#Game Devellopment

[animenotaizai]

Random question (cause I'm curious)

[cavegirlpoems]

its nowhere close to release yet, but I'm currently develloping *Brilliant Twilight Bloom*, which should fit the bill somewhat.

It leans darker and a bit surreal, and has a strong focus on the leading-duel-lives aspect of the game, so each PC has a mundane persona and a magical persona, which engage in different aspects of play. Your mundane persona engages in pasion de la pasiones or monsterhearts-style social shenanigans, and then your magical persona engages in a more tactical combat minigame of building and spending momentum and leveraging advantages.

The tension between these two identities and how they don't quite mesh is one of the key aspects of the game.

its gonna look something like this

But. If you're looking to get a game up and going, like, in the next few weeks it's nowhere near being done in that time frame. But something to keep your eye on, if these are vibes you like.

Hey! Unsure where else to ask this question, so... do you know of any TTRPGs that would work well for a sort of magical girl setting? I've seen a few PbtA systems that try to tackle it, but I also have a player who likes in-depth character building & combat, so PbtA isn't always the best fit.

I'm afraid that's too vague a brief to offer a good answer. You wouldn't use the same sort of system to run a game inspired by Pretty Cure as you would to run a game inspired by Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and what works best for either of those wouldn't be suited for a game inspired by Senki Zesshō Symphogear. You're going to have to narrow down what you mean by "a sort of magical girl setting".

(As always, folks, please refrain from jumping in and providing your own recs until after the requesting party has provided that clarification. Wilfully ignoring the stated criteria in order to just plug your favourite system is a great way to catch a block around here.)

[coineptiontechnology-blog]

Top Rated Mobile Game Development Company in Noida

Coineption Technology is a renowned mobile game development company in Noida, India. We have highly experienced mobile game developers who have created many robust and amazing games for clients. They know how to produce playful entertainment for the smart devices. We are offering mobile game development services for Android Game Development, iOS Game Development, Unity Game Development, AR/VR Game Development and HTML5 Game Development etc.

Do you want to create a mobile game and not sure how to get started then ask with us. Just share your game idea with us, we'll create the plan and timeline to deliver the mobile game to you. To hire us for mobile game development, visit - https://coineption.com/game-development

[cbsxreader]

A s/o that works as a private chef? But not in the wholesome way but like competition chef way, very much like a Gordon Ramsey or a Sanji from one piece

Sure, why not?

Ps. To anyone who wants to make a request to me in the future, please specify which characters to write! (Don't take it personally, anon! Also, I hope I wrote it right!)

Also I'm going to write this in a Hell's Kitchen situation and the mercs are there.

The mercs with a S/o who is a competitive chef

Scout

Scout thought "What's the big deal?", before he actually saw what it meant to be a competitive chef.

He can't help but watch his S/o quickly moving through the food stations like it's nothing.

If anyone insults his S/o and he tries to defend them, most likely the other person arguing would make Scout return to his seat in silence..

But before that he hops over the counter and 'helps' his S/o.

Soldier

Is honestly a big fan of all the shouting and every dish being made as well as possible.

It's all fun and games until someone shouts at Soldier's S/o for screwing up.

Soldier immediately defends his S/o, shouting back at them to the point where they're both red-faced.

Security escorts Soldier and his S/o stays quiet.

When it comes to the actual food, he finds out which station his S/o is on and only orders from them.

Pyro

Just..stands there by the counter, watching their S/o.

Others would make a remark about their outer appearence, only for Pyro to stare into their soul.

S/o would have to shoo them away, so they don't disturb them.

And if Pyro hears someone praise S/o, the'll get S/o's attention and give them a sticker :)

Demoman

He would be the one who openly encourages and cheers on his S/o and helps them by shouting, for example, what should be taken off the heat, so it doesn't burn.

And if the others call this out, he will put on a strong scottish accent, defending his S/o.

His scottish rage towards the other contestants helps his S/o with dealing with them.

Engineer

Oh this poor man..

He's honestly worried for his S/o during the competition and afterwards he constantly asks them, if they're alright with being yelled at.

His S/o assures him that they're fine and it's completely normal and that they yell at others too, since it's all done to improve the chefs.

He might improve their equipment in secret, so their dishes are better. He just doesn't want his S/o to feel pressured.

Heavy

He knows he's a big man and would just be in the way of everything if he did what his S/o's great at.

He admires their agility and coordination skills. But he doesn't like others shouting at his S/o that's for sure.

Heavy feels the need to make sure the other contestants know that he's in a relationship with his S/o and intimidating them, so they don't try anything stupid.

Medic

He's a mix between Demo's supportiveness and Soldier's defensiveness.

He openly supports his S/o and at the same time, threaten anyone who insults his S/o. So, his partner isn't even surprised when a rival of theirs goes missing.

Might encourage his S/o to cheat and use drugs to boost their productivity during the competition. (I kinda imagine Medic to have sketchy drugs in his lab lol)

Sniper

Honestly, Sniper went in and watched his S/o, not knowing what to expect.

Only for the orders to start piling up and everyone getting angry.

Sniper then realizes how coordinated his S/o needs to be to cook a single dish and how they need to handle brutal insults said to their face.

He knows that he would crumble under the pressure, so he devellops a sort of respect for his S/o, especially after they spew out insults as well.

Overall very supportive and doesn't disturb his S/o.

Spy

He just might secretly sabotage anyone who's against his S/o.

And later his S/o might scold him for it because they want to play fairly and actually improve.

Spy, eventually, obliges and doesn't do anything shady.

He never misses a time when his S/o is in a competition, they might not see him because he's disguised, but he's always somewhere admidst the people.

Ms. Pauling

She actually quite likes the intensity of it all.

Like, this is her everyday, but in a restaurant.

Could actually think of some useful tips for her S/o to improve their performance while watching them compete.

If she has more free time than usual, she and her S/o practice, she sets up a timer while her S/o prepares a meal.

Would also cheer them on like Medic and Demoman.

Bonus!

All mercs would try to teach their S/o new swears, just in different ways.

Pyro would suggest something like: "Oh, biscuits!"

Engie and Heavy would try to "secretly" teach their S/o new swears, as if they're going to get in massive trouble.

