Ragefest IV: Trolls & Tribulations

[MarkyJoe1990]

The video is rendering right now.

I uh... have a simple question for Baldrick.

The top right village. Does it make the top left dragon move?

[Baldrick]

Short answer, yes.

[MarkyJoe1990]

Alright. Question number two.

Can that guy be triggered by other stuff?

Edited February 18, 2016 by MarkyJoe1990

[Baldrick]

Yes.

[MarkyJoe1990]

Welp. Had to re-edit some things. The video's gonna be up later than expected. Sorry everyone.

[SilverHairedFreak25]

That's fine. At least we have Ghast's Ragefest knockoff to tide us until then. ;P

[MarkyJoe1990]

I think you're joking, but... I feel I should say that Ghast's contest is just as legitimate, if not, more so than Ragefest.

[SilverHairedFreak25]

I am joking, trust me. Ghast's a cool guy who's got some amazig content. And from what I've seen so far, thia contest shows some major promise. Not to mention that he was right. #PlayGaiden

[MarkyJoe1990]

The video's up. Holy shit, this was a trainwreck. I hope people enjoy it.

[MrNight48]

What flaw? The fact that its AI doesn't move it?

in my experiments with using dragons in my hacks, when I killed one, it's death event doesn't trigger and can be immortal. haven't seen the video yet so will talk about it later if it comes up

[Baldrick]

I can't watch the video right now but apparently you missed the fire/water/rock clue. Now that I think about it, that's actually a quite important hint in order to avoid being pinned down.

[RandomSwordmaster]

Do you mean the dragons not moving if you're on a peak? Because he figured that out at the end.

[MarkyJoe1990]

While we wait for the next submission, I wanna take a moment to promote another contest that will hopefully be the successor of Ragefest.

[SilverHairedFreak25]

"Successor to Ragefest"? Please don't tell me that means what I think it means...

[RandomSwordmaster]

But Ragefest just isn't the same without the "Rage" part. All we'll have left is "fest"!

[MarkyJoe1990]

I needed a moment to think about what I said, but... I dunno. I wanna say a few things about it, I guess. I apologize if it comes off as too over the top or something...

...

I don't feel like Ragefest is necessarily a good thing for the community anymore. The more I look at it, the more I feel like it's a contest that encourages shoddiness rather than quality. It doesn't give the community a good reputation, and seeing me get mad and yell at submissions isn't going to remain appealing forever. It's a contest that either needs to go away, or get a complete overhaul like we've been discussing lately in this thread.

Even then - and perhaps it's just because I'm feeling depressed at the moment - but I feel like I don't deserve to be the go-to FE hack LPer guy anymore, assuming I ever was in the first place. I look at the stuff like what Ghast makes and I think to myself "This guy seems a lot more passionate about FE hacks and the hacking community than I am. He is good for its future." and I wonder to myself what the hell am I doing to make things better.

Then I also look at the fact that I want to go back to LPing FE3, as well as working on my hack, Chronicles Of Lussaria, and I realize the only reasons I'm not doing those things is because I feel the need to do Ragefest because so many people made submissions. So many people are eagerly waiting to see me play their stuff, and I feel like I'm doing a disservice by holding off on that to do other things. I'm probably putting too much on myself, but I feel guilty knowing that people spent so much of their time just to make a little thing for me to play.

What I want is to - for once - be excited about watching OTHER people's FE hack LPs. While a part of me wants to be successful on youtube, I don't think that's ever gonna happen, and sometimes I wish I could go back to when I was 17, working on my stupid little FE hack, Fire Mumblem and watching someone play it and get a few cheap laughs. Those were simpler days, back when I had someone like Luizprower to have as a close friend.

I don't know why I'm saying all this... I don't even think I've accurately portrayed how I actually feel, but I feel the need to speak from my heart for once because every time I go on these forums, I feel like I'm walking on eggshells and being someone I'm not, and I'm tired of hiding.

One more thing. After reading this, some of you might feel the need to cheer me up or give me advice like people have done in the past so many times, but this is something I have to face and work out on my own. Simply listening is enough to make me just a little happier.

[ghast]

I needed a moment to think about what I said, but... I dunno. I wanna say a few things about it, I guess. I apologize if it comes off as too over the top or something...

...

