#Game Log

[meo-eiru]

DUDE I JUST PLAYED THROUGH THE GAME, WHY IS IT SO SADDDD😭😭😭

and why is he hot

Starling went through quite a few redesigns through the entire development process so let me talk about it a bit :3

It all started with this notes app drawing I made with my finger

Right from the start we knew his tail would be made out of tongues but figuring out how many and placed how was quite hard, I really had to girlmath my way thru

This was the first actual drawing I made of him. The story wasn't complete yet but I went ahead and designed something anyway. Here he was definitely "scarier" and his scar was also placed differently. He had gills on his neck but as you will see I changed their location to under his arms later on. We were actually considering not giving him a tongue of his own so I wanted to make his mouth terrifyingly big and empty.

Here I tried giving him bigger eyes like a fish. This was when his playful and childlike personality had started shaping as you can see from the expressions. I definitely liked this direction better but it also wasn't perfect just yet so I went ahead and did a few more changes

I slowed down on trying to figure out his design a bit after that and instead focused on how his sprite would look. He is a merman after all, he can't just stand straight like a lot of the other visual novel characters. This stage was PAINFUL.

These were the first ones I sketched, we ended up deciding we liked the 3rd one the best.

I carried that 3rd one over to another canvas and started playing around with how we could place his tail, we started entertaining the idea of having him sit on a big rock

This is when his pose really shaped up. The animated Little Mermaid movie was actually a big inspiration, I sat and rewatched the entire movie and studied how they animated her tail

And after that I finally finalized his design. We decided to change the end of his tail to be more eel like for aesthetic purposes (normal tail shape looked weird with tongues)

And for anyone wondering this is what Maelyn looked like at first. Since the story wasn't complete yet I thought it'd take place in a more modern setting and designed her with that in mind but we decided to have the story take place in 1800s so I changed the design based on that. I did a lot of research on glasses and corsets to make the design as accurate as I could.

Yes glasses! We didn't use the sprites in the main story but Maelyn does wear glasses and looks very pretty in them if you ask me. You will be seeing more of it in the bonus episodes!

[sojourn-if]

Sojourn to Another World!

Link to Demo

Development Log

Initial publishing || Jan 14, 2024

Summary

Chapter 1

Update || Jan 18, 2024

Chapter 2

[obverse-nozi]

SunHaven ３周目 今回も乱雑に家具設置！

今回はリアムくんをお迎え予定💚

[mliter]

Hades.

Probably one of the best games i'll ever play. I don't exactly remember when this game exploded all over the internet, 2018 - 2020? Somewhere in that timeframe. Anyways, you know about this game. or saw it at some point. I remember being impressed by that one animated trailer for the game's full release.

Thanks to the release of it's sequel, it was cheap on steam. So i gave it a shot. I knew nothing about this game going into it. I learned that it was top-down the moment my first run started.

Hades's entire story is told through the backdrop of greek mythology. You play as Zagreus, a real figure in greek mythology. What's he doing? He's breaking out. He's going up to the surface, to see what may await him there. One thing that's amazing about this game is how the storytelling is directly linked to the gameplay. Due to the nature of a rougelike, Zagreus's death is a common event. But here, it's something that all of the characters are aware of. His, or your repeated escape attempts are actually canon. That means characters even comment on what you've recently done. Some will even laugh at the dumb way you died. Other bosses and NPCs mention and talk to Zag like he's the regular at a coffee shop. Other characters have their own backstories and well, stories that both you and Zag can discover together through your repeated runs. that It helps sell the progression of time and the world that you're in.

Speaking of the world- it has so much love in it. There are so many details that you'll catch only once in that run. It's packed with so much content. i feel that i've only seen just the tip of it.

Visually, this game is insane. For one, the character design is next. level. I've seen hundreds of interpretations of the greek gods in all sorts of media, but this game's is one of the most striking. While doing serious research, the full range of human expression is used here. All sorts of skin tones, colors, shapes and so on appear. This is the shit i love. Jen Zee is beyond cracked. My favorite gods were Artemis, Ares, Poseidon and Dionysus. This is one of the few games that's gotten me to fall in love with it's entire cast.

