#I still think that I enjoy Terraria more at the moment

[shower-racoon]

okay, I think I've got an actual strategy for the nether, and even on bedrock edition it makes the game so much easier than before

(before, of course, being "no plan at all")

[rainyarcades]

Name your headcsnons about our boi Kieran (Apologies if you have done this already)

I HAVE SO MANY. this is probably a fraction of my headcanons honestly but I don't remember them all lmao. HERE WE GO!

Kieran

• he has anxiety, the tism™️ and BPD (twinning 🤝)

• stims include tapping his foot, rocking his hand to the side of him, bouncing his leg (or foot) when sat down. He also has vocal stims, which usually come from tunes or phrases he hears; wowzers is one of them!

• playing with his hair is a big stim. He ruffles it, pulls at it, twirls it, strokes it, runs his hands through it, etc. He likes how his hair feels and that's why so many of his stims involve it :]

• he often mutters to himself, whispering his inner thought processes

• his parents left years ago. He has no idea where they went, only knows that they didn't care about their kids. When he was young he was told they'd died, to 'protect' him. You'd think Carmine and the grandparents would've learned from that incident during teal mask, huh? (This is also the case for villain!Kieran, but normal Kieran would likely avoid ever meeting his parents)

• he is terrible at video games. Still, he likes playing them on occasion; definitely more of a 'cosy game' enjoyer with a biiiiit of threat. He'd play Minecraft, Stardew Valley and Terraria for example

• he's short right now– shortest of the friend group– but he'll eventually be pretty tall when he's 17. Shorter than Nemona and Arven at that age, but still tall enough that it shocks people at first

• chocolate wafer bars are his comfort food!

• his grandma taught him how to cook, while his grandpa taught him how to make tea and to knit.

• despite the above, he's not very good at cooking... he burns things. A lot.

• during his emoism™️ he would kick things, punch things, slam things etc and every time, he'd act cool about it until he was out of the room. Then he lets out a little owie or a hiss of pain </3

• started cursing more the moment his hair was tied up. He was convinced it made him sound more mature. Even after everything's said and done and he's doing better mentally + friends with Florian and co again, he can't quite shake the habit and curses every so often in conversation

• resting bitch face + talks in a 'moody' quiet voice a lot, leading people to think he's annoyed when he's actually feeling neutral or even happy

• if cat person vs dog person exists in the Pokémon universe, Kieran’s a cat person. I guess this means he likes Pokémon that are more like cats, whether they actually are cats or not

• he likes flowers a lot. That's it that's the headcanon. I think he'd like sketching them and studying them, maybe his original pokémon team and the open fields of Kitakami made him interested? And, funnily enough, his crush's name means blossoming, flourishing flower....

• he still stays up late and sometimes doesn't sleep at all, but this is much rarer now. Normally it's because he has a good(-ish) reason not to sleep– at least, that's what he says.

• applin was his first Pokémon!

• when he traded Florian an applin, Florian traded back a shiny applin. He actually started this search right after he left Kitakami, and found it a week before heading to Blueberry; he was prepared and wanted a good way to apologise. Of course, he didn't expect what'd happened with Kieran.

• Florian has a shiny furret. It was on his team when he fought Kieran and won; after Kieran boxed his own for being too weak. Ouch.... (based on the fact I had furret as one of my last pokemon when his ace went down </3) this is technically a Florian hc but!! It made Kieran rethink a little, later on. It was also extremely devastating at the time

• Kieran naturally gets really good at battling. He could 100% be part of the elite four or even the champion when he's older, even with him slowing down and doing battles just for fun

• Kieran doesn't always enjoy physical touch, but he's also pretty touch starved. He likes hugs and anything gentle, and usually only from people he knows well

Feel free to ask for more headcanons about him or candyapple etc in future, I love doing these posts!

[lavendertowerarchives]

I will always find something to stress about. Summer is the chillest part of the year, and I'm still worried about too much shit.

I haven't beaten terraria, it's getting on my nerves and making me aggravated with it's sheer difficulty (I'm playing master mode plus I'm just bad).

I haven't written enough of my latest literary fling. I can churn out twenty full pages in a single day, five on a worse day. Why can't I just write when I want to? Why do I have this massive mental block that lets me imagine and write the story in my head, but never through a keyboard?

I've eaten very little. I mean like less than I should, and I've eaten waaay less than I normally do. Today's breakfast was a burrito. Today's dinner was a single tortilla. That's it. I have paralysis when it comes to making food. I really don't want to get up and start a whole new project just to keep my stomach from wrenching itself every two minutes.

I haven't talked to AH all summer. I haven't talked to S all summer. I haven't talked to E all summer. I havent 100% isolated myself but I still need more contact. My parter is nice to be around, AK is nerdy as hell and fun to play games with, PP is lovely to talk to no matter the subject. I just need more. I'm too scared to hit people up so late in the summer. I didn't even wish JC a happy birthday because it had been so long since he talked to me, and he will likely never see me nor seattle ever again.

I intended to do a personal project with JH (her idea, not mine) but there's been barely any contact. I want to ask if we're still on but summer is halfway over. I might've waited too long. For this issue, I just haven't been doing well, and want to bring her a version of me that can code. I haven't written c++ in months.

I haven't watched Inuyasha, Ranma (new series woo), half of GDQ, and most of the stuff in my queue. I just need to devote my entire attention to them, and my attention is always split. Focusing on anime\youtube means not finishing kirby, proxying decks, reading manga...

I still gotta schedule my trip to see my brother, or else not go at all. Fuckin hell. Plane tickets are gonna be awful.

I can't stop focusing on finishing things. I see the halfway mark on some project and see it as nothing at all. I'm halfway through a kirby game (got stuck on boss four), and I feel no pride, no accomplishment, nothing but disappointment for the lack of visible progress. This view is applied to literally everything I do.

What happened to me enjoying things in the moment? Why can't I feel happy unless there's a little box to be ticked off? Why do I feel relief and exhaustion and not satisfaction when a thingy is done? Fuck if I know.

I'm too goal-oriented. I can't do something without fixating on whether it's done or not. The reason I care so much if it's done is it's another thing I have to come back to. I don't want to come back to anything, I want to explore it when it makes me happy and never think about it again.

For every unfinished task, I have to remember it exists. I have three writing projects that I can never let leave my mind, or else risk my fourth project overwriting my memories. One's fifty pages, one's twleve pages, and the other is fourteen. I hate that I measure them in pages. The number should mean nothing at all. It only matters whether I'll ever come back to them.

The only task I'm comfortable with not ever completing is conversing with someone. I will always want more, and sometimes I'll even get my shit together and grab it. That's one of the few things I can do just to do it. I am incapable of interacting with something if there isn't a way to prove I did it.

"What did you do over the summer, Lavender?"

I did half of many things. I have nothing to show for my efforts. Absolutely nothing. No pride, no satisfaction, not even rest.

[jothb]

Not about music but growing up I always had to pirate games. Not a statement asking for pity, just a fact that happened. Sometimes I'd feel bad, but I mostly just wanted to play videogames.

One day I pirated Undertale. It became my entire identity for two years. I *loved* that game and it affected me in ways no game really has ever since. I played it over and over so many times, trying to get faster and faster (I don't know if I knew what a speedrun was), looking for secrets, finding them on my own (It should be noted I played undertale without access to the internet, I was staying at my grandparents summer house at the time). I still remember how smart I felt when I figured out how to solve the piano puzzle, or that you could sell dog residue for infinite money, or how to edit the save file to give me 999 hp to fight sans. I don't think I ever had or ever will have such an experience with a game again. It was the most memorable summer and it completely changed how I viewed videogames ever since. However I've given Toby Fox no money

Fast forward a couple years and I buy myself a Switch. It's a good console, and I was really enjoying playing the two games I bought with it (botw and metroid dread). Still, I decided to open the e-shop and see if there are any games I'd like to purchase. The second I open the front page I see it.

