#Also I think I have seen worldbuilding notes's videos like.. recommended to me but I just never looked at them? since now that I'm

[slavicafire]

żmija, have you ever played the thaumaturge? a mutual recommended it to me and i think it looks interesting but also following you has made me way more sensitive to how bad "folklore/mythology-inspired" things can really be than i already was

my problem is, as with many games from polish studios, that I know multiple people who worked on this game and I don't like a single one of them [*]

on a more serious note, I've seen a trailer or two and a couple of minutes of combat gameplay and it doesn't look like it's for me: while the premise is interesting (despite my utter hatred towards yet another sLaViC-iNsPiRed bits in yet another video game) the game itself looks rather unpolished, the combat repetitive, and the voice acting tires me out. the only reason I could see myself playing it is exploring their version of 1905 warsaw and the worldbuilding itself... but that, as always, has the potential to piss me off if it veers too far out of the realm of historical decorum and too much into "we're trying to be the witcher" category, which is an illness I believe the two us share.

but! I am a horribly bitchy sort of player and I judge games harshly and easily, so I ought not to be listened to at all. if you think it looks interesting, you should absolutely give it a go - I would love to hear what you think, and I'm sure it has the potential to completely change my mind if you end up liking it.

I'm pretty sure the demo is still up so I'd recommend playing that first - before you spend 100zł on it on steam. and do let me know if you do!

[icewindandboringhorror]

I’m trying to be better about responding to things, so another small ask response post! I feel like the answers are short enough to not actually require putting a ‘read more’ but I ended up doing it anyway just because I have no idea what the standards for length are and I don’t want people to get mad or something lol.. (responses under read more) 

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 (note: I’m not going to write the questions completely as they were asked/shown in images above, just type summaries of them since that’s faster, so this is why the text varies)

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1. “do you have any goals for the coming new year?”

gHHgg, mostly the same goals as last year since of course I didn’t get everything done lol. Mainly I want to: finish my game, finish the information on the Avirre’thel and a few other worldbuilding posts, make more sculptures (5 this year), and do at least like... 10 costumes this year (since I’ve kind of been ignoring that stuff to focus on other projects, but I still enjoy it and have ideas!). Some of my goals in therapy are to leave the house at least once every 2 weeks without panicking and find friends in my area to play board-games with/do creative things with/etc. in person, but those are kind of less in my control (me being able to go places is somewhat dependent on the schedules of those around me, finding friends is a matter of luck and coming across the right people at the right time, etc.). 

Mostly I just really want to get the gourddamned game and worldbuilding stuff done since those have been longer projects, and I’m always getting new ideas for stuff I COULD work on before I’m even done with older things lol. In my head I’m already planning the elven religion and things happening far in other corners of Nanyevimi and it’s like “we’re not even DONE with the vampires yet!!!", as well as already having like 2 new games I could make (one of which I really like the idea of and have already nearly completely planned against my will, like my brain just keeps shooting information at me while I’m trying to focus on other stuff ghgh), some animations and a bunch of other things and it’s like oghHH... blease.. Finish Something for once before mentally checking out and moving onto the next hundred ideas you fool 

(also I told myself I can’t play any games until I finish my own (aside from like, sims builds on occasion) so I especially want to get it done soon since I always feel sick in the summer (no matter how much water I drink or how cool I try to stay, I’m just really heat sensitive and don’t live in a place with air conditioning)  and sitting around and playing games while I’m deliriously exhausted / nauseous / have constant heat headaches is a prime summer activity lol)

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2. “do you know where to get a witch hat?”

Unfortunately I have no idea where to get a witch hat lol, aside from maybe the costume aisle of stores around halloween?? (and even then, usually they only come in black). I’ve made sloppy ones myself by like, hot-gluing stuff to a regular hat, but I’ve never actually bought one. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to list them in the replies or something so maybe anon can find where to get one lol

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3. “can i use your costumes as inspiration for drawings/what social media should I credit you with?”

 It’s fine to use my costumes and etc. as inspirations for art/etc! If you’re posting it on instagram it could be easier to just link my instagram since that’s on the same platform, but really it doesn’t matter to me. As I evolve into more of a hermit wizard I lose social media literacy and don’t understand which accounts are best to link people to or what social media is currently most popular lol 

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4. “do you watch Worldbuilding Notes on youtube?”

I actually hadn’t before (basically all I watch on youtube are like... video game/fantasy media lore analysis/information videos, general educational channels/documentaries/lectures, leftist video essays, and like.. the occasional let’s plays of games I can’t afford (if I can manage to find gaming youtubers who aren’t insufferable ggh). But weirdly I haven’t really looked into much worldbuilding content?? despite that being something I focus on so much (and also that I watch conlanging and linguistics stuff, which often seems to intersect with writing/worldbuilding youtube)), but thanks for recommending them! The concepts presented seem very interesting!

 I always really really wish I could condense information and make clear concise videos like that (audience wise, probably way preferable to just writing long text posts), but I just have such an inherent inability to make brief points (aka why no matter how good I was at a subject in school, I’d still fail/barely pass any essay/long form answer assignments.. I just.. can NOT organize my thoughts for the life of me for some reason). The best I could do is a more rambling podcast style lore explanation thing where I just speak naturally about stuff, but that seems like that’d still be nearly just as weird as long text posts, since I tend to ramble and be very silly when I speak lol, so currently I just don’t know of a more concise and accessible way to present my world information. :V   But anyway, thanks for suggesting it! The videos seem really cool, I like the ideas I’ve seen so far, and mostly am just in awe of their sheer power and expert ability to like... present detailed information in such a neat/clean/cohesive way aaaaAA (like.. the exact opposite of me but in a good way lol)

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And that’s all for this short group of replies lol! I still have other things in my inbox and etc. to reply to so sorry if I haven’t got to yours yet, I just wanted to get a few quick ones out of the way!!

[generalzar0ff]

Okay you got me with Max Headroom. I’m getting into it, I’ve seen that one video essay “The Most Misunderstood Joke on TV”, watched a bunch of clips from his music video pop-ins, ads, and a bit of his talk show. Soon I’ll get into the longer-form stuff like the movie and the rest of his talk show. Would you recommend the expanded tv version of the movie? I hear it’s not as good.

Did NOT expect Max to have a fairly pleasant singing voice. Nor did I expect the racy humor and possible gay subtext of some of his stuff. I didn’t think an 80’s character who was a shill for Coke would go there, you know?

Warning: I ended up making this response very long, my apologies. Everything’s under the cut.

Heeeeeyyyyyy, glad you’re enjoying it! Hahah, that video essay is actually what sent me down this path in the first place.

Yeah, the show version of 20 Minutes into the Future isn’t as good as the movie, but it’s got some enjoyable aspects. For instance, we get to see more appearances from some of my favorite characters, Theora Jones, Blank Reg & Dominique, plus a stereotypical-but-endearing take on the character of Bryce Lynch. The worldbuilding is also really compelling. However, there are some drawbacks. Most of the antagonistic forces are cartoonishly villainous, which can be fun to watch sometimes but isn’t as interesting as it could’ve been. A bit of a smaller critique is that the show’s higher budget actually took a blow to the gritty, cyberpunk atmosphere of the movie and makes the TV dystopia feel a bit too clean. But the biggest blow to the show’s quality is the characterization of the lead character Edison Carter and his titular computer clone, Max Headroom. While Edison Carter was already a bit of an action movie hero boy [pardon the lemon demon reference], the show has him act out in irrational bursts of anger quite often, which doesn’t work as much as having the AI be the sporadic one. Speaking of AI, for a show called Max Headroom, we don’t get to see as much of him on screen as you’d expect, and a lot of the time he serves as a comic relief and/or a plot device. He doesn’t carry the same energy that he did in the music video show, nor does he get any big character-focused moments other than the episode Neurostim which was uhhh… bad in execution.

That being said, I know I just dogged on TMITF ‘87, but it definitely also had some entertaining moments. I’ll let you decide whether or not you want to watch it.

In fact, you’ve already watched what I believe to be the best of Max Headroom, the music video show and the beginnings of the talk show.

Regarding the other stuff you said, yeah, I too was surprised that Matt Frewer actually has a pretty good voice. As for the off-kilter jokes? In my opinion, some of them work, some of them don’t. [cuz almond joy’s got nuts, mounds don’t. tee hee] And why do you think my blog title is what it is? ;-]

One last note: He interviews William Shatner at some point! Sure you should like [? hate?] that one.

[pagesofkenna]

Heads up, today is Creator Day on Itch.io, meaning Itch is waiving their service fee for the day and giving 100% of profits to creators! A bunch of people have put bundles together, including a bunch of indie TTRPG folks! Here's some of my tabletop and video game recommendations:

Tabletop:

Blades in the Dark - This is a very well known title in the TTRPG community, and one of my FAVORITE games of all time. You and your friends play a gang of scoundrels - thieves, murderers for hire, cultists, whatever you want to be - trying to survive in the seedy underbelly of a city plunged into eternal night. Very reminiscent of Dishonored, Bloodbourne, Peaky Blinders, and Crimson Peak.

Golden Sky Stories - THIS IS SUCH A CUTE GAME. You and your friends play animal spirits in a quiet, rural Japanese town. You can transform from forms that look like human children to foxes, birds, tanuki, and so on. There's no combat mechanic (not that I remember) because the purpose of the game is to help out the humans in the town, or the great spirits in the forest. I wish this was more well known!

Superstition - This is the game I did a writeup of on my portfolio blog a few weeks ago, written by a friend so you should check it out! It's a solo storytelling game where you play a fake seer making up rituals.

The One - A tabletop dating sim! I actually helped beta test this a little. It's another solo game, you draw cards and roll dice to try to maintain a successful relationship in a weird fantasy city. I ended up dating and breaking up with at least ten different monsters and spirits.

Take Root - Tabletop farming sim! Like Harvest Moon or Stardew Valley? Play it with dice! Can be played solo or in a group. I haven't personally played this one yet, but I'm planning to play it soon and do a writeup for my portfolio blog.

Alone on a Journey - A collection of solo games, some of which you can pick up for free if you just want to try them out. Sort of a meditative worldbuilding exercise - you draw cards to get prompts, then write out what you discover about the world around you based on those prompts.

Thursday - A diceless, GMless 2+ player game about time loops - like Groundhogs Day! I haven't actually played this one yet (*eyes emoji*) but I've been watching it for a while and it looks fantastic.

Delve - A solo dungeon mapping game. You control a kingdom of dwarves who are digging further and further into the ground, trying to unearth riches without unleashing an elder evil. The first time I played this I... sorta got my whole kingdom killed....

Monster Mix - A 2-player game, both players create a monster character and then create a music playlist for that character. Then you each listen to the other's playlist, and try to see how many questions you can answer about the other's character. It's a cool experiment in character creation AND playlist making, which I love.

Artefact - Another solo game, but instead of playing a character you play a magical artefact, a cool sword or magic ring or whatever you want to create. Over the course of the game you tell the story of this item, how it was created and what great events it's seen, over the long, long arc of history.

(Note on Solo games for people new to them: They're a lot like guided writing prompts, but I love to use them to create backstories for OCs, or flesh out a setting for writing projects or DND games. You can journal as much or as little as you like.)

Video Games:

Oxenfree - (In last year's Itch megabundle) A 2D sidescrolling horror game about teenagers stuck overnight on an island with angry ghosts. Listen I don't love horror as a genre but this got me SO good, its creepy and unsettling and ghosty, and the music is amazing, and it's an indie fan favorite.

A Short Hike - (In last year's Itch megabundle) A cutesy short exploration game - also stuck on an island, you play a bird-person who sets off on a hike to the top of the mountain.

Arcade Spirits - Nerdy visual novel/dating sim! I think this also may have been in that megabundle. In an alternate world where arcades never went out of style, you try to hold down your job at a floundering mom-and-pop arcade, fight the capitalist megacorp, and maybe find love (but only if you want)!

A Normal Lost Phone - The entire game takes place in a phone you've apparently found on the ground. You have to snoop through the owner's texts, email, and apps to figure out how to turn on the wifi and unlock more parts of the phone, discovering the story of the person who 'lost' it. I don't wanna spoil anything but it was a very touching game.

Feel free to share some of your own recommendations!

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

Hey, I started reading Female General Elder Princess because I got the link from your blog and I wanted some lesbian historical romance. I've just begun reading it, but I already love it! ❤️❤️❤️

Btw, do you have any other recs for translated novels/web novels??

Glad you’re enjoying FGEP :3 

I have not read as many webnovels as I’d like to say I have, but I’ve got other recs, definitely. I hope you like these!

Wiegenlied of Green

This novel is part of a larger series by the Japanese song writer and producer mothy, called the Story of Evil. The Story of Evil is part of a larger series called the Evillious Chronicles, also by mothy. I’d actually recommend the EC as a whole, it’s great despite its flaws, but Wiegenlied of Green essentially centers on two of the universe’s characters, Michaela and Clarith. It’s about how they meet and how their (eventually romantic) relationship develops around each other, as they’re both quite different people. Clarith is a kind person but shunned and ostracized for her Netsuma heritage, which was connected in a bad way to another event earlier in the universe’s history. As a result, she has extremely low self-esteem. Michaela on the other hand was originally an immortal forest spirit in the form of a robin, but she takes the form of a human in order to assist a sorceress. Because of her origins and true nature, Michaela lacks understanding about human emotions, both the good and the bad, and as a result finds herself pretty baffled living among humans. So when the two of them meet… 

There’s other elements and plots, as the Evillious Chronicles universe is much wider, but at its core Wiegenlied of Green is Michaela and Clarith’s story. The original is in Japanese (obv), but it’s fully translated to English here. The prose can get a little awkward due to converting between languages, but it’s definitely not incomprehensible. AND MICHAELA MARRY ME. 

