Sorry about that. You may have noticed I ain't on-line on itch that much. And since I do most of my updates here through Butler I really can do a lot without getting onto the site. (The only reason I was on-line now was to write a quick fixlog on my game  "Who is the Virus?", since although it was a small update, the one hotfix did cover a major problem, but I saw your comment then). 

So I guess my replies are always a bit late here.

A game jam, eh? Well perhaps I can add my BallPlay++ game even though it's far from finished (and the game will crash or show other unwanted behavior as a result at the present time), although I coded that game entirely in C++ and not in a Blitz variant.

And a Python like syntax you say? Well, I guess some elements of Python are in there. I most of all mixed elements I liked about Lua, C++, C#, Pascal and also a bit of BASIC.

Would almost make me think that if I were to create a .deb or .rpm file that I should make it just install the Windows binaries with WINE as a dependency, and using a Shell script as startup file which would automatically start wine with my games. 

Well the core engines of my most recent work are coded in C++ lately with SDL2 for graphics, audio and stuff like that, and I guess given the popularity of SDL2, I don't expect too much issues in WINE. Or am I thinking too optimistic now?

Thank you. Well, since I only have Linux on a virtual machine right now, things are hard for me to test. All I can do is see if stuff compiles and, that's it.  Running a Windows build in WINE, eh? Yeah, I guess that's always an option, though I'm not sure if this could cause speed issues.

I am currently working to redo the game: "The Fairy Tale REVAMPED" ( https://phantasar-productions.itch.io/the-fairy-tale-revamped )

The main reason for this is because I am getting more and more performance trouble with the game the way it is, not to mention due to the game being primary set up for OpenGL which appears to be removed on more and more systems, I just needed to do something to preserve the game for the future. However, the game's engine (LAURA II) first of all sucks, and second was coded in BlitzMax and I guess the BlitzMax compiler doesn't like me anymore.

So, I made a new engine, named the Apollo Engine, which is entirely coded in C++, which uses SDL2 for graphics, audio and event handing.

What will be different in the new version

1.  The underlying file system, named JCR6 remained, as I created it myself, so I could easily redo that in C++.  (And I even improved it)
2. Same goes for the Kthura Map Engine.  The only adaptions to the maps may be some under the hood stuff
3. I created my own programming language named "Neil" and that is what will be used for the scripting. Neil is just a shell over Lua, so Lua is the true scripting engine. I do have some ideas for my own scripting engine over time, but this ain't gonna be an easy undertaking, so for now Neil has to do. (The syntax of this new language will likely be very similar to Neil)
4. Mac Support will be discontinued. I simply don't like the way Apple is going so I stopped using a Mac. Leaves me no way to test any Mac versions of the game. If you are willing to port the Apollo Game Engine for Mac, you're free to do so.  (https://github.com/NeilProject/ApolloGameEngine). I will however not deem those ports "official", but other than that, go ahead. The license allows it.
5. For Linux I will make no promises yet. Linux and I have never been good friends. I may require some assistance there when the time comes.
6. The story line remains the same. 
7. The basics of the interface will remain the same, only a few tiny updates that worked out a bit better either visually or on the underlying engine.
8. Save Game files will NOT be compatible between the old and the new game. The technical specifications of LAURA II and Apollo are simply too much different for that.
9. Support for both the Game Jolt API and Anna will be discontinued. The server on which Anna lives is about to be closed any time soon, and when it comes to Game Jolt, I don't wish the game to be tied to Game Jolt anymore. Please note,  the old game will once the new game goes into the Open Alpha, not be able to contact Game Jolt anymore, so don't even try.
10. Just like the old game, the new one will support a New Game+ feature in which you can gain extra experience and in which even four more sidequests are featured. Of course, the New Game+ only gets available when you finished the game at least once. However, I am willing to see if I can provide an extra tool which will scan the old Game Jolt API to see if you have some trophies you could only get by finishing the game, and use that to enable the New Game+ right away. I also plan to make it able to look through your old saved game files to see if the New Game+ could be unlocked based on the data it finds in there, however the latter is NOT a promise.
11. The old game needed a launcher. This sometimes gave trouble with overprotective anti-virus software. The new game doesn't need this. That will save us all a lot of trouble.