Undertale

I couldn't even finish a thought before I bought it. This game means so much to me, and now that I could finally buy it, pay for it, I did. I haven't touched it in years and yet I still remembered everything. It was like visiting the neighbourhood you grew up in and seeing how little everything changed. I finished it the same evening.

I don't think you're morally required to buy games you pirated once you have the money. Hell I didn't do it with every game I've pirated (if I did I would go bankrupt). But I know that just because someone can't pay for a game, or chooses not to, says nothing about whether they would support the developer or not. I didn't just do this with undertake too btw! Spiritfarer is another game that I bought *because* I loved it so much

Anyway fats forward another couple of years and I learn about the Bits and Pieces mod. It's for Desktop and I don't have money to buy Undertale on steam at the moment, so I just pirate it. At this point I already paid Mr Toby Fox (to be more precise I paid Nintendo and they gave him a cut), and had I the money to do so, I probably wouldn't have objected to buying the game on Steam. But I didn't, so I just looked up a pirated version and installed the mod on it.

I was greeted with a fucking anti piracy screen. Undertale doesn't have one. At first I assumed they just did the kind of piracy screen I have found memories of - "hey dude just tell your friends about the game if you can't buy it". I remember seeing one on my pirated copy or Terraria.

Nope. The game told me I am a greedy little fucker and should go pay Toby Fox. Like it literally says "you gotta pay Toby Fox". This wasn't added by Toby, this was added by a *mod*. It genuinely felt kinda disgusting. Of course I looked up how to go around the anti piracy screen, but it made the entire experience much more miserable. It was like coming back to the neighborhood you grew up in only to see it gentrified and fenced off

I don't know how to finish this post

fun fact: if you pirated six full length albums from your favourite band, listened to them all back to back 5 times, and then sent them $20 on ko-fi or whatever, on average they would have earned slightly more money per play than they'd get from you streaming the same shit with ads on spotify.

[xpiester333x]

So I didn't beat every game I intended to play in 2023 but what did I play?

Not nearly as much as last year but I've had a great year with games so here is the list that I played this year, and my quick reviews.

1. Persona 5 Royal (x3 cause I had to 100% it): I don't think I need to elaborate on this one. This game has me in its CLUTCHES - 10000/10

2. Persona 5 Strikers: Great game, really played like a sequel and felt pretty true to the original game despite being a spin off - 8/10

3. Theatrhythm: I put an embarrassing amount of time into rhythm games this year and put an especially embarrassing amount of time into this game in just a month - 10/10

4. Persona 5 Tactica: I enjoyed this more than I expected to, lots of cute moments and I enjoyed the original characters quite a bit - 7/10

5. Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight : I put an even more embarrassing amount of time playing this game - 9/10

6. Persona 4 Dancing All Night: Of all my rhythm games I played this one the least because I liked the QoL changes to the newer games but I still played it more than I want to disclose - 9/10

7. Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight: By far the best Persona dancing game strictly because the music from all the various P3 iterations (something I wish P5 had gotten) - 10/10

8. Shin Megami Tensei 3 (not finished): Definitely one I need to come back and finish this coming year. I was having a blast playing it, I just happened to get drowned in a million other games

9. Final Fantasy XVI: In any other year, it would have been my GOTY. It was truly one of my favorites this year. I'm dying to replay it and I really need to dive into that DLC - 8.5/10

10. Borderlands: Crazy how well this game has held up over the years. The last time I played a Borderlands game (2) I didn't have the best time but I've had so much fun with this one that it's redeemed the franchise - 10/10

11. Persona Q (not finished): I got 15h into this and loved every second of it and then it exploded in my 3DS, dead forever, and I'm sad - 9/10

12. Persona Q2: Like SMT3, I need to finish this because I REALLY loved this game, but it just fell to the wayside because of other games - 10/10 so far

13. Breath of the Wild: I bought this game on a socially awkward whim (funny story) and it was pretty fun but tbh it wasn't as fantastic as people made it sound - 7/10

14. Baldur's Gate 3 (not finished but God will I ever be? I'm 60 hours into it and still in act 1): absolutely deserved GOTY. A fantastic game, incredibly in depth, given constant love and updates from its devs, a quality voice cast, just absolutely a blast so far - 10/10 so far

15. Solasta: A less good example of a DnD styled game. Playing it with a group of friends currently and its not horrible but it doesn't look good when you log off BG3 and on to this - 6/10

16. Catherine (not finished): Absolutely going to finish this either this month or early 2024. I'm about half way through and what an experience. Can't even explain it - 9/10 (loses a point for making me feel dumb)

17. Persona 3 Portable: Great game, FemC, but also it's age def shows and that Tartarus grind is not so fun in the year 2023 - 8/10

18. I'm On Observation Duty 6: My life is more complete for having this game come this year. I love the Observation Duty games (but this one is HARD) - 9/10

19. Sea of Stars (not finished): I will be finishing this one in the near future. It absolutely deserved Indie GOTY, it's very good - 8/10

20. Cult of the Lamb: I played this off and on between other games. It's a fun simple little game that tickles that cute/horror itch - 8/10

21. Gris (mostly finished): I have like one level left. This game is visually stunning, the soundtrack is very peaceful - 8/10

22. Persona 4 Golden (replay): I wanted to 100% it and failed lmao (missed ONE achievement). But that's okay, it's always worth the replay - whatever I rated it last year

23. Core Keeper: Honestly a true alternative to Terraria. Played it with my friends, enjoyed digging a hole and dying to bugs - 8/10

24. Harvestella: I honestly still gush about this game daily. It was so enjoyable and I could gush more but read one of my past gushes - 8.5/10

25. Monument Valley: Super unique and fun perspective puzzle that was very worth the $.99 I paid for it on sale - 8/10

26. Monument Valley 2: See above, but sequel - 8/10

27. Inscryption: There is truly no game like Incryption. I hate to make the pretentious statement "it's more than a game, it's an experience" but it's kind of true. It's an experience, with cool game play - 9/10

28. Penko Park: This game spoke to me with it's aesthetics and it's monsters and its collecting - 7/10

[demonicheadcanons]

Obey Me Undateables / Side Dishes and Little Affections

AN: The last post for the brothers was ridiculously popular and this was requested so! Here we go. Just little ways the undateables are affectionate to the MC. Romance-coded but not for Luke bc he’s baby. I did this on mobile so forgive me for any formatting issues, and for the lack of a read more!

As you may have seen, I struggled a lot with Solomon because I really view him as being indifferent. I’m sorry if his is a little underwhelming! I also wrote this differently from the last one because I forgot how I formatted it, sorry ;u;

.

Diavolo

- He’s busy all the time. Like truly, this man rarely gets a break, and even when he does, his mind is still tick-tick-ticking away. Crawl into his lap and hold his face in your hands and he’ll finally relax, you can see the clouds clear away from his eyes. He kisses your forehead and holds your face in return, shining again. It only takes a few moments for him to settle completely, to shut off all his worries.

- He really just,,, likes to pick you up? So long as you’re not absolutely terrified he’ll completely randomly walk up to you and lift you up and carry you around with him or just hold you there. Bonus points if you wrap your arms around his shoulders and / or bury your face into his neck. Extra bonus points if you kiss or nuzzle against his cheek. His grin is so wide and bright it could light up the whole Devildom. Additionally, if you run and jump at him he will drop everything to catch you, no matter what. He has not and will never fail to catch you, and it makes him laugh so hard you can feel it in the way his arms and chest shake as he holds you.