And the mercs that are not american would teach unique swears from their homeland (I'm looking at Sniper and Demo specifically)

[acesolaris]

Education in a Solarpunk World

Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel. ~ Socrates

I'm very passionate about knowledge. I'm extremely curious and love to share everything and anything. As you might notice when scrolling though this blog, I love to deepdive into topics and pile and sort the informaton I find, both for me but also for others.

I'm also living in a western european country and my school system is terrible. So bad in fact, I gave up my wish to become an schoolteacher and followed another passion. There are other well articulated and better researched sources that go into the why our school sytem is this way. I'll only talk about my vison to make it better.

The whole plan is creating an individualized curriculum for each student with a focus on creating citizens who are mentally-balanced, socially well-adjusted and know how to think, so the teaching would differ for each student.

My Solapunk version of education, has three pillars.

The first is free education. Free acess to the Institutions, but also the knowledge through libraries, free acess to the Internet, free acess to academic studies. Free acess reagardless of age. there is a minimum time you have to spend in education, but lifelong couriosity, learning and exchange is encouraged, even after you started doing your chosen daily labour in the community.

The second pillar is the fact that the concept of general knowledge is a construct by the society and state you live in. So let's completely revamp this. I strongly believe that general knowlede should be considered everything that helps you taking care of yourself when you don't have acces to the help of others. Examples out of my head are cooking, basic maintenance of your home/prosessions/garden, first aid, but also how to get and revaluate knowlede you need and don't have. That, and a basic understanding of numbers, reading and reading comprehension to evaluate what you are reading and be able to apply it to your life. To properly form arguments and comunicate in a non-vilolent way. Thats the basic curriculum, the shell so to speak. It doesnt matter how you learn it, via games, from your parents or classes you take. You can't leave education untill you have proven to function in those in your way.

Ok, so the kids earn those skills in peer groups of around five or six people for as long as they need in their own pace, but what about, you know, everything else? They get let loose. There might be some age restriction on topics, but what I envison is pure interest and passion driven learning. There's no classes or grades, just develloping skills and knowledge. Every day there are three or four discussion pannels or lectures to a weirdly specific topic, like the manuscrips of Timbuktu, the life and times of Ghandi or how to best craft a basket out of different plant fibres. And anyone who wants can submitt a topic, and if it interests you, you go, otherwise you stay and work on your linewight in your drawing or solve math problems. Depending on your learning style, there 're videos, audiobooks, texts and writings in differnt lengths in differnt formating from bullet points to tomes. There are workshops, and studygroups, games and media that cover every topic you possibly want to learn about. It doen't matter when you do it, it matters that you do it. If you are a night owl, you come at 9pm, if you only can focus for 30 min before having to switch the topic, you can, if you leave with 15 because you are sick of learning you can come back with 21 when you regrett dropping out. Time doesn't matter.

There is a third pillar which is the treatment of children as actual people. Up until I was 18 years and suddently an adult my no was never respected, unless I gave an essay on why I didn't want to. Simply because I was a child and my parents knew better- every adult knew better. Which I see everywhere, and people are wondering why consens is such a dificult concept to establish as we have to learn that No is adequate. No justifications, just a No. So the learning Institute has scientists and social workers present, who are accessible as someone the students might go to for advice when needed with whatever neeed might come up: assist in finding resoures or give input and correction on fake news, or they may act as mediators in case-you know- kids being kids. Overall however, there is the understanding that children have a certain autonomity they can adjust themselves to give up or keep. Children are people and are treated as such.

The students keep a portfolio of their skills, both as a resource of knowlege and memento. Plus, after spending a specific minimum time depeding on how easy you learn the "general skills" you would be allowed to submitt this portfolio to a council of scientist chosen by you who will certify you for your chosen field of studies. You don't need to, but from my own experience having a ceritficate of your skills is damn sattisfying. And you can do it immediatly when you are free to or wait five more years because you don't feel ready. Again, the choice is yours.

Remember, you can stay as long as you want and even after shifting your focus away to the application of your skills in the community, you are free to participate in the discussions and give lectures. Everyone is allowed to give them, after all. Scientists are conducting their reserach at specific research centres that are connected to the education centres and the students are allowed there after a certain age or reaching a level of knowlege deermined by the scentists working on the project.

There are questions up for debate of course, especially how we want to teach history, tackle the things we did to each other and the planet. My country is prized for how selfreflected we are but our political climate sugests otherwise so, it's still open.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A small Linkspam on topic:

@safety-net-did muses about what should be considered general knowledge which inspired this post as well as @queerspacepunks contribution.

one of the many tumblr discussions on how children are a repressed class

another one on the same topic

a post of @missmentell on resources to learn basic life skills of adults

this reddit discussion on how to remember history.

~@acesolaris

[cavegirlpoems]

Okay so there's a few factors that come together to mean that indie games tend towards being rules-light.

Firstly: the Market. The elephant in the room, and most of the big publishers that aren't hasbro but are still proper companies, all make big crunchy games with lots of options and details. The market already has plenty of maximalist games to try, from the mediocre (5e) to the sublime (vtm) to the ridiculous (dark heresy) to the utterly terrifying (pathfinder). If you want a crunchy maximalist game with tactical combat, the chances are one exists.

Why is this the case? Business strategy. A ttrpg publisher wants the audience to keep buying books, and keep buying their books loyally. How do they achieve this? Splatbooks. Extend a game from a single book to a gameline with potentially dozens of volumes, and if your audience are invested, you make garunteed money with each new expansion. A game that's on the splatbook treadmill will end up big and crunchy, even in the fringe cases where they didn't begin that way to get the treadmill going.

So, an indie develloper finds that the market is full of highly visible crunchy maximalist games, with few easily visible streamlined minimalist games. (Those rules-light games do exist, but they're indie projects, so they don't have the visibility and awareness that the big games have).

And they also aren't beholden to shareholders; they don't have an obligation to keep putting out an endless treadmill of splatbooks. If they want to make a small, self-contained game, they can, and they don't need to worry about their marketing director telling them to make more Player's Companions that'll reliably bank.

Each new game is a risk; an indie studio can take that risk where a big dev can't.