Now in case you never played the original game before, a quick recap of the game itself.

The story of "The Fairy Tale" was the first story I ever wrote taking place on the magical world of Phantasar. On the continent of Delisto, the humans, the Fairies, the Dwarves and the Elves have been at war for 10,000 years, and nobody has a clue what the conflict was actually about. When the young Fairy Girl falls in love with Jake (even unwillingly binding herself magically to him in the progress, which is only a natural thing for Fairies to do), she foolishly makes a big mistake in order to make a relationship possible awakening an all destroying Black Dragon in the progress.... At least, so the legend says. When Jake and Marrilona start to do research in order to correct their mistake they discover that things are not really the same as the legend says, and so they end up in an adventure in which they befriend the Dwarfish warrior Dandor and the Elfish high priest Hando Stillor, and together they will find out the truth about the racial war.

The game is a turned based RPG game, entirely interfaced to be played with a mouse.  Although I do not recommend to play the game on mobile devices (it's too demanding on the hardware), the interface will be set up to make touchscreen possible, however, this is absolutely not recommended. (No official ports planned yet, anyway, but hey, if you wanna port it yourself. The engine is open source, after all).

Some nice gameplay features in the game:

• Four characters with each their own special strengths and weaknesses in order to give a well-balanced party
• Easy to understand user interface
• Flexible level cap. You got things a bit in your own hands here.
• Special skills you can work out in order to earn new spells and special moves
• There are masters who can alter your stats (both good and bad) and teach you neat stuff if you fill their requirements
• Many bosses and optional bosses
• Many sidequests
• A New Game+ feature for when you finished the game at least once, which does not only allow you to gain experience faster, but also features 4 extra sidequests the normal game doesn't have (in which one really goes into the deep of the past of the main antagonist).
• All four heroes also have one passive ability which can really work in their benefit.

If you want to play the original game, it's still on itch.io, go ahead, but keep in mind:

• The original game will be removed once the new game goes into the "Open Alpha"
• Save games are incompatible
• Keep in mind the old game may run terribly, if it runs at all.
• Technical support can no longer be given for it.

I definitely hope to fill you in on more information as the development goes. Since the new game uses most of the same assets and also many of the same underlying databases, the process should go quick once I got the combat engine to work fully in the new game (combat always has been the biggest issue in all my RPG games). However I cannot say how long it will take for the new version to be fully up and running. I'd just say, stay tuned!

This project really looks interesting. Is this compatible with Visual Studio 2019? (The reason I ask is because a lot of libraries I tried contain code Microsoft simply blocks as being "deprecated". If basic C functions like strcpy can cause a compile error because of that). Since RAD files are quite small (and since I also have a love for the old Adlib tunes) I am considering to add RAD support into my Apollo Game Engine, but what kind of license does the RAD code have?

This is me playing STAR KILL: 

Game is available here: https://phantasar-productions.itch.io/star-kill
Source code: https://github.com/PhantasarProductions/StarKill

WTF? The artwork looks serious... the title does not

Perhaps forgotten to remove, surfacing only now that people ask about it?

Now the concept sounds cool enough, however what I wonder is this.... I think that when it comes to making the computer read the newspaper for a blind person or something this could do wonderfully, and what I heard sounds very clear. However when it comes to story driven games such as RPG and point-and-click-adventures where the heroes and villains of the story actually speak, I'm not quite sure if AI can produce the proper acting... I mean, then emotion can play a role, like happiness, being in love, or being angry. But I also doubt a computer can put the right tone emphasis on rhetorical questions or even better sarcasm. In sarcasm in particular the kind of speaking is very important as the tone will make it clear the character who speaks is being sarcastic.  

When it comes to a voice over for an introduction story.... well, I guess then maybe this will do... After all then clear speech is more important, and I could understand it quite well, and given the fact that English is not my first language, I guess that counts a little.

Thank you for your time. The dependencies I work with now should be rather common (zlib and SDL2, (plus SDL2_Mixer and SDL2_Image)), but since I do not know what the future brings. Linux ports are not even a promise yet, but a friend of mine who is a real geek (and he even takes pride in that, so I can safely say that) did already say he'd help me when the time comes. Yet I do see that AppImage can still be a good way to go to make sure "nothing can go wrong"... well it sounds at least most "fool-proof" to me, at least for the itch app. A deb/rpm may still be an option as separate download for the more "purist Linux user" I guess... ?

