#ALSO HAVE KEI AND HATO DO ANYTHING
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Sigh. Tooru should've been apart of the main gang. He should've been a twist villain. He should've he should've he should've
#🎀.txt#jjba rambles#no I'm serious about this#he already had a connection with yasuho so why not#introduce him when gappy is recently found and he and yasuho are at the hospital. make him the nurse#play it as if he doesn't have a stand make him an yasuho good friends#and have gappy learn to get over his jealousy and form a meaningful friendship with him#and then introduce rai and have him be suspicious as all hell of him. make rai refuse to work with them if tooru stays#have tooru leave after the ski lift fight. maybe have it be because of an injury#or because gappy and yasuho get worried bc of his lack of a stand#and then bring him back again but different. have him subtly notice yasuho's stand or something#and have her be so in the middle of things that she only realizes once he's gone again#and then you take it#you take everything#every moment they had was a farse everything tooru is was a lie#that's it. i fixed jojolion.#ALSO HAVE KEI AND HATO DO ANYTHING
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Actually regarding my last Hatoful post I made, I don’t think enough attention is given to the way Sakuya has been completely un-personed by Le Bel. He’s not only “raised in a sheltered and classist environment”, everything he is is a regurgitation. There is not a single thing Sakuya says in early game that isn’t what his “father” told him to - this doesn’t exactly excuse his behaviour towards his classmates, but it is also very concerning. You would expect Sakuya’s arc to be about the pressure and expectation he feels as the next family head, but while it certainly does seem to be a lot of work, he doesn’t really show much indication that it’s gotten to the point that it’s too much to bear. He handles responsibility very well. He’s just. Unhappy. Sakuya runs away from home in freezing cold weather and collapses in the street, all because he deigned to think about loving music. He hadn’t even come around to thinking about actually pursuing it as a career. This alone seems more like Sakuya hit a breaking point than one isolated incident - there is likely a lot more going on behind the scenes that we are not privy to for Sakuya to be that subservient and that terrified of Le Bel. Hiyoko even internally notes that he’s always acting way angrier than he actually is - anger is a reactive emotion, and if he reacts aggressively, he won’t have to think about these things that challenge the worldview Le Bel has indoctrinated him with. He is literally too frightened to challenge Le Bel, even within his own mind.
Similarly, Yuuya takes on a job that restricts him from forming any semblance of a stable identity or from letting the mask fall. Ever. Sakuya deflects with anger and his high-born reputation, and Yuuya deflects with a flirty laid back persona while allowing everyone he meets to believe every rumour they spread about him. And people treat him horribly. He laughs it off with the whole “that’s a little cold” or “bit harsh” but. Like. It hurts him. I don’t think he’s genuinely ever built up a tolerance against that kind of badmouthing, and the sad part is that the worst of it comes from Sakuya, his own little brother who he would and has done everything for. But he won’t ever refute it or defend himself, because it helps him keep his cover at the school, and also probably in part because he feels he deserves it. Yuuya does not like himself, largely due to his constant guilt. He even doubts his competence at times, when his efforts as an agent fail (see early HoliStar). He has no idea what his future will look like. He has no plans for himself. He acts in defence solely on behalf of other people’s happiness and safety and receives the words of the man he hates most spat in his face by the little brother he would do anything to protect. And yet, to him, it will always have been worth it.
It would’ve been so easy to make them polar opposites but I do love how the writing actually shows a number of key similarities between them that pop up in certain situations.
Their correct answers in their routes typically involve standing up to them or telling them off in some way (Sakuya’s bossiness, Yuuya’s flirtation)
Sometimes make rash decisions due to their anger or irritation (I mean. Sakuya. A lot but also. The egg.)
They are both quick to take on responsibility for others in a crisis situation and tend to handle it fairly well for the most part (rip to Sakuya with the giant tank that showed up at his mansion. to be fair Yuuya couldn’t stop it either.)
Kings of not being honest about their true feelings or personality. Like ever. Masks and defence mechanisms up constantly. (Yuuya is at least a little more self-aware; he does genuinely seem to care about justice - while Sakuya, as stated previously, has very little in the way of an identity at all and is not self-aware in the slightest lol)
Anyways I feel insane about the fantail brothers. That is all.
(Art above is by the author Moa btw. You can find it on the wiki!)
#this post brought to you by my sudden recollection of sakuya being more terrified of talking to his father than an assassin sent to kill him#just. makes you think.#also how sad yuuya makes me. like. he’s still a kid man.#I liked him plenty in bbl but oh man. holistar yuuya. ‘this pain is mine you can’t have it’ holistar yuuya. holy fuck.#easily jumped up the ranking as one of my faves#sorry I’m being melodramatic. eh. oh well#hatoful boyfriend#hatoful kareshi#sakuya le bel shirogane#yuuya sakazaki#hatoful analysis#storyrambles#hatoful spoilers
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Bimonthly Media Roundup
-Hatoful Boyfriend (Video Game) - Hatoful finale and wow what an ending it was. I really have to applaud this game on turning a silly bonkers premise into a genuinely unnerving psychological horror while actually having interesting characters and emotional moments. I wouldn't say I connected enough with any of them to buy merch or anything but they had more depth than I was expecting from dating sim characters (and birds at that) with exiting little twists. The true ending was the culmination of all the routes and somehow delivered the most impactful story line of all, with a sort of fucked up but true case of "yeah minus the birds thing this is kinda how humans react to sudden and unexpected political shifts huh?". I'd definitely recommend giving it a playthrough/watch, it may seem a little slow at first but boy is it an experience.
-Face Off (TV) - Seasons 4 and 5 are on Netflix so I've been putting this on as background noise while I work. Really fun to see the neat challenges and designs, especially as I like to think how I would approach them myself (though more from a drawing/writing standpoint than crafting obviously). Too bad the whole show isn't available, I haven't found an archived set of all the designs and challenges online so I feel like I'm missing out on some fun ones.
-Suzume (Movie) - Okay so I had typed a whole big review on this out that glitched and did not save. I don't want to type it again so short version is that I respect the animation and themes or equating grief over the loss of a person with the loss of a location and community, but didn't really vibe with the lack of character or tension in the story. Also I feel bad for the little gremlin cat and think he deserved way better, justice for that cat that twink guy should've stayed a chair.
- Campfire Cooking (Manga) - A quick reread of the whole manga when I just wanted a self-indulgent relaxing cooking series. It's still very wholesome, though I will say that I think this is one of the rare ones where the anime is better than the manga due to the visuals really enhancing the appetizing meals and cute mannerisms of the familiars. Season 2 will be coming out soon which I am now fully prepared for, bring me the tiny dragon and loser elf.
- Six of Crows (Books) - Left without internet I was forced to listen to the pre-downloaded audio books I had bought months ago. It's actually pretty interesting so far, I do love heist stories, but I don't feel like talking about it until I'm farther in.
- The Apothecary Diaries (Anime) - I'm too tired to talk about how incredible this was right now but believe me it's really really good. I love MaoMao, this setting is amazing, the characterization of everyone is grounded enough to feel like unique people while leaving room for silly comedy, and the mysteries and twists are so compelling that I could barely stop watching. Highly recommend, might even rewatch it again soon.
- Dungeon Meshi (Anime) - Y'all weren't kidding about those lesbians huh? Good for them, Good for them.
- One Piece (Anime) - Arrived in Wano, the new art style is charming and so are Otama and Okiku.
- Genshin Impact (Video Game) - Making my way through Sumeru.
Listening To: How Did You Love by Shinedown, Give Up Your Dreams from The School of Rock, Everything Goes On by Porter Robinson, All the Boys by Panic! At The Disco, Willow by Taylor Swift, Rose Colored Boy by Paramore, Her Diamonds by Rob Thomas, Stray Italian Greyhound by Vienna Teng, Hey I Don't Work Here by Tom Cardy, Pierrot by Kei, and Can't Catch Me Now cover by Annapantsu
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Captain Talks About Some Writing Things - TWST Otome Game vs the Visual Novel Gameplay
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Currently, in the fandom, I’ve seen some discussion about TWST otome game. It’s more of an imagining of what if Twisted-Wonderland is an otome game or dating sims instead of our current battle/rhythm game. While I have my opinion, there are already great posts of conversations with anons and other users from @pianostarinwonderland and @raven-at-the-writing-desk about the matter, mostly surrounding the story and characters.
So what am I doing here? As I said, I have my opinion, but not about the story and characters (but I’ll probably be touching about it in between). In this post, we’ll be looking through the lens of gameplay, as in the technical parts. Once upon a time, I want to go to the gaming department so the coding and system are always interesting. I made short games before, mostly for college assignments, so I might have little knowledge because most of what I learned is self-taught. Thus, I apologize for any misconception.
In addition, I’ll be comparing TWST to two visual novels, one of them can be count as an otome game. The first one is Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club, an otome game based on Normal Boots. The reason why I chose this game is that I already had and played it at least for one route, so there’s a familiarity. The second one is Rewrite, a visual novel where there’s a war between humans and the nature-supernatural. Why I chose this because this is also a fantasy/supernatural genre similar to TWST. There won’t be many spoilers for the two games just in case any of you want to play them. However, I do apologize if I ended up making this more about visual novel than otome game because I’m more familiar with the former.
Despite everything I said, I’m not here to bash or offend anyone who wants TWST to be an otome game. You can imagine anything you want, even make your own TWST otome game. I mean, seeing these handsome boys, how can we not fall for them? (I mean, I don’t, but that’s another story) I’m here to open a new discussion on the table. Or you can use this as a future reference for your dating sims fangame.
So, without further ado, let’s discuss.
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What is an “Otome Game”? What is a “Visual Novel”?
Before we can go far, we need to know about the definitions of otome game and visual novel. According to Wikipedia, A visual novel, often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustrations and a varying degree of interactivity. You can say that a visual novel is a fancy choose-your-own-adventure-type game because it’ll lead you to various routes depending on your choices. It’s like reading a book, but you can be picky about the pages you want to read. Examples of visual novels are the various works of Key (Clannad, Kanon, Air, Little Busters!, etc), the Ace Attorney series, the Danganronpa series, Steins;Gate and Chaos;Head, and the Fate series.
There are also differences between visual novels: kinetic novel and sound novel. The first one is kinetic novel. Kinetic novel is a visual novel without those branching plotlines. Some examples are Hatoful Boyfriend and Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet. Meanwhile sound novel is a visual novel that has a heavy emphasis on its sound and music. An example is the Higurashi series. A bonus, in my opinion, if we follow these definitions, then Twisted-Wonderland can be counted as a kinetic novel.
Otome game is a sub-genre of a visual novel. An otome game is a story-based video game that is targeted toward women. Generally one of the goals, besides the main idea/goal, is to develop a romantic relationship between the female player/main character and one of the second-lead male characters. Examples of these are Alice in the Country of Hearts, Diabolik Lovers, Amnesia, Uta no Prince-sama, and Mystic Messenger. The opposite of it, the bishōjo game, is a type of video game centered on interactions with attractive girls. Many visual novels are actually categorized under this, especially with the romantic elements. Both otome and bishōjo games can be categorized under the dating sims banner, which is a video game subgenre of simulation games with romantic elements.