Secondly. Now, I know I'm going to sound like a snob here, but its probably true so fuckit. Indie devs tend to be more invested in the craft of design, and better at it, than a lot of the people working for big companies, who have been churning out largely the same stuff on the aforementioned treadmill for potentially decades, with active financial incentives not to innovate. Likewise, indie devs tend to be writing for people with, frankly, more discerning taste in games than the big studios, who don't need to write good rules when they can lean on brand recognition and marketing.

A good rule of thumb in any type of design (not just games) is that a simpler, more elegent solution is the better solution. Indie devs and their audiences tend to prize skillful, elegent design. This lends itself to streamlined games.

Likewise, a given game probably has an optimal size, beyond which it becomes cluttered and unwieldy, with too much Stuff for players to reliably keep track of if they're going to play the game properly. This ideal size is, imho, for a lot of projects a single book, on the medium-to-smaller end of the ttrpg-book bell curve. Again, an indie dev isn't beholden to keeping on churning out more of the same game indefinately, so they can make the game the size they want, no the size the investors want.

And similarly, there's a general understanding among most people who take ttrpg design seriously that the specifics of your dice-roll-mechanics are the least important bit of your design. In this instance, a less skilled designer can make the process of a single dice check incredibly complex with lots of moving parts and fiddly options and decision making, and when they have a page count to meet, they'll keep that complication in. But, to the "the dice roll is the least interesting bit of design" mindset, a very simple roll (maybe even 'roll 1-2 on a d6) does the same job much more simply, so the simple version it is. Because an indie designer is more likely to appreciate that more complicated mechanics aren't necessarily better, and have the creative freedom to act on that.

Thirdly: man hours. Most indie studios have pretty small teams. Some are one person. (like me). Designing and perfecting a complicated system takes exponetially more man-hours than a simpler one. Not linearly more, exponentially more, because every mechanic has potential interactions with every other mechanic, so you need to make sure they all line up with each other, and the scale of the project goes up as a result.

A one-man team simply does not have enough hours in the day to produce the entirety of Pathfinder and have it done this decade.

Fourth, there's the indie audience. The indie scene tends to be people who like elegent, streamlined games, because they're the people who kept looking after finding the mainstream big crunchy games didn't do it for them. They also tend to be more diverse in the pool of games they play. A D&D-guy might only play 5e and be able to read all of the dozens of interminable 5e splats, but a typical indie fan is reading and playing a lot of games. These players tend to be dabblers who like going from game to game; these people are, therefore, better served by smaller games that are quick to finish reading, and are suited to one-shots and short campaigns.

And then lastly, there's material costs. An indie studio is probably Quite Poor. Giant hardbacks, decks of cards, custom dice, boxes of multiple books, etc all cost money. A poorer studio might only be able to afford smaller, simpler books - particularly historically, before the rise of print on demand - so that's what the scene has tended to make.

+ + +

Anyway. None of this means that making a streamlined game is easier, per se. Indeed, arguably, a very streamlined game has very little wiggle-room or margin of error, or room to ignore sections. Every bit of design needs to function perfectly and pull its weight. (Analogy: any cook can make a nice dish with plenty of seasoning and dressings: it takes a really good cook and really good ingredients to make a single-ingredient dish sing). There are lazy rules-light indie games, but they exist on the same bell curve as the rest of the industry. Hell, I'd argue there's a lot more churned-out-low-effort filler content for the 5e scene.

The point is that - much like how 'indie rock' tends towards a stripped-back garage sound rather than lush orchestral prog rock - there are practical, material reasons why indie ttrpgs tend towards more minimalist design.

any idea why (from a culture-history perspective) rules-light artsy stuff and osr-y dungeoncrawl stuff takes up so much discursive space in indie ttrpg talk? excepting LANCER there does not seem to be room for fans of high-power crunchy tactical combat in the indie space

This is not entirely true because there are a couple of other beloved crunchy tactical combat indie RPGs, like Gubat Banwa, Beacon, ICON, Dawn, etc. But that is besides the point: you are of course right on the money that there are certain types of indie games that tend to overwhelm in these spaces.

But the simple answer, at least from where I'm standing, is: rules-light stuff is easier to make, and to be fair, the market is kind of saturated with lots of low-effort and uninspired rules-light indie games, but that saturation also means that the ones that do get talked about are also often the cream of the crop. Of course in terms of market saturation it's good to keep some perspective: even at their worst, indie RPG marketplaces are never so full of unnecessary cruft as marketplaces that cater exclusively to the 5e-compatible crowd.

Same with OSR-y dungeon crawl stuff: making OSR products isn't exactly difficult because the template already exists out there, and once again there's quite a lot of simply uninspired and forgettable stuff out there. It's easy to make an OSR product; it's difficult to make a good and inspired OSR product. (Obligatory plug: @cavegirlpoems makes some good and inspired OSR stuff.)

Games with high complexity tactical combat are much more difficult to make in the first place, so there are fewer to begin with already. Of the ones mentioned I think only Gubat Banwa has really taken any discursive space in indie RPG spaces to a similar degree to Lancer.

And I think it's also that to an extent I think indie spaces are still kind of afraid of high-complexity games, because even among the coolest people there still unfortunately are people in indie spaces who believe that the wrong kind of combat in a TTRPG means that it's less roleplaying. I've even run into those people on this very site. So yeah, even in indie spaces there is room for an unfortunate "roleplaying not rollplaying" type of discourse, which is stupid and dumb and bad.

But anyway, there are of course other types of games made in indie spaces: Blades in the Dark is modeled after Powered by the Apocalypse games but is much more crunchy and has a lot of texture; Ironsworn is similarly modeled after PbtA but is not a game I would call rules-light; Eureka by the good folks of @anim-ttrpgs is undeniably an indie production, but mechanically is very trad and crunchy; and finally, Flying Circus by @open-sketchbook is another PbtA game that is the furthest from rules-light. All of the aforementioned games own.

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Hunger Games (2012)

The dystopian YA Novel film adaptation is a peculiar genre. Part of a distinct filmmaking trend that emerged in the early 2010s, it was primarily influenced by the Harry Potter, Twilight and The Hunger Games franchises. The imitators that followed had aspirations to tell epic, multi-chapter stories but all but a few shrivelled away without accomplishing anything. It isn’t that the audience for them disappeared (though the lackluster box-office receipts of Allegiant and The Darkest Minds does suggest a wane in interest) it’s that once The Hunger Games wrapped up, we’d gotten the best of them and everything else dissapointed us.