- He likes to lay down beside you and link pinkies. It’s so soft, such a delicate little thing, and yet you trust him enough to let him do that. The minimal contact makes it feel even more special to him, there’s no pressure there. You’re close and he has a reminder of your presence beside him and it’s enough, it’s enough.

- With Diavolo, if you decide to teach him cute human things, you might regret it later, because he remembers them all. You put your palm out once, telling him that he’s supposed to rest his chin there, and from then on he’ll do it immediately. He will also expect you to do it too, and his timing is completely random. You’ll be talking to Barbatos and he’ll hold his hand out and wait for you to rest your chin in it. When you do, he pokes at your cheek with his thumb and walks off again.

- Please play cute games with him. Farming games like Stardew Valley or things like Terraria and Minecraft, or the Sims, or anything like that. He also doesn’t mind matches on more competitive games, but he likes to relax and make a house or a farm with you, and his reactions to everything is adorable; you two make Sims and he cheers when they get married, and even if they’re not representing you two and are just random Sims, he jokes about how you should do that too someday. He’s amazing at games that are strategy based, but prefers to play anything else so he can relax and not think for a while.

.

Barbatos

- Random tickles. It’s completely unexpected and he is very sneaky - the first few times it’ll catch you heavily off guard, and even after that it’s hard to predict when you’ll feel his gloved hands brush against your sides. He’s an expert at guessing where someone is ticklish, and abuses that power when alone with the people he loves (namely you!)

- Food fights but on a small scale. He’ll walk past you in the kitchen and brush flour across your face, disguising it as him simply being affectionate as he passes by, a reminder that he cares about you and is thinking about you even as he works. His movements are graceful and confident as always, to the point where it’s actually quite hard to even realise what he’s done. He will consider telling you before you leave the kitchen. He really will consider it.

- Similarly, if his hands are wet, just before drying them off he’ll flick water in your direction and then act like he has no idea what you’re talking about when you ask if he just did that. Really, MC, why would he do that? He’s been so busy cooking, and you’re accusing him of doing something so childish?

- He quite likes just, holding you up and carrying you around but in a different way to Diavolo. Instead of Princess carries, it’s more like if you jump onto someone and wrap your legs around their waist and your arms around their shoulders? He loves carrying you around like that. Cling onto him! He’s not fond of having you cling to his back, but his sides or front is fine.

- Barbatos tends to keep an eye on you and it’s really hard to tell, but if you’re in the same room as him he’s keeping tabs on what you’re doing. You could swear he has eyes on the back of his head, because he always seems to know what you’re up to. In reality, he really just likes seeing how you look when you’re focused, or, alternatively, when you’re completely zoned out and off in space, thinking of something completely random and irrelevant to the current situation. He’ll come up and tap your forehead and smile at you when it looks like you’re back in the room again.

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Solomon

- Solomon isn’t super affectionate and he’s not really an acts of kindness kind of guy. The most important thing for him is proximity; he doesn’t need you pressed up against his side all the time, but he likes having you in the same room as him as often as possible. You spend your evenings in his room in Purgatory Hall, laying or his bed or working at his desk, as he busies away with some new spell or writes down results of experiments with different potion ingredients. He doesn’t bother thinking too hard about it and just accepts it, but the reality is that it’s very calming and comforting for him. He’s also not someone who worries much about being judged or anything, so regularly having another person around doesn’t bother him.

- He asks for your input a lot. Simply put, he wants to hear you talk, and he’d love to know what makes you tick and how your brain works. “What do you think of this?” “How do you think Satan would react if...” and so on. So many ‘what if’ questions that it might make your head spin, because he’s always playing a game in his head of ‘what would happen if...’ despite rarely following through with it outside of experimenting with his magic and potions, and he wants to involve you in it too.

- Solomon doesn’t mind holding hands, and likes to play silly games when you are. Things like having thumb wars, or he’ll tangle his fingers up with yours and watch, amused, as you try and fail to pull your hand from his grip. Afterwards he’ll hold your hand with both of his and run his fingers and thumbs over it to soothe you. He also likes to just rest his hand on top of yours when you’re sitting beside each other.

- He’s going to try to be affectionate if it’s something you seem to want, and just out of curiosity. The one thing that sticks is that, if you’re cooking for him (because he’s not allowed to) he’ll wrap his arms around your waist and hug you from behind, his chin in your shoulder as he watches whatever you’re doing. He’ll blow air at the side of your face or at your fringe / bangs if you have them, so long as you’re not doing anything too dangerous and aren’t at risk of getting seriously injured.

- Bonus: If Solomon calls you and says “try this” or “drink some of this” don’t do it. Or at the very least, ask about any possible effects first. Moreso for food than for potions; he’ll find a way to reverse the potion, but the memory of eating his food will be stuck with you forever.

- Bonus bonus: Solomon loves giving you squishy hugs but he will squeeze you too tight and he will laugh even if he feels your spin click against his arms as you yelp. He won’t hurt you, but he will squeeze you hard enough that breathing will be difficult for a moment. You can tell from his smirk that he doesn’t feel guilty at all.

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Simeon

- Simeon likes having you play with his hair. The way you twirl strands of hair between your fingers and try and fail to make a mess of his soft locks, which always return to their place no matter how hard you try to stop them. Bonus points for innocently wandering fingers that brush down the sides of his face, thumbs and fingers that ever so lightly brush along his cheekbones or around and under his jaw. He relaxes into your touch, eyes fluttering closed before he opens them just enough to smile at you, silent but oh so visibly delighted.

- If he knows it won’t make you sick and it’ll wipe off, he actually quite likes to draw on your hands and arms. He’ll let you do it in return, of course, but simple doodles and patterns, hearts and diamonds and sweet little reminders you’ll see later when you have to wash them off.

- Laying on your stomachs with your sides pressed together on a thin, soft blanket, knees bent and legs swinging in the air as you both read the same book. Simeon always finishes the pages first and so you take charge of just turning the pages, until he mumbles that he had lost focus - he’d been too busy watching your expressions, almost lulled to sleep by listening to your gentle breathing and wondering if you were enjoying the story and what your thoughts on it were, trying to piece it all together without disturbing you.

- You pass him at RAD or out in the Devildom and you don’t necessary stop, but he always waves, and god is it impossible to ignore how he lights up. His eyes gleam and he looks so, so happy just to see you and be reminded of your existence and if you’ve been unsure before about how truthful he’s being when he says he loves you and adores being around you, that look on his face will erase all your doubts. He’s beautiful and he’s glowing and it’s because he saw you!

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Luke

- It’s an obvious one but baking together! Making cakes and decorating them. Letting stress out as you knead bread, experimenting with making different types of pastries. One time you make a batch of cupcakes and decorate them to look like dogs and he feels really sad when people eat them but he’s proud all the same, and he likes that he gets to feel proud around you.

- He acts like he’s indifferent, but he quite likes when you call him your brother. If you call him your little brother, he’ll protest because he’s hundreds of years older than you in reality, but he allows it after a while. So long as he can call you his big sibling in return, it’s worth it. If any of the brothers tease him over being the little brother, he remarks that at least you trust him and care for him so much as to call him your brother. None of them can really respond to that.

- Pat! Him! On! The! Head! Adjust his scarf! Fix his hat! He doesn’t understand why he enjoys it so much, but then Simeon points out that it probably makes him feel cared for, and that’s absolutely it. No teasing works or harsh gestures, just little acts that show you care about him or are thinking about him. It makes him feel so safe and happy.

- He always remembers things on your schedule for you, from little reminders that you might forget about to big important events. The only other person he does that for is Simeon, so it’s really a big deal for him - he shows enough interest to listen to you and remember all the little details you tell him, and then to reach out to you and make sure you remember or just to say he hopes you have a good time. If it’s something stressful, he might not message beforehand, but he’ll show up when it’s over with some treats and act like he just happened to be baking today and had some to spare.