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The Common Gameplay Elements of Visual Novel and Otome Game
Now, when we’re talking about otome games, or visual novels in general, what is your first thought? Usually, it would be the romantic interests, our wonderful bachelorettes and bachelors. Or maybe we’re thinking about the story, of fairy tale romance, psychological horror, or just simple high school drama. While, yes, both of them are important, very important if I may say, but that’s not what makes a visual novel and otome game... well, a visual novel and otome game. It’s a certain breed of itself.
The Minimal Gameplay and Storybook-like Visual
One thing that separates visual novel and otome games from their peers from the get-go is how it visually looks and the gameplay. Unlike RPG, visual novel and otome game has very minimal gameplay, focusing more on reading the narrative. You can say this is an interactive storybook. This might be the biggest turn-off for many players, because, you know, who likes reading?
But with its minimal gameplay, comes the advantages. The stories of a visual novel and otome game are usually character-driven. While some have a straight plot, they usually are one moment where you get to spend bonding with one of the characters or love interests. Another advantage is that the developers can give more unique minigames or unusual point systems in the game. Some examples are the class trial in Danganronpa series or the baseball minigame in Little Busters!. However, the focus is always on the reading aspect. If there’s a special scene, usually they will be given a CG/picture, or maybe even an animation/cutscene.
Both Asagao Academy and Rewrite have this classic storybook-like format, just like many others. The layout might be different with a little extra spice here and there, but it’s essentially the same thing. In addition, Rewrite has a short goggle-map-like minigame while Asagao Academy doesn't have any.
Common Route & Character Route
Now, starting from here, this is the main discussion for me. Relating to the character-driven story aspect, visual novel and otome game, in terms of story part, can be separated into two: common route and character route. Now, I’ll be honest, I don’t know what the official names are, but for now, I’ll be calling them like that.
Common route is the introduction part of the game. In this part of the game, you’re introduced to the world, your MC, and your cute girls/boys who you will be spending the rest of the game with. The story is usually more simple than the character route because it’s natural for the player to settle down in this new environment. Throughout this part, you will be served with various options that will determine the progress of the story and future route. There might be some hints of drama that you’ll dive into more in the next part. The common route ends at a certain point when it’ll take you to the character you’ve chosen. Some games let you choose the girl/boy, some games just straight up take you after tallying all the points you’ve earned through the choices you picked.
In Asagao Academy, throughout your common route, you’ll meet various Normal Boots boys and you learn about the game tournament. The MC, Hana, has a skill in puzzle games, so after many interactions, the boys agree to accept her as a permanent member of the club if they win the tournament. While that’s the end game, the common route ends with the flower festival, where Hana can choose one of the Normal Boots boys to go with. This also serves as your gateway to your character route. There will be different scenes and interactions depending on which boy you choose.
In Rewrite, it’s more complex. The MC, Kotarou, has been experiencing supernatural stuff, so he goes to the ‘School Witch’, who is actually his senior. Because he wants to find new friends, he joins the Occult Club that is lead by said senior and starts writing articles about the supernatural. The common route ends when a girl from the newspaper club goes missing in the forest where the Occult Club went a few days ago. When they go to investigate on their own on the 13th of November, they get attacked by creatures and find out that there’s a war between two organizations for the fate of the earth. This is the gateway to Kotori Kanbe, Akane Senri, and Chihaya Ohtori character route. However, you can skip everything and get an entirely different common route. The common route reaching Lucia Konohana route focuses on the arguments between Chihaya and Lucia over a misunderstanding of why Lucia wears gloves and is such a neat freak. This common route ends on the 27th of October. There’s even a way to get extra scenes while still following the main common route. The common route reaching to Sizuru Nakatsu route has some extra scenes surrounding Sizuru and everything surrounding her, including a scene of Kotarou and Sizuru visiting her parents who don’t remember her. After that, you follow the main common route again and get extra scenes on the 13th of November rather than fainting like the other routes (except Lucia).
Character route is the next part. In this part of the game, you spend most of your time with your chosen girl/boy. There will be drama, there might be character growth and development. You learn more about the characters, their struggles, and their feelings toward you. Each character has their own story and struggles, and you’ll be there to support your beloved. There might be choices appearing through the arc if there are multiple endings (as in good end, neutral end, and bad end) but there are some that only have one end. Usually, the game ends with either of the characters confessing their love for each other or they already confessed their love in the middle of the route. Unfortunately, I can’t explain all the routes one by one for I haven’t read and played both games fully.
Post-Main Game Prize
While it’s nice to end the game with your first pick route, usually the player wants to see other routes. And what happened after everything is done? This is where the post-game content appears. This is your price after completing everything, whether you open a brand new ending or a new route, it’ll depend on the developer.
Asagao Academy actually has several surprises. It has two extra routes outside the main Normal Boots boys. This can be accessed even before you finish the game. And after you completed both and everything else (with all worst, bad, good, and best endings), you’ll get an extra ending which is a continuation of Jirad route.
Rewrite goes the extra mile and gives you two new routes (technically three). Moon route can be accessed after completing all of the five girls' routes. It focuses on a new girl, Kagari, the same girl that has been haunting Kotarou on the common route, and more nature-supernatural conflict. After completing that, you’ll unlock Terra route, where you see Kotarou’s past, which makes it a prequel for the first part and a sequel to the second part. And after completing everything, including all minigame quests, you’ll unlock a gag route called Oppai route through the common route.
Minor Things (Save, Calendar, CG)
While I call this a minor thing, this is more of a technical thing that is essential to a visual novel and otome game. Because of the nature of having usually multiple choices, the save system is important. If you’re on the road to a bad ending, do you really want to start from the beginning? Usually, the save system is always available, so when an option pop up, you can save first before choosing. And if you want to choose another option, you can just load your last save file. The calendar system is mostly a trivia to mark your progress throughout the route, especially the common route when there are many options. It also acts as a marker whether you’re in the common route or character route because usually, the calendar will disappear when you enter a character route. The CGs are served for important or emotional scenes, something that words aren’t enough to describe it. There are many more quirks, but these three are what I think are the most crucial.
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“TWST Otome Game” from a Visual Novel Gameplay Perspective
After everything, here comes the million-dollar question: Is it possible for Twisted-Wonderland to become an otome game from a gameplay perspective?
Short answer: With the current state of story structure, possibly no. Long answer: It’s complicated but I’ll try my best to explain my reasoning.
Well, let’s go down with every point that I made about the elements of a visual novel/otome game: the storybook aspect, the routes, the completion bonus, and the minor things. Even though I mentioned that TWST, by definition, is a kinetic novel, we’ll be taking a more traditional visual novel/otome game style with branching plotlines. And, once again, I apologize if I’m leaning more toward visual novel rather than otome game.
The first aspect is actually already been fulfilled. Twisted-Wonderland has wonderful art thanks to Yana Toboso and her team. They’ve provided us with handsome boys, well-design background, amazing music, and the visual-novel presentation in the main story and card story. If we take out all the lessons, the room decorating, and the test, the main core of TWST is definitely the story-ready aspect with the rhythm and battle more serving as a minigame. There’s not much you can do in TWST other than tap your screen and pick some options.
However, this is where it sort of crumbles. While it’s true that TWST provides us with options, what effect does it brings? Sure the dialogues that follow can be different but remember what I said before. Visual novel and otome game depends on these options to move forward and enter your ideal character route. Not to mention, that most of the options presented is either polite or snarky answers with the same meaning in the end.
But this is easy to fix by adding more dialogues and making them meaningful which would affect the routes onward. But this serves another problem. When do the common route and the character routes start and end? This is my main argument. Remember, the common route and character routes are essential to a visual novel/otome game. Both Piano and Raven had made great points about how the story and characters won’t work, you guys can check them out. What becomes puzzling for me is how would the common and character route works. At the Post-Main Game Prize, I mentioned for both Asagao Academy and Rewrite have bonus endings only if you can complete all the routes. This would mean that you have to replay the game over and over again to get all the endings. How would that work in TWST? One of TWST's weaknesses is the game doesn’t really introduce a new character until we reach the dorm featured in the episode and they seldom call back old characters for an important role.
Many anon implied that the main story is the common route, which begs the question of when the character route ends. Let’s take an example (featuring some bullet points):
Let’s just say that the whole main story is the common route. And let’s say that I want to romance Ruggie. Would this mean Ruggie route is unlocked since the beginning or only unlocked since his first appearance? If we follow this logic, would that mean I have to wait until Pomefiore to even unlock Idia and Ortho? Does the player have enough patience to do that?
Now, how do we get to Ruggie’s route? We barely even meet him in the main story/common route because he’s working together with Leona for Malleus’ murder attempt.
You can say, “oh, Ruggie character route can happen after Savanaclaw ends.” While I can take this because of the aforementioned Lucia Konohana route from Rewrite, then comes another question: what it’ll be about? Again, we barely know the guy, we don’t know his full problem.
“Well, that’s what the character route is for, right?” Remember what I said about the common route being our introduction to the love interests? If you never give us hints of what their problem or interest is, how am I supposed to make the early connection. And don’t say their looks, because that’s a weak reasoning. The common route teases us with the bachelorettes and bachelors, and the character route gives us the full-blown experiences.
To add a point to that, what will happen to the main story after that? Do we just abandon them for one story? If we go through Ruggie route in Savanaclaw, does this mean we won’t get involved with the Octavinelle scam, the Scarabia training camp, or VDC? In Asagao Academy, at the end of every route, you’ll face the tournament which will lead you to one of your four endings. In Rewrite, while you will either join two different organization or stay neutral, there’s one thing that still connects them: the end of the world. For TWST, after we pick a character route, do we just abandon everything for one boy or keep continuing on? If we still continue down the common route, what will happen to Ruggie in Octavinelle, Scarabia, and the story onward? Sure he’s involved in Octavinelle, but he only appear once in Scarabia.
Still sticking with this mess, how will the player and Ruggie’s relationship go after that? Would Ruggie join in with you along the way or does he stay behind? Does your relationship even matters after that? Does it affect the story onward? There’s a reason why the character routes happen after the common route ends in both Asagao Academy, Rewrite, and many other games. The character routes served as a new storyline, a continuation. Both games don’t go back and forth between the character route and the common route.
This might not be what Piano and Raven mean when they say that the current TWST story would be hard to turn into otome games, but even if we look gameplay-wise, it would be a nightmare to code. Jumping between the common route and the character route would be a mess. This is why most visual novels/otome games stick to the classic format of ending the common route first before entering the character route.
As I put an example of both Lucia Konohana and Sizuru Nakatsu, it’s possible to end the common route differently, but they have their own character route that is separated from the common route and they don’t go back to it. You can argue that from the way I explained about Sizuru Nakatsu part that it seems that she has a character route and then go back to the common route. I assure you, all the extra scene for Sizuru in the common route is part of said route. This is actually a clever way to tease us to learn more about Sizuru by the end of the common route and entering her route. As I mentioned, the common route teases us with the bachelorettes and bachelors, and the character route gives us the full-blown experiences.
I won’t argue much about the post-main game prize, but this makes me think. Now, I do admit that I don’t know much about otome games, but the two games I used as an example here are full games with no DLC context. With TWST being a mobile game that would always update, how will the progression go? If every boy is a love interest, how many updates does it take to get the full otome game experience? Again, this is because of the lack of knowledge, so I apologize for not giving a strong argument.
