Hoping to make your life's design a bit more dynamic!

Hey! This seems like a good forum for this discussion. I'm moving this from email to here.

So I've been looking over D-D projects on RHDN and I see a lot of them are credited to Magic Destiny. Could you guys explain a little more to me (sorry for not having followed this closely until now) the history of Magic Destiny and Dynamic-Designs? Is it more appropriate for most of this older stuff to be listed under Magic Destiny and only newer things under Dynamic-Designs, or as the current steward of these projects should D-D now be the official author of all these Magic Destiny projects?

Magic and Destiny were created in the late 90s. Bongo` began with another group initially, then he re-invented himself as an independent under the Stealth name. Magic (Taskforce) and Destiny (Wildbill) merged into M-D around the turn of the millennium, joined by independents Draken, Akujin, and many others.

Taskforce, Wildbill, and Draken were three of the six or seven charter founders of the CTC, I believe. Two of the others were Faraday (independent) and Musashi (Gaijin Productions). Following CTC's and M-D's "salad" days during the early 2000s, we became dormant for about five years thereafter. But we kept our product archives intact and available to the gaming public without interruption. When Bongo` re-emerged in late 2007 with Lennus-II's code cracked, Draken and he pulled Wildbill and Taskforce out of "retirement".

In 2008, we released Lennus-II as a Stealth/Magic-Destiny joint project and proceeded straight to work on Feda, releasing it as a S/M-D work also, in early 2009. We started Secret Project #1 as an SMD project (loosely merged), but finally announced SP#1 as Mystic Ark and released it as the flagship D-D work, later in 2009. Bongo wanted to drop the "stealth" name forever, so we debated a new name, launched D-D, released MA, and formalized the merger. In the midst of this revolution, between Feda and MA, we recruited Red Soul and put his young ass to work like a red-headed stepchild, hee-hee!

You know the rest. Slayers is our second release under the D-D banner, joint or otherwise. But any project listed in those two sub-sections of this web site should probably be considered D-D projects, jointly or solely, as applicable. I'm assuming this also applies to Stealth Projects prior to Feda that Bongo` imported from his old Stealth site, but please confirm this with him.

This is the complete picture as I see it on RHDN (for completed projects):

D-D projects On RHDN under Magic Destiny:
- Cocoron
- Destiny of an Emperor 2
- FEDA: The Emblem of Justice (also listed under Stealth Translations)
- Lennus II (also listed under Stealth Translations)
- Phantasy Star Gaiden
- Taloon's Great Adventure
- Villgust

D-D projects on RHDN under Stealth Translations
- Just Breed
- Gulliver Boy

D-D projects on RHDN credited to other group
- Ranma 1/2: Treasure of the Red Cat Gang (Naruto, The Ranma Team)

D-D projects on RHDN under D-D
- Mystic Ark
- Slayers

The only Magic Destiny projects listed on RHDN but NOT on D-D are dead or incomplete
- Oni IV: Kishin no Ketsukozoku (incomplete)
- The Magical Land of Wozz (dead)

How do you feel about switching all projects that are currently D-D projects to D-D and removing Magic Destiny, Stealth Translations, Naruto, and The Ranma Team as authors? Is this appropriate or inappropriate? Another option would be adding D-D as an author while leaving the other groups, or just leaving them as they are now.

Personally I'm fine with the switch, as the merger has been going on for a while now, but the final decision depends on the rest of the team as well.
As for the dead projects, I know Wozz was finished by Transcorp (Nightcrawler's). I don't know who's holding Oni currently.

Here is my take, but check with Taskforce on Ranma Red Cat Gang for Manga and Bongo` on anything Stealth related.

1. Taskforce and I edited (cleaned up) Ranma Manga for Naruto and jointly wrote Ranma Anime for M-D, so Ranma Anime should definitely migrate to D-D.

2. But Manga was Naruto's project, and he has disappeared from the scene. If Manga is carried under D-D now, it should probably contain an asterisk or be listed as a joint project with Naruto. As I mentioned, ask TF's opinion.

