Confusion, anger, frustration, acceptance, straight shot of vodka. This is more a status news update than a feature-rich news update.
Malice
So, the ZDoom community got flipped upside down the day before I decided to release AGDoom's latest version and settle on taking a break. In fact, I wasn't planning on doing a monthly update for this month since I was going to work on some other ventures such as the Metroid OST Remix I did, AGD20 and another idea I've kept in my back pocket for a bit. So, if you're unfamiliar (lucky you), I'll catch you up on what happened to the best of my ability, through words not of my own. I would start with Cardboard Marty's video, then read through this thread, if you feel like trying to grasp the situation if you haven't already.
My best TL;DR - Marisa Kirisame, a somewhat important figure in GZDoom's development, and responsible for creating a variety of mods that are quite notable (such as Soundless Mound, Ouch and Abort). Well, she was outed as a groomer and generally the evidence seems to stack up. She was banned from the ZDoom Forums but as you can see in Cardboard Marty's video, it was very questionable the way the staff handled the situation overall, this is not helped by the activity of people like Rachael on the ZDoom Forums after the fact. A lot of people were wrongfully banned, and while most of them have had their bans lifted, there are some I feel were wrongfully banned and may never see their accounts returned (such as PillowBlaster, whose post was also deleted so at this point it's up to interpretation and hearsay as to whether or not it was justified. Good going ZDoom Forum staff).
So where do I stand on all of this? Well what Marisa did was absolutely fucking wrong and unlike her peers I personally would not be giving her the benefit of the doubt because it seems "out-of-character" (any Groomer will look like a relatively nice, calm person because their dirty little secret cannot be suggested, contemplated or alluded to whatsoever, this is a common occurrence, sadly). I think what the ZDoom Forum staff did to cover this up is appalling, and their actions in banning people is not only exceptionally petty but reeks of their continued attempts to cover up this situation.
What I am about to say is very important: This CANNOT be the sort of thing we just forget about. The actions of many individuals today should permanently stain their reputation. We are talking about illegal activity here. If this was being covered by a local court where everyone was around and under the jurisdiction of US law, the ZDoom Forum staff would be only marginally less guilty for Marisa's crimes for assisting them for their wrongdoings and aiding in the destruction of evidence in the crime. Stop for a moment and contemplate that. Just because this is the internet doesn't mean these people aren't real, that it stops being an issue because you stepped away from your computer. This crime is one of the most egregious, horrible things you could commit.
Now, all of that said: The ZDoom Forums have been undergoing some changes. Marisa Kirisame was banned from the ZDoom Forums (with questionable intent, I will add), and people like Rachael who were (factually) abusing their privileges as the admin of the forums to manipulate posts and wrongfully ban users were removed from the staff. Still, I feel that without a full purge of the site's staff I will never feel comfortable with the entire site. I'm sure there are good people in the ZDoom Forum's staff, but this has crossed a line and now I wouldn't know who to trust, because ultimately there's blood on everyone's hands here.
Juxtaposition
Usually I start the monthly update with information pertaining to the mod and slow-boil in the more loosely-related matters further onward. So, what gives? Well I had to establish a lot of that information to elaborate on a big choice I'm making for the mod here. With that entire controversy broken down to the best of my ability (though I still probably butchered it), I'm voicing further complaints about the development of GZDoom as an engine as well. The entire situation above, mixed with the stagnancy of GZDoom's progress, highly questionable technological decisions that limit the compatibility and quality of mods made for the engine, and a strange series of relatively minor adjustments the GZDoom devs seem to want to die on a hill for has made me question whether I even want to bother continuing development on GZDoom-based mods because it is a continually frustrating series of events for me.
So, I decided it's time to move AGDoom to Q-Zandronum. With Q-Zandronum, I can more comfortably work on AGDoom going forward while being able to focus on stuff I had previously abandoned;
- Return of multiplayer support
- Enhanced movement systems that vary per-class
- Restructured, less buggy experience overall
- Generally more modularity
Q-Zandronum will allow me to do a lot of cool, crazy stuff with AGDoom such as the addition of Quake-style movement, wallrunning or double jumping, entirely seamlessly thanks to features the engine already created and puts forward as one of its most unique features. However, it's gonna take a little bit of time to get this actually implemented, and the overall addition of features will be relatively minor from the point of view of someone who just casually plays this mod occasionally, so whenever I finish that it'll be released as a pretty minor update to help establish AGDoom in the future as a Q-Zandronum-exclusive mod.
Contents Under Pressure
So, what else is happening? Well, as previously mentioned I created a Super Metroid OST remix that I had been working on as a side project for a while. I've been continuing work on AGD20, a tabletop RPG that is set in AGD's universe, a highly experimental project I probably won't elaborate on because I'm not sure whether I'll actually finish it (though I will say that if you're a fan of Hotline Miami or Smash TV you might be pleasantly surprised), and as always, getting work.
I'm hoping that once I establish a solid enough money flow I'll also be able to get some spritework done for the game and get rid of the terrible weapon sprites that are currently in the mod, and maybe some spritework for the enemy roster to give them a more consistent and particular art style.
I've been kind of taking care of my mom more lately and jobs with an actual career attached to them keep slipping from me. I'm hoping to get into a Steel Mill and do four-ons, four-offs which should give me ample stretches of time to still be able to work on my passion projects and make a very comfortable amount of money. We'll see. Whatever the case I just hope I don't have to pick up a job that will exhaust so much of my time I'll stop working on the things I want to work on. We shall see.
This has been Dewm. See you starside. Song for the month.
PS. I played a really neat mod called 'My House'. You should try it.