I do, however, think of something that might become another sour topic, but I think I might as well address it: The Main Character Problem.
In the past, I, like many others, praised how TWST’s MC being gender-neutral is a breath of fresh air. This way, everyone can play it without feeling awkward playing as the default gender and we can easily put ourselves into Yuu/Player. Unlike Rewrite which has a male mc named Kotarou Tennouji and Asagao Academy which has a female mc named Hana Mizuno, TWST has a gender-neutral mc named Yuu (but can be changed depending on the player). Now, as usual, I’m talking about game Yuu, not OC Yuu. Got it memorized?
Now, unfortunately, when it comes to the role of the main character, I would say Kotarou and Hana are better than Yuu by default. Why? Because Kotarou and Hana are their own characters, unlike Yuu who is a player-insert.
As I mentioned previously, playing a visual novel or an otome game is like reading a book. Maybe, I need to make this clearer: it's like reading a book from the first-person point of view. When we're reading a story or novel with a first-person pov, we put ourselves in the head of the main character. You know their thoughts and feeling through the words written on the page. You can be frustrated at them and you can separate yourself from them. You can imagine putting yourself like them, but at the end of the day, they are their own character and you're just, fortunately, or unfortunately, sharing room in their brain.
This is the same as playing/reading a visual novel/otome game. You can put yourself in Kotarou or Hana's shoes but there might be a time when your personality will clash with theirs. Kotarou is easygoing, often getting himself in trouble, and a little bit perverted, but is also a kind person and would do anything for a friend (before this, however, he was described as cold and a loner). Hana is a sweet girl but can be timid because of her past. She can be quick to judge and has a tiny trust issue, but eventually comes around and opens up. They are their own person with their own personality, past, and struggles.
I, unfortunately, cannot say the same for Yuu. This is TWST's strength and weakness. Yuu has very little personality, doesn't have a past, and the only struggle they have (wanting to get home) is mostly forgotten. However, this might be intentional because they're supposed to be player-insert. The player can insert themselves into you and fill the blank about their past and personality from the options provided.
Now, why this is important? Short answer: monologues.
As I mentioned previously, playing a visual novel or an otome game is like reading a book through a first-person pov. Thus, you know the main character's thoughts, feelings, and even personalities from what they're saying in their head/what's written on the page/their monologues and self-reflection. Kotarou's monologues flow very easily, sometimes a little bit dramatic. From reading it, the first impression is that he's a chill dude and maybe a little bit of a prankster. Hana's monologues sometimes go long, a little bit deep, and often filled with self-reassurance. You can tell from those that she's a nervous girl who wants to try her best. Unfortunately, unlike these games, we never get Yuu monologues in TWST.
Once again, this is TWST's strength and weakness. With Yuu being a player insert, we have the will to form our own monologues. However, when making a visual novel or otome game, we need the main character to anchor us. With Yuu having so little personality (like even less than Grim), what would their canon monologues be? We don't know. We never know. We never had a moment for Yuu to gather their thought about the situation after a deadly overblot battle. We don't know what they were thinking when they lost Ramshackle Dorm to Azul's deal. The closest thing we had was them worrying about Grim and the injured Ace and Deuce in Ignihyde.
When playing Asagao Academy or watching Rewrite, I can easily separate myself from Hana and Kotarou even if we control their action. But when playing TWST, that line may blur sometimes. We know what we're thinking or feeling, but we don't know what Yuu is thinking or feeling. And because of this, canon monologues seem very hard to write. Because once you put a monologue, you cemented a personality through the words. And that would contradict Yuu's player-insert nature.
This might be fixable if the main character is Yuuken Emma or Yuuya Kuroki who both have clear personalities which makes it easy to create monologues for them, but I have little doubt that they are preferred over the player-insert Yuu.
And one last thing, not related to anything here (though maybe slightly toward main character-ish), but why ‘otome games’? Like, why not ‘visual novel’ or just ‘dating sims’? Remember that by definition otome games are targeted toward female audiences with female mc and male love interests. I'm not saying that males can't play otome games, but the implication that the mc might be a female? Or maybe that's not the intention. I can be wrong.
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In Conclusion
There are more things than just a story and characters (and many had said about the matters) to make an otome game or a visual novel. On a technical gameplay level, it takes a lot of work to even make this. With the lack of weight to the options, the unclear line of common routes and character routes, the updates for a mobile game, and the weak main character who can't be separated from the player, it'll take more effort than just pulling the current Twisted-Wonderland and putting in romantic sprinkles.
.
And that's the furthest I can say for now. As I said, most of my knowledge came from self-taught, so I might get things wrong. Sorry about that. But this is just something that I want to say, at least as a fangame creator myself.
But, once again, this is not me saying you guys should stop making or wanting a TWST otome game. I'm happy that our fandom is going to have fangame contributions and I'll be cheering for you guys.
Well, I hope this little ramble can open a new view or discussion about this matter. Even if it's not, I hope it's at least an enjoyable read. I spent, like, almost a day writing this on a whim, so sorry if it looks messy.
Thank you for reading~!
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Sitcom
Me- I decided to post in school
Heisu- WOMAN WHY.
Me- Heisu. Hush
Zen- leans in* Sooo I found a locked door...
Me- snaps head to her* did you open it?
Zen- Maybe...*Glances to the destruction behind her*
Me- YOU DID!? WHY?!
Zen- It said “Do open!”
Me- IT SAID “DO /N O T/ OPEN!!!”
Zen- Oh...heheh...whoops...
Me- GET HER BACK IN THE ROOM DAMMIT!!
Zen- But she-
Me- ZEN!!!
Zen- OK DAMN!!
Episode 2- New Beginnings pt. 2
Episode 1 / Episode 2 (You here) / Chapter 4
2 hours had passed when Kouten left the nest of the emochickens. He was just jumping on the rooftops trying to find minor heroes to rid of in the new area. If his younger set of twin siblings don't get in the way, that is.
Kouten looks behind him where Zen, also known as Retribution, was following him. He sighs. "Retribution. Why are you here?" he asks. Retribution pouts. "Can't a sister who is worried for elder brother follow him around?" she asks.
"No, she cannot because she might kill someone who isn't a hero and then land both of them in jail." He says lightly, pushing her away.
Archangel lands next to Retribution. "Then maybe the elder brother should not be a villain." He says—retribution snickers. Kouten pulls out a water bottle and aims it at Retribution. "Don't make me use this." He says.
Retribution hisses and hides behind Archangel. Kouten facepalms and smells a faint odor of a dead body.
"What the…" mumbles Kouten as he peeks over the building. He notices a dead body, "Uh. Archangel, You're a vigilante, right…?".
Archangel arches his eyebrow and checks, almost retching, "OH, THAT'S DISGUSTING." He shouts. Retribution leans over. "Ooo, dead body. Let's burn it!" says Retribution taking some fire from her wings.
"Retribution, Kou no."
"Retribution, Kou yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No. Can we not do this, you two?" asks Archangel as he looks at his twin and elder brother.
"But cremation…." Says Retribution as she puts her wings out.
"Actually, I'm in with cremation. I gotta satisfy my bloodlust." Says Kouten, Archangel facepalms. Peaking through the gaps in his fingers, Archangel recognized something in the dark. A light, moving towards the body.
The trio quietly looks from above. A black hooded person with a lantern tail stood over the body.
"Are they a hero?" whispers Zen to her brothers. Kouten looks at Archangel.
"Not all heroes know vigilantes Kouten." Whispers Archangel.
Kouten shifts his gaze over to the person. The person kneels and opens the lantern top. Allowing something to light up the inside of the lantern. After the person closed the top, Kouten jumps down to the person.
The person turns to Kouten, briefly showing ginger hair and a mask. Kouten walks up to them. "Listen, Hero. I'll give you 5 seconds to run before scorch ya." He says.
The person tilts their head, gazing at Kouten. "Hero…? I am not a hero…" he says softly.
"Wait…you aren't a hero? Then are you a villain? If that's the case, Scat!"
"I am neither a villain. I am my own thing. I will not leave just so another can kill more."
Kouten stares dumbfounded at the person. "So you are a hero?" he asks.
"…I am a person with morals and a person who senses you've been through something…years ago…"
"What..?? No, I haven't!"
The person walks closer to him, pointing to the scar on Kouten's cheek.
"that wound isn't from birth. Something truly happened to you."
Kouten doesn't say anything as he looks down. From what he can see, the person was up to Kouten's chest. Kouten also noticed ginger hair with dyed black ends.
"I also sense…you did have a heart of a hero once…"
Kouten stumbles back. "What are you…" he says, looking at them.
"I am a human with a lantern tail and some skills." The person answers.
"…You don't sound human… you're reading my past like… it's nothing…"
The person giggles as they did some parkour-up metal balconies. Landing on the opposite building of where Retribution and Archangel were. The person stares down at Kouten. "Oh, I suggest leaving before the police come, villain." They say as they run on the rooftops away.
Kouten hears sirens and quickly gets up to his siblings. He looks to Archangel. "Better act that you came here." He says as he and Retribution leave the scene.
Retribution looks at Kouten "what were you and the person talking about?" She asks.
"…they were able to read my past. Also, know I was a hero once." He answers, looking away.
"Are we going to run into them more often?"
"For all of us? Rarely. For just me? Probably…"
"What do you mean?"
"They seemed interested in me when they warned me to leave quickly before the police get there."
"So they might be following you after tonight?"
"Possibly. No one else told any villains before to leave the scene. They did. Either they're interested in me, they don't have a side, or they have a villainous family."
"Speaking of sides…did you find out if they're an ally? Or an enemy?"
"They answered that they're a person of morals."
Retribution stops flying and lands. "So…hero?" she asks.
Kouten stops running and shakes his head. "Some villains have morals too. I think they're…neutral…" he answers.
"I'll trust your choice. For now, I found some minor heroes." Says Retribution smirking, Kouten smirks with her
"about. Fuckin. Time."
~Next morning ~
Kouten, Zen, and Hato came home at 3 am and passed the fuck out. That is until...
Haruki bursts into Kouten's room at 6:30 am. "WAKKKKEEE UPPPP BREAKFAST TIME BROTHA!" he shouts, jumping on Kouten.
"OWWWW!!!!" Shouts kouten, looking at his adorable brother.
"Haruki! Go wake up, Sai!" says Kouten. Haruki Innocently smiles.
"but Sai told me to wake up you, Z, and Hato!"
". . .SAIIII! SCREW YOU!"
Sai walks past Kouten's room door. "Told you not to stay up too late." He says, entering Hato's room.
"hato. Wake up. Hei can't wake Zen up." He says, shaking Hato.
Hato groans and grabs his phone, and plays an American song called "Worth it" by Fifth harmony.
Sai raises an eyebrow in confusion and then hears shouting from Zen's room-
"GIVE IT TO MEH I'M WORTH IT. BABY, I'M WORTH IT! UH-HUH, I'M WORTH IT. GIMMIE, GIMMIE I'M WORTH IT!"
Sai blinks at the shouting then looks to Hato, who is currently half asleep.
"How in the world-"
"Don't question it." Says Hato going into his mini-fridge. Pulling out two pinkie mice and placing them in his snake's tank.
"You just have frozen mice in your mini-fridge?"
"The snake gotta eat something, or it's eating Z. Toasted chicken."