(A side note, but mothy actually made two songs about the plot of Wiegenlied of Green as well, even though it cuts out a lot of the novel’s storyline. One is from Clarith’s perspective, called Daughter of White in reference to Clarith’s white hair as a Netsuma, and the other is from Michaela’s perspective, called Maiden of the Tree: Thousand-Year Wiegenlied, in reference to her original status as a spirit of the forest. I wouldn’t watch either of their videos or read any translations of them until after I’ve finished the novel, though, since they both have spoilers.) 

Dumb Husky and His White Cat Shizun

(I’m gonna go with the English title here, because the Chinese title is pretty long, to the point that most people call it 2ha or Erha.) This is a Chinese danmei novel, by the author Meatbun Doesn’t Eat Meat. Its protagonist is Mo Ran, who became tyrannical emperor after losing his first love, and killed a bunch of people. Eventually, he committed suicide, only to wake up and find that he’s traveled back in time to when he was fifteen years old, before his first love died. This was my first danmei novel, and god. It has some really interesting themes about justice, redemption, atonement, morality, forgiveness, etc. The title may sound childish, but I hurt myself reading it. I think the strength of 2ha is that the author expresses raw emotions so well that I can’t help coming back, and she gets you so invested in all the characters. Massive trigger warning, though, for r/pe, abuse, explicit sex, and gore. Also, Chu Wanning, the main love interest/deuteragonist, is Mo Ran’s shizun, or teacher. Although this is handled carefully by the story, it still might be off-putting.

Here’s a link to translations in various languages; as far as I know, there’s no full human translation into English. The machine translations are understandable, but they also might come across as awkward. I’d say it’s still more than  worth it, though.

Tian Guan Ci Fu

The English title is Heaven’s Official Blessing. This is also Chinese danmei web novel by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. It’s protagonist, Xie Lian, is the crown prince of the kingdom Xianle, who ascended to the status of a god at age seventeen due to his cultivation but ended up being banished because of, ahem, circumstances. The main love interest and deuteragonist is Hua Cheng, who is… it’s complicated. As for its strengths, Tian Guan Ci Fu is just great all around, honestly. The themes are tight and consistent, the characters are wonderful (I’m extremely in love with Yushi Huang), and the worldbuilding is stellar. Not to mention, the main couple has me screaming into my pillow every moment of every day. 

The story is fully translated to English here. MXTX, the author, has also written other web novels that I haven’t read (yet), but I’ve heard amazing things about all of them. One is Mo Dao Zu Shi (“Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation”), the source material for the TV show The Untamed, which you might have seen stuff about. The other is Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, which is also apparently really good. 

Wiegenlied, 2ha, and TGCF are the only ones I can come up with so far, but I have a huge to-read list of webnovels. Of course I can’t recommend them since I haven’t read them yet, but here they are if you want to read more:

Night Flowers Shirking From the Light of the Sun

Qiang Jin Jiu

Sha Po Lang

Qi Ye

The Noble Consort’s Pet Empress

Lantern: Reflection of the Peach Blossoms

Qian Qiu

My Princess Has Been Reborn

[kingjasnah]

Is there the full list of brandersons favourite games reposted somewhere?

i dont think so? or not that ive seen. u can literally just sign up for the newsletter on his website but screw it ill just post them for u. it sure was a TRIP scrolling past these to get to the interlude though. undertale is on this list.....im shakign at the thought that adolin was based off ff10 tidus but i cant get it out of my head now

#10: Katamari Damaci

I love things that make me look at the world in a new way. Katamari did this in spades. It is an imaginative, bizarre vision with unique gameplay. It is like nothing else in the world and I love it for all its strangeness and occasional lack of gameplay polish.

I was transfixed the first time I played it, and have looked forward to it being remade and rereleased on multiple different consoles. I love the cute—and somehow creepy at the same time—storyline. It feels like a fever dream more than a game sometimes, and is probably the closest I’ll ever get to understanding what it’s like to do drugs.

#9: Undertale

This is an oddball on this list because I think it’s the only game that is not a franchise from a major studio—but is instead an indie game, which I believe was originally funded on Kickstarter.I loved how this felt like a novel as much as a game. It was one person’s vision; a single story told really well, with a huge amount of personality. The humor was just my kind of wonderful/terrible, and I was instantly enamored with the characters.That probably would have been enough, but it is a nice deconstruction of video games as a medium—and has not one, but multiple innovative gameplay mechanics. Together, the package left me enamored. This is a work of genius that I feel everyone should at least try, even if it ends up not being for them.

#8: Fallout: New Vegas

I have played all of the core Fallout games, and I was one of the (it seems few) who was really excited when it moved from turn-based tactics to first-person shooter. While Fallout 3 was good, it didn’t have the charm of the first two.New Vegas delivered on everything I was hoping to see. The charm was back, the writing sharp, the quests imaginative. The gameplay was engaging and branched in a variety of directions, the gunplay was solid, and the atmosphere immersive. I of course love the first two games in the series—but New Vegas combines everything I like in gaming into one package. (As a note, I own the Outer Worlds, and am looking forward to digging into it. Consider this item on the list a recommendation of other Obsidian games—like Knights of the Old Republic Two—regardless of genre, as I’ve found them universally to be superior to their contemporaries.)

#7 Super Mario World

When I was eleven, I flew (alone, which was very exciting to me) from Nebraska to visit my uncle Devon in Salt Lake City. Before I left, my father gave me $200 and told me to pay for my own meals while on the trip—but of course, my uncle didn’t allow this. At the end of the trip, I tried to give him the money, which he wouldn’t take.I mentioned my dad would take the money back when I got home, but that was okay. Well, my uncle would have none of that, and drove me to the local mall and made me spend it on a Nintendo Entertainment System. (This uncle, you might guess, is an awesome human being.)Since that day of first plugging it in and experiencing Mario for the first time, I was hooked. This is the only platformer on the list, as I don’t love those. But one makes an exception for Mario. There’s just so much polish, so much elegance to the control schemes, that even a guy who prefers an FPS or an RPG like me has to admit these are great games. I picked World as my favorite as it’s the one I’ve gone back to and played the most.

#7: The Curse of Monkey Island (Monkey Island 3)

I kind of miss the golden age of adventure gaming, and I don’t know that anyone ever got it as right as they did with this game. It is the pinnacle of the genre, in my opinion—no offense to Grim Fandango fans.This game came out right before gaming’s awkward teenage phase where everything moved to 3-d polygons. For a while after, games looked pretty bad, though they could do more because of the swap. But if you want to go see what life was like before that change, play Monkey Island 3. Composed of beautiful art pieces that look like cells from Disney movies, with streamlined controls (the genre had come a long way from “Get yon torch”) and fantastic voice acting, this game still plays really well.This is one of the few games I’ve been able to get my non-gamer wife to play through with me, and it worked really well as a co-op game with the two of us trying to talk through problems. It’s a lovingly crafted time capsule of a previous era of gaming, and if you missed it, it’s really worth trying all these years later. (The first and second games hold up surprisingly well too, as a note, particularly with the redone art that came out a decade or so ago.)Also, again, this one has my kind of humor.

#6: Breath of the Wild

I never thought a Zelda game would unseat A Link to the Past as my favorite Zelda, but Breath of the Wild managed it. It combined the magic of classic gameplay with modern design aesthetic, and I loved this game.There’s not a lot to say about it that others haven’t said before, but I particularly liked how it took the elements of the previous games in the series (giving you specific tools to beat specific challenges) and let you have them all at once. I like how the dungeons became little mini puzzles to beat, instead of (sometimes seemingly endless) slogs to get through. I liked the exploration, the fluidity of the controls, and the use of a non-linear narrative in flashbacks. It’s worth buying a Switch just to play this one and Mario—but in case you want, you can also play Dark Souls on Switch... (That’s foreshadowing.)

#5: Halo 2

Telling stories about Halo Two on stream is what made me think of writing this list.I’m sometimes surprised that this game isn’t talked about as much as I think it should be. Granted, the franchise is very popular—but people tend to love either Reach or games 1 or 3 more than two. Two, however, is the only one I ever wanted to replay—and I’ve done so three or four times at this point. (It’s also the only one I ever beat on Legendary.)It’s made me think on why I love this one, while so many others seem to just consider it one of many in a strong—but in many ways unexceptional—series of games. I think part of this is because I focus primarily on the single-player aspects of a game (which is why there aren’t any MMOs on this list.) Others prefer Halo games with more balanced/polished multiplayer. But I like to game by myself, and don’t really look for a multiplayer experience. (Though this is changing as I game with my sons more and more.)I really like good writing—which I suppose you’d expect. But in games, I specifically prefer writing that enhances the style of game I’m playing. Just dumping a bunch of story on me isn’t enough; it has to be suited to the gameplay and the feel of the game. In that context, I’ve rarely encountered writing as good as Halo 2. From the opening—with the intercutting and juxtaposition of the two narratives—to the quotes barked out by the marines, the writing in this game is great. It stands out starkly against other Halo games, to the point that I wonder what the difference is.Yes, Halo Two is a bombastic hero fantasy about a super soldier stomping aliens. But it has subtle, yet powerful worldbuilding sprinkled all through it—and the music...it does things with the story that I envy. It’s kind of cheating that games and films get to have powerful scores to help with mood.The guns in Two feel so much better than Halo One, and the vehicles drive far better. The only complaint I have is that it’s only half a story—as in, Halo 2 and 3 seem like they were one game broken in two pieces. And while 3 is good (and Reach does something different, which I approve of in general) neither did it for me the way Two did, and continues to do.

#3: Final Fantasy X

You probably knew Final Fantasy was coming. People often ask if the way these games handle magic was an influence upon me. All I can say is that I’ve played them since the first one, and so they’re bound to have had an influence.On one hand, these games are really strange. I mean, I don’t think we gamers stop quite often enough to note how downright bizarre this series gets. Final Fantasy doesn’t always make the most sense—but the games are always ambitious.Ten is my favorite for a couple of reasons. I felt like the worldbuilding was among the strongest, and I really connected with the characters. That’s strange, because this is one of the FF games without an angst-filled teen as the protagonist. Instead, it has a kind of stable happy-go-lucky jock as the protagonist.But that’s what I needed, right then. A game that didn’t give me the same old protagonist, but instead gave me someone new and showed me I could bond to them just as well. Ten was the first with full voice acting, and that jump added a lot for me. It has my favorite music of the series, and all together is what I consider the perfect final fantasy game. (Though admittedly, I find it more and more difficult to get into turn-based battle mechanics as I grow older.)

#2: Bloodborne

Those who follow my streams, or who read other interviews I’ve done, probably expected this series to be at or near the top. The question wasn’t whether Souls would be here, but which one to pick as my favorite.I went with Bloodborne, though it could have been any of them. (Even Dark Souls 2—which I really like, despite its reputation in the fandom.) I’ve been following FromSoftware’s games since the King’s Field games, and Demon’s Souls was a huge triumph—with the director Hidetaka Miyazaki deserving much of the praise for its design, and Dark Souls (which is really just a more polished version of Demon’s Souls).As I am a fan of cosmic horror, Bloodborne is probably my favorite overall. It really hit the mix of cosmic and gothic horror perfectly. It forced me to change up my gameplay from the other Souls games, and I loved the beautiful visuals.I am a fan of hard games—but I like hard games that are what I consider “fair.” (For example, I don’t love those impossible fan-made Mario levels, or many of the super-crazy “bullet hell”-style games.) Dark Souls is a different kind of hard. Difficult like a stern instructor, expecting you to learn—but giving you the tools to do so. It presents a challenge, rather than being hard just to be hard.If I have a problem with Final Fantasy, it’s that the games sometimes feel like the gameplay is an afterthought to telling the story. But in the Souls games, story and gameplay are intermixed in a way I’d never seen done before. You have to construct the story like an archeologist, using dialogue and lore from descriptions of in-game objects. I find this fascinating; the series tells stories in a way a book never could. I’m always glad when a game series can show off the specific strengths of the medium.In fact, this series would be #1 except for the little fact that I have way too much time on Steam logged playing...

#1: Civilization VI

This series had to take #1 by sheer weight of gameplay time. I discovered the first on a friend’s computer in the dorms my freshman year—and I can still remember the feeling of the birds chirping outside, realizing I’d been playing all night and really should get back to my own dorm room.That still happens, and has happened, with every game in the series. I have a lot of thoughts on this series, many of them granular and too specific for this list. (Like, it’s obvious AI technology isn’t up to the task of playing a game this complex—so could we instead get a roguelike set of modifiers, game modes, etc. to liven up the games, rather than just having a difficulty slider that changes a few simple aspects of the game?)I’ll try not to rant, because I really do love this game series. A lot of people consider IV to be the pinnacle of the series, but after V unstacked units—and VI unstacked cities—there was no way I could ever go back. If for some reason, you’ve never played this grand patriarch of the 4X game genre, it’s about starting with a single stone-age settler who can found a city—then playing through eras of a civilization, growing your empire, to try to eventually get offworld with a space program. (Or, if you prefer, conquering the world.)It’s a load of fun in the way I like to have fun, and I feel like the series has only gotten better over the years. My hat is off to the developers, who keep reinventing the series, rather than making the exact same game over and over.Now, about that request for difficulty modes...

there are runner ups but for the sake of anyone whos on mobile and cant get past a read more (first of all omg im SO sorry) ill refrain. anyway he thought WHAT loz game was the best before botw?

[rossa-motte]

cielo rojo/red sky, short story update.