Tag list: @katsukis-sad-angel

[sad-tob]

About Me? Maybe?

I honestly have no idea what I'm doing on this site but here we are I guess

Hey! I'm SadTob, a gay guy who never knows what he's doing at any given moment! I'm still not fully sure how to use this app so bear with me, but I was told to put some communities I want to be a part of and some people I don't want to talk to me (ever), so here we go:

Communities:

x Minecraft

x MCYT

x Terraria

x I'll add more when I remember

x The Magnus Archives

x Pokemon

DNI (pretty self-explanatory):

x Anyone with bigoted views (Homophobia, Transphobia, etc.)

x Antis of the communities I'm in (just let me enjoy my stuff pls if it's genuinely bad I'll find out for myself without someone directly telling me)

x Proshippers/MAPs

x old people (25 - 30 and ur on thin ice, over that just DNI)

x Anyone who makes disorders into aesthetics/'cores'

x Again I'll add more when I can think of more

[ollieinoue]

He listened as Monty spoke about wanting to get out and travel, nodding his head a little bit. It wasn't as if he hadn't thought of traveling before, it sounded fun, but it was hard to wrap his head around it for the reason Monty said. If I ever got the money. "Have you thought about signing up for one of the study abroad programs?" Ollie asked. That seemed like a possible way to do it. It made more sense for Monty than it did for him. Sure, there were connections to make, but computer science was the same everywhere. Monty seemed like he had a better major that would really be able to benefit from completely different perspectives. "It could give you a better idea of where to go, and how much things cost, and you can make friends whose couches you can crash on." Plus, not that he would say this out loud, Monty was going to have an entire year at Ogden without Ollie… Not that he couldn't do it next year, just he would be sad if he did. "I could see you traveling," he said, after a moment of thought, nodding his head like it was a sure thing now. The thought made a small smile cross his face, picturing Monty on some epic cross country grand adventure, or in Europe or something. Nothing glamorous, but eating out of shitty gas stations, lugging a cooler of beer around in the trunk with ice gotten from motel ice machines, sleeping in the back seat of the car, or under the open stars. Finding the absolute funniest and stupidest things hidden away in the corners of the world you otherwise would never see. And maybe -- maybe -- Monty wasn't completely alone. "I never left New York before coming here, I never really realized how small that frame of reference was before meeting a bunch of people who just casually travel all the time like it's not even a big deal. Who find it surprising I don't have a passport, and things like that."

He wrapped his arms around Monty's waist, apparently completely content to ignore the coffee and donuts, and instead just stay just like this in bed. For the time being. Until Ollie got too fidgety and decided they should do something else. "Anything where I could be coding," Ollie said, nodding his head, though he hesitated briefly after that, "well, actually I wanted to make video games. I did make a couple of really bad ones when I was a kid," he laughed, shaking his head at the thought, "I don't know if they're even still accessible but… I think by high school I realize that like software and web development would be a better option for a steady stream of income…" People were depending on him to really do something, and it just seemed like the more sensible option. Ollie enjoyed doing it, but even the idea of doing this independently and working for himself, made him feel so boxed in, and claustrophobic. "But I definitely imagined myself making like Terraria, or fucking Minecraft, or something like that, you know?"

"What, you don't think I have the shoulders for it?" he teased half-heartedly, taking Ollie's moment of shifting around to reach up and rub at his face, working out the sleep that'd crusted to the corners of his eyes. He had an actual gift for Ollie, nestled away in the cubby of his bedside table, bought in pieces and crudely wrapped due to last minute indecision, but he wasn't quite motivated to reach for it yet. Later. For now, he was perfectly comfortable laying in the him-shaped groove worn into the mattress, giving a curious hum as the other spoke up again. Monty's chin lifted slightly, blinking back to Ollie and staring at the profile of his face while listening. His automatic answer was a shrug somewhere halfway through, needing a few seconds to collect his thoughts. "I guess... I just try not to think that far ahead." Sort of a white lie, Monty huffed a gentle breath. "I wanna do more, I know that for sure. Experience more. Travel, maybe, if I ever have the money." It was Rhia, he thought, that he'd told something similar once, how much of a reassurance it was to imagine how vast the world was. Infinite fuck-ups allowed. The difficult part was figuring out how to get out into the world in the first place. Everything beyond college turned fuzzy in Monty's mind's eye. He wondered what it was like for Ollie, knowing that a plethora of opportunities were just waiting for him on the other side, because he had the abilities to create such options. Did it feel freeing? Or was it incredibly daunting? "I don't plan on selling drugs forever," he said after a beat, although he hoped that was obvious already. Bending his knee before stretching out again, his foot dragged up Ollie's leg and slid back down. "What future did you see for yourself when you were a kid?"

[monmuses]

1, 13 and 15

Nosy Mun Day Questions!

1. How are you today?

13. When did you start roleplaying?

15. What fandoms are you in?

// *im doing good! lil better than yesterday or for the past few days but im still working on my mood at the moment. im just pretty drained emotionally speaking, but its getting a lil better hdsjhhdas

// *i first started ACTUALLY roleplaying in like 2014 w/ a friend who got me into tumblr. i was on amino for a bit, but ended up leaving bc it just wasnt my vibe. aaaaaaaand im here now! ive gone from a self insert OC blog to a massive multimuse blog with both canons and OCs to write, and i had a previous fear of writing canon characters, weirdly enough. ive just been vibing, doing my own thing tbh

// *uhhhh honestly? im in ANYTHING that catches my attention. like, if i made a list, i wouldnt remember half the fandoms im in unless i find something i used to enjoy from like 10 yrs ago. ive been in MLP, TF2, Overwatch, L4D, Mandela Catalogue, Dead by Daylight, Terraria, Minecraft, Cuphead, It (2017), Stranger Things, just... a lot of stuff. Marvel and DC included. i think those two are the oldest fandoms ive been in but im more of a lurker than anything else. my dad got me into them at a very young age and i know some stuff about em

[skriak]

TOP 10 NINTENDO SWITCH GAMES 2019 - my arbitrary list!

Sometimes it's good to be proven wrong. I was pretty sceptical when the Switch was first announced, as it didn't seem too different from the Wii U's gamepad. Then I spent two years watching Nintendo enjoy a complete reversal of fortune, to the point of potentially amassing a more compelling library than Sony's or Microsoft's consoles. So that's how I quite suddenly found myself buying a Switch in October 2019, after having resisted the PS4 and Xbone for five whole years, and my free time has since been dominated by this little machine that defied the odds.

Some of Nintendo's business decisions can still seem inexplicable, but releasing a powerful handheld console that can also be docked with a TV at a moment's notice has proved to be an inspired idea, rather than the gimmick the Wii U's gamepad mostly turned out to be. And along with Nintendo's dependable series of top-notch exclusives, the Switch has enjoyed much better third-party support, which is how I ended up buying Dark Souls for the fourth bloody time just because the option to play it portably was too tempting to resist.

The Switch is the first console I've bought since the PS3 and for all Nintendo's quirks, there's a reason the Switch has dominated Christmas wishlists for three years running. Games like Super Mario Odyssey feel like full-size adventures that just happen to have a portable option, as opposed to handheld games you can also play on the big screen. This is the first year in a long while that I've actually played enough topical titles to justify a "games of the year" list, even if my recent Nintendo bias is pretty blatant.

So with that caveat in mind, and in no particular order, here's my entirely subjective list of the best Nintendo Switch games of 2019.

