Best Video Gamer
From SMWiki
| SMW Central User | ||
|---|---|---|
| Username: | Best Video Gamer | |
| Also known as: | BVG | |
| Age: | 18 | |
| Knows of: | SMW ROMhacking, Custom Palettes | |
| Join Date: | January 3, 2010 | |
| Birthday: | January 30, 1993 | |
| Known For: | Not much, really (yet) | |
| Contributions: | Contributions to SMWiki | |
| SMWCentral User Page: | http://www.smwcentral.net/?p=profile&id=8707 | |
Best Video Gamer is an SMWC user who joined on Jan. 3, 2011 with ID #8707, although he had previously been lurking on ROMhacking boards since before SMW Central even existed.
Contents |
History
Best Video Gamer's first experience with posting in forums was at GameFAQs. He joined the GameFAQs forums on June 15, 2003 with ID #770958 (out of millions, making his account one of the oldest). There, he was just an average user who mostly posted threads or posted in threads such as "Throw Item from Game at Next User" or quiz threads, with his most notable thread being a quiz about the Ratchet & Clank games. However, he hasn't been an active poster for a few years.
However, on the Super Mario World forum, BVG saw a thread about Super Demo World: The Legend Continues. This is how BVG was introduced to ROMhacks and ROMhacking.
BVG later stumbled upon Acmlm's Board, probably during its second incarnation and probably by looking for an SDW:TLC FAQ. BVG never joined, however. He only lurked, mostly in the SMW ROMhacking forum.
Around this time, BVG started using Lunar Magic. The titles for most of his first hacks were "Super BVG World." (creative, eh?) As he remembers it, BVG's first world was themed on the fences as seen in Iggy's Castle. Much cutoff ensued until he learned how to properly place the fence tiles so that the corner tiles would automatically appear. They were far from the best levels, but hey, at least it wasn't an obvious Level 105 edit (except for the BG, as he was still getting the hang of Lunar Magic).
Unfortunately, much of his earlier work was lost due to a freak accident involving the importation of uncompressed GFX, causing the infamous glitched graphics to appear.
Over time, however, BVG learned how to use some more advanced functions, such as modifying screen exits and even BlockTool and a few sprite edits with a program called Mario World Reconfigurator (basically an outdated version of Tweaker by HyperHacker), but not quite ExGFX nor the Overworld. With this knowledge, he worked on his oldest surviving hack, also titled "Super BVG World." He actually made it 5 worlds into it (not counting edits of "Secret Path" levels such as the Vanilla Secret levels) before he quit working on it. Since he never joined Acmlm's board, he never publicly released Super BVG World. He did, however, upload videos of two levels from Super BVG World to Youtube, including the World 5 castle, which BVG considers to be his hardest level ever. He would also base his 2010 VLDC entry on a level from Super BVG World.
Sometime around January 2006, BVG saw a thread on Acmlm's board about the opening of a new site: SMW Central. BVG would soon start lurking that site along with Acmlm's board, eventually favoring SMWC over Acmlm due to activity levels.
Then, in 2007, BVG decided to work on a new project, titled "Super BVG World 2." This hack, however, was only edited one world in. This was BVG's first hack to feature ExGFX and custom sprites. Furthermore, it was around this time (July 27, 2007 to be exact) that BVG joined the board2 incarnation of Acmlm's Board. During his short time there, he actually posted a thread about Super BVG World 2, but under the name of Super BVG World. It received average criticism, mostly brought down by a few instances of stacked and floating Munchers. BVG left board2 without announcement because it was way too inactive.
BVG's next project was an automatic level, back when they were popular. He noticed that most automatic levels used vanilla graphics and vanilla sprites, so his goal was to make a level that incorporated various media of hacking: Custom blocks, custom sprites, custom ExGFX, custom music (his first project to do so), and HDMA (also his first). BVG was still a lurker at this time, so it was never released, but he did put up a video.
In late 2009, BVG took up hacking once more with yet another project titled "Super BVG World." However, this title would change as a result of a conversation in Physics class about this ROMhack. When BVG mentioned the term "Super Mario World ROMhack" to his teacher, the teacher heard it as "Super Market Roll Drums." This gave birth to its current title. Most importantly, however, on Jan. 3, 2010, BVG finally registered on SMWC. Super Market Roll Drums is the first hack from BVG to have a custom overworld, even if it's far from perfect. However, some complications arose: FuSoYa's screen-scrolling pipes being incompatible with newer versions of Lunar Magic, system restores wiping out some of the hack's progress, real life, and laziness, in particular. To this day, BVG hasn't even made a one-world demo of.Super Market Roll Drums, although he probably has concepts of the two levels on which he has yet to edit (the castle and switch palace).
BVG entered the 2010 Vanilla Level Design Contest with a level fittingly titled "The Invisicave." It performed poorly, placing around 60th place and earning just over half of all possible points, but that was probably to have been expected. Today, BVG views the Invisicave as a social experiment to see if it was possible to make a good level themed around nothing but invisible floors by using Spike Tops. (The outcome was "No. You can't.")