Hey, everyone! So today I want to talk about Cielo Rojo/Red Sky, the first complete short story I wrote not only this year, but in a long time. If you read my introduction to the community, I commented on how (thanks to perfectionism) I stopped writing for four or five years.

Reading about a “writer block” that takes more than a few weeks may seem scary af to a lot of people, but I'm kind of glad. I feel more confident now. Also #OvercomingMentalIllness, even if I wasn't a perfectionist, my focus was on other stuff.

State:  complete... for now. Probably in a few months I'll read it again and clean it a bit more

Wordcount: 4888 (love the number idk why)

Genre/category: adult, dark fantasy, paranormal (vampires)

Premise/concept: A young woman accepts to be bitten by a vampire in an illegal vampire-party but she really isn't sure if that's what she wants, especially because she has the rarest blood type in the world.

Characters: 

Urbana

the MC

a woman in her mid twenties with cool hair, who works as a stylist

a anxious and obedient golden retriever (literally in my notes about her)

Reyes

the vampire

we can't know much about him

but he seems pretty human... and boring

Begonia

our MC's best friend

the crazy one who convinces her to go to the party

I wanted her to have more screen time but I couldn't :(

Playlist:

Show it 2 me (by Night Club)

Gossip (by Night Club)

Dear enemy (by Night Club)

Miss negativity (by Night Club)

Your addiction (by Night Club)

Scheizophrenic (by Night Club)

Die in the disco (by Night Club)

Give yourself up (by Night Club)

Bad girl (by Night Club)

Scary world (by Night Club)

Sad boy (by Night Club)

Need you tonight (by Night Club)

Strobe light (by Night Club)

Tonight is the night i die (by Payale Royale)

Song for planning: (I have a specific song I put on repeat when I plan characters, and other stuff. Usually the vibes don't match that much, but credit where's needed) Little somenthing  (by Melody Gardot and Sting)

Years ago I got this idea of a world with vampires and... let me clear up: I always wanted to write about vampires (and all that kind of creatures) but for obvious reasons I thought it wasn't a good idea. I think the Twilight and Twilight copycats era has passed and vampires can be cool again. Thanks.

So years ago I got this idea of a world with vampires, not like a secret world. In this universe, vampires are part of normal life like a bunch of goth kids... okay, no. My take was more political. I thought a lot about it: I wanted them to have power and privilege in society thanks to their... condition but I also wanted them to be seen as an other by no-vampires. To be marginalized in other aspects. I also wondered how law would work with them.

I wanted to write a short story collection in this world, and maybe some day I'll do it (not right now). One of the core ideas was seeing giving blood as similar to sex work (but not the same because it wasn't just the same). And later on I got the idea of Tinder (or a similar app) asking information such as blood type.And later of course I asked myself: which blood would taste better? (as yu do) And who has that blood?

But, besides writing only at night, I'm not a vampire so I don't know, so it changed to what type of blood would attract vampires? Probably a rare one.

Presenting to you: Rh null, the rarest blood type in the world. Only 40-50 have it.

Oh yeah, everything was perfect... except writing after five years of not doing so. 

I ignored it for weeks. Specially because I was trying to rewrite an old short story with an interesting concept (the one I'm writing right now). It didn't take much to accept I wasn't ready for this other story. I didn't even told people I was leaving this story again and would want to write other, because I felt ashamed for not sticking to it.

At the moment, I've decided Cielo Rojo would take place in a party full of vampires, so imagine my surprise when YouTube, out of the blue, recommend me a 1 hour mix of “vampire electro/house”.

what the fuck

I didn't told anybody, I don't listen to that kind of music, I don't watch those videos, and I didn't search for ANYTHING related... only the bloodtype, but that doesn't equate with vampires and electro.

Anyways, for me: a sign. Write that shit. The universe screaming at me to stop fooling around and just do the damn thing. So I did.

My first draft took me a few days. Maybe two or three, I can't remember. And I hated it. I was proud and knew it was going to be difficult and I would be able to improve it. But I was still feeling really insecure.

Writing fantasy short fiction is hard: there's a lot you have to explain for the concept to make sense, but I didn't want to bore people or make the story too long.While drafting, and after ending it, I made a list of things that I needed to change or put. In my second draft I mostly restructured some things.

Not much really. Structure wise was better than I thought, specially for pantsing it. Somehow I only wrote useful scenes that happened during moments that traditionally work like that. Like a midpoint! I didn't even plan on putting something similar to a midpoint in my short story but not only it works: somehow it wouldn't ever work without.

Oh, and the second draft was a rewrite, not an edit: one document on a side of the screen, and a new one on the other. That helped a lot.

The third draft was me crying while paying attention to my writing and tearing the prose apart. Filters, abuse of -ing and -ly words (in Spanish are -mente and -ando/-endo), a lot of to-be verbs and a lot of them in unnecessary places or vague language/weasel words.

The fourth draft was the same but after a longer period of time and also polishing the dialogue. The characters had voices but I knew I could do better.

Reyes was so difficult to write. Usually I start with a vague idea of a character, almost as an archetype. But not with him, I just didn't see all of him until the last draft.

I really liked Begonia—I was going to use her more but in the second draft it just didn't made sense. She has a deeper story and personality that would be hinted at... but I didn't.

The prose was a nightmare.

I was trying to get equilibrium with a lot of little details: general stroy details, plot, characters, worldbuilding.

I'm the kind of person who like to suggest myself a theme to use as a compass. Usually when the story is done, I discover more, but a base one is cool. But this story didn't have it. The draft itself didn't took much but between those writing days I couldn't understand what I was going for with this... until I did.

I can't get over the structure. It made sense. And I wasn't even trying (that hard).

That midpoint. I didn't know what I was doing and it worked beautifully.

I thought the dialogue would be worst. Didn't need to change that much.

When I found the theme (to give you an idea, usually for me theme go hand in hand with internal conflict/desire) everything made sense.

The music was perfeeect. Ironically I didn't used the YouTube mix, but thanks to listening to it, it recommended me Nightclub and they reaaally got the vibes.

There's a bunch of details I didn't know why I was putting them (it just felt right or logical) and when you see the big picture they make sense and create layers in the story. Reyes only made sense to me after noticing that. Not only him... but specially him lol

[valkyrieelysia18]

RWBY Rewrite: The Academies

Hey there! Sorry, it’s been awhile but between job searching and my own hang ups I don’t write as much as I used to. But I still do get that itch so let’s get down to business. And as stated before, anything from Volume 7 and beyond will be disregarded.

I think it’s very clear that RWBY’s worldbuilding is far from decent. If you have to release supplemental videos to explain things that essential to understand for world, you have some serious writing problems. Originally, I actually liked the idea of World of Remnant videos. They were visually pleasing to watch and it’s good way to get exposition dumps out of the way that wouldn’t really make sense in the time and place we’re at.

And then it hit me like a pile of bricks. WE’RE AT A SCHOOL! It’s the perfect place for boring exposition dumps!

Seriously, they really underutilized the schools with just making it a gathering place for people and events. Granted many who write magical high school stories in manga and anime are often guilty of the same thing, but considering that RWBY was influenced by the anime it’s not a surprise they also inherited some of it’s weak points.

So, let’s see if we can improve the Academies. Note that I’m mostly focusing on Beacon because after the Vale Arc we’ll only see the schools in passing.

Admissions

The first thing that needs to be made clear is that getting into the one of the four academies is not easy. Not everyone can become a huntsman and just because you were enrolled in a combat school is not a guarantee. 

Firstly, those who wish to apply to an academy must submit their application which will be submitted to various background checks as well as the scrutiny of the admissions team. About half of the applicants are the cut down and the other half will then proceed to the entrance exam. The place to take the exam for a specific academy is the capital city of their kingdom. For those who wish to transfer kingdoms, they have to go to a separate location as well as have an essay on why they want to as part of their written exam.

This exam is two part: a written exam testing their general knowledge and a combat portion which they will display the mastery of their fighting style and weapons. Acceptance is then decided upon their combined score and will notify the applicants either electronically or through the mail. From there, only a quarter of the original applicants end up enrolled in a huntsman academy. And that is not taking into account those who do and don’t make it to graduation.

The only way to not have to go through the background checks and exams is if the person had the headmaster/headmistress’ personal recommendation which grants them immediate acceptance (what Ruby and Jaune have). This will actually become a plot point in the Mistral Arc as that’s how Cinder and her group were accepted and that bit of knowledge will make sure our heroes not walk into the ambush blind.

Teachers

I can’t believe I have to say this, but there needs to more than four visible teachers on a campus. And considering that Peach has never made an appearance, that does not count. There’s also the matter of maintenance, library, cafeteria staff, office work, and whole bunch of other stuff that I can’t think of off the top of my head.

Referencing My Hero Academia again (something I will probably do quite a bit in this Rewrite series and I recommend to anyone burned off of RWBY), UA had a vast colorful staff and while we don’t personally meet all of them, at least we know that there is enough of them that would be able to run a fictional school.

Classes

We really got a look at three classes at Beacon and while Grimm Studies, Combat Class, and History are what I would imagine are necessary classes for the students, there needs to be more. Things such as First Aid, Survival, Dust Application, Weapons Forging, Tactics and Strategy, and much more.

The thing about these classes is that there is so much they could do in expanding the lore and building up the characters. Like for example, in Dust Applications Weiss could showcase her mastery and understanding of using dust only to have a student in the background make a comment mentioning something of Schnee family history. This could set up the late Nicholas Schnee as well as give Jacques more of a bad reputation outside of the Faunus characters/the White Fang.

Another example would be to have Cardin answering a hypothetical scenario in Strategy and Tactics only for Jaune to point some flaws in his answer and offer a better solution. This would not only show and not tell that what Jaune lacks on the battlefield in physical strength, he makes up for it with his mind; it would also set up Cardin’s enmity toward him in a way that makes sense.

Monthly Team Tasks

This came not from an anime, but a video game. Trails of Cold Steel sets up one of the better fictional special academies I’ve seen (even if the story did go somewhat off the rails). In particular, the idea of monthly group tasks is one that I think that would work for the huntsman academies. These tasks are in a way training them for actual missions. The completion of these tasks, along with grades and combat scores, would help determine a team’s ranking. Certain things at school can only be done if you have a high enough rank such as access to more difficult training simulations or entrance into the Vytal Festival Tournament.

At the beginning of each month, each team will get a list of tasks that need to be completed before the end of the month. Each team’s tasks is different, as fighting styles and what that team needs to work on is taken into account. That isn’t to say two teams can’t have the same objective. One task could be to clear out a certain number of Grimm from the Emerald Forrest, another could be to listen in on a specific lecture or assist a teacher with their work. That’s actually how I’d set up the Forever Falls trip during the Jaundice Arc (Trust me, I will get to that Rewrite post eventually.).

This would be another to expand the world and it’s lore as the group tasks would be a great excuse to have the characters explore the city of Vale in much more detail. One I would have definitely done is having RWBY and JNPR head to a museum for an exhibit about the Great War and the Last King of Vale. It would have a lot more details on the events of the war as well certain bits of information that would definitely come up later on in the series. But those two subjects are their own Rewrite posts for another day.

Okay, that took longer to get this out than I think people would have hoped and isn’t as long as some of my other posts. I’m going back to a character post next and I think I will tackle a very specific character whose choices involving her are rather.....questionable.

Hope you guys enjoyed and I’ll get on it soon!

[lovelylogans]

You seem to be the person that I follow who knows the most about fanfic, and I kinda want to get into reading it again. I used to read a lot of phan or supernatural stuff and now I read none, lol. Can you rec me LAMP or any pairing between the light sides or platonic fics with happy endings? Even if it's the most basic ones that everyone has read, I probably haven't. Thanks so much!