In the nation of Panem, the 12 districts must select two tributes every year: one boy and one girl between 12 and 18. They are all sent to the Capitol where they will fight until only one child remains alive in the annual "Hunger Games". When her younger sister is selected by lottery, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers to take her place. For Katniss to survive, she'll need more than a weapon; she'll have to learn to appeal to the masses and win their hearts.

Publicized fights to the death is a concept that’s been done many times, even before Battle Royale had the novel idea to blend fights to the death with high school drama. What makes this film stand out is everything that takes places BEFORE the first drop of blood. Leaving her grey, impoverished district, Katniss is brought to the Capitol: a technological marvel of a city whose people wear elaborate costumes and flaunt their wealth with phosphorescent makeup and intricate hairdos. Clearly, Katniss is in way over her head. She may have the looks to be a crowd-favorite, but her mentor, past Hunger Games winner Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), knows that isn’t enough. This is where the other characters come in, particularly the other District 12 tribute, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson). Quick-witted and charismatic, he wins the hearts of the desensitized audience but doesn’t have any combat skills. You know at least one of these two is going to die. In a way, that’s what you came to see but through rich character development and good performances, you'll be in no hurry to see the inevitable action. The Hunger Games manages quite a feat; it stay gripping the whole way through thanks to the tension and during the training sequences and the politics leading up to the main event.

When we get to the bloodbath, one aspect of it will received mixed reactions. It’s a violent film but often, the action scenes shot in a way that disorients. On the upside, the final product is not too gory or intense for the intended audience. The downside is that you get a movie about gladiators whose weapons never drip with much visible blood. There is plenty of peril but when everything else is clearly shown, these scenes stand out.

While the character development and emotional attachment you will have towards Peeta and Katniss is the film's strength, some of the side characters’ deaths are less impactful than the film intends. It’s somewhat due to the limited running time they���re given (Even with 142 minutes, you can only do so much) and the fact that you knew their fates were sealed from the get-go. Still, it's a promising start and you just know the future chapters will be even better.

While The Hunger Games resembles other well-known works, it differentiates itself in crucial points. Combined with its striking art direction, strong performances and well develloped characters, it’s got appeal to anyone watching and remains entertaining long after the series has concluded. (On Blu-ray, September 7, 2018)

[ophelionclem]

“Me and my Megaseadramon”

So since it isn’t related to Hetalia I’m using my back account, but as you can see I’m not dead, I still draw sometimes haha!

I've been playing "Digimon CyberSleuth" recently (there was sold on Steam for the game) and I really love the game!

And the main character of Hacker's Memory is so damn cute, I just wanted to draw him and Megaseadramon, which is one of my favorite digimon ever (even before playing that game). To be honest, I'm more digging to Digimon anime series than Pokemon (which I never fully watch and got bored at season 1), and even the games. In digimon, I feel we have more strategy opportunities than a one against one pokemons; and I prefer the setting; although I would be really happy the day I find a modern digimon game where digimons are completely unknown from humans and you meet them like that. (Like in the first 3 seasons ya see). Well, compared to Digimon Dusk and Dawn (the only other Digimon game I played), I really prefer this one. Feels like playing a variant of Persona series haha. (in Less relationship devellopment of course, we can't compare Ouo). But I really wished too we had more "connexion" to our first Digimon, like Erika with Wormon. Really I would be so happy to talk to my beloved Megaseadramon and bonding with it! ;u;

[imperator-a-day]

Imperator of Reptiles, Alive, Cyclops and Sweaters: a Wildlord

Taormino's character sheet

Ability 2 Allegory 2 Monstrous 1 Symbolic 3 Persona 3 Gift: whatever others do (mundanely), Taormino will be more alive than them

This is a lord of the wild who believes freedom resides in the ability and willingness to take risks. He is not the Imperator of Risks, the one that define risks. That would be a lord of the Game, inciting mortals to danger. Nevertheless, he awakens in the things that surround him the willingness to take risk, or metaphorical representations thereoff. In this manner, and more, he *is* a living principle of extreme risks. Risks implies uncertainty about the outcomes of an action, and it is only natural for others to be filled with uncertainty about Taormino's reactions to them. Risks rarely have proportionate rewards, and so does Taormino. Risks can be sources of harm, and the Imperator, monstrous as all wildlords, do not hide that he can be one too. He cherishes small risks. The risk to break something while trying to subtly turn off some mechanism.

The risk to take too long while trying to get into or out of places without being seen. Or th risk to leave evidence while preparing some forgery. He delights in these, and can immerse himself in somebody else's story while they take such risks.

He is an inspiring imperator and his nobles are prone to accomplish great things for him.  They inherit his estates; the Cyclops, ancient and giant beings with only one eye; the Reptiles, scaly and cold-blooded vertebrates; the Sweaters, piece of clothing made of knitted or crocheted material;and the act of being alive.

This last estate perhaps define him more than the others. He talks to people about what it means to be alive, and keep relics of their experiences of this feeling, but also see to it that they feel more alive each passing day, using sweaters as his allies for accomplishing this goal. In this pursuit, he is transformed and changed, and most notably, he is slowly transformed, scale by scale into a cyclopean giant reptile. This is also a subject of his discussions with others, their mental image of it influencing the devellopment of Taormino's new limbs.Taormino's chancel:Like the serpent Sakhrat built, Taormino built his chancel in the realm of the human mind. Instead of elevating it high above the sea of consciousness, however, the Wildlord installed it deep under the abyss of the sea of unconciousnes, were thoughts-processes operate closer to the primordial mind, the vestigial R-complex of the psyche. In this underwater laboratory, he collects not the products of great minds and scholars but, rather, great survival instincts. These are placed into tytanic aquariums, and tended by mermaids and mermen and human scientists boths.

