#Game Devellopment

[sybeez]

theres magic in splatoon?

oh HELL YES i get to rant about splatoon on here instead of on discord :]

@anemonequeen hey u can add on too 👀

So what i call magic in splatoon is less 'high fantasy bullshit' and more 'its all around and you don't notice it' like the post said (my example was electricity irl and how we use it rn for mundane stuff). It's all headcanon also btw but very supported by stuff from the games themself

List of stuff thats magic in splatoon in no particular order (ill go over these after): music, technology (human made especially), DNA, ink maybe?, salmonids migration, probably more but thats all i got (infodump under the cut)

SO music has been canon magic since splatoon 1 and actually its linked to the DNA part!! ,,,I probably need to explain human technology part first to understand that but it's basically all the Alterna logs basically.

Quick recap tho: the earth is fucked > some humans go live underground in giant domes all over the globe(unsure) > in one of them they devellop crystals out of molluscs like squids n octopus ability to change color based on emotions and use those to make giant LCD screens to line the dome > fast forward 2 generations of underground humans > the next gen scientists who want to go out even if thats a fucked up idea > rocket go poof n destroys the screen > the squid LCD crystals seep into the ocean n evolution happens for every creature to turn into anthros

also most impportantly the crystals retained the hopes of dreams of all of humanity down there* (important)

now fast forward 10 000 years and we find this scroll in splatoon 1

and that melody famously created a revolution by every single octarian realising they actually have free will at once (it did NOT break any kind of mind control they just lived all their live in an authoritarian society) so already we can tell theres something up with.

another time we find that melody thats important is the end credit for splatoon 3 (wave goodbye) at around the 3:00 mark

,,,now im realizing this isnt exactly what i had in mind but the first time i heard it i thought the voice had no gargling like inkfish voices n instead it was the voices of all humanitys ghosts coming together to sing that part. But if we still go with that then (my headcannon) that means that melody thats been etched into sea life DNA was actually a human anthem that was kept in the memories of the LCD crystal

Now in splatoon 3 theres a lot of magic anyway lol but idk how to even explain that (the 3 lights, lil buddy becoming a kaiju, big man making ink) so use ur imagination for that lol but its there.

other human technology that's also magic: the machine to keep judd alive that somehow made him immortal AND clone him

There's more magic hidden in the game (like however the ink from the ink tanks fuels our weapon via bluetooth and how some non-inkfish characters can somehow use ink for turf wars) but thats why i tagged sasha lol

oh yea for the salmon migration bit i'm specifically talking about the 7 rings when a big run happens. idk how to explain that so therefore its magic

[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

[sullimichi]

does oroby have nen

Thank you for asking this question, I thought a lot about his lore before answering.

Yes he have develloped nen, his aura is from emission, but he hasn't devloped it more than that, he knows the principles but has never devloped an ability.

Basically he's a character in the game, a card you get in a quest, he became a real person when Dwun brought him back to the real world and that's where he developed his nen.

(maybe I'll look into it a bit more later, I'll make an update if I do.)

[animenotaizai]

Random question (cause I'm curious)

[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)

[cavegirlpoems]

I mean that's not true. Some groups spontaneously go straight to freeform RP and skip the rolled-up-newspaper stage of devellopment.

Also it's quite easy to reskin the game as a few very specific other genres. Superheroes, mostly.

Like, I'm not claiming that it's impossible to successfully adapt Dungeons & Dragons to premises which are very unlike its default "fantasy heist caper with light survival-horror elements" comfort zone, but every time I see someone claiming that doing so is easy, I have the same question: did you really adapt D&D for that, or did you just sit your players down for what you claimed was going to be a game of D&D, then proceed to swat them with a metaphorical rolled-up newspaper every time they tried to approach the scenario you put in front of them in a manner that's consistent with the system's player-facing incentives until they gave up on engaging with the mechanics at all and resorted to freeform RP? Because in my experience, much of the time it's the second one in practice – and of course there's nothing wrong with freeform RP per se, but successfully badgering people who thought they were going to be playing a tabletop RPG into doing freeform RP instead isn't the same as adapting a system.

[coineptiontechnology-blog]

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[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.

[fraudulent-cheese]

Hey op

Ima let you know that you've given me an idea for an au that i am! Actually trying to devellop now! Fuck!

So Alejandro gets the boot in the EX-Files instead of Tyler (mostly thanks to Owen taking Noah's warning seriously and Duncan not wanting to deal with Alejandro) and has to be with the eliminated contestants. Most of which he eliminated himself. And Izzy is also there.