*cracks knuckles*

this is gonna be a long one. it’ll go title, pairing, then super basic plot summary, so. below the cut!

as far as self-promotion goes, i’ll get that out of the way first and rec you some of my most popular stuff in this fandom. these links will be to ao3, though you can also find them on my tumblr:

where you lead, i will follow (romantic moxiety, romantic logince): 150k of a gilmore girls au that absolutely no one asked me for, you do not need to have read the show to read this. it’s slowburn friends-to-lovers moxiety and childhood friends-to-lovers for logince, this fic follows patton, who was a pregnant trans teen who ran away to the tiny town of sideshire, his son, logan, who just got accepted into one of the most prestigious high schools in the state, patton’s parents, emily and richard, who clash often with their son, virgil, the owner of the local diner and reason all the locals have not developed scurvy, and roman, a teenage dancer/dance instructor who just so happens to have a crush on his best friend. this is a big personal favorite of mine, and i’m still writing in that verse, so. 

lavender for luck (romantic polyamlamp): the fae family has been cursed with magic dating back two hundred years. with great power, however, comes a great price; any man or woman who falls in love with a fae is doomed to die. virgil fae is trying his best to ensure that that does not happen. as is his uncle, dee. however, three of the friends he makes at college makes that increasingly difficult, for him.

my true love gave to me (romantic prinxiety, romantic logicality): a christmas-centric fic of four roommates, all of which are in love with each other in some way. follow these disaster gays being wooed or attempting to woo their crush in time to make out under some mistletoe. (this fic was nominated for best overall in the fander fic awards on tumblr.)

not you again (romantic prinxiety): inexplicably my most popular fic in terms of tumblr notes, this follows roman being a Gay Disaster Barista who is crushing hard on one of his regulars, who unfortunately has a boyfriend (or does he?) ft. remy (aka the sleep character from thomas’ short vids.)

dance partner (platonic royality): the popularity of this one is also due to the fanart made by the incredible sanderstribute, roman takes patton for a night of dancing on the town. 

okay, that’s enough of my stuff. this section is mostly “fandom essentials” in that most people have either read them or are familiar with them, in some way. a lot of these are kind of old-school fander fics, but they’re still really good and a good introduction to fandom! mostly the most kudos/bookmarked fics on ao3. also a pretty good starting point to a variety of popular fic-types in this fandom.

to build a home (romantic logicality) by avalorouschoice on ao3: patton and logan adopt virgil from an orphanage. this is a lot of found family, kid-growing-closer-to-the-family, and it’s just. i Like It A Lot and i’m definitely due for a re-read of it, it’s just very sweet

starved (polyamlamp, ft. thomas) by @randomslasher: honestly, it was tough to pick just one randomslasher fic to put on the list (if you’d like more fandom essentials, i’d argue that lj has written a toooon of them so just reading through their fics would be good!) but this one kind of had to win out. this fic boils down to “virgil needs hugs desperately and hides how desperately he needs them from the other sides, the other sides find out, the other sides give him hugs.” that’s... yeah. that’s the one. it’s Good Stuff.

of trying and towers (romantic prinxiety) by @parsnipit: similarly difficult to parse down any parsnipit fics! a lot of their stuff ranks among my personal favorites, so again, just reading down the list of what they’d got is a Good Call especially once upon a dream, which is similarly one of those “fandom essentials.” this fic in particular is about thomas in medieval times, stuff goes wrong, and all the sides split up and are turned into what they hate/fear, and it’s their journey of teaming up together again and defeating the evil ruler in place of the kingdom. there’s dragons. it’s Good Stuff.

it’s only logical (romantic logicality, romantic prinxiety) by @tinysidestrashcaptain: logan owns a flowershop and hires single dad patton, while his best friend virgil, who owns a coffee shop, and roman flirts with virgil a lot. very cute, very sweet, kid thomas is Great! again, tstrashcaptain has a lot of the stuff i’d call “fandom essentials,” so. those! all good stuff!

silence and duality (platonic lamp) by @xaandiir: one of the first takes on the whole “dark sides” aspect we had, back in the day, this fic follows along with the sort of psychology/mentality of the sides as children, as they grow up, and the potential of what could happen to one of the dark sides, especially if they were rejected. i’m trying not to spoil it too much, but! again! good stuff!!

insomnia (platonic lamp) by @xaandiir: virgil cannot sleep, attempts to hide it from the other sides, and the other sides find out. Good Stuff. let the boy take a nap

learning & loving verse (romantic prinxiety, romantic logicality) by @virgilsjourney: jenna’s just... yeah, lots of really good fics there! again! a college verse fic in which Pining Roommates feature; virgil helps roman through some stage fright (trying not to spoil it!) to eventually star as fiyero in wicked, and the realization of Feelings throughout. good stuff!

college verse (platonic lamp) by @princelogical: again! one of those Really Great Authors to just read a ton of their stuff! this one in particular is a college verse, in which all the sides have various emotional reckonings. really great character development, really great backstory. i will say read the warnings, just in case!

and now, for some of my personal favorites. this is only a fraction of my favorite fics, and if you’d like more of my personal recommendations, i have a whole tag for fanfic! (if there’s an indent under, it just means ‘more by this author!’)

love and other fairytales (polyamlamp) by @tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors: ohhh my fuckin god. worldbuilding a+, characterization a+, plot a+. have you ever wanted faerie!virgil and changeling!logan and witch!roman and a-little-cursed!patton??? you do! trust me you do! i have no idea how to describe it without spoiling any of the plot, however, i will say that this is basically just Straight Up a novel and has developed a little fandom of itself which is honestly so lovely to see, so!

faded with uncertainty (romantic prinxiety): in the aftermath of ‘dealing with intrusive thoughts,’ roman finds virgil crying in the midst of the mindscape and comforts him in the aftermath of That Reveal that virgil had in the video

blanket!verse (romantic prinxiety, romantic logicality): a few oneshots of varying topics, this deals with virgil and his anxiety in his new relatinoship, as well as patton’s tendency to hide emotions, with fluff involved in each. (canoodling especially it’s so soft and fluffy and just!!!)

track seven (romantic logicality): logan struggles with his emotions and snaps and blows up at everyone; patton tries his best to get to the bottom of it.

lovely, dark, and deep (romantic analogical) by @teacupfulofstarshine:  MERMAIDS!!!! virgil’s a doctoral student and thomas is his advisor, and logan, roman, and patton are all mermaids, of a sort. very good, very gay, the imagery is spectacular and it is Good! Stuff!!!

little and broken (but still good): moxiety as dads! logan, roman, and thomas are their kids! they’re all so good! so cute! really great family feels! i cry every single time! the domesticity! the FLUFF! it is a masterpiece!

the pattonella au (romantic analogical, romantic royality): oh my actual god, star, YOUR MIND, this au is just such a wonderful take on the cinderella fairytale and putting it within the context of the sides with its own little twists and turns, they are Cute and Good and the development of the relationship in the aftermath of a cinderella-type event is just chef’s kiss 

living in the real world (ain’t it fun): the sides coalesce into the real world, and thomas is KIND OF FREAKING OUT about it; they’re having trouble adjusting, at first, but since the work’s still in progress you can see them kind of slowly coming to terms with it and it’s just a take on the “sides become people” au that i’ve never really seen before so!!!!!!

stardust sleeper (and the college!verse in general): logan gets to take the nap He Deserves, there are Cute Accents in here, and it’s just a very cute, very good domestic slice-of-life in the midst of the chaos that is college. it’s Very Cute and Very Sweet and please just read it oh my god???? 

internal bleeding (past romantic logicality, romantic prinxiety) by @princelogical: virgil and roman come to visit patton at christmas, in the aftermath of patton’s husband’s death; his husband is very aware that he’s dead, but he hasn’t been able to leave yet. angst, hurt/comfort, Oh My Fuckin God

the queerplatonic logince verse: logan and roman are in a queerplatonic relationship, and the stuff that entails. i just really like it whenever someone focuses on aro or ace sides, and i think this is a really well-done portrayal of the fact that relationships absolutely do not need to be romantic in order to be significant.

i feel like it’s just me: patton is a professional cuddler, and the people he meets in the course of that job, ft. some patton angst and general thoughts about loneliness. to quote, “this is more of a concept piece,” but i very much like the concept

lists.: just a short, sweet lil thing about the other sides appreciating logan.

hold your breath until it’s okay by insertfandomjoke, @notafeeling on tumblr: a brooklyn 99 style au in which logan is the captain, and virgil, roman, and patton are the detectives—it’s a “Five Times They Closed a Case Without Anyone Getting Hurt and the One Time They Didn't” au. 

in which we are all virgil: in which virgil stares at elliott and thinks “oh no they cute!!!” and also presents elliott as joan’s anxiety and dr. picani as a fusion between patton and logan and it just. Good!

sweaters: patton makes his boyfriends all christmas sweaters and They Cute

habits (romantic logicality) by @astralbone: human au, slice-of-life kind of thing. the characterizations are Very Good and honestly i just really love to read it. both of them are hurting and their life may not be perfect but they’re fitting together and it’s just. it’s Very Good

sanders sides ficlets by @virgilsjourney: ranging a variety of topics/timespans in terms of the series, there is a ton here. you want movie night fluff? it’s here! you want hurt/comfort angst in which roman is locked away like in the snow queen? you got it! you want logan and patton mend up after moving on???? it’s here! just a lot of really good stuff!!!!!!

blink back to let me know (romantic moxiety, hinted romantic logince) by @virgilsanxiety and @shakespearesocks: virgil and patton are both pining, logan and roman don’t get paid enough for this, and they are Good Soft Boys who maybe need to improve a bit at communication

logic’s notebooks (romantic analogical) by @parsnipit: logan keeps notebooks about all the sides and feels bad about it; in the midst of all this, some Very Great domestic analogical

and you lied to all your selves (romantic prinxiety, romantic logicality) by penrosequartz: i haven’t read this in a minute, but it���s a prinxiety fic in which they get closer, and virgil is being, well, anxious, and i’d recommend you read the warnings but!!! loosely structured, good characterization, it’s just some! good! stuff!

migraine (analogical) by @theonlyjelly-iwillput-inmybelly (philosophicalrune on ao3): virgil is overworking himself through a migraine, logan helps him feel better, and tries his best to make virgil feel better. it’s cute and sweet and very good in terms of hurt/comfort, i tend to go back to it whenever school is stressing me out, so that should tell you something!

smile (platonic moxiety) by @doggo-fiends-on-a-spaceship: to steal their alternative title, “Alternatively titled: Virgil has a nightmare and wants a hug, but being emotionally constipated, Cannot Ask for one.” virgil has a nightmare and spends the night in patton’s room; the trouble is, patton did not know that he was doing that until he nearly trips over virgil. they are Good Boys and it’s just Real Nice

again, this is a tiny, miniscule fraction of really spectacular fics in this fandom—there’s a lot of talented people here, so happy reading!

[simonjadis]

"Subverting expectations" should be something akin to what it adds to the story and not outright replaces. In addition, a writer should employ it based on what they feel in right for their characters and story with deep consideration. It seems like with recent examples that need no introduction do it to "please the audience" when they should write the sort of the story they'd want to read and/or watch themselves. It should come from the heart if you don't mind cheese.

I had not heard of that cyborg incident, anon! That sounds great.

(And I’m behind on DuckTales – the last episode I saw was Della’s first episode; I love Paget Brewster as her voice almost as much as I loved Paget voicing Poison Ivy)

I totally agree with you!!

Sometimes, I am horrified when I learn that feedback has convinced a storyteller to go in a different direction, even if I 100% understand why. Other times, it’s a great thing.

1. Good Case: Griffin McElroy is informed by fans of the Bury Your Gays trope, and his narrative returns two Tragic WLW as dryads (I’m not there yet in The Adventure Zone; I’m so nervous about continuing The Suffering Game)

2. Bad Case A: video game creators listen to disproportionate outrage from entitled forum bros and yield to their demands to include less queer content and fewer characters of color in the next game, or to sideline that content and those characters

3. Bad Case B: Joseph Morgan is a handsome, talented actor, but his desire to go forward with the story of Klaus Mikaelson on The Vampire Diaries should not have changed existing plans. I know that this is Extremely Writer Of Me but, to my mind, that’s like putting on a puppet show and one of the puppets whirls around and tells you to not kill him off. I’m not mad that the spinoff happened or anything, I just think that Klaus is a terrible person who deserves to die, however sympathetic aspects of his backstory may have been.

Anon, you wrote “a writer should employ it based on what they feel in right for their characters and story with deep consideration“

the line about with deep consideration is especially good, and something that many of us forget to express

because I’m gay, I’m going to pick an example – there are stories I might write in which the word “faggot” appears a great deal. it’s a slur, but it might be appropriate for characterization or setting. that doesn’t mean that it needs to be part of the story that will be consumed by an actual human audience, some of whom may have heard that word yelled at them at the worst moments of their lives

I could also write a fantasy setting in which that words holds no particular meaning, and someone’s name might happen to be that. it’s not like the fantasy character speak english or have that slur – the name just happens to be that, and exists within that world’s context. BUT again, this is going to be consumed by an actual audience, and I can just … not do that

in a previous post [X], I discussed worldbuilding and narrative choices, and used a domino/marbles analogy. another analogy might be baking – you choose the recipe and the ingredients and how they’re introduced and combined, but once placed in the oven, it all has to work naturally – you can’t force a cake to rise

if you do that in a story, people will know that something isn’t right

but choosing the recipe/ingredients and how they’re combined isn’t an excuse to do whatever you want.

you can choose to, as you note, set things up so that a woman who might have been fridged will instead be in a position to become a cyborg. (I don’t know a good baking analogy for that)

there are ways to include bigotry, death, and horror in your worldbuilding without focusing upon these elements for shock value, and that’s because the storyteller also controls the perspective

for another poor analogy, let’s say that you’re using your phone to record a video tour of your house – a walkthrough. you can use camera angles to avoid showing that place where the carpet just isn’t the same as it used to be, or that side of the couch that the cats chose as a scratching post, or that place where your drunk buddy decided to throw food onto the kitchen ceiling to see what stuck and now it’s discolored. storytellers can do this by choosing who (first person or third person limited) is telling the story, by choosing an unreliable narrator (usually just someone without the social awareness to realize what’s going on around them), or by taking the story in other directions

which means, and I know that this is a tangent but you reminded me of it, that stories can avoid gratuitous depictions of sexual assault or domestic violence and focus on fun things, like werewolf violence or whatever. it doesn’t mean pretending that those things don’t exist, it’s just prioritizing what gets “screen time”

that’s another place where deep considering comes into play. what things need to be part of the media experience, and which things can’t be left aside? for example, with very rare exceptions, i recommend against following the story of anyone experiencing gastrointestinal distress and related symptoms. someone can have a stomachache and then stay in bed with a time skip or someone else’s POV for a while. with rare exceptions, we don’t need to follow that person into the bathroom. the same is true with sexual assault and domestic violence, only this time we’re adding potential reader trauma to the list of reasons to tilt the metaphorical camera in another direction; if a character says that their ex was “a bad man” or warns someone away from X tavern, I believe them

obviously, sometimes stories do include horrifying elements; there are very few absolutes in writing

[barely restraining myself from talking about showing-vs-telling and some discourse I’ve seen about it]

I absolutely do not mind cheese, anon, and I agree that stories should metaphorically come from the heart

I do think that a lot of television writing has less of that because it’s, well, a job. the story should still make sense, and ideally everyone in the writer’s room feels passionately about some aspect of the project, but any mercenary writer is going to have some things where they just do their best and then call it a day. the story needs to make sense and engage audiences, but it doesn’t have to be a passion project

if a writer does a good job of entertaining themselves, they’ll usually do a decent job of pleasing the audience. there are exceptions.

not everybody has a foot fetish, Joss

[terramythos]

Review: Transistor by Supergiant Games (2014)

Genres/Tags: Apocalyptic, Cyberpunk, Science Fiction, Romance, Isometric, 2D, Action RPG, Turn-Based RPG, Great Soundtrack, Short, Silent Protagonist, Female Protagonist, Great Lore, Narrated, Great Art

Warning(s): Graphic depictions of suicide.