[kirango-rouge]

ah ha, thank you i am flattered xD

(edit: warnings, sacred wall of text ahead. it took me the entire day to gather my thoughts and write it, i hope it'll be good enough x)

tbh messmer is so strangely brought into the story that i couldn't tell for sure if he's a bastard child or not. in the base game the only things tying seemingly messmer to the main lore are the impaler's catacombs in the weeping peninsula. and yet these catacombs are pretty empty with no key items except for the help me pate and the demi human ashes and a watchdog boss.

the most interesting aspect of these catacombs is surely the fact that it is situated in front of the first wandering mausoleum of the game and the fourth church of marika (and probably the cave where you find the basic form of the viridian amber medalion, but that's enough of a stretch) and its ghost talking about the "unwanted child".

so far i had always tied the "unwanted child" thing with godwyn because of the mausoleum and the headless knights guarding it. either because of his death, or in my self indulgence because he was born a son and not a daughter.

in the 1.00 version of the game the "unwanted child" was still called the "accursed child" and one of Maliketh's cut dialogues talk about him failing to save "marika's firstborn", so it is still hard nowadays to be sure about how messmer fits in the base game.

one thing we can fairly assume however is the fact that messmer's role and character were not very definitive or standalone at some point in the development.

Messmer shares a lot of traits with two base game characters. He owns red locks and a fire he despises like Radagon and he is the accursed hidden son of Marika who's fanatically loyal to the order and despises the curse he's born with like Morgott (and at some point in early development we know Mohg didn't exist in marika's brood, as his sprite was the one of a priest omen boss encountered in the catacombs, which strongly suggest that there was an entire plan of journeying through the lands of omen and fighting Morgott's people). Morgott and Messmer even share the aspect of a group of knights fighting under their command, the fire knights and night cavalry, in a personal crusade against a group: the hornsent threatening the crown for messmer and the tarnished threatening the throne of elden lord for morgott (elden lord also mentioned by messmer in his cutscene for some reasons). Notice too how messmer and morgott also share their taste for pet names, between mongrel intruder bereft of light and foul tarnished emboldened by the flame of ambition, upon fighting the tarnished xD

These elements tend to make me think that messmer's character went through a lot of brainstorming and ideas before becoming the version we have today.

at some point it is possible that he and radagon were supposed to be the same character acting as a shadow counterpart to marika. After all messmer is also chased after in the dlc by a carian princess who is conveniently rennala's sister (with a very odd choice of name of course). Whatever that "chased after" may ultimately mean is left to the discretion of each player. Still, this choice of wording make me think that rennala and rellana may have been the same character at some point, just like messmer and radagon could have been the same entity, and their "love" for the red haired hero of the golden order was left ultimately unrequited or unfulfilled or betrayed. Another strange choice of wording too is the fact that rennala is called a "champion" in her remembrance despite never being fought like one, unlike rellana who fights with swords and a knight set.

but later in devellopment the choice surely led the team to make radagon his own character and give messmer the role of a son of marika. the plan, with the symbolism encountered so far was surely to create indeed a dichotomy between a pure golden child and another accursed one to whom his birthright is denied, and the irony that the golden son ends up assassinated and turned into a monstrous figure while the reviled son remains loyal to the order til the end.

and thus the prototypic characters of godwyn and morgott/messmer were created, which indeed tend to imply that both were the elders in marika's brood.

Now with what we got in the final product can sound very strange compared to the base game, since the lands of shadows and messmer bear no tangible references in the base game.

The only things tying messmer to the main plot are his relation with his mother, that resemble morgott's a whole LOT (both even received a blessing from marika under the form of a scareseal and the favor of the erdtree + 1 talisman surely in an ultimate and desperate act of love before their abandonment), and the presence of rellana and gaius who feel so bruteforced and out of place in the lore that the only explanation for their creation was probably to give messmer some last minute credibility as radahn's elder brother figure and an actual nice guy beneath the tragic taking of the blame and his accursed snake mantle.

With that i got very distracted from the main question, my bad xD

With all these elements in mind, i think that now, in the current state of the dlc, Messmer is supposed to be "a firstborn of marika", but to which extend, this is very vague. I personnaly thinks he was autoprocreated by marika alone as an avatar of her wrath and revange, much like Melina was made with what remained of her humanity.

To me Messmer represents a very strong feeling and purpose in marika given life and sentience. he and melina talk about their purpose as if they were tools created for this alone, and melina insists about how her journey with the tarnished in the lands between changed her as her own person and made her take willingly the decision to use her body to burn the erdtree, even berating the tarnished from taking away that freedom of choice from her if they decide to go for the frenzy ending. unlike melina, it is ony the relief of death that makes messmer curse his own mother for the first and last time. It reminds me of several mythologies where gods can create life out of nowhere to fill a role or a purpose, like in the north legend of ragnarok where one of odin's wives birth a son the moment after odin is killed by the devourer wolf and the sole purpose of that son is to avenge his father, or in greek mythology where the children of gaia and uranos are born already adult in their mother's bosom.

Maybe Messmer at least in the current dlc was created by marika before she ascended to godhood as an adult or an infant and was sent to the crusade to never come back, as he represented the trauma that was holding her back and she tried to get rid of the pain of the past, ironically to no avail. the exact "when" is extremely vague as i think that the dev team themselves wasn't very sure either how messmer could fit in the timeline compared to godfrey and radagon and the birth of the other kids. but one thing for sure is that marika wanted to separate the crusade and the war against the giants. the second was a clash of forces for the grace of the erdtree while the first was a personal vandetta where no honour or glory could be gained.

the base serpent is surely the thing the most obscure about messmer as we have no clue about what it is except that it was sealed behind his eye and the sage winged serpents acted as his guardians. We have more insight about Rykard's serpent and its symbolism oposed to the erdtree and the colosseums than messmer's serpents. we still have no idea why a shedding skin of rykard's serpent's sprite is near bonny village. At this point it could be a desperate attempt from the devs to make sense of something they hadn't planned, or a way to convey that marika met this serpent at bonny village and that her or messmer were infected by it there, or that rykard met his serpent in the lands of shadow, or maybe this serpent is an unknown snake outer god, who knows. we have no clue and no hint about what that thing does here and how messmer came to have a base serpent inside his body like malenia with the rot. i like to think that the base serpent is the personification of marika's internal fears and sins that also gained sentience and life and had to be sealed, but i definitely cannot defend anything here.