BVG went on two unannounced hiatuses: one in the summer of 2010, and one from January-May 2011. The former was laziness, and the latter was because a grade of C was intolerable to his father, so he was grounded until he brought said grade up to a B. Super Market Roll Drums was still on hold because of six AP exams coming up, but when school ended, BVG finally started (re)working Super Market Roll Drums.
BVG is also notable for his ExGFX custom palettes, with his best-received palette being an edit of DKC2's Mine palette.
Activity
Best Video Gamer was rather active at first, averaging 3-4 posts per day. However, his activity slowly declined until his first hiatus in the summer of 2010. He started posting in the fall, but mostly so that he could use "Worst Video Gamer" as his custom Halloween name. As a result of his inactivity, BVG missed both C3s during 2010 and the 2010 Chocolate Level Design Contest. BVG also blames his inactivity period for why he did not win anything during the 2010 Winter Mosts.
BVG went on hiatus again from January to May 2011, starting shortly after his 1-year SMWCversary. This was because he had a low grade in English as a result of missing assignments. BVG was thusly grounded by his father until March, but BVG was still on a voluntary hiatus so that he could focus on his six AP exams. BVG missed C3 (again!), the 2011 Vanilla Level Design Contest, and A Super Mario World Central 2 level signups. He returned at last around late May of 2011. His current level of activity fluctuates a bit: sometimes he goes 3 days without posting, sometimes he posts more than 5 in one day.
BVG is usually seen in the Talk, Gaming, and Hacking Discussion forums, with the occasional World of Insanity post.
BVG on IRC
Best Video Gamer is somewhat more active on IRC's #smwc. He started chatting around April 2010 with Mibbit. Upon starting, though, BVG accidentally forgot to put in a nickname and appeared as an obvious mibbit_numbers name. Since he didn't know about slash commands, he quit to input a nickname. BVG would then learn the hard way that IRC nicks don't support spaces, causing his nick to appear as "Best." Logging out one last time, he logged in as "BestVideoGamer" since he dislikes underscores. BVG now uses XChat 2 for chatting since Mibbit does not support key features such as bold text. He isn't usually a conversation starter, though he does like discussing the current subject.
BVG used to go to #chanofice (now moved to #clearworld), but quit due to all the users there referring to each other as bundles of sticks ("faggots," in layman's terms). Especially poor Mue...
Eventually, BVG plans to spread his chatting to other channels, particularly #pokemon, #serioushax, and #imamusic (once his musical composition skill is increased).
BVG as a Composer
Best Video Gamer immediately took an interest in the study of music (particularly music theory) after playing SNN's Mario's Keytastrophe and FPI's The Second Reality Project Reloaded. In fact, BVG practically considers SNN to be one of his main inspirations, with others including Koji Kondo and David Wise.
BVG's compositions, like most songs, are created in a style that suits the author. His style involves the use of uncommon meters (such as 5/4) and more advanced keys (such as G# Minor). He also thinks that songs gain instant bonus points simply because they use irregular meters, even if such a song isn't really that good.
Only two of BVG's songs have been publicly shown online. One of them was his first song, "One Point Two Five," a song in 5/4 (5 divided by 4 equals 1.25). It was composed before BVG actually studied music theory; consequently, this song doesn't have a real key. This song will be used as the title theme for Super Market Roll Drums. Criticism of this song says that it's too repetitive and simple, but BVG intends to remedy this problem eventually.
His other shown song currently has the working title "BVGBoss." The title obviously states that this song will be used as the Super Market Roll Drums boss theme. It is in 5/16 time (according to BVG) and in D# Minor (BVG's favorite key). This song hasn't received as much criticism, but it is better received than One Point Two Five (except for being told that the @17 was too loud, resulting in lowering the song a full octave. Same critic did like the @8 though). The boss theme incorporates dominant harmonics (including a diminished chord at the end of the loop) and an interesting drumline.
Trivia
- Best Video Gamer's preferred method of playing ROMhacks is with his PSP.
- He has beaten Super Demo World: The Legend Continues, Panic in the Mushroom Kingdom, Panic in the Mushroom Kingdom 2, The Second Reality Project 2, The Second Reality Project Reloaded, and Rise to the Challenge with 100% completion and without savestates.
- Interestingly, when using a computer emulator, BVG usually abuses savestates.
- Best Video Gamer has an account on Jul which he rarely uses, but he is more likely to use his Jul account than his board2 account.
- Best Video Gamer used to be a rather serious collector of video-game licensed merchandise.
- Two of his avatars used so far, the 1-up Mushroom and the Poison Mushroom "Game Over" avatar, come from his wristband collection.
- Best Video Gamer is currently trying to get a job at Gamestop.
- He is actually familiar with the employees at his local Gamestop.
- Most of his aforementioned collection was purchased at Gamestop.