Now when it comes to Linux builds of games, dependencies can in portable builds be a kind of an issue. Full packages do at least ensure these are all properly installed. Now I've been out of Linux for quite some time, but I believe there's the AppImage project to cover this up... Or is that project not running anymore? Since I'm interested in porting the projects I'm doing now to Linux it will be nice to know what the best method of distribution will be (as that has always been a bit of pain in Linux).

Oh my.... That sounds embarrassing... Thumbs up for admitting this openly though...
I was recently trying to sort out the code of my old LAURA II engine (used in two RPGs hosted here on itch), and there I know I wrote that code before digging through it, and I wonder what I was thinking when I wrote that crap.  Now that is not the reason why the two games this concerns (Star Story and The Fairy Tale REVAMPED) are about to be rewritten in a new engine (it has more to do with the language I used... The compiler refuses to work on me, and I want to make sure I can preserve those games for the future) anyway, but as that did require me to analyze my own code, I hate myself.

"Rabbit hole"... Yeah I guess so... Even when I dig through my own code when I haven't touched it in years I am always baffled... So let alone when I look through other people's code.

Oh, that's also good to know ;)

Ah, yeah, I had be looking that up and couldn't find it (but going to other people's source without knowing their coding style can quite often lead astray), and that line was exactly what I wanted to see... Thanks a lot!

Thank you. Now my primary system is currently Windows 10, since sine Windows uses the "h" attribute to hide files I should (I guess) sort out of butler takes this into account, although in my many years that I was a Mac user and thus in a Unix environment I've gone to like the Unix approach to many things more... All my own programs consider the . prefix as hidden now, but that doesn't mean others follow suit.
Since I guess butler was written in Go if I wasn't mistaken, I guess it will work the same in Windows.... Thank you for trying this out for me ;)

I am currently working on a small project in which all files that are now in my github repository are actually the same as that I would be distributing here on itch.io, if I would ever release it here (depends on how things go there). Now what I wonder this this. We all know that git relies on data stored in the secret .git folder. Since I see no need to have that folder distributed here on itch, I wonder, does when I just use butler to push that project to itch.io see that .git folder pushing it up here as well, or is butler sophisticated enough to ignore that secret .git folder?

I do not know well Phantasmagoria runs on modern computers, since it uses the newest version for the SCI engine Sierra ever made, and so far that SCI version has always been buggy on me in other games written in it. The game uses real actors, so that girl that is you is portrayed by a real actress, however the graphics hardware of the time wasn't fully ready for that, and thus they had to convert that to 256 graphics, and they used the highest resolution they could back in the day, hence the need of seven CDs. Although gameplay wise the game is a bit flawed, the horror mood was definitely kept well, and the finale is quite heavy,  and I must say the ending when you finished the game is quite realistic.

One thing I gotta warn you about in Phantasmagoria. During the finale you have very little time and a lot to do an one mistake and you will die and your savegame will get deleted (only happens i f you die during the finale. If you die earlier you can still reload a savegame). I don't really know what Sierra was thinking there. When it comes to the story Phantasmagoria is actually a recommendation if you love horror.

Now it's hard to imagine given the sweet looks of the King's Quest series, but Roberta Williams is said to be a horror fan. 

And yeah, I agree that with Alice the art direction and voice acting was indeed spot on. Now Alice herself was already portrayed wonderfully by her voice actor, but the guy who voiced the cat nailed it completely. ;)

I'm overall not a horror fan, but there are two horror games I've actually played. First of all Phantasmagoria. This game may not be really famous anymore, however it was designed by Robertta Williams who also brought us the King's Quest series, and the game was developed by Sierra On-Line. The game was notorious for the need of SEVEN(!) CD-ROMs in order to play it. In the game you assume the role of a young woman who just moved with her husband to a mansion. While her husband is trying to get several things done to make the house suitable for living, you explore the house and eventually discover it was once owned by an evil guy whose spirit still lingers in the place and eventually takes possession of tadaa... your husband, who as a result goes mad and becomes more and more dangerous. You will also get some horror illusions among the game. The game does not work in jumpscares, but rather in a mood that gets creepier the more of the game you have solved.