I don't feel like Ragefest is necessarily a good thing for the community anymore. The more I look at it, the more I feel like it's a contest that encourages shoddiness rather than quality. It doesn't give the community a good reputation, and seeing me get mad and yell at submissions isn't going to remain appealing forever. It's a contest that either needs to go away, or get a complete overhaul like we've been discussing lately in this thread.

Even then - and perhaps it's just because I'm feeling depressed at the moment - but I feel like I don't deserve to be the go-to FE hack LPer guy anymore, assuming I ever was in the first place. I look at the stuff like what Ghast makes and I think to myself "This guy seems a lot more passionate about FE hacks and the hacking community than I am. He is good for its future." and I wonder to myself what the hell am I doing to make things better.

Then I also look at the fact that I want to go back to LPing FE3, as well as working on my hack, Chronicles Of Lussaria, and I realize the only reasons I'm not doing those things is because I feel the need to do Ragefest because so many people made submissions. So many people are eagerly waiting to see me play their stuff, and I feel like I'm doing a disservice by holding off on that to do other things. I'm probably putting too much on myself, but I feel guilty knowing that people spent so much of their time just to make a little thing for me to play.

What I want is to - for once - be excited about watching OTHER people's FE hack LPs. While a part of me wants to be successful on youtube, I don't think that's ever gonna happen, and sometimes I wish I could go back to when I was 17, working on my stupid little FE hack, Fire Mumblem and watching someone play it and get a few cheap laughs. Those were simpler days, back when I had someone like Luizprower to have as a close friend.

I don't know why I'm saying all this... I don't even think I've accurately portrayed how I actually feel, but I feel the need to speak from my heart for once because every time I go on these forums, I feel like I'm walking on eggshells and being someone I'm not, and I'm tired of hiding.

One more thing. After reading this, some of you might feel the need to cheer me up or give me advice like people have done in the past so many times, but this is something I have to face and work out on my own. Simply listening is enough to make me just a little happier.

I always pictured Ragefest as a pretty niche thing. I never really have seen anyone look at the hacking community and think

"The hacking community? You mean the rage inducing chapters (or something?)"

I think its true to a degree that ragefest tends to promote shoddy design more than good design, but it does encourage creative ways to make a chapter challenging. Without ragefest, we wouldn't have Matthew's nightmare, after all, heck. We may not have had MAFC!

I can understand that Ragefest is burning you out and I can empathize with wanting to get back into doing what makes you happy.

So ultimately I guess the best course of action is to do what does make you happy. Finishing RF and then doing what you want to do seems like the best thing for ya.

For the record, I know your relationship with SF has been rough in the past. But I like to think we've all started to turn a new leaf. I hope that one day you'll feel like you aren't stepping on eggshells over here.

I can't speak for everyone but you're always welcome at the forest, marky.

[Baldrick]

Geez, my submission was that bad? Now I'm half afraid to watch it.

I hope you work out what you want to do. There's no point continuing to do something that makes you stressed. No matter how I word it, it still sounds like advice.. oh well.

[MarkyJoe1990]

It's not your submission, Baldrick. These thoughts have been dwelling in my mind for a while. I've just been too afraid to talk about them until now.

[Avraxas]

I needed a moment to think about what I said, but... I dunno. I wanna say a few things about it, I guess. I apologize if it comes off as too over the top or something...

...

I don't feel like Ragefest is necessarily a good thing for the community anymore. The more I look at it, the more I feel like it's a contest that encourages shoddiness rather than quality. It doesn't give the community a good reputation, and seeing me get mad and yell at submissions isn't going to remain appealing forever. It's a contest that either needs to go away, or get a complete overhaul like we've been discussing lately in this thread.

Even then - and perhaps it's just because I'm feeling depressed at the moment - but I feel like I don't deserve to be the go-to FE hack LPer guy anymore, assuming I ever was in the first place. I look at the stuff like what Ghast makes and I think to myself "This guy seems a lot more passionate about FE hacks and the hacking community than I am. He is good for its future." and I wonder to myself what the hell am I doing to make things better.

Then I also look at the fact that I want to go back to LPing FE3, as well as working on my hack, Chronicles Of Lussaria, and I realize the only reasons I'm not doing those things is because I feel the need to do Ragefest because so many people made submissions. So many people are eagerly waiting to see me play their stuff, and I feel like I'm doing a disservice by holding off on that to do other things. I'm probably putting too much on myself, but I feel guilty knowing that people spent so much of their time just to make a little thing for me to play.