Playthrough Notes: Standard playthrough on PC. 

My Rating: 4.5 / 5 (Strongly Recommended)

My Summary:

In Transistor, you play Red, a famous singer whose voice has been stolen after an attack by The Camerata, a clandestine organization with mysterious motives. You are accompanied by the titular Transistor, a sword that appears to not only be sentient, but know Red personally. Over the course of the game, you explore the futuristic city of Cloudbank as a malevolent, machinelike force known as The Process consumes everything in its path. As the game progresses, you learn what ties these mysteries together— and ultimately, the fate of Cloudbank and its inhabitants.

I love you so much, Red. You know that, right?

Minor spoilers and full review under the cut. 

I quite enjoyed playing Transistor, and while my numerical score places it on equal footing with Bastion, I really think I enjoyed this one a little bit more. Could have been the premise, could have been the setting, it’s hard to say. It’s not a perfect game, but I still enjoyed it very much on a personal level. Like with my Bastion review (x), I’m going to discuss this game primarily on two fronts— gameplay and story. 

First of all, the gameplay for this one was more interesting (and challenging) than Bastion’s, despite it being a similar style of game. Both are isometric action RPGs which pit you against hordes of enemies, and require you to learn strategy to overcome certain situations. There are some key differences between the two, however. 

Using the power of The Transistor (the sword collected at the beginning of the game), you collect “Functions”, which are basically spells with various effects. You can equip four of them at a time. But to make things more complex, you can also equip them  as permanent passive effects or as power-ups to existing Functions. As such, the game is extremely customizable with lots of interesting ways to approach a given situation. 

Let’s take the “Jaunt()” Function as an example. As an Active function, it works as a straightforward dash to help you dodge enemies. Passive, it speeds up your Turn() recovery (more on that in a moment). And as an upgrade, it has various effects focused on speeding up active Functions. All the Functions you get in the game (16 total) behave this way, which I’m sure you can understand provides lots of options. 

One extra twist to the formula is the “Turn()” concept, which briefly transforms gameplay from an Action RPG into (sort of) a Turn-based Strategy RPG. On a short cooldown, Red and The Transistor can freeze time, during which you can move freely around the map and execute a certain number of Functions. Then, everything speeds back up as you execute the plan. It was a small addition, but for me it really spiced up the gameplay and made it unique. 

As for the level design, it was usually pretty linear. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, but it might have been nice to have more bonus “hidden” areas in the game. There were some here and there, but for the most part it was pretty predictable where I’d go and what I’d do there. 

That’s pretty much it for pure gameplay. Like in Bastion, there’s a hub of sorts that you can visit, as well as various challenges to complete for bonus stuff. I felt more motivated to complete the challenges in this one, just because I found the combat much more fun. Unfortunately you cannot 100% the game without delving into a NG+, so I didn’t get to complete all of them. The boss fights were pretty cool and felt a step above the ones in Bastion, but there were only a handful of them.

Story and gameplay are inextricable in certain ways. For example, the Functions() mentioned above are all based on public figures in Cloudbank, and using them in various ways unlocks the backstory of each person. While text logs aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, they usually don’t bother me if the content is interesting, so I didn’t really have a problem with this approach. For me it was an interesting way to encourage and discover different styles of gameplay, with the reward of more story for those curious about it. 

Story-wise, Transistor also has an undeniably bleaker tone than Bastion. Bastion is post-apocalyptic, but ultimately presents a hopeful narrative. Transistor is decidedly CURRENT-apocalyptic, which means you witness things as they collapse. It’s not an especially happy game, and it’s much darker than its predecessor, which is certainly worth knowing before diving in. 

Like in Bastion, the entire game is narrated by Logan Cunningham (again, a stellar performance), but the style is different. The Transistor, similar to Rucks in Bastion, narrates what you do as you do it. However, rather than a character telling the story as you play it, the narrator is a character directly involved in the action. The game utilizes this to build up the relationship between Red and The Transistor— and does so quite well despite one of the two being basically silent for most of the game. He’ll comment on what’s going on in the story, express surprise at something Red does, or wax poetic about their past relationship. There’s a lot of dialogue, but it all felt seamless with what I was doing in-game, which is impressive. 

And boy, was I not kidding about the Romance tag. I didn’t know what to expect when I booted up this game (I’d only seen some of the art), but a love story was not it. I was really impressed with how well said romance was written. Oftentimes video game romances seem super unrealistic to me (real people don’t talk like that!) with a few exceptions. To me, the romance between The Transistor and Red was remarkably well done, and integral to the game. How an 8-hour video game managed to create a compelling fictional relationship with only one of the two in a speaking role (and said speaking character basically being a sword), I have no idea, but it really worked for me and was a major, if unexpected, strong point of the game. 

Okay, so what about story content? This is actually kind of a gray area with Transistor, based on what I’ve seen. Some people really dig the story, but some decidedly do not. I think it really comes down to what style of presentation you personally look for in your stories. 

See, while the basics of Transistor’s story are straightforward, the game does not outright tell you many of the details. There’s a lot of things about the story, characters, and world that are left up to the player to figure out. For example, at no point in the game does a character sit down and directly explain what The Country (referenced by multiple characters) is; instead, you have to use context and figure it out on your own. That’s just one example; there’s quite a few details you need to read between the lines to pick up on. A lot of character motivation is hidden in the Function() biographies I mentioned earlier, and many would argue that this is not how character should be presented. 

Some people do not like this type of story, and that’s perfectly valid. There’s certainly some weaknesses to an approach like this; mainly, people will inevitably miss stuff. I researched people’s opinions on Transistor for this review, and many details that were addressed this way simply got missed. But I’ll just state for the record that I absolutely love stories with hidden details and meanings, and Transistor was no exception. There are some important things to acknowledge about Transistor’s story and why this approach makes sense. 

First, Transistor is above all a character-driven story. Yes, it takes place in a cool genre setting, but the focus of the story is Red and The Transistor, without a doubt. You know the Romance tag I referenced earlier? The relationship between these two characters is, in my opinion, the strongest part of the game’s story, and has the greatest emotional impact. Since the game focuses so much on these two characters and their motivations, why would either of them chew on the scenery with elaborate worldbuilding explanations? The villains’ motivations may matter to me as someone experiencing the story, but they don’t especially matter to the two leads, so why would we get info dumps directly in the narrative about them? That isn’t to say worldbuilding or character development is absent, just that you have to look for it, something not everyone is motivated to do, but I personally enjoy doing. 

You do also have to realize that Transistor is a short game; for me, it was just a little bit longer than Bastion. With Bastion, it made sense that there were elaborate explanations for the setting and characters… because the story was narrated by someone looking to tell a story above all else. Transistor is also narrated, but it’s by The Transistor itself as things happen. There’s a fundamental difference between the two, and it makes perfect sense that the focus is different. A short runtime provides less time to elaborate on every single thing, and that’s okay. 

All this being said, there were some moments that really should have been explained, because there were no context clues for them. Almost all of these appeared near the end, so I have to wonder if this was a time constraint or budgeting issue. A prime example is the final boss. Game-play wise, it was awesome. Story-wise, though? The explanation the game gives makes very little sense. A lot of “if we don’t do X, then Y will happen!” without any indication as to why Y would happen. In the grand scheme of things, these were minor details, but I’ll be the first to admit they were not presented in the best way, and it’s a bit disappointing to encounter something like that during the ending. 

There! I managed to discuss the story without actually spoiling anything. Good for me, I guess. But there are a few more things to discuss.

Like in my Bastion review, I would be super remiss to not mention two of the strongest points of this game— the music and artwork! Darren Korb once again gives us an excellent soundtrack with Transistor. He takes full advantage of Red’s singer backstory in this soundtrack, featuring beautiful vocal tracks performed by Ashley Barrett. My favorites were In Circles (x), We All Become (x), and Paper Boats (x). That isn’t to diminish the excellent instrumental tracks, such as Old Friends (x) and Heightmap (x), which are great atmospheric tracks that remind me of some of Akira Yamaoka’s music in the Silent Hill series. 

One thing I really liked with the game’s soundtrack was that, when you activate the Turn() function, the song phases into an eerie hummed version of the track, also performed by Ashley Barrett. I’ve seen games like Nier Automata feature a dynamic soundtrack in this vein, and can’t help but wonder if they were inspired by Transistor. Without getting into spoilers, these hummed tracks also imply some things about the story without outright stating them, which I find super neat. 

If the soundtrack is great, the artwork is superb. Jen Zee, the art director at Supergiant Games, goes all out. I mean, just look at the pictures in this review. There are lots of art stills used as the game’s cutscenes (Bastion did the same thing), and they’re all just gorgeous. Very stylistic yet personal. The watercolor-style level design once again shines in this title; exploring the world was always a rich and rewarding experience based purely on the eye candy of each level. Transistor is undeniably an indie game, but that doesn’t inhibit its visual punch or player experience in the least.  

It’s hard to review Transistor without comparing it to Bastion. Ultimately, my main criticism of Bastion was that I wanted to know more about the setting and characters. This one gave me a little more character, and a little less setting. I thought the combat was more fun in this one. Is one better than the other? Most people would probably say Bastion is better, but I personally enjoyed this one more. I guess it really does come down to opinion on this one. 

Either way, I had a great time with Transistor and look forward to when I replay it. I recommend it with the story caveat I mention earlier, because it’s probably not for everyone, and if you like things spelled out and conclusive, this may not be the most satisfying title for you. That wasn’t a problem for me, so I had a great time with it. Definitely give it a shot if you have the chance!

[ateanalenn]

This is a list of creative writing and self-publishing tools, apps and websites + a few extra that I thought would help!

ONLINE WRITING ENVIRONMENTS

750WORDS – a simple site to keep up a private diary or daily writing practice. You can earn badges and get some neat metrics after you complete your writing.

GOOGLE DOCS – I wrote a whole post about HOW WRITERS CAN USE GOOGLE DOCS!

NOISLI – noise generator and distraction-free writing (with Markdown preview).

WRITE OR DIE – no other app can make you write faster! A NaNoWriMo staple.

WORKFLOWY – a beautifully simple web/mobile app for outlining and list-making.

TWINE – a visual interface for creating “choose your own adventure”-style stories. WATCH THIS VIDEO for a great introduction.

NOTION.SO* – a beautiful web (+Mac & iOS) app for writing and/or creating worldbuilding wikis. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP and earn 150 extra content blocks.

STATIONERY

GALEN LEATHER – beautiful leather traveler’s notebooks, pen cases, notebook covers and more.

CULTPENS – I order most of my fountain pens from CultPens in the UK. My go-to pens are the Kaweco Sport, Conklin Duragraph and Pilot Penmanship.

PAPERCHASE – I love Paperchase padfolios!

ONLINE DICTIONARIES

BEHIND THE NAME – my favourite resource to research name meanings, and find character names.

WEBSTER’S 1913 – a lovely nice vintage alternative to modern dictionaries, especially useful for historical fiction.

WORDNIK – one of my favourite tools for discovering and collecting words!

MAC APPS FOR WRITERS

SCRIVENER – excellent for organising (and reorganising) longer projects. If you use Scrivener for novel writing, you might like to download my ONE PAGE NOVEL TEMPLATE.

NOTATIONAL VELOCITY – I use this for all odd notes. It’s quick, simple, beautiful, and saves all files as .txt.

FLUX – Flux automatically adjusts the colour temperature of your screen according to the time of day. I find it really helps me with eye strain!

SOCIAL MEDIA & EMAIL MARKETING

BUFFER – I love Buffer not just for their amazing app, but also because they write the best blog on social media.

ACTIVECAMPAIGN* – I have yet to find a more elegant solution for automated email campaigns.

CONVERTKIT* – another fantastic email marketing solution, especially for email courses.

MAILERLITE – a great free solution for drip-style email automation.

BOARDBOOSTER* – allows you to automate posting to your Pinterest boards. Free for the first 100 pins.

CHROME EXTENSIONS FOR WRITERS

NOISLI – simple and beautiful noise generator which allows you to create and save sound combinations.

LANES – if you’re a fan of the Pomodoro Method, this is a lovely extension that turns your new tab page into a pomodoro timer and todo checklist.

MOMENTUM – similar to Lanes, this extension turns your new tab into a beautiful dashboard.

DRAFTBACK – an amazing extension that helps you visualise the writing and editing of Google documents. READ MORE HERE.

STAYFOCUSED – block yourself from time-wasting sites. I use this to combat my Youtube addiction.

ONLINE WRITING COURSES

THE WRITEMBER WORKSHOP – my friend, Faye Kirwin’s beautiful course on making writing an easy, joyful, daily habit.

THE ONE PAGE NOVEL – my course on how to plot your novel on one A4 page.

HOW TO BE THE HEROINE OF YOUR OWN STORY – my course on how to develop your character (and yourself) on one page.

MASTERCLASS WITH JAMES PATTERSON* – bestselling author, James Patterson’s tips for writing a novel.

LEARN SCRIVENER FAST* – Scrivener is an incredibly powerful piece of software, but if you’re having trouble getting started with it, this course can help!