Zen leans in "wait. You would feed me to your snake?" she asks.
"If I run out of mice, yes. Either you, Kou or Satori. Peace and quiet then."
Zen gasps, "DAMN YOU! YOU TRAITOR!" She shouts. Hato gives her a look.
"you said yourself when you had scorpions, if you didn't have any food, you'll poison one of us. Guess who then squashed them..his name starts with a D."
Zen looks down "hey, Kouten, and you shouldn't have snitched!" She says. Sai looks at Zen.
"YOU HAD PET SCORPIONS!?" he shouts. Zen looks at him.
"Currently, I have two female long-tailed chinchillas, both babies. One's name is Lechuza. She is more mischievous. The other, Adelita, is quieter and shyer."
Hato gets an idea and smirks. "Chinchillas?" he asks. Zen panics and runs to her room screaming, "DON'T TOUCH MY BABIES!!"
Back with Kouten, who grabbing food for Haruki and gets ready for his day. Brushing his untamed hair, he looks out the bathroom where Sai is dragging Hato and somehow Zen to the kitchen.
"Hey, did the moving truck bring my bike here yet?" Asks Kouten. Sai looks over to Kouten. "Should be in the garage. You got to get going?" asks Sai.
Kouten shows a message from his modeling agency "Yup. A new designer wants me to model. I won't be in the office today anyways." Explains Kouten. Sai nods, gently pushing the 23 yr old twin set in the kitchen.
"Alright, be safe. No killing either. Remember L is lobby! G is garage!" Says Sai as he gives Kouten a look. Going to Riku's and Satori's room to wake them up.
Kouten rolls his eyes and grabs his keys and helmet. "See ya, Kou!" says Haruki as Kouten smiles leaving the penthouse to the elevator, pressing G to head to the garage. After stopping a few floors where people enter the elevator recognizing him from his TV appearances and modeling. Some asking for autographs, others pictures, and some with questions like "Are you with someone?", "How is your life with the former number 2 hero, Hawks?" or something else entirely strange.
Kouten looks around. When his eyes land on a red and black bike.
"Ah, hello, baby. Good to see you have no scratches." He says, wiping it down. "No dust either…" he mumbles. Getting on the bike placing his helmet on, he gets moving.
~Later at a cafe~
Kouten removes his helmet and begins fixing his hair. "Ugh…stupid dad genes." Mumbles Kouten.
He enters the cozy café in front of him. He was in the center of the city, a lively place where many shops were around. Upon entering, he got a text from his manager saying he's running late. Kouten sighs and thinks about getting a coffee.
Looking at the menu, he waits in line. Once it was his turn, he ordered a coffee and waited at the end of the counter. After waiting a few minutes, the barista seeming bored and pushed two drinks, not even saying the names.
Kouten rolls his eyes fine bitch, so I won't fight you mainly for plot convince thinks Kouten and goes to grab one when he touched another's. Startled, he quickly retracted his hand and looks at the person next to him.
"I am sorry-"Kouten cuts himself off. Staring at what he believes is male. The man had semi-tanned skin and lavender eyes. Along with that, he had a yellow crescent moon shape with two navy stars shapes near the moon on his left cheek. What Kouten noticed was the ginger hair with black dyed ends. Then the lantern tail, Remembering from the person last night.
Kouten was breathless. He looks away, grabbing the other drink. A faint blush on his cheeks. "Sorry…I didn't know you also ordered coffee." Says Kouten.
"I didn't…I ordered hot tea…" says the male. Kouten looks at the cup he's currently holding and noticing the characters "Ei" (Crystal) and "ta" (gentle can be mean big/blessed. I prefer Gentle/blessed) and the characters spelling out Inoue. Kouten becomes embarrassed "here. This is yours then." He says, handing the cup to the male, Inoue Eita.
Eita blushes and takes the cup. He then pushes the 1st cup to Kouten. Quickly leaving to meet a black-haired purple-eyed male. Kouten watches as the two walk-offs from the café. After the duo wasn't in view, Kouten sits down and thinks I should've invited him to chat with me. He thinks.
Meanwhile, with Eita, the male next to Eita, smiling, looks to him. "So you met a celebrity?" he asks.
"He was a celebrity?" Asks Eita glancing at the man.
The male sweatdrops, "You, sir, are going to get killed one day." He says.
"I'm surprised you haven't tried to kill me, Hotaru..."
The male, Hotaru, smiles more "It's Hiroshi in the daytime. Plus, you're useful to me. I got to have a proper fortune to see if I can get away with murder."
Eita looks down and looks to his tail, glowing faintly …Did he not see who I am? Or did he notice and not say? A chuckle escapes his throat Todoroki Kouten…you…interest me…He thinks. He looks to Hotaru as he chats up random people. Potential victims to kill, more lives needlessly killed.
Eita thinks about 3 months ahead of now, a circus with some old friends is coming to the city. Eita looks at the sky. It'll be nice to see them again…Thinks Eita with a smile.
Back with Kouten, he continues to wait for his manager. As another bright day is full of unexpected things begins in this world of new beginnings.
The barista, leaving for the day with her friend. The friend looks at her. "You are literally planning soft angst?" They say.
The barista snickers, "I might. Truthfully the readers get a slow burn romance/slice of life for this."
"So maybe. You are evil."
"Am not. I just wanna play around with a crack head family and hopefully play with people's emotions expecting two of the main characters to kiss."
"Fucker."
"oh, hush. The main couple wouldn't have met if I didn't help."
"Damn. Your right. Also, fuck you. Go update RTS and SFU."
"I WILL. Damn! When I feel like it."
"MAXI!"
"OH, FINE I
WILL DAMMIT."
Saisho/Sai belongs to @ulti-mal
Kouten belongs to @hairuko
Hato belongs to @juniperarts
Satori belongs to @fioresacros
Haruki belongs to @/_falyy on twitter
Riku & Hotaru to @diizaren
#siblings#dabihawks lovechild#sitcom#romance#first meeting#lantern#villian#foreshadowing#fourth wall break#choas#chinchilla#snake#idk how to tag this#sorry about that#bnha fanfiction#family
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Caato: never-ending hypes and never-ending absence (JoJolion)
I'm amazed, her ±11 fans still have hope in her.
I still have my money on Caato as the big villain of JoJolion. We haven’t seen her do anything during this entire arc and we haven’t seen her stand nor do we know specifically what it does yet.
And this is your main problem, Caatofags! Shouldn't it be weird if she hasn’t done anything at all as the big villain during the climactic arc?
Yeah, apparently it made perfect sense of why Kyo Kei had been missing-in-action before, her absence and her unawareness of the situation will protect her from 'calamity'.
The same thing might happen to Caato, she can be protected from 'calamity' if Araki decides that she will do something later.
But NOT AS THE BIG VILLAIN! Not anymore. The absence of her role and action should further discourage Caato as a 'big player' let alone ‘main villain’.
This is why Araki continues to develop Tooru character. Tooru keeps appearing in each chapter recently, we are getting to know who Tooru really is and how he is able to orchestrate the events leading up to this climactic arc!
And Caato has not showed up and gotten involved in this at all, she is completely absent, meaning that Caato had absolutely nothing to do with this 'calamity'!
If Caato is ‘the big villain’, it should have been a few chapters ago Araki brought her up and gave us some hints!
Caato’s unnamed Stand is clearly overrated at this point. 「Wonder of U」 already fits into the theme of main villains’ Stands with 'fate manipulation' in it. Your assumption that the main villains’ Stands in this reboot verse will have 'dimensional manipulation' has never been proven!
I doubt that Caato’s unnamed Stand will have humanoid form (in which every main villain has), her Stand is clearly a tool-type. Her feats are not that impressive and only on par with 「Enigma」 .
Caato also fits with the core concept of family more than Tooru. She wants to take the Higashikata family for all it’s worth which establishes motive as the villain.
This is your second problem, Caatofags! You consider the Higashikata family as ‘everything’ in JoJolion's story. While they play a big part in this story, they aren't everything!
The center point of JoJolion’s main story is ‘the magic cure’ aka. Locacaca fruit, which later evolved into the ‘New Locacaca’.
Higashikata family is one of the players involved in the 'game' to take advantage of that miraculous fruit.
Higashikata family is divided with Norisuke IV siding with Josuke and Jobin with his little family.
Then there's Holy’s family (where Josuke sided with them).
Then Josuke's allies, Yasuho and Rai (Rai sided with Josuke thanks to Norisuke IV).
And finally, the rock-humans (Tooru with Head Doctor gang and Damokan Group).
'Family' (and 'motherhood') is indeed one of the things that become the theme in this story. However, the 'importance' of this Higashikata family is still below the 'New Locacaca' fruit.
Sure, Higashikata family is like the richest family in Morioh, they also play a major role in this story, but when there will be a clash between normal humans and the rock-humans (which was implied by HD gang and Tooru as his motivation), they are just a small part in this society.
Without dealing with Locacaca, the rock-humans and Higashikata family would not be linked.
If Caato is the main villain, then she must have done something big with ‘Locacaca’ or at least her motivation also has an impact on the rock-humans.
Araki also nudged the 'family' theme towards rock-humans and alluded to ‘motherhood’ in their society, why did he tell about the rock-mother, the growth of a rock-baby and explain of how different their ‘social structure’ is from normal humans?
The rock-humans are not detached from the theme of 'family' and 'motherhood'.
Caato with her motivation so far to get back at her family and take their fortune for all it’s worth would only make her an antagonist in a family drama, her motivation has nothing to do with the rock-humans.
Caato only has a grudge against Norisuke IV, her ex-husband who has abandoned her. She threatens that she will take what Norisuke IV has (yeah, something that might break their family apart in process).
You might think that the conflict between Caato and Norisuke IV will have an impact on Josuke, because Norisuke IV is the one who has been taking care of the amnesiac Josuke and gave him a shelter to live.
Josuke is not heartless person, I’m sure Norisuke IV's 'death' would somehow have an impact on his feelings. However, Josuke remains an outsider in Higashikata family conflict!
Norisuke IV's death (which might be Caato's doing in your opinion) is not the biggest issue for Josuke. Their children (Jobin, Hato, Joshu and Daiya) have more rights to be involved in said conflict… and to solve it.
Norisuke IV was probably the one who looked after Josuke for several months (given that JoJolion story takes place in 2011 and the latest chapter is still in 2011). But Norisuke IV was the father of Jobin, Hato, Joshu and Daiya for many years in their whole life.
Using ‘Norisuke IV’ as final conflict of JoJolion between Josuke and Caato is not a great idea to close the story of part 8, unless you are willing to accept the switch of protagonist from Josuke to the Higashikata (probably Joshu lol).
The Higashikata family drama won’t hold a candle to the exploitation of New Locacaca against the society.
All of the Higashikatas are in someway named after cards but Caato is the Japanese word for card implying that she wields the whole deck.
LMAO, you fail! Only the women (Mitsuba, Hato, Daiya) and Tsurugi are named after cards. The men’s names have nothing to do with ‘cards’. Araki just wanted to give this exiled Matriarch a 'playing cards' as a theme in her character concept.
And your third problem, Caatofags! You depend too much on symbolization.
Araki mentions that rock human woman can give birth but don’t particularly care about their children. We see this in Caato, she doesn’t care about her family members aside from Jobin and she just helped him to get back at Norisuke IV.