The other horror game is Alice: Madness Returns, and I need to note that this is a psychological horror. You assume the role of Alice Liddell, the heroine of the Alice and Wonderland story. Traumatized by the fire that destroyed her house, and killed her parents and sister she is getting therapy by Dr. Bumby in order to forget all about that fire. This makes sense given the fact that Alice in Wonderland takes place during the Victorian era of the U.K. and back in this years it was a general consensus that whenever something bad happens you have to forget about it and move on (having traumas myself I know that this ain't gonna work, but today that is acknowledged, but this idea is pretty new). Alice however gets madder and madder, and seeks refuge in Wonderland, the world of her own imagination. However as the game progresses, Alice will actually get crazier and crazier until the moment the culprit of the murder and fire pops back in her memory (whose identity I will not reveal to prevent spoilers). The crazier she becomes the more horrible Wonderland looks, since it's nothing more but a reflection of her own mind. Once again, no jumpscares, and maybe not even that you sit on the tip of your chair out of fear, but yet a creepy mood that gets creepier all the way as Alice nearly "drowns" in her own madness. Especially when you see her memories of being in the madhouse (which is enough to get anyone crazy, and some of the "treatments" (read well-intended maiming) are actually historically correct, to make matters worse) you know you can better not play this game when little kids are around (the game does in the EU have an 18+ rating).

The comparing looks like it makes sense, but reality thought me it doesn't. First of all what AOL planned doesn't matter for the law. Moerstaal was first, and that is what counts.

--> Dutch news articles from 2001 do use "Netschaap" to refer to Netscape and directly state that this was commonplace in the contemporary Internet.
Which news channels. Not the ones I followed back then. All news channels I followed used "Netschaap" to refer to "Netschaap" and not to Netscape. Since nearly everybody in the Netherlands speaks English fluently English names haven't been translated for years, except in products that are aimed for children, which is for a web browser not the case.

So if that was AOL's intension their intensions were given the fact the name was already taken no longer legal. Also cases in which amateur productions were removed to the use. There are by the way more cases in which lawsuits over a name led to misery. I just recommend against using the name "Scratch", as all I showed is the top of the iceberg of the long list of many cases.  Also I would never link "scratch" to "itch" so this leading to Scratch to think it refers to them is not so odd, and then it comes down to what judges believe. More risky than you think.

And when it comes to amateur productions being hunted down due to references (and then I do not mean only "fangames" that are actual remakes, but mere references), the number of cases is beyond counting. Especially Nintendo and Wizards of the Coast are rather infamous for that.  I do not know about Scratch on this point, but as policies change... Personally I could use the name for anything as long as it's not gaming related.

I wouldn't state that 3D games are graphically better... Some 3D games are actually a graphic nightmare, and then I limit myself to the graphics alone. Take Final Fantasy VII, and then I mean the not-in-combat models... They look terrible even for its time. The in-combat-models however are already a lot better.  I know I now triggered a nerve at many fans for bashing down FF7, but I must be frank here.  And there are also a lot of 2D games out there that are graphic jewels in a way that 3D could never reach... Of course, the choice is also dependent on the type of game. 

I did once play a demo in which the creator tried to make a setup for a point and click adventure (for which 2D is nearly always better, tbh) in which they tried to make the entire world look like painting by the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh.  If that is the style you opt for, I think 2D is by far the better choice unless you are a real expert of the highest level when it comes to 3D.  However when I take a look at "Alice: Madness Returns", that game has a kind of getup that works only because the game is 3D, not only because of the game's mechanics (A 3D platformer with slight adventure aspects), but also due to the kind of mood they tried to create and the way they tried to combine realism with surrealism worked out so well due to the 3D graphics. 

It always comes down to the type of game you create.

Not a single soul in my neighborhood (all Netscape users back in the day, at least those who actually had internet back then) would use the word "Netschaap" to refer to Netscape. Now I do like only 20 km away from the (Belgian) border, but that's still Netherlands (and on the Belgian side of the border they still speak Dutch, at least when you pass it near my hometown). 