Luigi's Mansion 3

This is a franchise I'd always been curious about and can finally have an opinion on. The process of going from floor to floor of the hotel hoovering up ghosts and solving puzzles is pretty straightforward, but Luigi's Mansion 3 has so much polish and personality crammed into the cartridge. Luigi is immediately lovable as a determined coward, and each level has a wildly different theme that's realised with extravagant audio and visual flair, so progress always feels rewarding. Though this isn't true horror by any means, there can be an unsettling atmosphere and some of the bosses are pretty freaky. I officially love this oddball franchise and am desperate for a chance to play the story again in co-op. Unquestionably a first-class exclusive.

Doom (Switch port)

Not to be confused with the impressive Switch version of Doom 2016, this is the iconic Doom made cheap and accessible. While purists may take issue with some minor technical deviations, this is the first time I've got most of the way through Doom because the portability and *glorious* true dual-stick control makes this easily my favourite version. There's even a cheat menu for when I just want to mindlessly punch hell beasts. The main thing that ages Doom is its maze-like structure, but playing it casually experience alleviates that frustration somewhat. At a grand total of four pounds, this is a BFB (big fucking bargain).

Untitled Goose Game

You know a game is good when the only asterisk I put on my recommendation is that it *may* be overpriced. Untitled Goose Game took the internet by storm this year because it's the quintessential indie game: cute, simple and with anti-authoritarian undertones. As a horrible goose, it's your mission to cause havoc in an unsuspecting English village, interacting with people and objects to cause chain reactions of chaos. Some of the puzzle solutions are maybe a bit obscure, but 90% of the time just messing around with everything in the area will lead to a solution. Untitled Goose Game makes up for its brevity with sheer comedic charm, feeling much better-designed than a "lul so random" affair like Goat Simulator. A honking good time.

Terraria (Switch port)

I have spent literally hundreds of hours on the PC version of Terraria, so when I was broke after buying my Switch the new Terraria port was an obvious cost-effective choice. While the controls aren't as precise, the amount of time spent mining and sorting through loot makes this a great handheld experience. I can't comment on the multiplayer options but few games represent such a sheer value for money, as there's always a new cave to explore or a new boss to overcome. Time has been kind to this 2011 classic, grind notwithstanding.

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair

While I personally enjoyed the original Yooka-Laylee, it was definitely flawed and I never seriously expected to see a sequel. But Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair launched quite abruptly and did a pretty spectacular job of upstaging its predecessor. All the previous game's half-baked feel has been replaced with clever design touches, like the equippable tonics which grant helpful abilities at the cost of a currency penalty. The titular Lair is actually the final level and available to throw yourself at right from the beginning, but beating it without first obtaining more hitpoints by completing other stages is incredibly hard, which is a great way to incentivize progress without denying more confident players the option of beating the game earlier if they can meet the challenge. Impossible Lair might be this year's biggest surprise, and despite a modest budget I think it's worthy of comparison to excellent 2D platformers like Rayman Legends. Just don't expect to defeat Capital B on your first attempt.

A Hat In Time (Switch port)

I recently reviewed A Hat In Time but at the risk of repeating myself, it's one of the most charming games of the last few years and an incredibly impressive crowdfunded achievement. Mario's offerings may be a grander technical feat, but A Hat In Time is a fast and fabulous journey through a series of weird and wonderful worlds that all feel distinct in content and tone. It's very openly inspired by GameCube-era platformers like Mario Sunshine and Psychonauts and it easily scratches that itch. Simply one of the best original platformers of this generation, and I defy you not to love Hat Kid's cheeky antics.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy (Switch port)

As someone who thinks the original Spyro trilogy holds up better than most early 3D games, I'd have actually preferred a simple port rather than a full remake, but The Reignited Trilogy is honestly impeccable. The updated visuals are gorgeous while maintaining the general style of those old, jaggy models, and very little of the gameplay or content has changed except for sensible updates like the ability to immediately warp between every level you've visited. Having full dual-analogue control is also an absolute godsend even for a PS1 veteran like me. Though Spyro may seem a bit basic these days when faced with modern platformer marvels, the Reignited Trilogy makes these old favourites accessible again at a generous price point.

Ring Fit Adventure

Yes, I have a Wii kicking around in a box somewhere. No, Wii Fit never held my attention as anything more than a curiosity. Ring Fit Adventure, meanwhile, is limited only by my cholesterol-encrusted heart and dislike of excessive showering. This is an honest-to-goodness attempt at making an RPG out of a workout toy, and the amount of polish put into the game's presentation and hardware implementation is pretty remarkable. Levels involve jogging on the spot and squeezing the ring accessory to collect goodies and overcome obstacles, and periodically you'll engage in turn-based combat where you use a custom selection of exercise moves to deal damage. It's a fantastic idea pulled off much more elegantly than it sounds. The ring accessory unfortunately makes this quite an expensive game, so it'll take a lot of regular use to get your money's worth, but I can honestly (and surprisingly) say that exercise suddenly becomes more compelling when it's presented as a light RPG adventure with anthropomorphic gym equipment encouraging you to take breaks and drink plenty of water.

Pokémon Sword/Shield

Disclaimer: I can only give my impressions from 25 hours of playing Pokémon Shield, so this is DEFINITELY not a full review. That being said, this is still an easy recommendation to existing Pokemaniacs and a good starting point for any new acolytes. While the core formula hasn't evolved (har har) much since the very first Pokemon, Sword and Shield still has a number of modern quality of life improvements that make previous generations show their age. I've had so much fun building a core crew of cute and/or badass 'mons in a weird Nintendo version of Britain, and the online features combine with a VASTLY improved random encounter system to make grinding far less of a concern. The wild area takes some getting used to, but it's satisfying to come back and capture the huge Onyx you had to run away from a few hours before. Even if Pokémon Sword/Shield has some technical blemishes and could have pushed the series further in some regards, it's still easy to see why this franchise has maintained such a beloved status for so long.

Red Faction: Guerrilla Re-mars-tered (Switch port)

Along with Dark Souls, Red Faction was a game I never even knew I needed on the go, but now I've got it I can't imagine ever going back. A cult classic due to its amazing destruction physics, Red Faction sees you leading a proletariat revolution on Mars, literally tearing down corporate monuments to free the working class from systematic oppression. The open world is a bit claustrophobic and the shooting isn't exactly mind-blowing, but there's a reason I've beaten Red Faction every couple of years ever since its original 2009 release. The Switch port does the game justice and if you set the difficulty to easy then this is one of the best rage-venting experiences money can buy. So yes, I recommend getting your ass to Mars.

[kariachi]

And we’re going to try for another two episodes today, which’ll be the last season 4 ones I have access to in a language I know for a while. So after today we’ll probably be getting breaks of at least a week between liveblogs. But that’s something to worry about then, this is now, and we’re going for What Rhymes With Omnitrix.

There’s poetry in this episode, I love poetry. Ya know before I settled deep into fic I used to mostly do poetry? Anymore I only rarely do, but back in like the sixth, seventh grade? Poetry all over the place. Then I realized I could induce emotion better through narrative prose and dialogue and a true ficcer was born.

Anyway, is another Kevin episode of course, and Charm but who gives two shits about Charm, so let’s get into it! My son and poetry!

~~

They’re just dropping us right in with Charm, who has poetry very blatantly about Gwen and how she hates her. In public. Can’t fault the kid for confidence or dedication.

This girl and Kevin both need therapy, preferably in different cities because last time she and Kev were in the same space he looked this close to killing her and while that would be entertaining to watch, kinda hard to go to therapy when a pissed off tween is carving your bones into parts for his latest piece of tech. Because if anybody would tap into the necromantic arts purely as a fuck you to someone he’d already killed, it’s reboot!Kevin.

‘Ode to Hating Gwen So Much #16′ Charm, kiddo, you need therapy and a hobby. Have you considered felting? Maybe videogames? A couple hours of Terraria would do you good.