Your fourth problem, Caatofags! Always rely on unproven theories everytime you hype her. Caato is a rock-human, where is the proof? It is still a theory.
You also failed to read the characterization about Caato! From where do you think Caato doesn't care about her children?
You guys fail to understand of what really happened during the “Higashikata family reunion” because you are too delusional about wanting Caato as the 'big villain' and always think of her as an ‘oh so evil’ woman!
So, let me explain it to you (even though I'm actually getting tired with this scene of chapter 58):
Caato, who just got out of prison, went to Higashikata's house to reunite with her children after being separated for 15 years, she really missed them. No wonder she talked a lot and reminded them of their childhoods and everything she knows about them as their mother.
Her ex-husband, Norisuke IV did not take her visit well. He was being hostile, and then so are her children. Why was that? Because all this time Norisuke IV considered Caato as not part of their family and wanted his children to forget about her.
Only Hato vaguely recalled of what actually happened to Caato, that her mother had been jailed for "murder". After big sister revealed it, Joshu and Daiya also become wary of their mom.
Caato did attack Joshu, but that doesn't automatically mean that she hates her children. She only gave a lesson to him for doing a despicable thing to her… and Joshu totally deserved that (lol).
Of course Caato was disappointed with her children who became wary of her. The ‘warm reunion’ she had expected became a 'hostile reunion' instead.
Then, if your argument is that Caato doesn't care about her children because she let herself went to jail (and abandoned them for 15 years), let me remind you that Caato certainly did not expect that she would be caught and go to prison after she had cured Jobin!
After the ‘murder incident’, Caato might have thought that she could get away with the incident and would live peacefully with her family for 5 years until finally she got busted.
At this point, the only hope for Caatofags is that JoJolion will have one more arc left after 'Wonder of You' and the conflict with the rock-humans, with Higashikata family as the main focus (±30 chapters, they wish).
My biggest issue with Caatofags is: that their theories often direspect Araki's writing style, they are stubborn, fanatical, and delusional. At this point, they should have just accepted that Tooru will likely become the 'big villain' of JoJolion like how I accepted the death of Jobin and my dream of him as ‘the main villain’.
Read also:
How does the hype of Caato turn really bad?
Caato’s potential role towards the end of JoJolion
The cacophony of the main villains in JoJolion
#jojolion spoilers#kaato higashikata#stfu caatofags#overhyped caato#caatofags strike again#caato#overrated caato#jjba part 8#jojo's bizarre adventure#my rants#my thoughts
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Field Guide to the Rock Humans
I wrote this earlier today and Tumblr ate the post. I've noticed that ever since Tumblr last changed the dashboard, this will happen. I don't think it saves drafts like it should, and if you zoom in on the screen too much it closes the post editior window. So I'm doing what I used to do on Livejournal and writing this out on Notepad before I commit to posting. So Tumblr's regressed to 2005 standards.
Anyway, what I want to do here is go over all the Rock Humans in JoJolion. While reading Part 8, I kept getting frustrated that there seemed to be an endless supply of Rock Humans running around, and every time Josuke turns around, there's another one waiting for him.
But as it turns out, there really aren't that many of these guys. The JoJo Wiki lists 13 characters, and three of them are Rock Animals who may not even have Stands. Two of them are the A. Phex brothers, who are only a threat when they work together, so really, you're only dealing with nine Stand Battles, which seems like a pretty reasonable number when you put it that way. Even so, I want to write all this out, because it helped me make better sense of the plot.
What I'm going to do here is list each character, with their Stand's name in [Brackets], followed by the span of their first appearance to when they were last active. Let's get the Rock Animals out of the way first, since they're fairly minor characters.
A. Iwasuke, JJL #22-Present
Iwasuke is either a stray dog who wandered onto the Higashikata estate, or he was purposely sent there by Yotsuyu Yagiyama to get Tsurugi's attention. I just assumed Iwasuke was a normal dog who somehow got strange rock characteristics from all the weird stuff going on with the Wall Eyes and the Higashikata land and whatever else, but the JoJo Wiki calls him a Rock Animal, so okay. Whatever his ties to Yotsuyu, Tsurugi adopted the dog after Yotsuyu's death, and gave him the name Iwasuke. I don't think he's appeared since Chapter 77, but as far as I know he's still alive.
B. Doremifasolati Do, JJL #65-70
Unlike Iwasuke, Doremi is unmistakably a Rock Animal because he looks absolutely nothing like any real-world animal. He burrows underground, and his master, Urban Guerrilla, can ride inside him like a tank. They died together while fighting Josuke Higashikata, Rai Mamezuku, and Yasuho Hirose.
C. "Hair Clip Rock Animal", JJL #71
This creature lived and died in 2005, several years before JoJolion takes place. A 13-year-old Yasuho purchased a hair clip, not realizing it was actually a Rock Animal. For some reason it inflicted various misfortunes upon her, including a dandruff-like skin condition, and making her see a simulation of her father telling her that he would never visit her again. Yasuho nearly committed suicide because of the Rock Animal's machinations, but Dr. Holly Kira saved her. While in the hospital, her son Yoshikage Kira stepped on the hair clip, never realizing that it had been alive.
I never quite understood the point of this flashback, except to illustrate the depth of the connection between Yasuho and Josuke, and to show that the Rock Humans must be inherently evil, since even Rock Animals appear to delight in cruelty and suffering for some reason.
And now the Rock Humans.
1. Yotsuyu Yagiyama, [I Am A Rock], JJL #26-32
Yagiyama was the first Rock Human in the series. He claimed to have killed Yoshikage Kira, but in the flashback shown in Chapters 50-53, that's not actually how it went down. Like all Rock Humans, he had no name until he stole the identity of some unsuspecting human. Yotsuyu became an architect, building the Higashikata House, as well as renovating the Morioh baseball stadium. But he was also part of the Locacaca Organization, a group of Rock Humans who smuggle Locacaca fruit into Morioh to sell to humans and for research at the TG University Hospital. Yotsusu was with the smuggling wing of the group.
Pre-JoJolion, Yoshikage Kira and Josefumi Kujo stole a branch from one of their imports, and Yotsuyu and his boss Tamaki Damo ambushed them and interrogated them to get it back. Later, he discovered Josuke at the Higashikata house, and manipulated Tsurugi into helping him trap Josuke. His plan ultimately failed, and he died when Josuke submerged him in the sea to interrogate him. When his body collapsed into rubble, Josuke and Norisuke Higashikata realized that they were dealing with a group of inhuman enemies.
"I Am A Rock" has the power to cause specific objects of Yotusuyu's choosing to fly toward his target. He has to touch a target to activate the ability, and then the objects will be attracted to the victim and eventually push throug the victim's flesh to reach his very center.
2. Aisho Dainenjiyama, [Doobie Wah!], JJL #38-42
Aisho was apparently the sales and delivery guy for the Locacaca smuggling ring. Pre-Jojolion, Kira and Kujo stole a Locacaca Branch from him while he was transporting it through town.
Following Yotsuyu's death, Yasuho Hirose discovered his connection with Aisho, who worked as a security guard at the baseball stadium Yotsuyu renovated. She and Tsurugi tried to spy on him, only to run afoul of his Stand. During the battle, it was revealed that Aisho knew Jobin Higashikata, but he was killed before anyone could find out the extent of that relationship.
Doobie Wah! is an automatic pursuer Stand. When activated, it chases after the victim, producing miniature tornadoes from the victim's own breath. These tornadoes will attack the victim relentlessly, and the only real defense is to stop breathing or attack Aisho directly.
3. A. Phex the Elder [Schott Key No. 1] JJL #44-46 4. A. Phex the Younger [Schott Key No.2] JJL #44-46
These two guys were the assassins for the Locacaca Organization. Pre-Jojolion, they were tasked with pursuing Kira and Kujo after they escaped from Damo and Yotsuyu. Then they were sent to kill Karera Saknami, due to her connection with Kira, and followed her for trail for six months.
Their chase led them back to Morioh, where Josuke saved Karera from their attack. She then returned the favor, setting the brothers on fire while they were attacking Josuke.
Their Stands are somewhat limited in power. Schott Key No. 1 merely teleports objects from the left hand to the right. Schott Key No. 2 emits toxic gas at all times, so the user has to keep it inside a soccer ball most of the time, as even he is not immune to the gas. Working together, the brothers can combine their abilities to be more formidable.
5. Tamaki Damo [Vitamin C] JJL #47-55
Damo ran the "Damo Kan" Cleaning Service as a front for his smuggling ring. When his four subordinates all perished, he seduced Hato Higashikata so that she would bring him home to meet her family. Once inside, he used his Stand to incapacitate them all, hoping to interrogate them for answers. But Josuke appeared and managed to free Hato, enabling her to fight back against Damo with her own Stand. Before dying, he offered to help Josuke get Locacaca fruit for his mother, but Josuke killed him instead.
Vitamin C liquefies its victims, reducing them to malleable fluids that Damo can torment with ease. The ability is triggered once the target touches Damo's fingerprints, so his strategy is to enter a room without being suspected and then touching lots of things so that his victim will touch the same objects without realizing the danger they're in.
6. Dolomite, aka Masaji Dorokoma [Blue Hawaii] JJL #59-63
This guy was never part of the Locacaca gang, and had no interest in the Locacaca fruit, because he lost his limbs and most of his teeth in an accident, and figured the fruit's equivalent exchange powers would do him no good, since he was missing too many body parts already.
But somehow, Dolomite knew Jobin Higashikata, who sought his help in obtaining the "new" Locacaca fruit that would come from the stolen branch that was hidden somewhere in the Higashikata Estate by Yoshikage Kira and Josefumi Kujo. Jobin suggested that this new breed of fruit might even be able to heal Dolomite, so he agreed to make a go for it. Instead, he was defeated by Yasuho Hirose before he could kill Josuke and tell Jobin what he had learned from him.
Notably, Dolomite is the one Rock Human that the good guys haven't killed. Josuke decided that he's no longer a threat, and he doesn't really know anything.
Blue Hawaii can control the mind of a victim once they touch something that was connected to the user, like a tooth. The victim will attack and pursue Dolomite's target, and the mind control can be transferred to another victim on contact. Blue Hawaii seems to only be able to control one person at a time, but the power is very difficult to escape, so the only real defense is to attack the user.
7. Urban Guerrilla aka Dr. Ryo Shimosato, [Brain Storm] JJL #65-70
The other side of the Locacaca Organization was a group of four Rock Human doctors based out of the TG University Hospital. Dr. Ryo Shimosato, operating under the guise of "Urban Guerrilla" was sent to intercept Josuke and the "Plant Appraiser", Rai Mamezuku, before they can locate the New Locacaca branch on the Higashikata estate. He was defeated, along with his Rock Animal, Doremifasolati Do. Unlike Damo's group of smugglers, who were only out to recover their stolen property and protect their secrets, the four doctors seem to view the New Locacaca branch to be a breakthrough discovery, and they want to take possession of it for their own research.