When it comes to trademark names things are always a bit complicated, especially when the trademark or brand name is used for different purposes. The name "Sierra" is the name of a car model by Ford, but it was also the name of a game development company. 

Indeed AOL lost the case, however that was a close call as they initially won the case, however when Moerstaal, owner of the Netschaap domain went to a higher judge the earlier verdict was overruled, making that AOL ultimately lost the case. Now I must say even when it was a parody cases like these are not easily won. I do remember that when the band Aqua had a hit song with "Barbie girl" that Mattel, the owner of the Barbie doll brand on which the song was clearly based, tried to sue Aqua for that, however the judge deemed the case so silly they didn't even wanna look at it making Mattel lose the case before the trial even had begun (especially since the judge wanted Mattel to explain why the sales on Barbie dolls broke all sales records when that song was a hit if the song was so bad to Mattel's image). YMCA by the Village People was almost sued by YMCA but the case was withdrawn when YMCA had far more reservations than before that song came. 

Even though cases like these are not easily successful, it can still save a lot of stress, and dealing with lawyers and such (the Netscape case did cost Moerstaal a lot of money for getting a layer and such in order. Since I had a subdomain hosted by Moerstaal myself I received a pretty detailed latter about the case). Moerstaal was big enough to get some people to help getting that all done. As a lonely indie developer you have not, and that's why I personally recommend to avoid brand names, trademarks and so on...

It's Dutch, since I replied to somebody from the Netherlands that was only obvious.
Translated to English it means: "Thanks for the information. Good to know I got some countrymen here"

I think No Time To Play said it best by asking "The best engines for what? It depends on the games I want to make."

I've always said that the best programming language doesn't exist, and the same goes for game engines. And I prefer to code my own game engines, the the one I'm using now is just written in C++, although I must admit I've used the SDL2 framework into it to save myself a lot of work, as you really don't wanna do the work that SDL2 takes out of your hands yourself, no sir. 

Is my own engine better than others? For me it is... but I'm quite sure it might not be suitable for others, but why should I care about that? I created it for my own purposes, and I did make it open source, so if you think you have a use for it, I won't stop you (I may later try to create to make some things more user friendly and document it out better and create a page for it, but for now, it's enough that it fills my own needs). 

I don't believe in "the best"... I believe in the tool that works for me.

Apple doesn't want you to use anything not coming from the AppStore or from developers who pay over $100 a year to Apple.
There are however some security setting you can set less agressive. The first time you run the app, click it with the right mouse button or hold ctrl-and-click if you have a one button mouse, and then select "open"... you will still get a warning, but the choice to open it anyway, and when you open it again later, the issue should no longer be there. 

Apple is just a little paranoid, or money hungry... your choice.... If the itch.io app does bypass this, that would be good.  For me this was a reason to quit Mac.

Bedankt voor de informatie. Goed te weten dat ik hier nog landgenoten heb ;)

I wrote a review about this game on my tumblr page: https://trickyjeroenbroks.tumblr.com/post/640464773103960064/victory-heat-rally-...

Something tells me making that link almost invisible was a rather strategic move.

When it comes to the usage of existing names in your product I always advice caution. When it comes to linking a game to a site the notice is all fine and even necessary, like an on-line trophy system, which itch.io does not have, but a similar game site does. Then noting the name of the site is just vital.

When it comes to your game containing a name, like in this case itch.io, I would actually advise against it. First of all the copyright issues are likely what is not in the way. The way I estimate the admins now they may not even mind. But what if itch.io would ever get sold? The current staff members are only human after all and won't level forever and you never know the stance of future owners.  And this also brings you to another position. What if itch.io would ever break your trust. Seems silly to say here on the itch.io forums, but I do speak out of experience that websites may sometimes take a very very nasty turn you can never agree with. Many companies in general I used to speak highly of are now on my personal blacklist. If that would ever happen in the future the name is already in your game, and it can be one hell of a job to remove it all. That alone is reason enough to avoid it.

Of course, it is always your choice, and regardless if the itch.io staff allows it or not, I personally recommend against it.

Please note that Scratch already is an existing name for an on-line code-less game programming language. So I wouldn't use that.