Polite people at the (presumably) Amateur Poetry Night.

Oh look, a Kevin. Of course any book you carry around is gonna be black, you aesthetic mess.

Also can I pause a moment here in appreciation for every bathroom we’ve seen so far I think appearing to be unisex? Very nice.

“Conning” and here is where I heave a sigh and my bloodpressure goes up a bit, because what she did to Kevin was not conning in any way, that was clearly and blatantly magical enslavement complete with chains, torture, and mindcontrol. You can’t just downplay that shit like this and expect me to go along with it, not when the sequel series already tended to pull that, especially with regards to Charmcaster doing that sorta shit. You do not get to blatantly show Kevin being forced to do things against his will, being tortured for fighting back, and then try to pass it off as him having been tricked into working with her. What the fuck is with this franchise with having Charm do horribly evil shit and then just waving it off?

At least Kevin still clearly hates her.

Charm trying to play like she’s actually gotten more powerful since they last saw each other and is not, ya know, powerless in front of somebody she literally tortured and who is bigger than her even without his shapechanging watch. At least she’s reacting appropriating even if Kevin isn’t. Laying it on kinda thick though for someone who just ruined her makeup with tears not three minutes ago.

Are these children both trying to outbluff each other? Oh that works. I can totally work with a Kevin who’s kinda scared of Charm after what she did, alongside a Charm that’s definitely scared of Kevin now that she’s powerless and has hurt him so bad. That is something I can enjoy. Not that Kevin does it particularly well, but he’s young yet and anyway he doesn’t need to bluff well to avoid trouble here, he just needs to fall for Charm’s bluff.

And lo, the classic ‘we bumped into each other and dropped our books, then each grabbed the wrong book when we walked away’ trope. Always a good one. I hope they realize they have the wrong books fast though, given they look nothing alike.

Definitely a unisex bathroom, nice.

Charm’s uncle gave her a magic amulet. I’ve seen people theorize this is referring to Hex, but I don’t think that makes sense given what we know of either of them so far so I’m not giving the reboot back those points.

Of course Slam Poetry Night attracts a Rath. Of course. I wondered how they were going to get Ben into this.

Max really needs to stop using slang from any decade. It’s just painful.

Gwen sees Kevin take the stage and just, “oh no”.

So, this is definitely where Kev realizes he has Charm’s book, he’d have to, it’s full of somebody else’s poetry.

Also can I just say 1) I am proud of my baby for going into poetry, it is very good for working through your emotions (am proud of Charm for that too, but, ya know, my son vs Charm) and 2) I am not surprised to see him being into poetry given the sheer number of books we see him owning in other series. Like, at least 65, which doesn’t seem like a lot until you remember he’s probably only been acquiring them over the past few years, if not just over the course of the sequels, and that he’d have to be putting aside time specifically to read them given how much shit he’s shown doing regularly. Basically- my boy is literary and it’s wonderful.

And he has realized this ain’t his book.

Ben no heckling! There are rules and manners to the world you know! Gwen smack him.

And upon being heckled Kevin just tosses the book and decides to freestyle it ‘I came out here to have a good time but bitch if you wanna go I’ll go’ style.

He’s not bad. Especially when you consider he’s, so small. As nix would put it ‘this is a fetus’.

Ben, not happy with getting called out.

Ooo, complete with dropping the mike and walking away, point to Kevin! That is Kevin 1:Ben 0 so far this episode.

Ben just the living embodiment of that Pikachu meme after that.

Climbing on stage to try to win a point for himself in this battle of the wordsmithing. Godspeed, Tennyson.

Rath is being Rath and Kevin is just, not impressed. He knows he’s won, he knows Ben is rising to the bait and can’t do shit.

Kevin glancing out into the crowd like ‘am I the only one seeing him being this... wtf? tell me I’m not, we’re all seeing this right?’

Kevin trying to point out to Rath that he is not rapping, not even close, wtf Tennyson. The best part being, I’m fairly sure he’s offended on behalf of all rap at Rath’s complete failure to even be in the same ballpark.

And Ben times out, thank fuck, maybe we can make some progress here before Kevin kicks his ass just to defend the honor of a whole artistic medium.

Also I’m already counting the above as point 2 to Kev.

He hasn’t even started and I’m in pain.

Not eight words in and already Kevin is even less impressed and I’m in even more pain. Just gonna channel Ben trying to rap when I head into urgent care, that should be enough pain to chill me out.

Not even a verse in and Gwen and Max are this close to skipping town and just, abandoning Ben here. “Tennyson? No, no, we’re the Smith family, never seen that kid before, think he might be delusional.”

Point Kevin. He didn’t even have to do anything for this one, just not be Ben.

So that’s Kevin 3:Ben 0, so far this episode.

“Even your grandpa wants you off the stage.” Which is true, but gets Kevin dive-tackled offstage anyway.

Hello Charm, back again I see.

And now it is your turn to realize you have the wrong book?

Oh gods Kevin put effort into making his alien names cooler than Ben’s. And the early ideas were shit. But it worked in the end, so hey. At least we can assume his band-related naming scheme is deliberate in-character. Good on him, too, for writing everything down, it’s good for reference and can help get thoughts straight. (part of why it’s good for dealing with emotional shit)

Don’t you side-eye the camera, child, you mean to tell me you just jumped straight to Charmcaster without any stupid name ideas along the way?

“You started it!”“No you started it!” Okay boys, take you shoving match elsewhere and also Ben, Kev’s right, you are the one who started it with your heckling.

Charmcaster is just, not for Gwen existing in the same area as her. Gwen, meanwhile, is just surprised to see her.

Charm I don’t know what you’re looking for in there, it’s a tween engineer’s private journal, it’s not gonna have anything you can use against Gwen. Against Kevin, probably, against Gwen, not likely.

Charmcaster you cannot get up anyone’s ass about emo poetry when you recited ‘Ode To Hating Gwen So Much #16′ on stage. Pot, kettle, black.

It’s a poetry powered amulet. Either that or Kevin’s poetry counts as spellwork. I wonder if there’s something specific you have to do to make a poem count as a spell or if it’s just whatever works as long as it’s a magic user reading it aloud? Because Charm clearly ain’t meaning to cast this as a spell, at least at first, and yet. That seems kind of worrying though, if that’s the case. I mean what happens if a warlock tries to read his kid some Shel Silverstein at bedtime?

What happens if a sorcerer recites It’s Raining Pigs And Noodles?

I don’t know whether I’m more concerned to continue listening or for how Kevin’ll react if he notices Charm is reading his poetry aloud. I mean this is sounding like a personal one (and speaking as a former 11yo poet with Issues, I know what that sounds like) and gods if somebody I didn’t like was reading one of mine aloud I don’t know if I’d have broken down or killed them where they stood.

Gods I’m gonna have to rewatch this episode when it ends up on CN’s site so I can get a proper transcript of this, their captioning works right.

Welp. I knew emo poetry was powerful but this takes the cake.

Charm that is not your shit! Go find your book again! Or are you worried your shit isn’t as strong as his? I mean I’m getting more and more convinced this isn’t something he’d have been reading aloud.

Oh gods it does only go for real poetry! She tries to throw in some stuff built for spellcrafting and the amulet nopes right out! ‘Sorry, kiddo, there’s gotta be emotion involved or it’s just not happening’.

Hopefully that answers the Pigs And Noodles question

I’m kinda hoping Charm’s mini reign of terror is ended by a beet red Kevin divetackling her from offscreen and wrenching his journal from her. Bonus points if he gets her upside the head with it.

Gotta love when youtube decides to while you’re trying to pause on a scene.

Meanwhile, the boys have worn themselves out with their fighting and arguing.

Kevin, panicking because Charmcaster has his notebook and is also reading it aloud. As is the only proper response to such things.