ONLINE WRITING COMMUNITIES

MYWRITECLUB – a site for communal writing sprints and word tracking. You can follow me HERE.

4THEWORDS – a fun, gamified writing community where you battle monsters as you write, complete quests and earn crystals.

WORDWAR.IO – word war chatrooms from the creator of Write or Die.

IOS APPS FOR WRITERS

SCRIVENER FOR IOS – this is hands-down the best and most beautiful iOS word processor.

HANX WRITER – I’ve written about how much I LOVE HANX WRITER before.

NOTABILITY – this is a great app for importing PDFs (such as WRITING WORKSHEETS) and handwriting over them.

AMBIENT NOISE

I find ambient noise to be extremely helpful when I’m trying to focus on writing. In addition to the previously-mentioned NOISLI, here are a few sites/apps you might like to try…

AMBIENT-MIXER – Ambient-Mixer allows you to create your own custom soundscapes, or to use ones created by other users. My favourite is THIS HOGWARTS LIBRARY MIX.

BRAIN.FM – in all honesty, I didn’t think this worked for me, but I’ve seen many people swear by it, so it’s worth a try.

COFFITIVITY – if you’d like to create a café atmosphere in your home, this is the web/mobile app you want.

ONLINE PUBLISHING COMMUNITIES

Wattpad – Wattpad’s strength lies in its mobile app which is very convenient for reading. It also provides great opportunities to connect with your readers and some basic metrics on how they are engaging with your stories. – Since my account was deleted without reason or warning, I can sadly no longer recommend Wattpad as a safe platform to share stories.

GOODREADS – you might not be aware that you can actually publish your own stories on Goodreads. You’ll need to login, GO TO THIS PAGE, then find the small link that says, “my writing”. I admit I haven’t tried it yet, but I love Goodreads as a book community, so I have high hopes. :)

PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS

THE PRODUCTIVITY PAGES – my paper-based goal and task-tracking solution for writers.

TODOIST – a beautifully minimal to-do list app.

RESCUETIME – automatically tracks how much time you use in each app, and gives you a productivity score based on which apps or websites you designate, “productive” and which “distracting”.

TRELLO* – a task-management app that uses boards, lists and cards. A very nice solution if you like a more visual approach. I also recommend adding the SLIM LISTS CHROME EXTENSIONto fit more on your screen.

PDF TOOLS

DOCHUB – PDF editor that you can add to your Google Drive contextual menu, or as a Chrome app.

SMALLPDF – some fantastic PDF conversion and compression tools!

PDFESCAPE – this tool makes me SO HAPPY! You can upload your PDFs and quickly and easily turn them into forms. Love it.

IMAGES

FIRMBEE – a collection of public domain mockups to use for marketing your books.

UNSPLASH – gorgeous public domain photos to use in your blog posts, book covers, or social media graphics.

GRAPHICBURGER – mockups and graphics to use in your ebooks or emails.

CREATIVEMARKET* – a great resource for images, fonts, templates and themes. Don’t miss their weekly free goods!

CANVA – an online image editor that has pre-made templates for Kindle ebook covers.

WEB SITES

WORDPRESS – my site runs on WordPress. I love it, although it can be a bit intimidating if you aren’t very tech-savvy.

ANGIEMAKES* – my WordPress theme is by AngieMakes. It has a ton of options and I really love it!

SITEGROUND* – my web host of choice. Their premium support is top notch!

MISCELLANEOUS

HOTJAR* – create heatmaps of your blog to see where viewers are looking and clicking.

WAVE – As far as I know, this is the only free accounting solution for freelancers and small businesses, and it works a treat!

Links with * are affiliate or referral links. But I promise I never recommend products unless I absolutely love them!

[wordsofkrys]

CREATIVE WRITING TOOLS

ONLINE WRITING ENVIRONMENTS

750WORDS – a simple site to keep up a private diary or daily writing practice. You can earn badges and get some neat metrics after you complete your writing.

GOOGLE DOCS – I wrote a whole post about HOW WRITERS CAN USE GOOGLE DOCS!

NOISLI – noise generator and distraction-free writing (with Markdown preview).

WRITE OR DIE – no other app can make you write faster! A NaNoWriMo staple.

WORKFLOWY – a beautifully simple web/mobile app for outlining and list-making.

TWINE – a visual interface for creating “choose your own adventure”-style stories. WATCH THIS VIDEO for a great introduction.

NOTION.SO* – a beautiful web (+Mac & iOS) app for writing and/or creating worldbuilding wikis. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP and earn 150 extra content blocks.

STATIONERY

GALEN LEATHER – beautiful leather traveler’s notebooks, pen cases, notebook covers and more.

CULTPENS – I order most of my fountain pens from CultPens in the UK. My go-to pens are the Kaweco Sport, Conklin Duragraph and Pilot Penmanship.

PAPERCHASE – I love Paperchase padfolios!

MAC APPS FOR WRITERS

SCRIVENER – excellent for organising (and reorganising) longer projects. If you use Scrivener for novel writing, you might like to download my ONE PAGE NOVEL TEMPLATE.

NOTATIONAL VELOCITY – I use this for all odd notes. It’s quick, simple, beautiful, and saves all files as .txt.

FLUX – Flux automatically adjusts the colour temperature of your screen according to the time of day. I find it really helps me with eye strain!

SOCIAL MEDIA & EMAIL MARKETING

BUFFER – I love Buffer not just for their amazing app, but also because they write the best blog on social media.

ACTIVECAMPAIGN* – I have yet to find a more elegant solution for automated email campaigns.

CONVERTKIT* – another fantastic email marketing solution, especially for email courses.

MAILERLITE – a great free solution for drip-style email automation.

BOARDBOOSTER* – allows you to automate posting to your Pinterest boards. Free for the first 100 pins.

CHROME EXTENSIONS FOR WRITERS

NOISLI – simple and beautiful noise generator which allows you to create and save sound combinations.

LANES – if you’re a fan of the Pomodoro Method, this is a lovely extension that turns your new tab page into a pomodoro timer and todo checklist.

MOMENTUM – similar to Lanes, this extension turns your new tab into a beautiful dashboard.

DRAFTBACK – an amazing extension that helps you visualise the writing and editing of Google documents. READ MORE HERE.

STAYFOCUSED – block yourself from time-wasting sites. I use this to combat my Youtube addiction.

ONLINE WRITING COURSES

THE WRITEMBER WORKSHOP – my friend, Faye Kirwin’s beautiful course on making writing an easy, joyful, daily habit.

THE ONE PAGE NOVEL – my course on how to plot your novel on one A4 page.

HOW TO BE THE HEROINE OF YOUR OWN STORY – my course on how to develop your character (and yourself) on one page.

MASTERCLASS WITH JAMES PATTERSON* – bestselling author, James Patterson’s tips for writing a novel.

LEARN SCRIVENER FAST* – Scrivener is an incredibly powerful piece of software, but if you’re having trouble getting started with it, this course can help!

ONLINE WRITING COMMUNITIES

MYWRITECLUB – a site for communal writing sprints and word tracking. You can follow me HERE.

4THEWORDS – a fun, gamified writing community where you battle monsters as you write, complete quests and earn crystals.

WORDWAR.IO – word war chatrooms from the creator of Write or Die.

IOS APPS FOR WRITERS

SCRIVENER FOR IOS – this is hands-down the best and most beautiful iOS word processor.

HANX WRITER – I’ve written about how much I LOVE HANX WRITER before.

NOTABILITY – this is a great app for importing PDFs (such as WRITING WORKSHEETS) and handwriting over them.

AMBIENT NOISE

I find ambient noise to be extremely helpful when I’m trying to focus on writing. In addition to the previously-mentioned NOISLI, here are a few sites/apps you might like to try…

AMBIENT-MIXER – Ambient-Mixer allows you to create your own custom soundscapes, or to use ones created by other users. My favourite is THIS HOGWARTS LIBRARY MIX.

BRAIN.FM – in all honesty, I didn’t think this worked for me, but I’ve seen many people swear by it, so it’s worth a try.

COFFITIVITY – if you’d like to create a café atmosphere in your home, this is the web/mobile app you want.

ONLINE PUBLISHING COMMUNITIES

Wattpad – Wattpad’s strength lies in its mobile app which is very convenient for reading. It also provides great opportunities to connect with your readers and some basic metrics on how they are engaging with your stories. – Since my account was deleted without reason or warning, I can sadly no longer recommend Wattpad as a safe platform to share stories.

GOODREADS – you might not be aware that you can actually publish your own stories on Goodreads. You’ll need to login, GO TO THIS PAGE, then find the small link that says, “my writing”. I admit I haven’t tried it yet, but I love Goodreads as a book community, so I have high hopes. :)

PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS

THE PRODUCTIVITY PAGES – my paper-based goal and task-tracking solution for writers.

TODOIST – a beautifully minimal to-do list app.

RESCUETIME – automatically tracks how much time you use in each app, and gives you a productivity score based on which apps or websites you designate, “productive” and which “distracting”.

TRELLO* – a task-management app that uses boards, lists and cards. A very nice solution if you like a more visual approach. I also recommend adding the SLIM LISTS CHROME EXTENSIONto fit more on your screen.

PDF TOOLS

DOCHUB – PDF editor that you can add to your Google Drive contextual menu, or as a Chrome app.

SMALLPDF – some fantastic PDF conversion and compression tools!

PDFESCAPE – this tool makes me SO HAPPY! You can upload your PDFs and quickly and easily turn them into forms. Love it.

IMAGES

FIRMBEE – a collection of public domain mockups to use for marketing your books.

UNSPLASH – gorgeous public domain photos to use in your blog posts, book covers, or social media graphics.

GRAPHICBURGER – mockups and graphics to use in your ebooks or emails.

CREATIVEMARKET* – a great resource for images, fonts, templates and themes. Don’t miss their weekly free goods!

CANVA – an online image editor that has pre-made templates for Kindle ebook covers.

WEB SITES

WORDPRESS – my site runs on WordPress. I love it, although it can be a bit intimidating if you aren’t very tech-savvy.

ANGIEMAKES* – my WordPress theme is by AngieMakes. It has a ton of options and I really love it!

SITEGROUND* – my web host of choice. Their premium support is top notch!

MISCELLANEOUS

HOTJAR* – create heatmaps of your blog to see where viewers are looking and clicking.

WAVE – As far as I know, this is the only free accounting solution for freelancers and small businesses, and it works a treat!

https://www.eadeverell.com/creative-writing-tools/

[writing-with-olive]

How I plot/plan my novels (starting from a basic idea)

so I’ve seen various people wonder how to plot novels, so I decided to share my method. As usual, the steps without the attached descriptions and examples will be posted at the bottom for people who want to copy-paste

this method works for a single storyline/single POV. if there are two storylines or povs, you may have to alter some of the steps near the end of this process to fit your needs.

Spoiler warning: I use examples from both the Hunger Games and The Martian

1. Have an idea. 

This can range from a general vibe, or something more concrete, such as plot points. The easy thing about this step is it doesn’t really need to be super specific, just a general idea of the direction you want to go.

2. Start writing down the things you know.

Start creating a list/brainstorm of all the ideas you have at this point. For me, this is usually an assortment of dialogue clips, worldbuilding, character vibes, plot points, things like that. You will likely find that you have a lot stronger grasp on some of these things, and a lot weaker grasp on others. This is perfectly okay. (for example, when I did this for my current WIP, I knew a lot more than I expected about the worldbuilding, but the characters didn’t have as much detail to them. The more time you spend brainstorming here, the easier it will be moving forward. To make it easier, I usually catagorize this stuff into the catagories of: plot, characters, worldbuilding, other.

3. Identify your main character.

You may already have a character in mind, but you will want to identify who that person is, and in a very basic sense of what they’re like. At this point in the process, it doesn’t really matter if they’re not fully developed/one or two dementional. You just need to know who is leading your story

4. Create a scaffolding outline.

NOTE: this will likely not be the same outline you end up with, but having a basic idea is going to be helpful when you start worldbuilding. 

You should have a sentence/bullet point for each plot point, but not much more than that. Remember - this is going to be more of scaffolding than your final outline, and it’s more to give you a sense of where the story might be headed. If it helps you to think about the story in terms of acts, each of the three acts has two of the plotpoints listed below; one near the beginning of the act, and the other at the very end. Below, the -- indecates the seperation between each act.

The catagories you should fill out are:

Enciting incedent: this is the thing that first rocks your character’s world.

No return: your protagonist makes a decision (or has a decision forced upon them) that they cannot return from - no matter if they succeed or fail, they will not be able to go back to the same life they had. 

--

Midpoint: (this actually comes half way through the second act, rather than being positioned near the beginning) This is a turning point, and something that will test your characters. This will be one of the most intense points in your book to your character, other than the climax and breaking point. 

examples:

in The Martian, the airlock broke, and all the food was frozen. Unless this problem is solved, starvation is imminant.

in The Hunger Games, Katniss has to choose between dropping the Trackerjacker nest on her enemies, or not to.

Breaking point: something really bad happens, and this is your character’s lowest point in the book.

--

Climax: This is where your protagonist finally confronts the antagonist. 

Resolution: This is the aftermath of the climax, and the determiner if your book has a happy ending or a sad one. 

5. Worldbuilding: Brainstorming

Now that you have a scaffolding outline, think about what places might need to exist in your world. Does your Inciting incident plotpoint involve your protagonist finding a dragon in the forest? If that’s the case, you need to have a forest. Dragons are probably rare if this is the first time your protagonist has found one. Maybe they’re unheard of. Think about the implications of each of your plotpoints and add them to your brainstorming list that you started in step 2. The more you do here, the easier the next step will be. 