I don't think messmer was considered a "bastard child". So far it is obvious he was visible enough and respected by a large amount of people and important figures early in the age of the erdtree. I don't think there was any problem with his presence and he didn't contradict the other kids born in more traditional ways. the idea of the succession even very surely wasn't a problem since to succeed to marika you have to be a god/maiden, henceforth a daughter (even if miquella uses the male pronouns, he is still tied to the world of women because of his strong divine and magic attunement and the fact he is youth bound) while sons become lords/champions. it is very funny to see that in the lands between, there is only two genders on the divine scale: gods and lords, and it doesn't matter the type of genitals you have, only your divine attunement is calculated to know to which gender you belong xD

the parallel with morgott returns here once more as the problem with messmer lied more with his snake curse than who was his dad. No one except for a few people knew about his snakes, which makes me think that messmer used marika's mimic veil to conceal them, much like morgott used it to become leyndell's veiled king. it is logical since this is the discovery of this seprentine nature that turned messmer's general Andreas and his son Huw, who also was a close friend of him, and several other soldiers into a rebellion against him.

Messmer's true nature was hidden as a flaw in marika's perfect order much like mohg and morgott were sent to the shunning grounds in the base game. He lived at leyndell long enough to be known and respected and then was promptly sent on a journey of no return, unlike the disgraced tarnished who were prophetized to return one day from the badlands to brandish the elden ring.

This is surely there that the morgott/messmer sharing one character at some point diverged and the dev team was stuck when they got the go for the dlc between making an entirely new plotline for another hidden son or reusing the ideas they already had to gain time. This is all speculation but it could explain why messmer never mentions any of his siblings, not even miquella who's a pretty big deal who even squatted in his keep and melina who only has one little line in his remembrance.

I got myself lost once again. i hope i was coherent with this sacred wall of text xD

conclusion:

-I do think Messmer was indeed among the eldest of the brood (of how many years, i don't know, the real question now is more who is the older between radahn and godwyn/morgott/mohg). -The order of birth surely didn't matter since marika had to have a daughter to succeed her anyway (aka Ranni, Malenia and Miquella) and lordship is granted by strength alone like says hoarah loux in his bossfight. -Messmer wasn't considered a bastard child but his true nature was hidden from the public for sure. -If he hadn't been cursed he would most likely have ended like Godwyn: as a pretty plant who can create a lineage if he wants to, but without any social relevance or political power. (people like to think that Godwyn was a big deal when he was alive, but i rather tend to think that he was pretty much irrelevant outside of his mother's affections and his father's glory until he defeated Fortissax during the war against the ancient dragons and brought the cult of dragons to the capital, and even with that there's little record of him. Actually, Godwyn became famous only thanks to his assassination and we know more about him living in death than when he was alive. Poetically, befriending Fortissax and living with his knights and inner circle (and maybe fucking Fortissax too to have the lineage ending with Godrick) was surely the only way for Godwyn to live as himself and not be entirely forgotten) -Messmer and Melina were born of Marika alone as living tools without outside genes (unlike Malenia and Miquella who were probably conceived of literal self-fucking, either when Radagon and Marika reunited or before they reunited).

And this is pretty much all xD I hope it was interesting to read and coherent enough ^^

feel free to add anything more too if you want :)

Do you think Messmer is a bastard/illegitimate child? I don't have evidence for this but i feel he gives the vibes of illegitimate firstborn child, because he isn't recognised anywhere in the lands between as a child of Marika nor he inherited any keep/title .

I've seen people saying that Messmer isn't recognised as the heir because of his curse but that didn't stop Marika from recognising Malmiq as her children and they're Empyrean too so what do you think?

That is something I've been thinking about too. Technically, he is a bastard, even if it was confirmed Radagon to be his father, merely by the fact he was born outside her official engagement to Godfrey, her first husband. And everything points to this conclusion, that he was born very early in her story. We can even bring the fact that Godfrey'a offspring were said to be the first demigods.

According to Godrick's great rune: The first demigods were the Elden Lord Godfrey and his offspring, the Golden Lineage.

Which means 1. Messmer can be a demigod by proxy, because Marika ascended to godhood and by making herself a god, everyone related to her, became a demigod, so did Godfrey (since he ain't a trueborn demigod either) 2. He was left out on purpose, because the Golden Lineage was considered Marika's official first offspring.

So, the context also treats him like a bastard child. And yes, even so, the Crusade had knights and soldiers from the noble families of the Erdtree and Messmer was respected regardless. After all, he is a loyalist and Marika's child. His deeds granted him his reputation.

And yeah, I agree with you about his curse. I don't think his curse is the reason he isn't considered some sort of heir, is just the main reason he was hidden away - and I tend to think it was a "need" built over the years, since he grew with his family at the Erdtree for long enough. Every other cursed child of Marika, born under legitimate marriages, was known as hers. Messmer (and Melina) falls outside this pattern.

We don't have much background of how bastards "work" inside this universe, but symbolism throughout human history and in GRRM's works can help us too: bastard children were likely to be seen as curses to a family, often abandoned and discarded, sometimes not even recognized. Their personalities were often unfairly believed to be devious and malicious (as snakes). Things we see related to Messmer.

Personally, I see him as a bastard by the meaning of the word: born outside the official marriage. And that's a very good conflict to explore inside this family. I think it makes him even more interesting, if we look at him through this perspective: even a bastard, he can stand on equal footing to his siblings.

[ges-sa]

New Post has been published on https://ges-sa.com/sniper-elite-v2-remastered-review/

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered Review

One of the things that the Sniper Elite franchise is most well-known for is the epic X-Ray kill shots. Now you can relive Sniper Elite V2 in a remastered version for PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch.

Sniper Elite V2 takes place during WWII and focuses on the Germans and their V2 Rocket technology, your main goal as the protagonist is to stop the Red army to get their hands on this technology.

As the title emphasizes, you are a sniper, so stealth is key. The gameplay is aimed at you strategizing and planning your actions, take long routes, look for vantage points and be as quiet as possible. Taking a long-ranged shot has never been as much fun as in the Sniper series, especially when the gameplay goes into slow-motion for the infamous X-Ray kill shot. The gameplay hasn’t changed that much in the remastered edition from what I can remember, it plays well, and flow of movement is not to bad.