What I want is to - for once - be excited about watching OTHER people's FE hack LPs. While a part of me wants to be successful on youtube, I don't think that's ever gonna happen, and sometimes I wish I could go back to when I was 17, working on my stupid little FE hack, Fire Mumblem and watching someone play it and get a few cheap laughs. Those were simpler days, back when I had someone like Luizprower to have as a close friend.

I don't know why I'm saying all this... I don't even think I've accurately portrayed how I actually feel, but I feel the need to speak from my heart for once because every time I go on these forums, I feel like I'm walking on eggshells and being someone I'm not, and I'm tired of hiding.

One more thing. After reading this, some of you might feel the need to cheer me up or give me advice like people have done in the past so many times, but this is something I have to face and work out on my own. Simply listening is enough to make me just a little happier.

I probably wouldn't have come to this community had it not been for Ragefest, so I pretty much owe that to you. Making Tales of Purt was also a very fun project, and I doubt that would have ever come to be without Ragefest either.

You do whatever you want to do, Marc, but you definitely have presence in the FE community.

[Baldrick]

About that top-left dragon, he simply becomes aggressive at turn 14. When you asked me before, I thought you were talking about the dragon to the right of him (in my defense, I didn't have access to the map or my event source). There's no dialogue that mentions how the actual top-left dragon behaves; I didn't anticipate that you'd be able to get all the way up there, and lure and get past his buddy before turn 14.

[MarkyJoe1990]

Thank you for your support, Avraxas and GhastStation. Those are... actually really nice to hear.

@Baldrick: That's okay. As the others said, I always find a way to break people's levels.

[Baldrick]

More comments:

-Farina is talking about robbing Lyn of her vulnerary; the dialogue's a little vague there.
-"I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to do": basically I told you the goal (get to the house to the west) and nothing else to see how you'd play the first part.
- I love your reaction when you realise the purpose of the pitchfork dragons.
- You really don't want to play the version before I put console Canto in. Once you get surrounded, you're dead.
- To be honest, I don't understand why the tutorial junk happens at all. I did use the tutorial killer, I can only assume I made it remove only some of the events somehow.
- "Hilariously dickish" is what I was aiming for, so I'm glad you saw the funny side of it.
-Around 20:39, with the trolling dragon, I think that must have been exactly turn 14. The dragons tend to chase you in a certain way (they'll move up, then right so that they're horizontally level with you) so it's impossible to get past those two unless you lure them towards the south.
-'Twas truly an epic trial, Marky and quest to reach that one house. I shed a single tear when you finally made it.
- I have a 100% reliable strategy to beat it, and a couple of my betatesters beat it, so that's enough for me. As long as those two things are true, there's no such thing as too brutal.
-"What the fuck?" is another good way of describing this submission.
-The Sain part was basically an extra-long opening cutscene. It did make you laugh once or twice, so I consider it a success.
- I remember you saying once that you preferred chapters to be "short but sweet", so that's what I did. To think I was worried it would be too short.
- Although that trolling dragon wasn't actually a troll, I do agree I could have made some parts more intuitive.

Anyway, this has been fun. I've got some good feedback, and inspiration for future projects. Thanks for playing it.

[RandomSwordmaster]

I needed a moment to think about what I said, but... I dunno. I wanna say a few things about it, I guess. I apologize if it comes off as too over the top or something...

...

I don't feel like Ragefest is necessarily a good thing for the community anymore. The more I look at it, the more I feel like it's a contest that encourages shoddiness rather than quality. It doesn't give the community a good reputation, and seeing me get mad and yell at submissions isn't going to remain appealing forever. It's a contest that either needs to go away, or get a complete overhaul like we've been discussing lately in this thread.

Even then - and perhaps it's just because I'm feeling depressed at the moment - but I feel like I don't deserve to be the go-to FE hack LPer guy anymore, assuming I ever was in the first place. I look at the stuff like what Ghast makes and I think to myself "This guy seems a lot more passionate about FE hacks and the hacking community than I am. He is good for its future." and I wonder to myself what the hell am I doing to make things better.