Brain Storm is perhaps one of the bullshittiest Stands of them all, in that it's not only incredibly overpowered, but also fails to actually do what's it's supposed to do whenever it's inconvenient for the plot. Supposedly, it dissolves flesh, and when it comes into contact with flesh, it drives "feelers" even deeper into the victim, which supposedly causes even more damage from the inside, and it "multiplies exponentially". So you'd think this would destroy a person within minutes, but instead the good guys just seem to shrug this effect off, because no one has any healing abilities in this part, and no one wants to see the main characters with gaping holes all over their faces.
8. Poor Tom [Ozone Baby] JJL #70-76
This is the second of the four doctors, although we never got a real name for the guy. Does everyone in the obstetrics ward call him "Doctor Poor Tom?" Following Urban Guerilla's defeat, Poor Tom contacted Jobin Higashikata and offers to stop Josuke from finding the branch. You'd think that by now Jobin would know better than to trust the Rock Humans, but whatever.
Jobin buried Poor Tom's Stand, Ozone Baby in the Higashikata Orchard, believing it would prevent Josuke and Rai from entering the property. Instead, it nearly killed everyone in a 100 meter radius, including Jobin himself. Tom's real plan was to search the orchard for the branch once everyone was safely dead. So Jobin set fire to the orchard and called Tom to tell him it was on fire, just so Tom would have to come to the orchard in person and cancel his Stand's attack in order to keep the branch from burning up. Soon after, he was defeated by Josuke, but he managed to secure a branch and get it to a waiting ambulance, only to die from a gunshot fired by... someone. But Tom died in vain, as his allies received the branch, only to find that it was not the right one, and Jobin had managed to hide it in his house.
Ozone Baby alters the atmospheric pressure of its surroundings. The pressure increases greatly outdoors, but even in an enclosed space, it slowly increases, so that there is no real escape from the effect.
9. Dr. Wu Tomoki [Dr. Wu], JJL #76-82
The third doctor of the Rock Human cabal at TGU Hospital. I'm not quite clear on how this got started, but somehow Jobin's wife Mitsuba paid Dr. Wu 200 million yen for medical treatment, and he just kept giving her doses of Locacaca, which would heal one body part only to inflict a new ailment on a different part. So Mitsuba kept coming back for more treatments. I'm not sure if Wu was doing this to use Mitsuba as a test subject for his experiements, or if he was just bilking her for money, or if he was using her to get information about the Higashikata household. Maybe all three. When Yasuho tracked Poor Tom to the hospital, she discovered Dr. Wu's scheme, and she and Mitsuba fought against him. Josuke finally killed Wu by drowning him in medical cement.
Wu's eponymous Stand allows him to transform his body in a cloud of fine particles, which drifts along air currents. Upon contact with a victim's body, he can penetrate the body and trigger allergic reactions, or fuse with the victim's tissues to control them like a puppet.
10. Dr. Afeku Satoru [Unidentified Stand], JJL #76-Present.
Presumably the final boss of JoJolion, and the sole survivor of the Locacaca Organization, unless Dolomite wants to join.
Satoru acts as the Head Doctor of the TGU Hospital, a largely ceremonial role. His Stand apparenly causes objects to collide with anyone who attempts to follow him or get a look at his face. The Stand's exact abilities are not yet clear, although it seems reasonable to assume that something has to trigger this ability, since it only seems to work on Satoru's enemies. He gave a lecture announcing a new Locacaca-based medicine, and his audience was able to see him just fine.
Satoru appears to show up in multiple places at once, leading Rai Mamezuku to speculate that the image of the elderly doctor is actually the Stand, meaning that the user must be someone else, somewhere else. Whatever the case, he's been roaming the Higashikata estate, searching for the Locacaca Branch, and in Chapter 96 he entered the house, since that's where Jobin's been keeping it.
One wonders why he doesn't just strike some kind of deal with Jobin and Josuke. They only want the fruit to lift the Higashikata Curse and save Holly Kira, and he only seems to want to push the boundaries of modern medicine. You'd think everyone could get what they want, but Satoru seems to think he's invincible, so maybe he sees no need to bargain.
More to the point, Holly Kira probably got sick in the first place because she was involved in his Locacaca research to some extent. She helped set up the lab they used for the research, and when she started asking too many questions, she would up bedridden. So maybe Satoru doesn't want Holly to recover for fear of the secrets she might reveal, but this begs the question of why he doesn't just have her killed.
As for Josuke, he seems to have shifted tactics. Instead of pursuing Satoru at all costs, he's taking Holly's advice and concentrating on a different goal. If it puts him in Satoru's path, so be it. On the other hand, Jobin seems to be determined to fight him head-on, which is probably the worst possible move...
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Excuse me! But where is my Sanders Sides Gamer AU???
Voices in my head: Gee Bunny, it seems you have no problem writing a lot of other fics and stuff yet you still haven’t even finished the next chapter of your Spiderverse fic???
Me: SHUT THE FUCK UP DISEMBODIED VOICES IN MY HEAD!!! IF YOU WANT THAT FIC DONE SO BADLY TELL MY LOGIC AND CREATIVITY TO GET THEIR ASSES IN GEAR AND GIVE ME SOME GOD DAMN INSPIRATION!!!!
Voices in my head:.....
Me: Yeah, that’s what I thought! Anyways, idk if I just missed a memo or something but I haven’t seen any Gamer AU of my boys and that is a crime in and of itself! Like, how dare! But fret not, I am here to provide content (Read: headcannons) that you did not ask for! Let us begin! Or should I say start!
(please note that I am not a gaming expert so feel free to add or correct stuff)
NOW WITH A PART 2!!!!
MAIN SQUAD
Roman Rosewood
Obviously loves RPGs! Anything with a good story line really! Or has medieval fantasy aesthetic!
Skyrim, Diablo, Undertale, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Fallout, Red Dead Redemption, Undertales, Dragon Age, God of War Dark Souls, Assassins Creed, Earthbound, etc.
Played West of Loathing just so he could rip on it but actually ended up loving it and spending way to many hours playing. Then he found out there was a game called Kingdom of Loathing by the same creators and went down that rabbit hole as well.
He was iffy about getting into JRPGs but then Virgil convinced him to play Persona 5 and he absolutely fell in love with the music!
All the music in his phone is either from musicals or Video games!
Also really likes choose your own adventure games like Detroit: Become Human, Life is Strange, and Telltale Games
So much video game merch! Usually figurines because he likes to make little shelves and display cases for them.
He also really likes multiplayer games because he’s a social butterfly and likes to play with his squad.
Sucks at first person shooter games but still willingly plays Fortnight or Call of Duty or Left for Dead with his friends because he doesn’t want to be a drag and complain. But also they sometimes die in game in the most hilarious ways and it just leaves everybody wheezing.
Virgil Dante
Horror games, obvs!
All about that dark aesthetic!
Devil May Cry, Silent Hill, Fran Bow, Sally Face, Resident Evil, The Witch’s House, Amnesia, Little Nightmares, Bendy and The Ink Machine, Alice: Madness Returns, SCP-Containment, Pony Island, etc.
Yes, he’s played all the Five Nights At Freddy’s games. It’s a good series and it isn’t his fault the fandom is bat shit crazy and full of ten year olds! Fuck you Roman!
Every time the Walking Dead comes out he knows he’ll end up crying by the end of it. He and the squad make and event out of it.
Japanese horror games are usually his favorite because they deal more with the psychological aspects of horror instead of the jump scares
So, yes, he’s also a fan of Corps Party and Fatal Frame
Also really good at first person shooters because he has a really steady hand (you usually have to when playing horror games least you want to restart the level) and it pisses Roman off to no end every time Virgil randomly headshots him.
Usually likes to by merch in the form of posters, t-shirts, or beanies. He only buys figurines if it’s a game he really, really likes.
At first didn’t know why people kept bugging him to play Doki Doki Literature Club but then he finally caved and...oh...that’s why.
Logan Mill
My boy loves puzzle and strategy games yo!
Legend of Zelda, Portal, Tetris, Unravel, World of Goo, Inside, Limbo, Pokemon, Shadow of the Colossus, StarCraft, Command and Conquer, Age of Empire, Heart of Iron, World of Warcraft, etc.
He likes Overwatch but doesn’t like playing with people online so he usual solos or asks the others to play. But that too usually ends in chaos.
Hates rage games because he gets frustrated easily and has broken at least four keyboards and two controllers
He still plays them anyways because he can beat it damn it! Just give him a minute!
Enjoys the God of War series despite all the mythological inaccuracies
He plays a lot of Minecraft to relax or destress and has build beautiful works of architecture and sometimes entire cities.
He thought it was stupid and childish and was embarrassed about it for a long time until the squad came over to his house one day uninvited and caught him playing. He was getting ready for them to make fun of him but they instead gushed about how AMAZING everything looked and how TALENTED he was for building all himself.
Logan ends up showing them how to play afterwards and they work together to make weird sculptures and complex tunnels underground.
He likes practical merch like backpacks, coffee mugs, pencil holders, notebooks, ect. as well as a few t-shirts and novelty ties.
Yes, he does collect Pokemon cards!
Patton Adley
Silly dating sims, farming games, and any cute game really! Plus a few side scroller games!
Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon, Slime Rancher, The Sims, Dream Daddy, Animal Crossing, Kirby, Monster Prom, Hatoful Boyfriend, Scribblenauts, Night In The Woods, Ni Nu Kuni, etc.
Big Nintendo fan!
He made the mistake of playing Doki Doki Literature Club without reading the warning tags and regrets it immensely...still a good game though.
He did the same thing with Huni Pop but that one made him laugh more then anything and he kind of got addicted to it. Then he found out there was a sequel called HuniCam so he went down that rabbit hole too.
He likes a lot of phone app games too like Cut the Rope, Neko Atsume, and Candy Crush.
Loves trashy dating app games, he thinks they’re so funny and cheesy
He was addicted to Mystic Messenger for a long while
Just because he has his preference doesn’t mean he won’t try other games too, Logan got him hooked on World of Warcraft (though really he did that to everyone), Virgil showed him Hollow Knight, and Roman suggested he play Undertales.
Prefers merch in the form of plushies and key chains!
He likes to bake and decorate cookies, cakes and pastries in the form of his favorite video game characters.
RED SQUAD
Duncan [Deceit] Adley (Patton’s twin)
A lot of first person shooter and combat games!
Doom Series, Super Smash Bros, Mortal Combat, Halo, Fortnight, Grand Theft Auto, Street Fighter, Tekken, Soul Calibur, Half-Life, Team Fortress, Destiny, Wolfenstein, Bio Shock, Splatoon, PUBg etc.
Patton was the one that introduced him to Splatoon and he won’t admit that it’s actually super fun.
Doesn’t mind story driven games and RPGs but he really just wants something he can zone out to and relax
He likes to troll people online, mainly assholes picking on little kids who just want to play.
He once teamed up with a group of kids on Call of Duty solely for the purpose of collectively kicking the asses of this groups of so called “real gamers” that were being jerks.
Has memorized all the combos! He doesn’t have time to sit and look up a cool finishing move, he needs it now!
Always mains the weakest/most useless character in fighting games and still manages to kick everyone’s ass.
Doesn’t have a preference in merch and usually grabs whatever he likes be it figurines, t-shirts, posters, plushies, or whatever, so long as he likes the game it comes from.
Has several tattoos from his favorite games
Emile Picani
Classic retro games, cartoonish games, and Nintendo are his jam broham!