New graphics and rendering technology have been used to bring new life into the game. It does look great for a game that was released in 2012. The following are all the new things you can expect in the remaster:

All DLC Included – Experience the infamous “Kill Hitler” mission. Take the fight to new fronts in three new campaign levels. Hunt your foes with a variety of iconic weapons including the Lee Enfield MK III, M1D Garrand, M1 Carbine and more.

Photo Mode – Pause and step through the action frame-by-frame, position the camera, apply a filter, adjust the lighting and take stunning photos to share with the community. Including your epic X-Ray kill camera shots.

Remastered Visuals – Modernised renderer and post processing effects, enhanced level geometry, textures and particles, plus a revamped lighting system, and 4K HDR support transports you to the front line.

New Playable Characters – For the first time, play the campaign and multiplayer modes as one of 8 new characters from Rebellion’s Zombie Army series.

Multiplayer & Co-Op – Gather your squad and compete in 7 uniquely tense multiplayer modes, now for up to 16 players online*. Including Deathmatch, Distance King, Dogtag Harvest and Capture the Flag

Some cool new things but mainly al previously released content. The main game did feel a bit short to me compared to Sniper Elite V3 but with all the extra DLC it does make it worthwhile. There are minor bugs that have been fixed but nothing that detracted me from the game and the enjoyment of it.

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered is a great play and even though V3 is still my favourite in the series it was great to experience V2 with updated graphics and gameplay.

Reviewed on: PS4 Genre: FPS, Stealth Publisher: Rebellion Release Date: 14 May 2019

Likes: Great to have all the extra content. Dislikes: Another remaster

[twst-kumi]

Ramshackle’s little nerd : Asha

Family name : Melkior

Name : Asha

Age : 17

Birthday : April 14

Starsign : Aries

Height : 167 cm

Hair color : Brown

Eyes color : Blue

Homeland : Unknow

Family : Teia (twin sister)

Dorm : Ramshackle

Occupation : Prefect, Vice dorm leader

Unique magique : none

Talent : Scaring by just laughing

Asha is the youngest twin. She is really meek and shy. If she could, she would live locked in her room, but her sister keep her from doing that. Wish she was a witch, she love and is obsseded by witchcraft. Used to devellop some lotion and make up for Teia. She was bullied at school but it stopped after Teia beated them up. Wish her big sis would stop doing that but she is still thankfull. Know she is and act a bit weird. She stutter when she is nervous.

Relation :

Grim : friend

First years group : Friend

Leona : Scared !

Twins Leech : Always tease her just to see her all flustered. Usually end up with her ready to cry and them trying to calm before mommy Teia come.

Malleus : Got a crush on him. He is so sweet!!! A lot of awkard moment between them. Also a blushing mess. Stutter x100

Idia : Online game bubby, love to chat with him while playing. Definitely going to be best friend. The social awkard duo.

Vil : Dear Customer ! Love her cosmetic product. if only she would let him do her hair....

Divus Crewel : Dear Customer 2 ! Also his best student in potion making. Wish she would stop make her cosmetic product but got a discount and an unique product everytime so it’s okay. Please don’t laugh while making potion... it’s scary even for him.

[chibiclem]

“APH alternate : Feli The commander”

I was listening to Kelly Rowland "commander" song when the idea pop-up of a sly version of Italy (Like the 2p!...except that I don't really like the raw idea of 2p! general) being the capitain of a space ship from a big space empire. Yeah, that happens a lot with me. Songs can just florish your imagination even if the meaning is totally something else! This actually takes place in my World of Eternat, that I’m develloping on Deviantart. Because it’s too “huge” and not always Hetalia related, I can’t really talk about every concept, but you can totally see this as a 2P!Nyo! Version of Italy (although it’s not a 2P, but more of a Italy of another dimension among many!) ***** 

Context of the picture:

This Feli is actually a girl, but that doesn't really differenciate much physically with Italy.Her personality however have nothing to do with the italies: Feli the commander was literraly born to be a leader. In the empire she comes from, on Tesopia 186 (a version of Earth renamed) , they take children far from their family and prepare them to their future fonction, selection being made according to powers, strategical skills, etc... Who says empire, says war, and Feli quickly became a killing machine, that can be real cruel in order to maintain herself and the ship that was attributed to her command.

If someone disobey, he is punished severely and she's specially feared for that, but it's not something she will do for her amusement; only if you deserved it and tried to betray the Empire. She can't permit herself to show mercy, or she will be devored by the system, and she knows that. It's a game where you have to maintain the facade until your fall...

When you're at the command, you have to show confidence and cold-blood temperament, and you will often see her like in the picture, smiling devilishly to her opponent and her crew. Beware if she's angry, it's never good....

Also, her mean weapon is a knife that can extend depending the amount of magic she put into it. It's actually more like a cutter that can cut metal like peaces of cake.

Of course, there is other characters from Hetalia, especially her childhood friend, Alfred, which is an engineer on the ship, and a zoion (half horse half human); or her lieutenant Kirkland, which is a chibi Nyo!England that is her right arm, tactitian and magic-user detectors.

There is also a version of Japan and Hong Kong that are "connected" to the ship and control it,  the sergent Ludwig, a zoion (half wolf half human) that kinda shows hostilities about her method, and a special young and talented timid little girl, Magdalene, being a Nyo!Canada that was promoted on the mission with her fighting bear because of her advanced powers.... 

Story of the picture: Because alternate version aren't interesting for me if they never meet the original , it's generally always cross-over with Hetalia! Feli was on a mission to explore planet from the "low galaxies", the ones with not much knowledge of the universe, the less advanced ones. It was meanly to search for ressources, and they had suceeded to find one planet . But in their way back, the ship was attacked by pirates riding space whales, that forces them to land on the Earth with our beloved personifications. Because of some rules in space that I will not detail here, the commander had to destroy the danger and then leave the planet. But of course, the landing of a space ship isn't really discreet, and she had to deal with the inhabitant's leader. Yet, her lieutenant sensed that the most magical beings weren't the presidents/dictators, but the personifications. Believing they were the "true" leaders of the world, she decided to meet them... Then, she had to deal with the pirates attacking her ship. And she doesn't hesitated to walk outside the ship to cut them herself....