Then I also look at the fact that I want to go back to LPing FE3, as well as working on my hack, Chronicles Of Lussaria, and I realize the only reasons I'm not doing those things is because I feel the need to do Ragefest because so many people made submissions. So many people are eagerly waiting to see me play their stuff, and I feel like I'm doing a disservice by holding off on that to do other things. I'm probably putting too much on myself, but I feel guilty knowing that people spent so much of their time just to make a little thing for me to play.

What I want is to - for once - be excited about watching OTHER people's FE hack LPs. While a part of me wants to be successful on youtube, I don't think that's ever gonna happen, and sometimes I wish I could go back to when I was 17, working on my stupid little FE hack, Fire Mumblem and watching someone play it and get a few cheap laughs. Those were simpler days, back when I had someone like Luizprower to have as a close friend.

I don't know why I'm saying all this... I don't even think I've accurately portrayed how I actually feel, but I feel the need to speak from my heart for once because every time I go on these forums, I feel like I'm walking on eggshells and being someone I'm not, and I'm tired of hiding.

One more thing. After reading this, some of you might feel the need to cheer me up or give me advice like people have done in the past so many times, but this is something I have to face and work out on my own. Simply listening is enough to make me just a little happier.

Like Avraxas, if it wasn't for Ragefest, I never would've came to this community and discovered the plethora of rom hacks here, as well as their huge potential. I would've never gotten into shows like RWBY from hacks like FE: Dust to Dust. I would've never challenged myself to make a Ragefest hack, despite having zero knowledge about ROM hacking. I would've never started offering my services as a ROM hacker to those who did not have to knowledge to do so, yet had ideas they wished to realize. A lot of my experiences and memories in the past two years, I owe to you marky. Twas a fun ride, and no matter what you do marky, I'm sure the FE community will support you the entire way.

​now I have to figure out new things for the next MAFC....

[Wayward Winds]

I think you're suffering from ragefest burnout Marc. That's perfectly understandable. As everyone else is saying, do what you must. It's your mental health at stake.

That said, I disagree when you say that Ragefest has no place in the FE hacking community anymore. It's a mixed bag when it comes to quality and inventiveness, but that's the case with any contest. It's done plenty of good; it's attracted people to the community, and it's produced some pretty good stuff. And it's a great way to inspire innovation. I expect most of the experienced hackers in the community, even those not actively hacking at the moment, keep an eye on the contest. Not necessarily for the submissions that rely on stats and enemy numbers to provide the rage simply by excessive difficulty, but because many of the submissions try something unusual. It's a way to see new things you can do with the old FE GBA engine. In fact, I distinctly remember you saying in the Lyn's Revenge submission that newcomers using Ragefest as an opportunity to make their first proper hack have a habit of coming up with stuff that veteran hackers would simply not notice, just because they don't "know" what you can and can't do.

Ghast's MAFC is a worthy alternative, but I'm not sure it's so good for innovation. One of the big goals of any good ragefest hack is to catch the player off guard, and the best way to do that is to try something new. With MAFC, players go in with the simple goal of having "fun", and that's actually a bit more restrictive than "rage" as a goal to work towards when developing.

Anyway, if you've had enough of ragefest for the time being, then give it a break. Perhaps you could pass the buck to someone else for the next round and sit back, see if being an observer rather than the sole thing the whole thing hinges upon helps rekindle interest. Perhaps let the next set be played by, say, five let's players you choose, and you just come down for final judgement. Don't let ragefest dictate your life; that's essentially what's happening at the moment when you have to do the whole thing yourself. And that, I think, is the biggest problem here. You can't control what gets submitted, because you still have to play it to get an idea of whether the submission fits within the rules. But you can control how much weight it shoves on your shoulders. Share the burden!

...Even if ragefest as a contest dies, I hope the category of hacks won't. I don't think it will, because there'd probably still be some people putting hacks up on occasion. And I'd probably be one of them. (I finally came up with a concept I liked: rather than go for something overly planned to force the player through a set course of actions, I'd change a basic FE mechanic. Rather than do 3x damage, criticals would do 0 damage. Sit back and watch how long it takes for the players to adapt. "Well I'll give my swordmaster that Wo Dao and send her out to murder the enemies and... oh." "Eight heros with killer axes? Fuuu- or not." I'd rebalance stuff accordingly and shove a few other things as well, but that would be the main gimmick.)