Alejandro is not having a good time at first - he got eliminated before the merge, before the likes of Cody for fuck's sake - he didn't fully process his elimination until after the first night at the hotel where the peanut gallery is staying. The other eliminated contestants + Geoff threw a party to celebrate his elimination the night he arrived at the hotel. Since he was both responsible for most of their eliminations and messed with their emotions in general he's obviously not treated well. This mostly comes in the form of getting a cast wide cold shoulder (Bridgette, Lindsay, DJ), to getting passive aggressive comments sent his way when they have to interact (Leshawna, Eva, Trent probably) to outright messing with him by pulling pranks or when the nickname thing is figured out, only calling him Al (Geoff, Harold, Izzy would participate for shits and giggles)

Now, you would think Alejandro would spend the vast majority of his time in his own hotel room then to avoid the others. He can't really however because each eliminated contestant has to share their hotel room with another contestant and as a result, he's been assigned to Noah, who due to where he landed, spends most of his time in the room too. Now the issue isn't what Noah is doing while in his room - reading, talking with Izzy and Eva via text, occasionally listening to music - it's what he did before that.

Alejandro here really, really doesn't like Noah. This AU's running on the assumption that him and Noah were friends before the eel comment. He did get along with Noah and his mistake was trusting the cynic would be fine with any of his schemes; Noah had caught on however, especially to his dislike of Owen. So the warning to the rest of his team? Coupled with the insult? Noah had just attacked both his plan and his character at the same time. ((Alejandro took it really personally in this au basically)) Hell, the fact Noah doesn't seem to realise this (or if he did, he didn't care) frustrates him even more. He could handle antagonism from his roommate; it doesn't matter in the long run and at least he'll feel like the other is respecting his game. But an absence of reaction? That's a bigger insult to him.

Over the days leading up to the third aftermath, Noah starts going out of his room more, leaving Alejandro alone in their shared space more often than not to let his emotions fester even harder.

But them the third Aftermath happends. Aftermath Aftermayhem. Alejandro and Noah are sat next to eachother, because of course they are, Geoff and Blaineley both pause their beef very briefly to make a joke at his expense, because of course they would, Geoff includes a jab at Alejandro in 'Her Real Name isn't Blaineley' because of course he would. And then they reach the second chance challenge segment. Alejandro at this point is banking on him getting back on the show for any chance of redeeming himself and winning this stupid show, and get away from these teens who have done nothing but annoy him so far.

But his can is empty. Even Lindsay got one. Not him.

This is the last straw for Alejandro, who basically rage-quits the Aftermath and stomps off to the set bathroom. After a bit of internal conflict, Noah follows him there, giving Eva his can (and accidentally smacking her in the face with the surprise Chris head, thus giving her a chance to rejoin.). He stepped into the bathroom, and it's dead quiet even though he swears he could hear noise coming from it previously. He covers the one camera he can see with a wet towel and pretends to walk out. On cue, the sound - crying - starts right back up. After figuring out where he is, Noah knocks on the stall Alejandro is currently in and tries to start an actual conversation with him.

Alejandro tries to play it off but Noah knows for a fact he's not doing all right and calls him out on it. He mutters back, about why exactly he should tell him of all people how he's feeling, Noah snarks back and they get in a small argument which eventually fizzles out with Alejandro saying he thought they were friends. He doesn't realize this in the moment, but that's a bombshell to Noah who thought Alejandro had played him completely! And that surprises Alejandro, since he hadn't figured out where the London shit-talking had come from.

Now they're both feeling kind of shitty for their actions (something Noah's somewhat familiar with, but Alejandro is absolutely not used to) but are too stubborn to apologise. Not stubborn enough for Alejandro to at least unlock and open the door of the stall he's holed himself in. Right as the towel covering the camera splats down on the floor. whoops.

Noah does drag Alejandro back to the set, after he composes himself a bit (and dry his tears) right after Eva wins the comeback challenge and the Aftermath draws to a close. (The audio of the bathroom altercation was recorded and would probably be edited into the Aftermath after it was filmed, with either a limited reaction or for it to be used in an episode in the style of the Playa Des Losers episode from Island)

After that point, Alejandro's not over Noah screwing over his entire strategy, but he's not dreading hanging around him, Noah starts going out of his room more as he's healing from his eel related injuries, and since Noah's other friends are either currently competing on the show or busy doing their own thing usually (Izzy), they mostly stick by eachother. If they hang outside their room, it's usually to stay in a more quiet corner of the main room so Noah can read and Alejandro can avoid the rest of the cast.

Hence, what im naming this AU after: The Quiet Corner Club, because they're not the only ones in that corner! I'll detail this in later posts, especially since i've been developping this AU alot, and it's expanded to include both TDWT and TDAS as well as other characters, most notably Gwen.

alenoah fics where noah has like the most intense rivalry with alejandro and wants to see him rot and burn or wtver r ooc of noah because he dgaf. someone write an alenoah fic where neither of them win and they're both in the aftermath

[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....

[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.