Hey, guys.

I thought I'd take a minute and say 'Thanks' to the folks who put this little bundle of creativity together. Vecna and the dev crew, McG and the operations crew, and the many folks who create and release tools to help us all make our games, and to help make our games better...

Thanks.

I have spent many years watching and toying around with VERGE. As a longtime fan of the venerable Phantasy Star series, I have always enjoyed tinkering with tile-based RPG design and development. I personally get an enormous amount of enjoyment by building games-- often more enjoyment than playing them. I suspect I share that with many of you... particularly you long-time VERGErs.

I've watched the engine go through three major revisions (more, actually, but three we can point to)-- and VERGE 3 is a significant step forward. With this latest release we find a new maturity of vision, code, and technology. This is a truly function work, and short of a good tile editor built into MapEd (*ahem*), I submit that the VERGE engine has reached the highest point of it's existance. A handful of features in the works (finishing maped, floats, some basic 'get you started' libraries, and more) will nicely round out the already feature-rich recent release.

The incredible work of McGrue (et. al) on the recent Sully release is a boon to new and experienced VERGErs alike. Not just because we finally get to play the clam in V3, but the (mostly!) detailed documentation, and the encapsulation of 'basic' functionality into 'starter-libs' helps all of us. We no longer need to re-invent the wheel in order to get a game functioning quickly. These blocks of functionality help us build prototypes of other system, within the context of a full game. For example, one of my two projects needed a message box and a menuing system. I could have thrown together a simple set, or used one of the experimental version released by other builders. But to have the unified functionality in a simple (somewhat) to implement library means I can drop it into my code, get it working in a couple of hours, and go back to working on the more important piece: my combat system. I can implement my combat system within the larger framework of a 'full game' because McG and his crew put this code in a 'drag and drop' format. I need to also mention the efforts put forth on the site. Every community needs a solid home-base, and McG and crew have put together a place we can all call home. The online documentation project is a success, and I look forward to continued efforts to provide the right information, in the right format, to the people who need it.

I am constantly awed by the work done by the active people in the community. Ultimately, it is the community of game designers and builders that make VERGE relevant. Sure the dev team could build these tools for the sake of building tools, but without the community actually implementing functionality, building features, assembling art assets, and releasing working demos and games, VERGE would simply be a neat proof-of-concept. Instead we have a working graphics, sound, and input engine, with an extensive tile-based map and entity piece, that is capable of creating and far surpassing it's original vision: Phantasy Star IV. There is so much un-tapped potential here... and the incredible creativity alive within the community will elevate all of our efforts to new heights. I look forward to more releases, at any stage of development. There is nothing more motivating and enlightening than seeing what other people are doing. I will be releasing some of my meager attempts at game development soon, and I hope you will join me. Participation comes in many forms here, but all of it is worth gold.

I applaud the efforts of the creators and supporters of VERGE. You have stolen an incredible amount of my time, but have given back an immeasurable amount of satisfaction and joy.

-l

That was beautiful.

verge is the best. it's one percent genius and 99% hard work. didn't michaelangelo say that?

Well, I love seeing releases of what people have been working on. Not only does it inspire me to work on my own project, it helps build ideas and stuff for new content.

It's awesome how far I've come since I rejoined the community in mid-September. I had no idea how to use ints, strings, No idea how to PrintString and make it stay on the screen for a little while. But everyone has supported me and helped me with questions, it's really a wonder that I've learned so much.

Everyone here is just glorious. . . .

Except McGrue. Everyone except him.