Mario, Classic Sonic, Paper Boy, Transylvania, Spyro, Pac Man, All the Saga Disney games, Duck Hunt, Mario Kart, Galaga, Mega Man, Donkey Kong, Secret of Mana, Banjo-Kazooie, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, etc.
Absolutely fell in love with Shovel Knight when it came out!
Remy got him into all the indie pixel games: Towerfall, Terraria, Owlboy, Hotline Miami, Papers Please, Celeste, One Shot, etc.
Duncan was the one that introduced him to Cuphead and the usually play it together and see how far each of them can go without dying.
The game is difficult but the art is still so breathtaking!
Likes the occasional psychological thriller game
Bet Virgil showed him Alice: Madness Returns and Doki Doki Literature Club (after he’s played it of course)
Likes plushies and figurine merch with the occasional poster and coffee mug.
Likes to doodle a lot of his fav video game characters and cartoons and is actually really good at it. He helped design most of Duncan’s tattoos.
Remy Knightly
Likes a lot of indie games and old online flash games!
The Stanley Parables, Oxenfree, Inside, Firewatch, Super MeatBoy, The Binding of Issac, Donut County, Henry Stickman series, Impossible Quiz, Crush the Castle series, Hyper Light Drifter, etc.
He always gets everybody hooked on one game or another
He convinced everyone to play Undertales so for like a month they all went through a HUGE Undertales faze.
Was the actual, ACTUAL one that showed Duncan Cuphead because he knew the dork would be reminded of Emile because of the animation and would want to show it to him and play multiplayer (*cough* subtle matchmaker *cough*)
(Do not be fooled, he is a pinning boy himself)
Is up to date in all the gossip of the latest games and consuls, indie or mainstream! He’s in the know, know and if you need to know something chances are Remy probably knows it.
Weeds out through all the indie horror games for Virgil and recommends what he thinks are the best ones.
Same thing with Logan and his puzzle games, he’s usually is able to find very strange ones and Logan seems to likes those best.
Obviously has a lot of merch in coffee mug and thermal form as well as a few key chains.
Occasionally streams on Twitch with Duncan and Emile (sometimes inviting the main squad too), they’re commentary is usual hilarious.
#thomas sanders#sanders sides#roman sanders#virgil sanders#logan sanders#patton sanders#remy sanders#sleep sanders#deceit sanders#sympathetic deceit#emile picani#red#prinxeity#logicality#(kind of mainly in my head)#video games#gamer au
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2, 4, 6, 8, for the fanfic asks!
2) What fandoms do you write for and do you have a particular favourite if you write for more than one? I generally write for the Hatoful Boyfriend and Touken Ranbu fandoms, although I’ve also written for the Fire Emblem and Fullmetal Alchemist fandoms (the last being a one-off for Femslash February). I’ve written so much for both the Hatoful and TouRabu fandoms because I love them both for different reasons! Hatoful Boyfriend has such well fleshed-out characters and great world-building... and yet so many questions at the end of each route; it makes for great fanfic fodder. TouRabu gives so many characters but, because of the number of characters, relatively little overt characterization; that gives the chance to read between the lines and, in the case of AUs where you can’t really go only with the game’s characterization and historical information (*cough cough* Red Web-verse *cough cough*), a chance to flesh out the characters more.
4) What is your favourite genre to write for? General stuff, usually one-shots and character studies (see “What Brothers Do”, “Rabbit of the Moon”, and “The Key of Yuuya” for character studies) because I suck at plotting long things. I’ve been working on that though (insert a long stare at the 81k words of Red Web here).
6) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why? I hate to say it because it’s the only femslash I’ve written and I love femslash, but my first one, “May I Have This Dance?” was a bit of a train wreck. I guess that’s to be expected for a first piece of anything though. “Wish” wasn’t particularly good either; maybe that would be a better choice because there’s literally no excuse for it being that bad; I had written several pieces of fanfic by that point.
8) Where do you take your inspiration from? I usually try to take my inspiration from the characters themselves, hence the character studies and one-shots. However, there are a few exceptions: the currently incomplete “Memories of Mist and Maple” was inspired by some RPing I did, “Bricks” was inspired by the Cask of Amontillado meme, and “The Red Web of Fate”... don’t ask me what inspired that; that was a bolt from the blue and I ran with it.
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June’s Featured Game: Living Playground: The Witch’s Puppets
DEVELOPER(S): Meaka ENGINE: RPGMaker XP GENRE: Supernatural, Puzzle WARNINGS: Both implied and shown violence to the children, Emotional abuse, Blood SUMMARY: With what starts as a simple day at the park, siblings Tony, Pablo, and Octavio are once again caught up in a series of strange circumstances such as strange pocket dimensions, coordinated monsters, and more geese than anyone could ever want to see in their lives. Stranded with them are Haze and Seal, two witches who seem to be connected with whatever nonsense is going down. As witches tend to be.In the simplest of terms, this game is about friendship and relating to others, both the good and the bad. With an unfortunate focus on the bad. It will be mostly straightforward with only one ending.
Download the demo here!
Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!
Introduce yourself! *Hi hello I'm Meaka. I've been kicking around the RPG Maker scene since like 2012 with my first game release in 2014. Whether that makes me but a wee RPGM baby or a seasoned veteran is probably dependent on how "long" you'd consider that h-haha. I'm an animator and illustrator, so visual development is my strong suit.
What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially? *Meaka: The Witch's Puppets is best summed up as "a game about friendship." Part of my motivation for creating it was simply personal catharsis: it deals heavily with circumstances that impacted my own life greatly and affects how I interact with people to this very day. Beyond real-life experiences, a big inspiration is Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star in terms of how emotionally raw and powerful it is while also carrying on its sense of humor.
How long have you been working on your project? *Meaka: Far too long oh man. As a reference, my first game took me maybe six to eight months on and off to complete. I'm. almost 3 years into The Witch's Puppets and while I can probably hope for the best in terms of my completion rate, it's been a wild ride. (Did you know I thought it'd only take a year? 2014 me, how innocent you were...)
Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *Meaka: I say this like everywhere and I'm sorry if I'm repeating myself, but a huge inspiration for my art in general is the Kirby series. It has such a flawless blend of cute-to-macabre that I absolutely love and hope to capture that same feeling in my own work! Living Playground was inspired by the usual "RPG Maker/ Wolf RPG Editor" games (mostly Ib and Alice_mare) which led to it's "kind of horror but not really" flavor.
Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them? *Meaka: In all honesty, just staying motivated three years into a project is difficult. I'm absolutely ecstatic to be making this game and bring it to people for them to play, but it's so easy to be excited about the cool parts and hit a wall production-wise when it comes to the mundane and tedious parts, particularly programming events that tend to be made up of a ton of conditional branches, variables, and occasionally will crash RMXP. So I give myself breaks on occasion and try to switch it up between whether I work on visual assets or RPG Maker programming, and sometimes I flip over to side projects (be it jam games or just other art).
Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *Meaka: From my initial concept, beyond certain themes and characters, they're two entirely different storylines. I actually gutted the entire script and started over at least twice during the course of production because of things not flowing well, weird writing choices by me, or just ideas that I slowly realized weren't that good. In particular, a very big part of some rewriting came from having some friends look over my script + game doc and pointing out some flaws that were from too much personal investment. If you're ever in a tight spot and not sure if stuff reads right, get some friends to beta read for you!
What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don't have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *Meaka: In my first game it was just me until I threw it at some people to beta test. That was an interesting experience. For the Witch's Puppets, I commissioned music from the absolutely amazing ProjectTrinity and needing to consolidate my ideas and express them in a way for someone to create music for it helped me commit to my ideas and also helped me put into words what I couldn't really describe well beforehand. I haven't really had the chance to work fully on a team. I'd sure love to, but I fear my hectic life schedule would hold back whatever team I would want to join.
What was the best part of developing the game? *Meaka: I may be an animator and used to this by now, but there's something really magical about making your characters and putting them into a thing and then they move around. It just feels really nice. Also for me, I love telling stories and entertaining people, so I hope that my games allow me to do that! Whenever someone offhand mentions they enjoy something I make, it fills me with the warm fuzzies. (And don't even get me started on fanart. I literally cry.)
Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *Meaka: I absolutely want to 100% go back and remake Living Playground one day. It was the best I could do at the time, but now that I know so much more about what RPG Maker can and can't do, I want to go back and fix all those little things and make it more of what I wanted it to be. ... Also cut back on the ham-fisted attempts to be scary, maybe.
Once you finish your project, do you plan to explore game's universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *Meaka: I've already kind of done that! The Witch's Puppets is a sequel-but-not-really. And also Retail Hell, my Horror Funhouse jam project, is set in the same universe. As for the future, I can't say for sure that I'll make another game with the same characters, but I love the playground kids so I would never rule out the possibility of making something containing them again. Whether it's a game or not, that's a problem for Future Meaka to figure out.
What do you look most forward to upon/after release? *Meaka: It might be conceited of me, but I hope to see it give some sort of positive impact on people, even if just a little! I'd like to hope my little Friendship Game helps someone out if they're in a rough patch and at least makes them smile for a bit. Also I cannot wait to shitpost with wild abandon. Bad memes, here I come.
Is there something you're afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *Meaka: I always low-key fear my files corrupting and losing everything, but since I am paranoid and keep a ton of back-up copies, I don't think that's going to be an issue. There's also a small part of me that is worried about people completely missing the point, but at that point I guess it would fall on my writing...!
Question from last month's featured dev: Which of your characters do you feel like you'd get along with the most? *Meaka: Strong Pickle. There is no other answer.
Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *Meaka: Google Drive, Dropbox, and Mediafire are good friends and back up your stuff! Also, there will be days when making your game will not be fun. You will open your version of RPG Maker and look at it with dread. Keep going. Even if it's just one event a day, one spriteset at a time, keep on poking at that game. It just seems daunting because you know what you want it to be and you're looking at the beginning of the beginning. You can do it!!!
We mods would like to thank Meaka for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!
Remember to check out Living Playground: The Witch’s Puppets if you haven’t already! See you next month!
- Mods Gold & Platinum
#rpgmaker#rpg maker#rpg maker games#games#game of the month#gotm#living playground#living playground: the witch's puppets#the witch's puppets#meaka#interview#dev interview#game dev
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I love this blog and check it every day, as we share a lot of the same fandoms :). I have to say, every time I think that I am over HB you post something related to it and I get slam dunked back into the feels. Does not matter that it has been several years since I last played it haha (sorry for any choppy English, it isn't my first language)
oh jeez anon you should have seen me getting all keyed up about my old pmd AU to my friend eto not a half hour ago
THIS IS REALLY SWEET THOUGH THANK YOU SO MUCH...I should really try to be more bloggy and active and ESPECIALLY in the hatoful fandom, it’s so much quieter than it used to be but...this is a fire...that never dies...I AM THAT SCORPION, ANON...
let me know if there’s ever anything you wanna see and I’ll see what I can do ;o I’m doing commish work right now but I’m one of those people who like...camps in the same fandoms for, apparently, decades. hatoful will always come back to get you. you never truly leave it.
(also people who say “sorry English isn’t my first language” ALWAYS HAVE REALLY IMPRESSIVELY GOOD LANGUAGE...YOU’RE DOING GREAT)
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America’s Cold Civil War, Tucker Carlson-Google Hacking 2020 Election, Net Neutrality Red Cross Campaign for New Platelet Donors and More!