Alongside beautifully crafted 3D models, each area in-game is hand drawn. To me, it felt like i was running around a pop up picture book. Each area has a distinct look that sells a different atmosphere really well through the use of color.

This game is a rougelike. You're playing the same game over and over, but through different abilities that you can pick up, no one run is the same. Boons are abilities that the gods can give you after talking to you,

I was actually surprised as to how boons could change your experience. Affecting your moveset, your controls, your movement, your other boons, how you deal damage, and even expanding your moveset. Some of my favorite boons are the ones that deal doom effects or critical damage. Hermes's boons are also a welcome sight.

The music is also just as ridiculous. Darren Korb is as skilled as a songwriter as he is a voice actor. Speaking of voice acting, the folks at Supergiant did not play even for a second about this game's voice acting. Every character puts on a 10/10 performance. Something that's really interesting about this game is the way the characters sound. I found it strange initially as to why everyone was "whispering". As i got used to how softly spoken everyone was, i realized that they put these filters on the godly/supernatural beings to better portray that image. it's really good.

I can't but can also believe that i missed out on this game back then. I feel like such an idiot. I have a lot of catch-up to play.

After i really finish this game's story.

[blue-star-above-me]

I'm sad to announce that Fashion Dreamer suffers from Animal Crossing New Horizons syndrome.

"We made you wait seven years for a new game, now here's an empty game with no content! But don't worry, it's a live service so maybe in a year it might have some basic features that were present since the very first installment uwu"

The gameplay has no real depth. There's no story, all you do is go around making and liking outfits. And there's way less items than even the DS Style Savvy. Sure, you can recolor any item and the color combinations are practically endless, but you can't apply patterns or emblems like in the 3DS games... There's also no base layers, gloves, bags, or neckwear at all.

I might be able to forgive it if the filter function worked, but.... There's no way to filter anything. If someone asks for a purple hoodie you just have to scroll through your endless inventory and look for one instead of searching "Purple" and "hoodie" like you could on the DS in 2008.

You can't even save outfits. Yes, really!

I know Fashion Dreamer is not really a Style Savvy game, but a new IP but honestly... This new IP is inferior.

[jen4k2]

Heyyy, L5R and samurai drama fans!

I wrote a thing! It's a summary of the game sessions written in epistlatory fashion of John Wick's "The Shadow Throne" Legend of the Five Rings (1st Ed) campaign, playing a Scorpion working for Kachiko in the era before the Clan War.

https://startplaying.games/gm/clodguyo20005mo0815pdesu6

https://www.patreon.com/thejohnwick/posts

[nexiara]

NIMBUS (Visual Novel) Concept Art By @gracealt

Nimbus Week 1 Progress!

OST is Reeaeaallyyy Relaxing, i think i did a good job on it, its a pretty good ambient thing!

Im fixing many plotholes, as before i just had a pretty simple idea of the plot, not really that finished yet, however im working on alredy programming and writing the most defined parts of the game!

I got some of the programming issues solved! horray! I hope you enjoy the game once it comes out! :D

[ultimavela]

The promised ones: Their origin and the mortal world that rejected them

I wanted to share with you a glimpse into the world I have been creating for you as a promised one.

The land you inhabit is at the west of where the spire once stood. Once a unified queendom, under the ruling of queen Maeve, after the war it has fragmented into different towns, city states, and small villages.

From these collections of places, the ones that have developed a stronger identity and differentiate the most from the rest are:

MOUNTAIN HIGH

CATACOMB TOWER

SLEEPER’S GRAVE

VOID FORT AND OUTSKIRTS

THE ROAD

I want to tell you a little more about these places. To help you understand where you come from. To show you the threads that bind and make the mortal world that rejected you when it discovered you are a promised one.