6. Worldbuilding: Figuring stuff out.

This is the harder of the two worldbuilding steps. Figure out things such as climate, weather, animal/plant life, commerce, social norms, magic system, whether or not there’s a religeous system, etc. I strongly recommend this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja3IgxY7dbU - Worldbuilding Basics) by Jenna Moreci. What I did was take notes about all of the questions she posed, and then copy-pasted it onto a google doc and filled it in from there. Rather than answer questions in order, it’s far easier to answer with what you know first, because that will influence your other answers. As you answer more and more things, other answers will get easier - you’ll be filling in gaps, rather than creating things out of nowhere.

This is also a great time to make world or town maps. Two resources that worked really well for me on this front (for fantasy) are: this tutorial (for making worldmaps), and this tutorial (for town maps)

--

character development, skeleton outline, create a story, organize your cards, fill in holes, more details (optional) all under the break

7. Character Development.

Starting with your main character, start to turn people from cardboard cutouts into 3-d characters. You can use this questionaire that I made based off of two of Jenna Moreci’s character development videos, and a video by a professional editor Ellen Brock:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tup43nRDKqM - (Jenna Moreci)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQcQ-As2BU0 - (Also Jenna Moreci)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MozMgyppTjM (Ellen Brock)

I would strongly recommend watching all three of these videos

8. Skeleton Outline.

Now that you’ve got a sense for who the characters are - and how they will likely play into the story, go back to your scaffolding outline. You will likely find that that outline is no longer realistic for your characters. Repeat step four, thinking about what the character’s goals are, and how that’s going to affect their decisionmaking - and therefore the plot.

9. Create a story

I find it easiest to do this step with notecards on my bedroom floor, rather than on a computer, but if you find that doing the following on a computer works better for you, go for it.

Write down your six main plotpoints on notecards and set them aside. then, on more notecards, brainstorm events that you want to happen in the story, writing one thing per card (I usually like to sum it up in no more than six words, with the occasional card going beyond that). You may find later that you’ve left stuff out, or that multiple notecards will fit into one scene, and that’s okay. For now, don’t worry about it. Write down all the events of the story you can think of - and you don’t have to write them down in order, or even know the order yet. Ideally, you’ll end up with 50+ cards.

10. Organize your cards.

I like to start by seeing which events fit into which acts/before or after which of the main plotpoints. To do this, I set out the major plotpoint cards that I made at the beginning of last step, and line them up in a column. Then I take the other notecards and put them next to the major plotpoint they come after. It’s fine if they are mixed up in these catagories. If there are a handful of events that happen before your enciting incident (there shouldn’t be more than three or four tops), but them above your inciting incedent section.

Important: remember that in most books, your character is going to be more reactive to things during the first half of the middle (second act). This means that they will react to problems, but not have too many plans of their own to solve them. Your Midpoint will split up the first and second half of yoru middle/second act. After your midpoint, your characters are going to be a lot more proactive - creating plans, to better their situation, rather than just react.

example:

in The Hunger Games, Katniss spends the first part of the games reacting to things like dehydration or getting attacked

the midpoint is when she chooses whether or not to drop the trackerjacker nest on her competitors

in the second half of the middle is more proactive - she and rue make plans to win, such as a plan to blow up the Career’s supply pile

If your characters are doing something more reactive, it’s probably a better idea to put it before your midpoint. If it’s more proactive, it’s probably better to put it after.

After you have this done, now you’re going to turn the collection of cards into a pretty good outline. Going row by row, organize the cards so that they are in chronological order in your story.

11. Fill in the holes

At this point, you’ve got a pretty good idea of what the plot looks like. Now you’re going to type up your current outline in a google doc or other processer. Then you’re going to create scenes, using the goal>>decision cycle. Basically, that cycle goes as follows:

goal scenes:

goal: your character starts the scene with a goal.

conflict: there is something in the way of your character getting that goal

disaster: either your character does not achieve their goal, or, by achieving it, they create unseen consequences. (or both)

this brings you to...

decision scenes

reaction: your character is going to have an emotional reaction to whatever the disaster is. Depending on the disaster and your character, the emotion could range from mild annoyance to a full-blown meltdown

options: after your character gets through the main emotional reaction, they are faced with two or more options, ideally none of them good. In any case, the default options are to do something, or do nothing.

resolution: your character makes a decision. What they choose to do will be their goal in the next scene.

Your first scene is going going be a goal scene. Go through, scene by scene, alternating between goal and reaction. Some cards will be part of a single scene. This is the time to combine them. If you discover a hole, create the scenes you will need to bridge that gap, and fill in either the goal or decision scene details, depending on which one that scene is. In the scene outline, you may also choose to include notes, or various details that you want to include or avoid as you write the scene. When you’re done with this step, you will have a solid outline!!!

12. More details (optional)

Personally, I don’t do this step, but some people like more detailed outlines. This is the time where you might want to include all of the other details you think you’ll need/want as your write.

++++++++++++

Recap of the steps:

1. have an idea.

2. start writing down the things you know.

3. identify your main character.

4. create a scaffolding outline.

5. worldbuilding: brainstorming.

6. worldbuilding: figuring stuff out.

7. character development.

8. skeleton outline.

9. create a story.

10. organize your cards.

11. fill in holes.

12. more details (optional).

[renaramblesaboutcomics]

Wednesday Roundup 1.11.2017

Late with a review? Me? Never! Maybe a little.

In my defense there are ten of them. 

Regardless, we have another Roundup with quite a diverse ensemble that I hope you all enjoy! I sure did. 

Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, DC’s Batman, Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Dark Horse’s Overwatch, Marvel’s Power Pack, DC’s Super Hero Girls, IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters II, Marvel’s Thanos - Marvel Legacy Primer Pages, Dark Horse’s Usagi Yojimbo, Lion Forge’s Voltron Legendary Defender Vol. 2

Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows - Marvel Legacy Primer Pages (2017) Robbie Thompson, Nathan Stockman

As people can no doubt tell from a glance over my blog as well as the rest of these Roundups, I’m actually quite the fan of this title, and have enjoyed this comic’s take on Spider-Man and, in truth, the entire Spider-Family more than almost any Spidey title in a decade now. At the very least of those that feature Peter. 

So this is a cute overview and relieves my stress over worrying that the title could be wrapping up soon since they’re promoting the next arc. I’m so glad to have this story of family and love~

DC’s Batman Halloween Comic Fest Special Edition (2017) #1 Steve Orlando, Tom King, Riley Rosso, Ivan Plascencia

I actually really enjoyed the Night of the Monster Men crossover comic from earlier this year, even if I think people would be best off if they waited like me until the whole trade collected everything and then bought it so they didn’t miss anything or read out of order. It was a good family crossover, used most of the characters to their benefit, and gave us some team ups we haven’t really seen used that much before, or at all.

So I really support the fact that this first issue of the arc came out to tease people for the Halloween Comic Fest because it’s the right amount of creepy and it exposes lots of new readers to members of the Bat family they may have not otherwise been exposed to. 

It’s a fun little free comic, and I recommend checking it out if you haven’t read the full storyline and would be curious about checking it out for yourself. 

Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur - Marvel Legacy Primer Pages (2017) Robbie Thompson, Marco Failla

Being the huge fan of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur that I am, the hardest thing about the recent storyline has been that Devil hasn’t been in it and Lunella’s little broken heart breaks my heart every issue. So I was curious if that was going to be in the roundup and.... well, it wasn’t!

That means that, as could probably be predicted, the reunion between the two title characters is sure to be upon us, but it also kind of feels like these particular Primer Pages are.... really out of touch with what’s been going on in the comic recently, which kind of sets it apart from at least the comic primers I’ve read myself. I don’t know what to put this on, since Robbie Thompson has been the writer for all of these Primers and has done an amazing job thus far. It’s just a strange blip, I suppose. 

Dark Horse’s Overwatch (2016-present) #12 Michael Chu, Gray Shuko

Since I’m not really someone who’s played the video game for myself (I’m much more of a Let’s Play watcher), I view the world building pretty much entirely through the eyes of these comics we get. And that makes things... routinely difficult to decipher. Mostly because these are not coming out in a linear fashion to walk me through the worldbuilding. 

Heck, they’re not even coming out in order of issue number for us poor souls on the comixology train! 

So this is really one of my first exposures to how Overwatch functioned before it broke up, how the hierarchy worked, how the characters interacted. How... goofy everyone looks all wearing the same costumes and colors. 

It’s interesting stuff for sure and I feel like if I was more plugged in to the metatextuality of the Overwatch universe I’d not have the difficulties following that I’m describing, but there are only so many hours in a day.

The art is good but sometimes feels a little stilted, especially when it concerns fully portraying Tracer’s movements and time displacement. I’ve seen it used better but that’s more of a personal nitpick.

Why isn’t Overwatch trusted in England. Why isn’t Jack completely on board with sending a team in at first. No clue. Especially if this is Overwatch in its prime. But I suppose we’ll see. 

Or not. I don’t know if these comics actually fulfill any narrative structure since there are different writers and artists every other issue. 

Marvel’s Power Pack (2017) #63 Devin Grayson, Marika Cresta, Chris O’Halloran

So this one-shot was a blast from the past in multiple ways for me. First off, a Power Pack comic!!! Legitimately some of the first Marvel superheroes I read about outside of Spider-Man when I was growing up specifically because reprints of some of their issues were in the back of Spider-Man Magazine back when.... I was a kid and... subscribed to Spider-Man Magazine through a school fundraiser. Anyway. 

It’s also a play on my nostalgia for both having Devin Grayson as a writer and also having shoutouts to the fact that the Fantastic Four are still around and, by the logic of their last series, Alex Power is still with them. 

Devin Grayson is a writer I’ve had a complicated relationship with for years now, which her tag on this very blog can tell you in and of itself, but for all the reasons I’m incredibly critical of her writing, there is also the undeniable fact for me that some of her character work is genuine some of my favorite writing in comics when it’s restrained and kept to series and characters she clearly loves and understands a lot. For instance, I much prefer Grayson’s writing of familial relationships over her writing of romantic ones. And it’s quite obvious here that she at least understands enough about Power Pack to predict where Katie -- who is a character that unlike Julie and Alex we have not seen much of in recent years -- would be like as a growing teenager. Given, most of the issue is Grayson retelling an old story from the original Power Pack series.

While the framing and general premise is hokey, you really get the idea that Marvel is testing the waters of what properties they can really bring back in the new comic book landscape, especially with the note at the end of the issue compelling people who want more Power Pack to contact Marvel themselves. Which, personally, I will. Because I love my kids and I do think there’s a genuinely interesting place for them to inhabit in Marvel right now. Especially since we know Julie is pansexual in canon and I just really, really love Julie. 

The art also elevates a somewhat hokey concept to something really beautiful and modern, the breakdowns on every page are just gorgeous and I really have to give props here to Marika Cresta for that. 

And in general, I want more women to be involved with comics so this team would be one I’d really like to see more of, whether it’s a future Power Pack comic (fingers crossed) or not. 

DC’s DC Super Hero Girls 2017 Halloween Comic Fest Special Editions (2017) #1 Shea Fontana, Yancey Labat, Agnes Garbowska

Why this was chosen as a Halloween freebie is honestly kind of beyond me?The storyline of “Past Times at Super Hero High” literally has nothing to do with hauntings, curses, Halloween, or magic. It’s just the hang of kids from Super Hero High getting stranded in the Jurassic period and having to save their teacher. I guess... girls don’t like getting scared? Which by my estimation is an assumption which could only truly be made by either someone who never went to a sleepover party as a kid or doesn’t remember sneaking horror movies between friends without parental supervision. Kids eat up being scared. Kids also eat up anything with dinosaurs, but these things are fairly mutually exclusive when not a Don Bluth movie. 

Beyond my hilarious, if I do say myself, skepticism involving the choice of this particular comic being used as the Halloween comic of choice for DC to distribute from the series, it is a well written and well drawn addition to what has been an incredibly popular series for kids, especially young girls, who want to get more interested in reading superhero comics. And as I’ve made known before, that is something that is very important to me, personally. Comics for kids and comics especially interested in young girls, that doesn’t talk down or overly exaggerate gender differences are so important in nurturing the next generation of comic fans. I know, because that’s how I became a comic fan. 

It also is further proof that Shea Fontana’s run on Wonder Woman was criminally underrated and cut short as she really does understand how to write to the superhero genre tropes in a loving fashion and especially in exemplifying how strong and important the female characters are. 

I just wish the general lineup of the main cast wasn’t so white. Like, Bumblebee is one of the main Super Hero girls and she got entirely left behind within the first few pages. We do have Katana, at least, but representation for race is just as if not sometimes more important than just representation for women. I hope that’s something that becomes more prominent as the series continues. 

IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters II (2017) #1 (of 5) Erik Burnham, Tom Waltz, Dan Schoening, Luis Antonio Delgado

So I really adore Ninja Turtles crossovers to an extent that’s probably not healthy, and the previous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters crossover is by no means an exception to that, but one of the things that I could not have expected, even with as excited as I was for this comic to come out, was how much it tied into the ongoing storylines in both Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

No. Really! Seriously!

This is taking place between the last issue of TMNT that I reviewed and the next issue that will come out this month, which is why all five issues of this mini is coming out week by week this month. 

It’s honestly really amazing. 

The moment it opened up I knew that it was going to be Burnham and Waltz’ usual high standards of writing as well as Dan Schoening’s art (which also explains why his art has been missed on some of the recent Ghostbusters stories), but the moment we got to the “Ghost Realm” and saw not just Darius Dun from the IDW TMNT comics, but also references to his not-so-past murder I was like “holy crap I can’t believe that the consequences of storylines I’ve been curious about are finally coming to fruition here!