Ben- out to stop Charmcaster because she a dangerous badguy Kevin- out to stop Charmcaster because she is reading his poetry aloud AAAAA

Charmcaster pls, stop being an ass for seven seconds

Child you cannot just recruit emo boys to write you sad poetry! Especially not after you just read their poetry aloud without their okay, it’s just not right! Besides, that’s not the look of someone who wants anything other than for you to close the book and forget you ever saw anything that was in there.

Charm: Work with me Kevin: Fuck you and the horse you rode in on

“You two are weak” Chamrcaster you only have power right now because you’re taking it from his poetry. I’m pretty sure that puts him above you on the scale by default.

Kevin, joining Team Tennyson purely to get back his notebook. Again, perfectly valid.

TL;DR: Kevin accidentally wrote a spellbook

I’m still wondering what it is that makes his poems work but not Charm’s actual spells? Is it the emotion behind them? In UAF magic was made of life force, in theory putting enough emotion into your writing could maybe imbue the words with magic? Is the solution to this puzzle that Kevin was feeling so strongly when he wrote this shit that they became magic on their own? Or does the amulet just search for true emotion in words and make it so? How is this all working?

If these boys could stop fighting each other for like 13 seconds we might actually get something done.

Charmcaster sealed Gwen’s voice with poetry. Welp.

Welp, the old ‘everything’s an enemy’ illusion trope. Not an illusion this time, but same deal.

Kevin: *easily sees through the spell because Charmcaster!Humongasaur keeps growing his damn tail* “You’d have to be a complete nincompoop not to see through this, right Tennyson?” Ben: *falls right for the spell*

Damnit Ben, Kevin thought you were better than that.

“I can’t not hit the dweeb now.” These children.

Charmcaster leave the innocent bystanders alone!

It takes Ben hearing himself get called Dweebyson to realize he’s fighting Kevin. Kevin knew the deal from the word go. Have I mentioned which one is my son?

Kevin makes Ben embarrass himself to prove he’s him, even though he already knows. Turns to him for a plan.

Kevin as Darkmatter: Finds Ben not timed in, fiddles with Omnitrix to bring it back up to charge, throws him at Charmcaster

“Stop her before she finishes that poem!” Well I’m concerned now

“I’ll show them all what I can do, I’m much more than a leech, their bodies paralyzed by words, their hearts grow heavy from my speech” Yes yes this was a very powerful verse magically I’ll unpause for the results in a second, do you see that second line? That second line there. Do I have to kill somebody? I have to kill somebody don’t I...

Huh, that verse increased gravity on the target(s).

Charm trying to recruit Kevin again, and he’s still turning her down because fuck her and everyone who looks like her. He looks so small in this frame. Very soft faced, he’s got two years younger from the stress of all this.

Oh and she’s pulling out WIPs to blackmail him into complying. I’m going to guess it’s less emo and more Gwen-focused, because I’ve seen media before in my life and know how that shit works. Would prefer more Kevin inner working stuff, but whatcha gonna do. If it is a love poem it’d knock down the rating though.

Also, when you’re so pissed the animators have to give you sharp teeth to emphasize it.

Okay, Kevin’s doodles are cute.

Also why do you have a note in your notebook denoting the secret shit Kevin? Do you have siblings or something? Who is going through your stuff, or that you’re worried might go through your stuff? Or are you just paranoid? It could be the last one.

Okay, so I’m paused on the poem in question and aww, Kevin’s ‘h’s go directly into his vowels. Yes I am commenting on his handwriting let me live. It’s an emotional poem and I’m working out things to say...

Kevin trying to claw his way forward to shut Charm up, it’s not working but he’s trying

Welp

Kevin, wearing a hoodie this episode purely so that during this scene he could drag it over his head to hide his embarrassment at having a poem about caring about Gwen read aloud.

I’m still deducting a point from the episode.

The good news is, the poem restored Gwen’s speech, which, I don’t know what Charm expected to happen there. Of course the semi-positive poem would have a positive effect, come on girl, do you know nothing of magic?

Okay, so, they’re gonna defuse Charm by using her own magic to silence her, via Kevin playing along and writing her a poem that’ll do just that. His improve abilities shall save the day, and what’s left of his pride.

Charm fuck off

Charm, digging your own grave, pls

And Kevin drops the hood when he sees Charm falling hook line and sinker, so proud of himself

Oh that was brilliant darling! “My spells undone, I’m speechless at my own defeat”, two lines and he not only stopped her but undid all the damage she caused! My son! My brilliant, poetic son!

Kevin, so smug

Gwen calling Charm’s ass out on treating people like toys when she of all people should know what that feel like

And not Charm’s amulet responds to her rhymes. Guess it does have to be tied to a proper emotion, rather than just being willy-nilly

Kevin is just happy to get his notebook back.

And Gwen compliments his work which, of course, leads to complete avoidance tactics. I don’t know what you expected Gwen, that last poem was all about him not knowing how to talk to you or even really having a solid hold on how he feels.

And we end with Kevin walking away as Ben disappoints everyone with more horrible rapping.

10/11, the Kevin stuff made up for the Charmcaster bullshit, but we still lose a point for Gwevin as is the rule. I continue to eye Kevin’s backstory with suspicion and suspense.

[blubberquark]

More On “Bright Souls“

People compare games to Dark Souls a lot, to the point that “X is the Dark Souls of genre Y” has become a meme, reached saturation, and died, all the while games journalists are still saying it unironically because they cannot find a better point of reference. People who didn’t seem to enjoy Dark Souls use it as a shorthand for a game that is punishingly difficult to the point of turning off most casual players, but with a dedicated fan base that welcomes and enjoys the difficulty.

So is Super Meat Boy the Dark Souls of platformers? Is I Wanna Be The Guy like Dark Souls? Is Dungeons of Dredmor like Dark Souls because of all the lore in item descriptions? Is the first Diablo the Dark Souls of anything?

What is it that makes people enjoy the difficulty of Dark Souls? Can we add this thing to a game, but make the combat easier, or is difficulty all there is to it?

I decided to talk to Dark Souls players to find out, and I catalogued a list of features from Dark Souls that set it apart from your usual JRPG or action RPG, not just mere difficulty. I wanted to find out what people mean when they say “like Dark Souls“, especially those people who like Dark Souls.

Interestingly, the first Dark Souls is hard in a different way from the later Souls games. Dark Souls 2 and 3 have tougher enemies, more enemies at once, more linear level layouts, and better/easier healing. These games keep the Estus mechanic and the fighting, but they streamline the rest.

If you asked people what being a Souls game means after only Demon‘s Souls and Dark Souls, they might have talked about the level design, the Metroidvania aspect of a half-open world, the secrets to be found, and the way the way the bonfires and Estus interact with the rest of the level design. If you go by that, then Hollow Knight is the Dark Souls of Metroidvania games.

What was kept in the other games was the deep lore, the oppressive atmosphere, the theme of decay and decline, and the way the main story was only loosely tied to the lore. In Zelda games, the connection between Link, the plot, and the fate of the world is much more apparent. Many people mean really mean “grimdark world with deep lore you can ignore if you want to and themes of decay, decline, and overcoming disproportionate adversity through sheer determination and perseverance“. In that sense, maybe Undertale is the Dark Souls of, well, something.

I was also told that the first Dark Souls allowed different play styles. You don’t need to be a glass cannon with a giant club and no armour, perfectly dodging every enemy blow. You can also play as a spell caster, or use a bow. That it’s tough, but fair, except in that handful of moments when it isn’t, when you are attacked without warning, when you have to do precision platforming with clunks controls, when you have to walk a tightrope through a rain of arrows, when you have to wade through... but I digress. Losing is fun, they say. Losing is part of the game. You can level, but you can’t really grind your way through. You can grind a bit, and the game rewards you for doing so up to a point, but you still need to be careful, because you can fall off a ledge. You can keep your souls safe and adopt a more cautious play style. People are split on whether enemies permanently de-spawning is a crutch for new players or a punishment for grinding souls and rare drops.