Here are some more words about your home:

[heavenlyyshecomes]

—ah update having a kid is so hard I barely get time to sit in the balcony and stare out anymore !! summer is nice though I'm renovating and the new midsummer collection is to die for 🌟

[newwavenosferatu]

|Confirming SchreckNet VPN...|

|SchreckNet VPN Confirmed. Do Not Deactivate.|

Tonight proved interesting. Tufts, my Gangrel friend told me that 2 of the local Divas are feuding. Carmelia, one of the dreaded Kindred suburbanites, is aiming to convince to Primogen that she would be a better Keeper of Elysium than Rayner, who has had the role for over 4 decades. Always down to fuck with the Roses, I decided to go to Rayner and express my support after grabbing something to eat, as my taste for rat blood was wearing away.

He was frantic, pacing and staring at all these strange but beautiful tapestries depicting scenes both gruesome and beautiful. Apparently he has made one for each of the Primogen, and inquired if I may assist him in delivering them. Curious to see their reactions, I spent the night riding around town and presenting his works to our Primogen. It was a mixed bag, all in all. Some greatly enjoyed the works, although most of them are rather friendly with Rayner. Itzhak, our Toreador Primogen, seemed beyond amused that his childe would create such a work in an attempt to maintain good standing. Eskil, the Termere on the council, flat out refused the gift and said he couldn't care less who arranged Elysium. Classic Eskil. Sometimes this whole Camarilla thing can actually be fun, especially when you don't give a shit about it. I let the others scurry around and humiliate themselves in an attempt for power and glory. Me? I'll be with the rats, pouring over their secrets and shame.

|End of Transmission|

[mikazukinika]

i want to say that every time i cry about a character, they come home (looking at furina)

...of course there's an exception to every rule because i cried over xiao for TWO YEARS—

[bobipineman]

My cute little game start to have personality

[thatstroubling]

I find it so fascinating how much the game keeps pushing that Kokichi is a bad guy. Like I know, he kills people in the game and he sure is a pain and a constant complication, but it feels like the game purposefully makes him more of a threat than he really is. Like, it’s in the name and the design. A cutesy whimsical guy who calls himself the Ultimate Supreme Leader already tells you more about him than whatever I write here does. But unlike Fuyuhiko, who had a similar effect going on with the whole sweet/threatening aura of his design and behavior, Kokichi’s contradicting personality seems to have much more of a narrative importance, not to mention the writing seems much more self-aware.

Before staring V3, I didn't have high hopes for Kokichi. I thought I was gonna hate him because he seemed as too tame of an antagonist to warrant so much infamy in the fandom. However, what I didn’t expect was for the game to KNOW that he actually isn’t that bad of a guy, and in fact making that the point of his character!

Both the game's writers AND the characters written by Team Danganronpa AND EVEN Kokichi himself pretend and give him more credit for his evil shenanigans than he deserves. Most of the time he’s just vulgar or standoffish or plain disinterested in other’s suffering. So what is the point of making him such a threat for no real reason? I know Danganronpa's writing well enough to understand that is not just a failed attempt at creating a villian. Is this supposed to show how lackluster Team Danganronpa's writing has gotten? Or how Pre-Game Kokichi was a normal guy with good morals and that's why this In-Game version is just a completely cartoonish version of a villian? Maybe because the template was created by Pre-game Kokichi himself? Did his brain experience an anomaly that would make his good moral side partialy carry through the personality change? Were the other characters in the game programmed to think of him as a threat even if he's just annoying and troublesome to inrease ratings? Or is it simpler than that? Is he pretending to be evil so that other characters intentionally distrust him at a certain point which would allow his savior plan to work out? Hmmm...

I guess the threat of him being a liar is supposed to put you on edge and make you never really be sure of what he's gonna do. But like, he's not a sociopath. He likes people and he is definitely sane. So even though I'm not denying he could be selfish to an extent of hurting others if he were to gain something from it, like ending the killing game, I'm sure he'd rather not kill than kill. Hell, from how I understand it now, he wants to end the killing game because he wants to STOP the cruelty inflicted on the others by Monokuma.

I had the exact opposite problem with Nagito. Sure, it's canon that he's not a big liar and that he has his issues but through the entire game I didn't believe a single word from his mouth. He just feels nothing for people! He likes talent and hope, we all know that too well! And he made it extremely clear that he would kill innocent people just because he believed he had a valid reason for it! And how could I believe a person who feels nothing for the others and has shown no conscience? I always felt like if it came down to it, he would try to murder Hajime and the others without batting an eye. And surprise, that's exactly what happened! (even if it was technically the dementia's fault, I acknowledge that).

