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Tis the season (April)

anyone maybe get the idea that I really freaking like things with spherical heads? Because I like things with spherical heads.

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homestuckreplay is a straight up scholar. Im going through the presentation now and damn if this isnt the best piece of meta-analysis Ive read in perhaps my whole short lifespan

> Open slideshow.

here it is!! after one year reading Homestuck in real time, plus one month deep diving into the other MS Paint Adventures and any other resources from that time, this slideshow is my overview of early MSPA. and it really is an overview - there's a bunch of slides here that could be expanded to essays in themselves

this talks about what MSPA might be trying to achieve as a website / game / piece of fiction, the themes and ideas it’s interested in, what links and what separates all these adventures, and what that might suggest for its future. it’s 144 slides, but a lot of them are diagrams and images! I tried to make it work as an introduction to Jailbreak, Bard Quest and Problem Sleuth for people who are only familiar with Homestuck – you can let me know if I achieved that.

putting this together was some of the most fun I’ve had with this project so far and only a little bit stressful getting it done on time (lying about that last part - I finished about ten minutes ago). I'm open to feedback on this, if there are things that could be explained better, or if you have any other sources of interest. also, feel free to share the link to this outside of tumblr if you'd like.

thanks again for one year. here's to many more!

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I wonder sometimes how to get over that issue that comes with long-running projects, or projects that simply take too long to complete. The original idea, by the end, is usually no longer funny or cool to me personally because I’ve spent so much time hashing and rehashing it out in my head. It leads me to question whether or not the idea was even good in the first place, even though it usually was.

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i aspire to be that person in a horror setting, be it a game or show, that died before the protagonist arrives, but left behind a long, comprehensive trail of notes and journals describing exactly what went down in the underground complex/hospital/fortified compound/ whatever that I was holed up in. Thats me. I’m gonna be that person.

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WOOOOO

Piranesi concept art!

I hadn’t seen anyone really tackle the drowned halls yet (as far as I know) so I thought I’d take a crack at it to practice painting environments

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you really don’t get ads like this anywhere else

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Corru observer mentioned! Also I haven’t thought of Candy Box 2 in forever. Universal Paperclips is super fun, and I have GOT to try out the rest of these. Also 17776 and its sequel, 20020 are fantastic

i think the near-extinction of people making fun, deep and/or unique interactive text-based browser games, projects and stories is catastrophic to the internet. i'm talking pre-itch.io era, nothing against it.

there are a lot of fun ones listed here and here but for the most part, they were made years ago and are now a dying breed. i get why. there's no money in it. factoring in the cost of web hosting and servers, it probably costs money. it's just sad that it's a dying art form.

anyway, here's some of my favorite browser-based interactive projects and games, if you're into that kind of thing. 90% of them are on the lists that i linked above.

A Better World - create an alternate history timeline

Alter Ego - abandonware birth-to-death life simulator game

Seedship - text-based game about colonizing a new planet

Sandboxels or ThisIsSand - free-falling sand physics games

Little Alchemy 2 - combine various elements to make new ones

Infinite Craft - kind of the same as Little Alchemy

ZenGM - simulate sports

Tamajoji - browser-based tamagotchi

IFDB - interactive fiction database (text adventure games)

Written Realms - more text adventure games with a user interface

The Cafe & Diner - mystery game

The New Campaign Trail - US presidential campaign game

Money Simulator - simulate financial decisions

Genesis - text-based adventure/fantasy game

Level 13 - text-based science fiction adventure game

Miniconomy - player driven economy game

Checkbox Olympics - games involving clicking checkboxes

BrantSteele.net - game show and Hunger Games simulators

Murder Games - fight to the death simulator by Orteil

Cookie Clicker - different but felt weird not including it. by Orteil.

if you're ever thinking about making a niche project that only a select number of individuals will be nerdy enough to enjoy, keep in mind i've been playing some of these games off and on for 20~ years (Alter Ego, for example). quite literally a lifetime of replayability.

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Last night I had a dream. I was playing some sort of game, the details are irrelevant, the only relevant thing is this guy. I dreamed of a monster called the Flaming Organs Warlock, which ran around gleefully hurling its own explosive innards at people. I woke up and I swear to god the mental image was so strong this is the fastest I’ve ever drawn anything

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I’ll have you know, this was actually the post that got me to read Time To Orbit Unknown. It was incredible. Thank you

Read this story about a normal and functional spaceship

Read this normal article about football

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google search why am i sad

google search how to not be sad

google search does going outside help with depression

google search nature parks near me

google search bus routes

google search hiking shoes

google search ergonomic hiking shoes

google search ergonomic hiking shoes excludesite: amazon.com

google search best water bottle

google search best water bottle outdoors

google search weather forecast

google search plant identification

google search plant identification with photos

google search tree with hand-shaped leaves

google search plant veins

google search plant veins pulsing

google search common wildlife

google search whitetail deer

google search how big is a whitetail deer

google search big deer

google search do deer have sharp teeth

google search can deer walk on two legs

google search deer talking

google search deer speaking english

google search are there plants that make you hallucinate

google search are there plants that make you hallucinate by inhaling

google search screaming woods

google search bird calls screaming

google search bird calls that sound like human screaming

google search nature park map

google search nature park parking lot directions

google search how to tell which way is north

google search what to do if you’re lost in the forest

google search how to outru

google search cjSi g m3wh Ts oudp

google search kfhwblp up mpsmFg

google search .

google search h

google search howtiapparhumN

google search hpwto ehuman

google search wgTdohunMnCtlije

google search how ti apear humN

google search how to appear human

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GO MY GERM 🦠🦠🦠🦠🦠🦠🦠🦠🦠

I had the idea to do a cell model cosplay beamed into my forebrain like visions from an angry god a few weeks ago and started working on this immediately. and good lord this was the most fun ive had on a project in a long time. like seriously it was so fun getting creative with these materials and thinking about fun ways to do all the organelles. while working on this i probably went "hehehehohohe" at least once an hour.