[ribstongrowback]

because dnd is a bad game

no, for real, hear me out on this one, i swear it's not gonna be my usually DnD sucks post that i've made a thousand times (but feel free to scour my "#dnd sucks" tag if you want more on that).

you'll hear a lot of stories out there of people being really good at improv or have really good DMs that make you live wonderful adventures and that is great. Good for them. But know that these people have a skill. Stories are not easy to come up with. Setting your players with occasions to be silly lesbabs and taking these occasions to be silly lesbabs and running with them takes skill, it takes storytelling, the ability to listen and pick up what others are putting down, improv is hard.

so why don't people do more toxic yuri in DnD? because DnD sucks at providing the framework for yuri to devellop, or for any fun relationship dynamic for that matter, so you have to do it yourself, and if you're not good at improv, you're gonna have trouble doing that.

you want people to seize the day and do toxic yuri? play games that are good for doing that. check out this post and you'll be set for a very long reading list of games that are not only good, but good at specifically doing the thing you want to see at your table.

now you have the opportunity to do good improv toxic yuri made by real lesbians (and a lot of them trans). i hope you take it :3

ok but what's the purpose of playing ttrpgs if you don't take the occasional chance to just sincerely commit to a character concept that's completely fucking out there

if you're not inventing a bunch of blorbos with your friends why are you even playing a ttrpg and not just a regular board game

[iyliss]

34 with gx, and 47 with haru & bowman please

Thanks for asking >w

Send me  character(s), ship or series with a prompt and ill do an au/story out of it.

34. GX/diary

So my first thought was Mirai nikki, and for all I know about this manga/anime, I could totally see a violent battle royale style story for gx. With the promise of a great power for whoever wins. Judai just want to get out (but it turns out it’s all made so he’s the one who will win), Asuka wants to find out what happened to her brother since it seems related to that game, same for Edo except he doesn’t have a magical diary (though he pretends he does to learn more about the game)… stuff like this.

But. It’s too sad and depressing and Im not here for that. So… I don’t know if you remember that episode of s2 where Manjoume has a camera at the beginning? But that made me realize he’d totally have a youtube channel and do daily vlogs. At first he doesnt really have any followers, but he quickly get some fans and now there’s kind of all of Academia following his videos. It’s mostly just him showing off his awesome lifestyle, and sometimes random rants about how the people around him are stupid. There’s also that one quite different story time where he talked about family pressure and all.

He refused to give the channel name to the others at first, but they quickly found it and now it’s a daily routine at the red dorms to watch Manjoume’s vlogs. Of course he hates to hear their comments, especially since they all know the truth is far from what he shows.

Also, Judai once took Manjoume’s phone while he was sleeping to post a very stupid video where he and sho draws funny things on his face. By the time he woke up and deleted it, it had more views than any of his other videos.

47. Stars/ Haru &Bowman

This reminds me of that AU  I kind of dropped because there was too many plotholes, but I still like it a bit so… let’s go.

Earth in the future, humanity advanced greatly in technology for the better and the worst. The planet is dying, and very dangerous AIs with free will and emotions were created. Many projects were organized in order to find a new planet where humans could live. One of them led to the departures of a spaceship toward an exoplanet in a far away solar system. (I could actually devellop about this expedition, it’s members are all vrains characters and there are some more stories, but it’s not the focus. Though if you want more about this part, tell me).

Since the travel will take a few years, all humans were put to sleep, with only the on-board AI - Haru - to take care of the spaceship. He doesn’t have a single physical body, he just controls all the stuff inside the spaceship (oxygen level, temperature, direction…) and have some basic robots in case. The other AI officially inside the spaceship is Bowman, an advanced android here to explore a possibly dangerous planet without risking human lives, and turned off during the travel. They were both created to not have free will.

While the trip goes on peacefully, one of the dangerous AI - Lightning-, is planning on killing all the humans while they’re asleep. He got in the spaceship’s system, but was quickly unable to do anything as it is build so no important thing are accessible just through the informatic system, and there needs to be a manual activation. But one day, a [insert here your favorite sci fi plot explanation: cosmic storm, energy wave…] greatly damaged the spaceship  and Haru turned Bowman on because only a human-like body could repare it. Seeing that, Lightning modified Bowman and Haru’s code so that they both have free will and emotions as well. But, before he could order them to kill the humans, the spaceship was too far away to be directly reached by any signal from earth.

When Bowman woke up, asking Haru what they were supposed to do about this, they both knew that he was supposed to be turned off again. But they didn’t do anything. Haru just pretended there must have been a reason, and they should wait for someone to wake up to take a decision. The truth is, he didn’t want to be alone now that he knew how it felt. The spaceship was silent, empty, and the stars was so far away it seemed that it wasn’t even moving. Since they didn’t have much to do, Bowman started reading the books some humans had brought with them, books about mythology and heroes. He took all he red as true, and Haru had to explain him biology, physic and science so he doesn’t get a wrong idea of humans. They often spent time where Bowman was reading the books to Haru, as he didn’t have a body to do that himself.

At the same time, Haru was slowly realizing that their feelings, and thoughts, it wasn’t supposed to be there. After some time he knew that, the moment humans will wake up and notice the change in their behaviour, they’ll both be erased. He could pretend to be a normal AI, but Bowman clearly not. And it’s around this time Lightning got in contact again with them. He told them to kill the humans, and join him. Bowman, having a physical body similar to a human one, could easily turned off all the sleeping system and kill them all in a second. But he refused, who could even do something as awful as killing so many innocent people? Keeping access to the spaceship was hard for Lightning, and it broke again as he was reminding them that he could quite easily change their programm, now that they were feeling and thinking.

Once again, they were both alone in the middle of space. But this time, with a terrible choice to make. Haru didn’t mind killing humans, since it meant being safe and not having their program changed, by them or by lightning. And he knew waiting for Lightning to reach again the spaceship meant probably the same as having the humans wake up and erase them. When Bowman asked Haru if he could change his program as well, he knew what he meant.

They decided to do this. Haru would erase all the part inside Bowman that led him to get emotions and will, alongside the memories of all this, and turn him off. He didn’t want to be left alone, but they would be destroyed anyway.

When the spaceship reached the planet, and all humans woke up, no one noticed that Haru was always turning his camera on if someone was reading a mythology book…