America’s Cold Civil War, Tucker Carlson-Google Hacking 2020 Election, Net Neutrality Red Cross Campaign for New Platelet Donors and More!
America’s Cold Civil War.
Tucker: Google wants to hack 2020 election.
Google's Censorious Urges are Playing a VERY DANGEROUS Game.
American Red Cross campaign to encourage new Platelet donors to give.
Disappearing Glaciers / No Net Neutrality, 1 Year On / Banning Plastic Bags.
America’s Cold Civil War
For the entire panel discussion visit- https://youtu.be/07xd4DYywlo
The Heritage Foundation
Published on Jun 17, 2019
Moderated by: Ryan Williams President, The Claremont Institute Panelist: Michael Anton Lecturer and Research Fellow, Hillsdale College; Senior Fellow, Claremont Institute; Former National Security Official in the Trump Administration Christopher Caldwell Senior Fellow, Claremont Institute David Azerrad, Ph.D. Director and AWC Foundation Fellow Hosted by: Arthur Milikh Associate Director and Research Fellow
Tucker: Google wants to hack 2020 election.
https://youtu.be/2quCgvqeZrY
#Tucker #FoxNews
Fox News
Published on Jun 25, 2019
Tucker examines Google's algorithms and how they benefit Democrats ahead of 2020. #Tucker #FoxNews FOX News operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOX News Radio, FOX News Headlines 24/7, FOXNews.com and the direct-to-consumer streaming service, FOX Nation. FOX News also produces FOX News Sunday on FOX Broadcasting Company and FOX News Edge. A top five-cable network, FNC has been the most watched news channel in the country for 17 consecutive years. According to a 2018 Research Intelligencer study by Brand Keys, FOX News ranks as the second most trusted television brand in the country. Additionally, a Suffolk University/USA Today survey states Fox News is the most trusted source for television news or commentary in the country, while a 2017 Gallup/Knight Foundation survey found that among Americans who could name an objective news source, FOX News is the top-cited outlet. FNC is available in nearly 90 million homes and dominates the cable news landscape while routinely notching the top ten programs in the genre. Subscribe to Fox News! https://bit.ly/2vBUvAS Watch more Fox News Video: http://video.foxnews.com Watch Fox News Channel Live: http://www.foxnewsgo.com/ Watch full episodes of your favorite shows The Five: http://video.foxnews.com/playlist/lon... Special Report with Bret Baier: http://video.foxnews.com/playlist/lon... The Story with Martha Maccallum: http://video.foxnews.com/playlist/lon... Tucker Carlson Tonight: http://video.foxnews.com/playlist/lon... Hannity: http://video.foxnews.com/playlist/lon... The Ingraham Angle: http://video.foxnews.com/playlist/lon... Fox News @ Night: http://video.foxnews.com/playlist/lon... Follow Fox News on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoxNews/ Follow Fox News on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoxNews/ Follow Fox News on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foxnews/
Google's Censorious Urges are Playing a VERY DANGEROUS Game.
https://youtu.be/s9j2PoeXsKQ
#ProjectVeritas #YouTube #Censorship
Black Pigeon Speaks
Published on Jun 25, 2019
✅ Support BPS Directly: https://blackpigeonspeaks.com/#patron ✅ Support BPS via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/blackpigeon ✅ Tip Jar: via PayPal to: [email protected] ✅ Support BPS via SubscribeStar: https://www.subscribestar.com/black-p... ✅ Your SUPPORT of this Channel is GREATLY appreciated. ------------------------------- 🔵BTC (Bitcoin) 3NiWatW8cAdGQChcbL9tCickW9JvouTs3L 🔵BCH (Bitcoin Cash) 35GrMSvJHHQ5DvCcNfJNe6Pj46w6HbckoF 🔵LTC (Litecoin) MLbo7xkPJjRX9wFYxHG9YajWwbB14rmpJx ------------------------------- ✅Navy Hato - a Rolling-Stone channel and my take on the places I've been - past and present : https://goo.gl/gM9mCG ✅ BP Stream - new content streaming coming VERY soon: https://goo.gl/ozYUJk ------------------------------- ✅ Tokyo Pride Festival: https://youtu.be/Bbzj2r8wn1w ✅ Links to news stories in this video': https://blackpigeonspeaks.com/lisbon-... ------------------------------- ✅ BitChute: https://www.bitchute.com/profile/bBzm... ✅ Gab: https://gab.ai/blackpigeon ✅ Minds: https://www.minds.com/blackpigeonspeaks ✅ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blackpigeons... ✅ DailyMotion: http://www.dailymotion.com/blackpigeo... ✅ Twitter: https://twitter.com/navyhato ✅ Pewtube: https://pewtube.com/user/blackpigeons... ✅ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackpigeon... -------------------------------- ✅ Amazing Video Editor Materials can be found at: http://www.digitaljuice.com/Intl ------------------------------- ✅ Made with Adobe: -Photoshop -After Effects -Premiere #ProjectVeritas #YouTube #Censorship
trOy BeAt cAncer
Watch this video at- https://youtu.be/g1LTQwizH08
#missingtypes #redcross
American Red Cross
Published on Jun 10, 2019
Troy was 16 when diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and required 47 blood and platelet transfusions to keep him strong enough to beat cancer. On multiple occasions he went to the hospital needing blood and platelets and his blood type was not available. A few missing letters may not seem like a big deal, but for a hospital patient who needs type A, B or O blood, these letters mean life. This June, the American Red Cross is launching the Missing Types campaign to encourage new blood donors to give and help ensure patients like Troy have the lifesaving blood products they need. Help fill the missing types - schedule your blood donation appointment today at http://redcrossblood.org/missingtypes #missingtypes #redcross
Consider This!
Let's talk politics, in 10 minutes or less!
Episode 257: Disappearing Glaciers / No Net Neutrality, 1 Year On / Banning Plastic Bags
Monday, June 24th, 2019 at 5:00 pm
Did these doomsday predictions come true?
Park rangers at Glacier National Park had put up signs to let visitors know that the glaciers there would be “Gone by 2020”. But guess what they’re doing with those signs now?
It’s been a year since the net neutrality rules, created by the Obama administration, were removed by Trump’s FCC. Did the doomsday predictions of what would happen come true?
And does banning plastic bags like California (and an al-Qaeda subsidiary…really) really do anything for the environment? How do we get a better bang for the buck?
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Mentioned links:
Climate Oops: National Park Begins Subtle Removal Of “Gone By 2020” Signs After Glaciers Just Keep Not Being Gone
FreedomWorks Celebrates One-Year Anniversary of the Repeal of Title II Regulations
What Will the End of Net Neutrality Do to America?
Sorry, banning plastic bags won’t save our planet
Best-Run States Are Low-Tax Republican, Worst-Run Are High-Tax Democratic, Study Finds
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Show transcript
The glaciers are disappearing! The glaciers are disappearing! It says right here that the glacier si…um, the glacier signs are disappearing? Oh, well that’s not as big a deal. Turns out that in Glacier National Park in Montana they had been putting up signs all around the park saying, “Gone by 2020”, referring to the fears that those glaciers you see would soon melt away because of global warming, or climate change, or whatever this week’s term is.
But the reality is that the predictions were wrong, and in fact those glaciers have been growing in recent years. The Jackson Glacier may have grown as much as 25% or more over the past decade. So quietly, the Park Service has begun taking down the signs of doom, or changing them from saying that they’d be gone by 2020 to the idea that they’d be gone for “future generations”. That’s some serious bet hedging.
And of course, while the media reported on the signs going up, they’ve been silent on them going down. Of course.
The Internet has been growing like crazy in the past year. Fiber was deployed to more new U.S. homes than any year before. Small cell deployment quadrupled, as did the deployment of other related wireless infrastructure. We also saw an increase in average broadband speeds across the country.
More importantly, here’s what didn’t happen. You aren’t being nickel and dimed by your Internet Service Provider for access to email or Social Media or messaging or music. Now, you might be paying 3rd parties like Netflix for access to their services over the Internet, but your ISP isn’t charging extra to even be able to access such services.
And those things were predicted at the end of…net neutrality. The Internet would die, squeezed by eeevil ISPs. Now I don’t know about you, but my eeevil ISP, AT&T, bumped up my speeds a few months ago with no change in rates. This is what comes from competition because, fortunately for me, government hasn’t totally limited my choice in Internet providers. Your mileage may vary, but if this is the way they are exploiting me, they’re doing it wrong.
I’ve got a link in the show notes to an opinion piece that puts into question some of the environmental laws that have been passed recently. Now, up front I want to say that concern for our environment is a good thing. The thing is, we should get the most bang for the buck when doing that.
The writer, Bjorn Lomborg, launches out by noting that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a plan to reduce plastic pollution, which will include a ban on single-use plastics as early as 2021. Lomborg agrees that this is a “laudable” action because of the pollution caused by it as well as how it can kill animals.
Other countries have been doing this as well, more than 20. Even The Shabab, a terrorist group in East Africa that has pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda, has banned plastic bag because they “pose a serious threat to the well-being of humans and animals alike”. OK, as an aside, if you’ve been listening to me for a little while, you know how much I love irony. So to have a terrorist group decry a threat to humans and animals is just…well, we need a new term for that level of self-unawareness.
Anyway, while “laudable”, Lomborg also calls it “showy”. Basically it’s virtue signaling on a global scale, because there is hardly any bang; it’s more of a fizzle. If plastic bags were banned tomorrow, it wouldn’t make much of a difference because they comprise only 0.8 percent of the plastic in the oceans.
Further, where bans have been instituted, the result is…more CO2 emissions.
Moreover, banning plastic bags can have unexpected, inconvenient results. A new study shows California’s ban eliminates 40 million pounds of plastic annually. However, many banned bags would have been reused for trash, so consumption of trash bags went up by 12 million pounds, reducing the benefit. It also increased consumption of paper bags by twice the saved amount of plastic – 83 million pounds. This will lead to much larger emissions of CO?.
The thing is, plastic makes our lives better in so many ways. Should we also ban single use plastic syringes? Single use plastic jugs that keep milk and juice fresher? Lomborg also quotes a study by the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food which shows you have to reuse an organic cotton shopping bag 20,000 times before it will have less environmental damage than a plastic bag. We’re being “showy” instead of tackling underlying issue.
He makes the rather obvious point that the focus needs to be on the countries that are the biggest polluters like China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, and we need to address better waste management in developing countries. Going without disposable plastic entirely would leave us worse off, so we need to tackle the problems without losing all of the benefits.
And finally, about this time last year I reported on an annual study by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University which ranked the fiscal solvency of each state. It uses five financial measures that gauge the states’ ability to pay bills, avoid budget deficits, and meet long-term spending needs and cover pension liabilities. Separate from this, others then label these states Republican or Democrat based on their voting record in the past 3 elections and which party controls the state legislature. If the state is not solidly red or blue, it’s purple.
Well, just like last year, the 10 states most fiscally solvent are all Republican, and of the states least fiscally solvent, 6 are solidly Democratic. In fact, of the 25 most-solvent states, all but four are solidly Republican, and of the bottom 25 states, all but five are solidly Democratic. The trend is continuing but the media won’t tell you that.
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