I think i'm going to name this guy Prota Z. Bacilli. If you look closely I do have every basic organelle that you'd expect from a cell model. (and thats a flu shot lol.)

also please appreciate this costume iteration because. i had to get my mail in this and freaked out my mailman.

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Idril has a snack

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This is honestly something I hope valve addresses at some point (not that they ever address much of anything lol, I know this probably won’t happen). The vortigaunts seem to get wacky new powers with each installment, and it’s sort of hard to understand how they’re the ‘subjugated allies of humanity that have been downtrodden for quite a lot longer’ when they have this much kit. They only ever seem to lose in hl1 or offscreen, every vortigaunt we as players have really met are either space wizards, literal rocket scientists, unstoppable badasses, extreme survivalists, or usually some combination of the four.

So either

A) much like how Gordon’s human friends mostly have doctorates and/or years of combat experience, the Vortigaunts we get to meet in the games are just coincidentally the smartest and strongest space wizard science badasses of the population, and most of them are far less hyper-capable. Much like how the audience doesn’t assume that all of humanity in the game must be extremely smart and powerful just because the main characters are, the same can probably be said about the vortigaunts as well.

B) If they ARE all that strong, then the Combine and the Nihilanth are/were SO GODDAMN POWERFUL that it gets a little silly that the right crowbar-wielding man in the wrong place has been/will likely be their downfall

C) the option I would like least and probably won’t happen, the vortigaunts are Up To Something

D) it’s a ultimately a first-person-shooter video game with an emphasis on physics puzzles and platforming, who gives a shit honestly as long as it’s fun (very likely option)

hl1: check out these aliens i call them vortigaunts and they shoot lightning

hl2: also they are telepathic and have a hivemind and can see into the future

hl2ep1: and they can teleport to different dimensions and can repel godlike entities

hl2ep2: and they can heal people and link lifeforces through quantum entanglement

hla: oh i forgot they can levitate things duh

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godddd these are UTTERLY incredible

MOTH AND LOPER!! YEAH!!! ft. @heavenhearst under the goggles... The mindspike articulates and is motorized... it gave up the goat literally as soon as the cosplay contest ended, lol Did not get to finish the lenticular film glasses in time, but such is life!!!! We got 4th place honorable mention in the group costume contest so i am pretty happy :) further thoughts and WAY more images below!

loper thoughts we know from the game that Loper is in some kind of hazard gear, so i gave them the jumpsuit (in the tradition of ellen ripley, real astronauts, and ghostbusters) as opposed to a labcoat or anything like that. we took in the waist to make it fit better. i think with the mindspike on, it made the resemblance even stronger.... these ghostbusters did not quite get why i was so amused at taking a photo with them, but i think this is a pretty good image nonetheless.

observin' makes me feel good! and speaking of the mindspike: this is my first time working on anything to this level-- I am not a robotics person! hell of a learning experience & i already have plans for version 2. mindsci i am not but i think i did pretty ok... the spike has two controllers: a modified slotcar controller & a separate knob that sits in one of the pockets (controls left/right axis). the other knob is pretty discreet and allows for puppeting the spike without a bright yellow Device in my hands. the RCA jacks on the back hooked up to Moth's laptop, so for photos it looks like they are hooked up to the spike and taking readings.

the claw was made nearly 1:1 to the game model to save on time and weight. con crunch wahoo! some extras: i put together fake 'e-paper' displays for our ids. if you have seen my prior posts, these will look familiar! i had a blast designing a seal for the FBX and a layout for these ids. i wanted to give them a better finish (hide the obvious 3d printing), but.. time crunch.. oops... the Moth id also has a little incandescent bulb in it, though I have no photos of it active. for my gloves, i intended to use gloves for high-voltage electrical work, but i was allergic to the latex, so i grabbed some dishwashing gloves off amazon and glued the label to them, hehe.

shoutout to the tf2 medic who was wearing the same pair of gloves! moth thoughts for moth, we had the benefit of the wonderful official cosplay by Shaman-- which you can see all over corru.store! (thank you shaman for the pointers!!!) Heaven thought it would be fun to take him in a more "I'M IN!" direction, so our Moth has painted nails and fingerless gloves and a great big coat over his button-down and slacks. complimented with some pins from hot topic and i think he assembled a pretty comprehensive vibe! i made the goggles out of some blue LEDs, rice paper, and a pair of costume goggles off Amazon. they are entirely opaque. moth is just such a gamer he knows exactly where everything is anyway.

you can also see the FBX patch that is present on both our Loper and Moth!

everything else wtf you read this far? cool! i don't really have anything else to add... but maybe you will see Loper at Supercon Miami in 2025.... only time will tell.....

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oh, wow. I am so doing this that’s fantastic

I found a guide for a no tape, easy to unwrap wrapping tutorial to make Christmas a little more accessible, wish I just found it sooner

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OP you’re so right

it’s funny, I often see people write Webber (when they include him) as a mute child and… he is a child but he’s not mute. instead he sounds like a bunch of metal ropes banging together and I think that’s funnier.

also the whole “lost in translation” thing would be so interesting. He can talk, but knows a language no one else does. His vocal cords might not even be able to produce the right sounds at all. So yeah I think he learns sign language, but sometimes he forgets to (like when working on strange contraptions) and so he just turns a round and goes “BRNBRBRBRBR”