Anyway, that's why I can't help but believe in The Liar somewhat. Now that I'm on chapter 5, it's obvious that he's doubling down on the sneaky behavior as a part of his plan, whatever it might be - but I am POSITIVE it does not involve watching people he semi-cares about die full with despair. So I'm not too scared of what he might do. And I know I shouldn't compare the two of the antagonists too much but I am just so touched by Kokichi's writing and how rewarding it is to think about his intentions. Before starting the game, Kokichi always seemed like a more "performative" evil, something more shallow and blown out of proportion in all the fanart and such, and I could not be happier that the game itself wrote him out to be like that.

I simply thought Kokichi received the standard “he killed people but he’s misunderstood / he has trauma / he had his personal reasons and therefore isn’t a bad guy :(” treatment and that’s why people were defending him. But no, he really IS kind of a good guy. I've said this before but I can't believe him and Nagito are grouped together so often, but well, maybe they are supposed to be reflecting each other in a way. When Nagito was doing his thing in Ch5, preparing for his big plan, I felt like crying all the time because there was nothing I could do to stop him from destroying himself and others for nothing, just for a stupid idea of talent and hope. With Kokichi, I've been sobbing throughout this chapter because I understand that to see him succeed in ending the killing game means Shuichi CANNOT stop him. If it has to end, Kokichi has to go down with his plan. So again, even if I could control Shuichi more, I couldn't do anything about his self-inflicted cruel fate.

I just want to see Kokichi win even if it makes me cry because he has the right idea in mind and well, seeing the protagonist defeat evil by yelling "I won't give up!" for the 3rd time would be pretty boring. He has some morals and that's why I believe his true intention is helping everyone (and himself), no matter what he says, but literaly has the most stand-offish way of going about it. At least it was his beloved lies that made it possible for him to attempt to save them all. Lying about not caring for them all. And that makes me, in a weird way, really happy.

[winged-lights-and-krill-frights]

10 minutes until the premier begins! Here's some snapshots from the dress rehearsal two days ago.

[mliter]

Marvel Rivals. (Closed Alpha)

...It's pretty much Overwatch with Marvel's cast. A lot of people went into this thinking it'd be a cash grab, but we were greeted with a very well made game.

Initially teased through this image, a lot of people thought it was for a mobile game, or some sort of collab. The stylization here made me think this was a mobile project. "Marvel never puts this kind of sauce on the front lines.", i thought.

Come a day later, Marvel Rivals is formally revealed. This game's premise has a lot to do with the multiverse, bringing characters from all over to fight. One thing i do like about this is that a lot of these characters are inspired more from their comic book origins, rather than the more popular MCU. Wanda is actually Magneto's daughter, and their origins are more familiar to readers.

For one, the visuals are AMAZING. It's not even funny. The character design is killer, having that edge and wackiness that you'd expect from a comicbook. Going into this personally, i was worried they'd use the MCU's tired design sensibilities. None of that is here. Each of these characters look as if they've jumped off of the pages, each represented with beautiful artwork. This mix of realism and stylization is the shit i live for.

The same applies to the game's 3D models as well. They're perfect recreations of the artstyle. Animations are top notch as well.

The maps look great too, with each one having a specific context that may even include characters that aren't playable, like Spider-Zero! The maps also have unique entrance animations that play into the story being told.

The gameplay had some serious work put into it. Each hero may seem familiar, but they each have something that makes them unique. There's things unique to this game, like team up abilities. When you start a match with two characters that can "team up", both players will get an animation play on their screen.

They're mostly passive abilities that can make your character play better. Some of them are more mechanical too, with rocket being able to hop on Groot's (another player) back.

Obviously, this game is here to challenge Overwatch. Most that have tried in the past have either failed or didnt get the chance, but... i think this one actually has a shot. If it's this good in alpha, god knows what a full release will look like. We're not even at the beta.

[blue-star-above-me]

Why is Pocket Card Jockey so fun.

It sounds like a lame joke game they would make up in a cartoon but I'm hooked.