age. The community is meshed together so well that we have a whole topic where we just say whatever pops into our heads.

You're Pineconn here aswell :(

You can't just turn into Pineconn!

[ctrl-alt-delete]

Whatever happened to AGN's golden days? Boy, I sure miss them...

[Zelda_Warrior]

Lol... Golden Days? What you say? You know what you proposing? All your golden day are belong to the present.

Seriously, i never realized it until i read the last few posts in here but i have never seen an online community quite like this one, (Part of it might be that it's mostly the same people that were here ages ago...) I just don't see why everybody thinks it isnt like it used to be. The internet isnt going anywhere for a while either

[AlphaDawg]

Make sure you submit it to the quest database (http://www.armageddongames.net/zeldaclassic/submission.php)! We've been having a terrible drought of quests, and yours is the storm cloud that we need.Will do... I just have one question... is there any place I can host the enhanced soundtrack I've created? It's only about 1.5 MB and consists of nsf, spc, and gbs files only. No mp3s or anything like that. The reason I ask is a lot of the MIDIs that sounded great when I worked with the quest on my old computer now don't sound so great. I suspect others may have the same issue.

As for the old days of AGN, the only thing I really miss is General Bitching. It was a great forum to blow off some steam, pop some inflated egos (one particular ex-member comes to mind here) and tell everybody how you really feel. Problem is a lot of members violated GB's first rule... don't talk about GB!

[phattonez]

As for the old days of AGN, the only thing I really miss is General Bitching. It was a great forum to blow off some steam, pop some inflated egos (one particular ex-member comes to mind here) and tell everybody how you really feel. Problem is a lot of members violated GB's first rule... don't talk about GB!

So many people agree with you and yet for some reason it's never brought back. It was fun in there, plus since it's the internet no one takes anything seriously.

[erm2003]

Will do... I just have one question... is there any place I can host the enhanced soundtrack I've created? It's only about 1.5 MB and consists of nsf, spc, and gbs files only. No mp3s or anything like that. The reason I ask is a lot of the MIDIs that sounded great when I worked with the quest on my old computer now don't sound so great. I suspect others may have the same issue.

Can't you just zip all the files together? You should be able to submit that without a problem.

[ctrl-alt-delete]

We have a GB...only moderators can see and use it.

It's a super secret...it even has rules.

The first rule is, "Do not tell regular members about GB."

But I am tired of all of the rules around here.

GB is alive and well. If you want more info, ask in this thread...I might even be able to get you access.

Good luck with the sound stuff. I can't help you.

[phattonez]

I once had access to staff-only forums when Glenn made me a mod, I never saw any such thing.

[ctrl-alt-delete]

I once had access to staff-only forums when Glenn made me a mod, I never saw any such thing.

That's because we created it after the most recent GB take-down...

How long has that been now, 8-12 months?

[phattonez]

That's impossible. I was made a mod by Glenn way after GB was taken down. I'm calling shenanigans.

[ctrl-alt-delete]

...?

http://www.armageddongames.net/forums/showthread.php?t=91657

Has that really been that long ago already?

Seems like...maybe just a year.

Wow.

[Nicholas Steel]

Will do... I just have one question... is there any place I can host the enhanced soundtrack I've created? It's only about 1.5 MB and consists of nsf, spc, and gbs files only. No mp3s or anything like that. The reason I ask is a lot of the MIDIs that sounded great when I worked with the quest on my old computer now don't sound so great. I suspect others may have the same issue.

if anything, the files you speak of are more illegal due to them being the actual music data from the games and not a sound recording of them. i don't know if AGN would allow them or not >.>

[Pineconn]

if anything, the files you speak of are more illegal due to them being the actual music data from the games and not a sound recording of them. i don't know if AGN would allow them or not >.>

The entire Zelda Classic bundle itself isn't exactly 100% legal, so I would have no problem with it. Quests with MP3s have been added to the database before.

[AlphaDawg]

We have a GB...only moderators can see and use it.I believe you, it's called "Forum Staff..." ;) I was a senior mod back in the day.


if anything, the files you speak of are more illegal due to them being the actual music data from the games and not a sound recording of them. i don't know if AGN would allow them or not >.>If you'd like an expert opinion on the legal status of sound rips, I would look no further than Zophar's Domain, the site I got all of them from. They obviously don't host commercial ROMS, but they have no qualms with the sound rips.

Anyway, the Quest DB submission is done. The Quest DB rules state no file types other than qst and txt so that's why I asked originally. I now have the soundtrack hosted externally along with the quest file.

[Fiyerstorm]

Yay, Welcome back Alpha D!

[Gleeok]

if anything, the files you speak of are more illegal due to them being the actual music data from the games and not a sound recording of them. i don't know if AGN would allow them or not >.>

This is an interesting point. However sound rips are widely and readily available for download from sites all over the web, although I'm really not sure of the legality of even that, and many have the typical disclaimer attached also.

It sounds reasonable to me, that if they couldn't be included in the zip itself, then they may be hosted seperately by the submitter and linked to the page so as not to turn the zcDB into a warehouse....hmm. ...hold this thought...