Also note that there was in the Netherlands once a kind of weblog (before blogging really became a thing) about NetSchaap. This led to being sued by AOL the owners of the back then popular web browser Netscape. Yeah, I know it's absolutely crazy, but it really happened. The blog NetSchaap (literally "Net Sheep") was about the adventures of a virtual sheep, to make the case even more silly. 

The time that people blindly assumed 3D was better than 2D is thank goodness behind us (it would be even better if it never existed).
Rather a good 2D game than a bad 3D game. In the end people should opt for the quality of the game itself and not if a game is 2D or 3D...
Frankly a real gamer couldn't care less about that.

Kssa has a point that 2D games are indeed quite often more friendly on the hardware, but frankly that should not be the most valid point.

Pixel Art is indeed a point of discussion, as scaling is getting an issue here. When it comes to people not wanting to touch pixel art... well the question is if you should bother about those people anyway to put it bluntly. A true gamer respects the choices a developer makes when it comes to the art choice. Of course, the question is if pixel art is the best choice for all games out there... that is not, but the same goes for 3D, vector graphics, well... anything. I mean the famous NES-tune for Mario is well-fit for Mario, but would it fit in a very extremely dark horror game... I think not... When it comes to the visual art style of a game, the same choices should be made.

I'm not really into 3D, however this is a cool setup nonetheless.

I am a Gmail user too. I could try to send a mail as well to test if it works from here.

I would recommend against it, as github was specifically setup to work with git (hence its name). Git has been set up to handle pretty complex projects, while butler is only a quick update program and set up to handle full releases, where git is for handling active projects and on which many people work too.  So it ain't so strange that getting the full grasp how how git works is harder than to understand butler. 

And the only good way for butler to support github will in the end still be to use git as a dependency and even if it's possible to use butler for the whole update you would when connection issues is why you want it get the same issues as butler would be bound to the same protocol and connection methods git uses, this because this is simply how the git network is set up, and all clients making use of that are therefore bound by the same rules. So Butler will not be able to solve your connection issues, unfortunately.

Git is after all a version control system, and its network is setup the way it is for a reason.  I therefore deem it likely that if you go to other git-based networks (like GitLabs or BitBucket) you will likely have the same issues. 

I think it will be more fruitful to find out why you have these connection issues with git and try out if git itself also provides ways to deal with those. Stability issues with git are not something that should happen, since most package managers use the git network to keep their data in how to install packages and if versions are still up to date etc. Unix based systems therefore rely heavily on this, and there are also such managers for Windows (Scoop and Chocolatey) and as far as I know they are also reliant on git. I deem it also possible you should have a chat with your ISP.

Trying to convert a tool to do that for which it was not intended to do, will mostly only undermine its primary function. And since Butler is extremely robust for what it was set out to do (at least as far as I experienced so far), I don't think we should undermine that, especially not since the tools that were set up for the job are likely not where the "evil" lies.

The Secrets of Dyrt.NET has been released.

This game is a remake of my original Secrets of Dyrt, the story is the same, but the game mechanics have been replaced with a new system that is still close to the old one, but still different on a few vital points, and a complete new engine must make the game more in line of my current RPG style and some improvements along the way. The work title ".NET" refers to the first version of the engine being written in C#, and the current version of the game does require .NET 4.8

Quick Story Summary: Assume the role of Eric Sylvertin. A very insecure boy with an inferiority complex because his twin sister Rebecca appears to be better in everything. However a mysterious Order of Onyx seems to hunt him down for reasons nobody knows, and not only that, the ancient holy dragons appear to have an interest in Eric as well. Eric is now forced to travel the world of Phantasar together with his sister Rebecca, foster sister Irravonia, and his new-made friends, Seelah Gandra, Dernor, Brendor, Merya and Aziëlla,  in order to stay out the hands of the order and to find out what is so special about himself making him wanted by the order in the first place.
A story with a very expanded background lore, and deeply set up character development awaits you here.

Requirements:
- Windows 10 (now I do think the game should run on Windows 7 and 8 too and maybe even Windows Vista, but I never tested that and is not officially supported).
- .NET 4.8
- A mouse (or tracker ball or any similar device).

NOTE: The game is officially still in beta status. If you find any bugs you think I don't know about, don't hesitate to make note of them on my issue tracker.

Check it out: https://phantasar-productions.itch.io/dyrt-net