Of course that comes to its own difficulties -- as I mentioned in my review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe, we’re increasingly getting to a point where the Ninja Turtles’ ongoing narrative just... isn’t self-contained anymore. And while that’s worldbuilding and expanding, but also makes it increasingly difficult to follow what’s happening in the main book unless you’re plugged into everything that’s going on in IDW. Which, if you’re not an immersive fan, can suck. A lot. I mean, for nerds like me who intersect with Ninja Turtles and Ghostbusters and Transformers and X-Files and so on, that’s kind of cool and enjoyable. But for people who aren’t... Well, there’s a reason that comics have been pushed as more and more niche even as the superhero genre and comic-sourced media are growing into multimillion dollar properties. 

The art’s fantastic, the writing’s top notch. If you want to eep up with either properties’ storylines or if you just enjoyed the last crossover, I would absolutely recommend picking this up. 

Marvel’s Thanos - Marvel Legacy Primer Pages (2017) Robbie Thompson, Ron Lim

As someone with not exactly the most cares in the world that Marvel has given a series to Thanos of all characters, I was kind of hoping this primer would, more than any of the others, sort of give me an insight to the appeal of the comic as a whole. And... really it didn’t that much. At least not by my estimates. 

I did enjoy the art quite a bit, and I love that the impact of the Guardians of the Galaxy has just been growing larger and larger thanks to the movies, but other than that this Primer really didn’t offer anything that really stuck with me personally. 

Dark Horse’s Usagi Yojimbo (1984-present) #163 Stan Sakai

So I did something with this issue that I rarely ever do, and that was that I looked around at other reviews online to see what other people were thinking as long time Usagi fans because... Well, to say the least the comics are always excellent but this time around I felt like I had read the comic before. Or, at least, that the storyline was similar enough that I was growing suspicious that somehow I had read the storyline before. 

It turns out, I hadn’t. I had just been confused because the spy character you can see in the bottom right panel has been around in other stories (and yes I know that’s a weird detail for me to get hung up on but that’s my brain for ya). And instead of confirming or deterring my suspicions I became exposed to a completely different trend in comic reviews right now. 

A.... strangely almost.... red-scare esque read of Usagi Yojimbo as pro-socialist???

We live in weird times, my friends. Where Usagi Yojimbo, a comic mostly about and making commentary on the history and culture of Feudal Japan, is being read now as..... socialist propaganda because the thief that Usagi and Ishida are after for most of the issue, Nezumi, is known for being a Robin Hood like character who steals from the rich and distributes part of his gains to the rest of the poor in the city, thus making him beloved and protected by the people who are more wary and unimpressed by the ruling class and police. Even though the eventual murder victim shown in the same issue is shown as having fallen on hard times and had his life ruined by Nezumi stealing from his business several times. 

But. Everything’s political now. And while I get that, I guess it doesn’t sit right with me because yes, that is a reading you can take away from this issue, but personally what always strikes me about Usagi Yojimbo as a fan is how depth and nuance are hidden by the seemingly simple. That has always been my compliment of the art -- which is simple, B&W, and toned, but full of deep details and very insightful use of environment and dedication to building spaces -- from this issue alone you can almost build a map of the city just from how Sakai lays out the art and how the chase moves through it -- but works just as well with the writing.

There is a commentary here on how opinion and loyalty is built by redistribution and how the class system as it was in Feudal Japan leaves injustice to be answered by outcasts like Nezumi and gangs like the Black Goblins, or how punishment in a justice system which is imbalanced discourages citizens from assisting law enforcement -- but none of those things are shown as without judgment or repercussions either. Nezumi’s own lawlessness is leaving him exposed to being hunted down by the gangs as well as the police, and to be framed for murder. There’s definitely repercussions shown for his victims, how they are left damaged by his actions and the injustice of their society to the point that they are desperate and get involved with crime themselves. 

There are no simple answers or simple interpretations from this issue. Just like there isn’t for Usagi Yojimbo as a whole. Our main character is not a benefactor of the system, but he is also involved in this case because of his friendship and loyalty to Inspector Ishida. Not to mention that Usagi’s associates are usually not the honorable sort like Ishida himself. And he has been involved with some questionable morality himself at times. 

At any rate, it’s usually against my style to read other reviews before I write my own but I’m glad I did this time around, because the common interpretation I’m seeing is.... oddly disconnected from the comic I read myself. So it was fun to do a bit of a deep dive. 

Lion Forge’s Voltron Legendary Defender Vol. 2 (2017-present) #3 Tim Hedrick, Mitch Iverson, Rubine, Beni Lobel

So. This was quite an unexpected addition to my pull list this week. They’re really cranking these comics out. I mean, it’s only been two weeks since the previous issue, it’s like they’re trying to be the comic version of the show in every possible way -- there’s not even breathing room between updates!

In all seriousness, this issue continues the honestly pretty solid quality that the last issue made standard, which again is just a complete shock to me because I didn’t enjoy the first issue. That being said, it still maintains the weaknesses that were proven last issue, too, especially in the alien designs and the general storyline we’re currently on. 

While I could definitely see this across-space amnesty mission as something that would happen in the actual show, there is a lack of urgency or even connection to Zarkon or the Galra Empire that is incredibly noticeable. For better or worse, the show keeps very close to its baseline of tension by having even mostly filler episodes have an impression and general outreach of the Galra Empire felt. Without that present in the current storyline and without anyone on Team Voltron even bringing up the possibility of the ongoing conflict with the Galra coming up, we feel a certain amount of disconnect and weightlessness to everything happening. And I’d argue that nowhere is that clearer than when Voltron is formed to fight the Big Bad of the issue but.... the Big Bad is defeated by.... Coran’s cold.... Which Coran gave it by.... breathing/sneezing on it in space. 

The art is a lot of give and take. I’ve said all I can on the fact that the alien designs aren’t feeling particularly original, but at the same time I have to credit the adherence to the style of the television series as well as the effort put into the backgrounds, really making even the scenes within the ship actually feel like the artist and writer had an actual location in mind for everything that was going on. 

At the same time, that adherence could also arguably be a hinderance. After all, we do see a lot of times where the characters look... strangely off model, or their expressions and poses don’t match the tone of what is happening or even what they’re saying (the panels I included above are a particularly egregious example of this). 

This all said, if you’re a fan of Voltron there really is a lot of reason for you to pick up the comics yourself. It’s not a supplement or introduction for the show, and in truth it’s not really making an effort to place itself in the show’s known timeline (somewhere between Seasons 1 and 3??? who knows). 

And those are the comics for this week! Did you happen to agree with me? Disagree? Think I missed out on picking up a comic that was good? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

But before I let you go, I have to (yes have to) plug once more:

I have exactly a month to pack up everything I own and move halfway across the country again which is not helping those financial crunches I mentioned before either.

As such, I really would appreciate if you enjoy my content or are interested in helping me out, please check out either my Patreon or PayPal. Every bit helps and I couldn’t thank you enough for enjoying and supporting my content.

You could also support me by going to my main blog, @renaroo, where I’ll soon be listing prices and more for art and writing commissions.

[  Ko-Fi  |  Patreon  |  PayPal  ]

[anflowcrat]

Pyre (short review)

I didn't expect to like Pyre as much as I did. I considered Supergiant's previous games (Bastion and Transistor) to be overrated, carried mostly by their godlike music and art direction. However both games were lacking in the narrative and gameplay department, aspects I tend to value more highly. I felt as if the narratives in those games wanted to be much more profound than they actually were, and they were able to get away with it because the music and art direction were so good that it made the narratives seem better than they actually are. I've found, however, that with further analysis those stories just fail to hold up. They're without a doubt *fine* narratives, but certainly not anything special. It's the same story with their mechanics, while the barebones isometric action of Bastion, and the barebones action RPG of Transistor were all *fine* I certainly wouldn't recommend them over other titles in the genre.

You play those games for the art and the music, nothing more.

Imagine my surprise when Pyre was able to deliver on all fronts. Not only did Supergiant managed to maintain the presentation that propelled them to success, but they have also vastly improved the aspects of their previous games that were lacking.

Presentation: What can I say, they're good at what they do. [I might just skip the whole thing after this]  The character designs are all on point, each character has a distinct sillouhette and they were their personalities proudly on their sleeves. The map looks fucking gorgeous, the use of color for each area is fantastic, making them feels just as alive as the characters that inhabit them. The animations are solid, the cute little hops that wagon does in the map are a nice touch. Though the splash arts for dialogue have limited animation, supergiant employs flashy effects to accompany the splash arts in order to better convey their emotions and it works perfectly. The music, though not as good as Bastion, is still very good at conveying the emotions it needs to.

Narrative: Much of the narrative's success is due to the simple fact that there's never been a video game narrative quite like this. A fantasy based sports game played by exiled in which the winner is granted freedom is a refreshing change of pace from "beat bad guy with magic if fantasy, with guns if modern/scifi."

(Note: I'm using "unique" to mean "rare" and not necessarily "the only one of its kind." Yes, I'm aware that Pyre didn't pioneer any of these points but they are without a doubt, rare.)

It's uniqueness isn't just found solely on its concept, as the concept itself allows for plenty more unique progressions in the narrative. For example, losing is not a failstate. At least not in the way failstates usually occur, in which you would have to restart whatever level it is you failed. Instead, since it is a sports game, you simply carry on, move on to the next match and try to win that one instead. This creates a more dynamic narrative than usual, as character interactions change between your allies and enemies depending on your wins and losses.

Another point of uniqueness would be the fact that your enemies aren't enemies, they're just playing the same game you are and they simply want to be free, just as your friends do. This makes battles more interesting and impactful as there are times where you would actually consider losing on purpose (at least I did) because you want them to be free just as much as you want your friends to be free.

And a final point of uniqueness would be that your characters leave upon winning. Usually, in permadeath scenarios, your characters would leave upon... well death obviously. But in Pyre a character leaves when you win a tournament, setting them free from the chaos in the downpour. This makes victories bittersweet as well as create an interesting gameplay decision (do you play your best characters because this is theoretically going to be a hard fight, or do you bench them in order to keep them around?) and it creates an interesting emotional decision (do you play your favorite character because you want them to finally be free, or do you keep them around because what the fuck Sir Gilman is fucking great and you don't want to lose him)

Don't take all this uniqueness talk to mean that that is the only thing Pyre has going for it. Both the worldbuilding and the characters are certainly on point. There are very few games in which I bother to read extra material in order to get a better understanding of the world and the characters, but Pyre managed to pique my interest enough that I found myself reading every little bit I could. The world feels vast and storied despite you only getting to see a small portion of it. The characters are all fun and varied, each of which will have trouble leaving my mind any time soon.

Gameplay: (I highly reccommend you play Pyre in the highest difficulty setting, and with all the handicaps active (once their available to toggle). This essentially forces you to actually play the game instead of just brute forcing it.)

This is probably the most divisive aspect of Pyre. Already I've seen countless of people complaining about Pyre's gameplay, which I don't understand at all because I heard nothing like this when Bastion and Transistor released and those, as far as I'm concerned, have infinitely inferior gameplay loops.

I just can't imagine playing Bastion if the only thing that existed about Bastion was its gameplay, considering that it was one of the most simplistic action games I've ever played. Likewise, I would never play Transistor if the only thing it had was its gameplay, its attempt to blend strategy and action was an utter failure as far as I'm concerned since it required little to no strategy and the action was dull.

But had Pyre released with only its versus mode, I definitely wouldn't mind playing it by itself. Don't get me wrong, it's not like Pyre's mechanics are super deep or anything, it certainly won't hold up as an esport or anything, but it does hold up as a fun party game. Remember fun? I remember fun.

It's basically fantasy basketball, or fantasy american football, in which you simply have to get a ball into their goal. Each character has an aura that surrounds them and if an enemy enters that aura, they get banished. A faster character will have a smaller aura, and slower characters will have a larger aura.

There's obviously much more to it than this (like character abilities and all that) but already there's more going on here than Bastion of Transistor ever had. There is an actual element of strategy here (granted, not that much, but its there) in which you have to decide which characters would be best suited in the matchup, and then you have to decide how to play that matchup. Whether you decide to go on a killing spree so your path to the goal is wide open, or you use your maneuvering skills to dodge every enemy and sneak a goal past them, or a more slow approach in which you slowly bring all three characters forward in order to create a wall and over power your opponents until you make it to the goal. These are only a few of the things you can do but this should give you an idea of your options and the creativity that Pyre allows you to express.

The action is more nuanced than ever here. It requires you to have tight control of your character if you want to dodge everything your opponents throw at you, or to be able to make a long jump into a goal, or shooting, or whatever else. My point is the mechanics here have more depth than the previous two Supergiant games, but more than that it's more fun. You can easily squeeze out more hours in the game after the campaign if you have a few friends to play it with, and if you do you'd likely have a new found appreciation for the mechanics (since as usual, versus games like this create more nuance when you're against actual people rather than AI. Upping the difficulty and activating all the handicaps certainly gets far but it's still not another human being.)

On some level, I do understand people's complaints. I think most of it is because a lot of people don't like sports and so when they see characters people putting balls in goals they tend to be put off. But if you were able to power through Bastion and Transistor's gameplay then you should be able to do the same with Pyre. And as I said, you should really try to play on higher difficulties or against other opponents and I can almost guarantee that you'll have more fun.

Conclusion/tl;dr: 8/10. Game's great. Not only that but there's no other title that's quite like it. The narrative and gameplay are both unique and the presentation is up to Supergiant's standard. It's their best game by a mile.