3. Oni is a sore subject, but a group is allegedly working on it, and Bongo` doesn't want to step on their toes. It was originally Akujin's project that he merged into our database, same as Corcoran and Wozz, and some of us really wanted to do it.

4. Wozz should be dropped altogether from any association with D-D. This was a project I would have pursued wholeheartedly, but Nightcrawler finished it completely, did a decent enough job, and released it, so it's a moot point.

4. Don't you want a carry a joint status in their archives with Slayers?

Certainly. I don't want to take credit away from anyone. Just trying to determine if these groups have kind of evolved into D-D. I'm starting to feel that for historical purposes these should probably be left alone considering that when they were completed the group was called something other than D-D.

The only thing that nags at me is if say someone is looking for the group that did FEDA for instance, and looks for Magic Destiny only to find it doesn't exist anymore, should there be some kind of common path for them to be able to find D-D? Actually I have a good idea! Would it not be appropriate to simply edit the description on projects that were done by historical groups but are currently considered as D-D projects to say at the bottom "This project is currently maintained by Dynamic Designs" and provide a link?

That's not a bad idea either. I don't see a reason to object to either course of action, its really up to the rest of the guys.

Yes Ranma can be moved from The Ranma Team to Dynamic Designs, but must maintain Naruto as a joint release. This is a joint project which Naruto did massive amounts of work and assembly on and it isn't our call to change it even considering the fact Naruto isn't around at this point.

As for your idea, I'd say a better idea is to migrate them to Dynamic Designs projects with a note on the description mentioning these projects were originally released as Magic-Destiny projects which has since merged with stealth translations (or originally released by Stealth translations which has since merged with Magic-Destiny) to form Dynamic Designs and are now offered and maintained as Dynamic Designs projects.

I am just speaking for myself, but my old "group" Destiny Translations was just a place to park myself for a while and fiddle around with HTML. As I said, it's mainly about the games to me, not the "groups" except in the sense that some of the people in the groups become like brothers and sisters.

On the other hand, Taskforce, Akujin, Draken, I, and others who worked on those "salad" days games actually saw fewer dramatic successes back then than during the most recent two year period. You see, those "old days" were learning years for all of us and turbulent times of growing pains for others. Even though we celebrated fewer big triumphs in the beginning, our excitement levels remained high.

Personally, I had a really hard time letting go of Magic-Destiny, but without the new D-D name and the new core group that came with it, the remnants of the old Magic Destiny would be nowhere today. So, to me, D-D is now indistinguishable from M-D or Destiny Translations, the latter seeming more and more like a dreamlike memory.

No, I cannot envision D-D as "database maintainers", Somehow, I feel that diminishes us. I see D-D more as an evolution that embodies the short-lived Camelot spirit of the old CTC.

Again, my main point is that D-D and its friends have been creating new games, one after the other. That makes us vitally alive in the present. Moreover, our association in joint projects brings everyone new friends, and it expands the level of joys we can bring to ourselves and share with other game lovers. Yes, it is the spirit of giving and sharing without any expectation of monetary compensation that I believe makes us special and sets us aside.

(BTW, Matt, the fundraise to which I contributed was for a friend of yours who suffered a tragedy, not for personal gain. That makes all the difference in the world.)

The other fellows need to weigh in on this, but as far as I am concerned, Matt, you can go ahead and restructure that mess called "community archives" on behalf of all of us, any way that seems logical.

I am happy you have been part of us, Matt - and we a part of your operation. I hope we will all stick together, somehow, for even more fun in the future. That's the purpose of doing this, after all.

It sounds like there is some consensus. I like Taskforce's suggestion a lot. If no one objects, as the person who advocated the discussion I'll take some ownership and make the changes at RHDN. I'll be switching completed projects that are currently listed on the D-D page but appear on RHDN under MD, Steath, or Ranma Team, to be D-D, preserving co-authorship where appropriate (Naruto). I'll also add a note to the description along the lines of what Taskforce has suggested. Unless I hear anything contrary I'll submit the changes sometime soon. I'd still like to hear Bongo's input.



Thanks! Me too. I'm sure we'll continue working together for a while here.