Dark Souls is difficult, but it has a way of balancing itself out. Enemies despawn, there are messages and bloodstains to help others find secrets or to warn them to not fall off a cliff. This has forced people to seek help online and created a large online community. You may think online gaming communities are especially toxic, but Dark Souls is not primarily a game where you beat each other (although there’s also PvP). Community members encourage help each other succeed.

Dark Souls is what has been called a wiki game. Other examples are DCSS, Minecraft, Don’t Starve, Reus, Stardew Valley, Terraria, or Spelunky. There are many secrets, loosely-connected systems, things you encounter but don’t understand the significance of. If a game has a sprawling crafting system, you might not ever encounter an item because you never craft the precursors you need to make it, or you encounter it in the world but don’t know how to craft it. Cave Story includes secrets you wouldn’t figure out during normal play, even when you beat the whole game to get to the good ending, like the Bubbler and the Nemesis. Yet you can play the game just fine without these secrets. Dark Souls seems to want you to look in a wiki, or in a strategy guide, or to ask your friends about secrets they found. Minecraft has gotten better at discoverability of crafting recipes in recent years, but added more content and peripheral mechanics to tip the balance into the direction of needing to look up more things.

In all of this, the Castlevania games and Hollow Knight come closest to being like Dark Souls without being a soulslike, followed by third-party soulslikes, e.g. Nioh and Ashen. But Hollow Knight still has the themes of decay, corruption, power and immortality as a curse, twisted shadows of former greatness, and overcoming against all odds through determination and perseverance.

[nahasquestions]

Terraria invedit 1.3.1.1

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The Mechanic sells the 1 Second Timer for 50 copper on the Mobile Version, since the Gold Watch cannot be crafted.Join our community just now to flow with the file Terraria InvEdit and make. 2shared gives you an excellent opportunity to store your files here and share them with others.

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Here you can download file Terraria InvEdit. If you want more from the statue set up more and link them to the same timer File type: Program File size: 416 KB Uploaded. You have to wait 8 or more seconds to spawn another 3. If you are using Statues, Spawning monsters will only spawn 3 at a time.A timer can even be wired to another timer, which will cause the timers to automatically turn themselves on and off. The timer itself can be wired to a different switch, which can be used to activate the timer, which will activate the connected device.The 1 Second Timer must be placed on top of a solid block.In these cases it is usually more efficient to use a lower tier timer, such as the 3 Second Timer. For example, if you connect a 1 second timer to a Dart Trap, the trap will still fire only once every three seconds. The 1 Second Timer will not override the cool down period of the connected device.The timer will then function as specified. To use it, connect it and the desired device with Wires, and right click the timer, activating it.

but, in the end, you get a reward, and that moment when you got that reward will always be remembered.A 1 Second Timer is a timer that activates connected devices automatically, with a one second cool down. CAN ANYONE TELL ME IF IT IS ANY 1.3 VERSION OF TERRARIA InvEdit Showing 1-15 of 77 comments.

3:46am No, it just came out yesterday, half of the items we dont even know about, what do you think Also google is a thing.

so you see, sometimes it IS better not to cheat, but to rater work hard, lose somtimes, and fail a little bit. CAN ANYONE TELL ME IF IT IS ANY 1.3 VERSION OF TERRARIA InvEdit Showing 1-15 of 77 comments.

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Terraria - HOW TO MAKE 1.3 ALL ITEMS MAP FOR XBOX ONE ( FULL TUTORIAL ). Overview File Issues Relations Dependencies Dependents Follow. Terraria 1.2.3 All Items Map with NPCs Maps. (Just scroll all the way down at home page.) 2 Use it to start one of your worlds or make a new one. N Terraria Wiki is a FANDOM Games Community. sure, your happy with your new unlreal phantasam, but how would you feel if you JUST crafter it and its unreal? i felt amazing when i saw that after going through that one and only evil Vortex Pillar, i got the greatest weapon of all. 1 Go to and download their dedicated server program. getting your own things is a great feeling, like you finialy got somthing you worked so hard for. I know it probably won't, but you definitely won't enjoy it half as much as me and my friends are and I know many others would agree with that sentiment. But you can equip Reds wings, and that one doesnt disappear.

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Op, I hope you find your game breaking software asap and I hope it sucks every ounce of fun from this fantastic tribute update to all that Red and the team have done for their playerbase >FOR FREE

#Terraria invedit 1.3.1.1 plus

It does kind of spit in the face of every player that works for their rewards, but the cheaters in question don't care so why should we? Enjoy this game for free, plus hundreds more free of ads and in-app purchases, with a Google Play Pass subscription. There may be a few more items that I have yet to find missing from the Editor. We're not even at hardmode yet on our Expert world and it's been more fun than I've had in years with Terraria.īut to each there own, cheating is rewarding to some I guess. Example: Terraria v1.2.4.1 is supported by Terraria Inventory Editor 5.7.2 (in that you can open a freshly created 1.2.4.1 character successfully), but does not support some items. Oh well, at least me and friends are enjoying the hell out of 1.3, taking it slow and savouring every new thing. Pretty much sums up just how shallow and impatient some people are, it honestly depresses me that people can't seem to grasp the finer points of a fun challenge.

[nerdybookahs]

Writing about my Top Games of 2019 was a bit too short-sighted, apparently. I have seen others talk about their games of the decade – most recently Rakuno’s post. And then I figured that I could add another “top games” post here. I mean, it is my blog and it has been filled with lots and lots of talk about games… not in the past decade, but close (I started in March 2011)!

So let’s see… which games deserve to be called favourite or even best games in this time span? Should it be the games that gave you the most hours of entertainment? Or should a game of the decade be one that surprised you somehow? That was breathtaking in graphics (or audio, etc.) or just so immersive, you still think about it? I’m not going to dwell on these questions for too long and will go with my intuition, which means that it will probably be a good mix of all of these points. There is no ranking of games as I did in my other posts. Each of them earns a spot in its own way.

I tried to remember what I did at the beginning of the decade. At that time, I had more or less stopped playing LotRO and Warhammer Online was about to close, but I had left that one much earlier already. Despite not playing either Rift or Guild Wars 2 anymore nowadays, both have been my MMO home for quite some time. Rift (launched March 2011) most of all for its open world events and its housing system. Guild Wars 2 (launched August 2012) also because of the open world events and the horizontal progression at endgame. Even though I found the living world season 1 to be too stressful with its content being available for 2 or 4 weeks and then disappearing forever, in hindsight I still think it was the best content they released (not every single piece of it, but taken everything together). If only it hadn’t been time-limited. But most of all, I love the game for the community. Being a part of Dragon Season (our guild) has given me the opportunity to get to know so many amazing new people and I remember many fun hours spent together, doing guild missions or our guild events.

If I go by time played, other than the MMOs, I will have lots of city builders and management games come out on top. In some cases, this is certainly fitting and these games belong in my top list. With others, the advantage of being a game that is built on taking a long time to play would be unfair. So, out of the long list of games from these genres, Tropico 4 (launched September 2011) immediately comes to my mind. The music, the humour, the gameplay. I love everything about it and it’s a game that I can still launch and play and have fun with today. Then there is Jurassic World Evolution (launched June 2018) which belongs in my top list simply because it amazes me how real the dinosaurs seem and when I think back to my early days of playing on the C64 and how amazed I was by printing out birthday invitations made on… the C64 or the Amiga, I actually don’t remember… It was certainly pixel art, that’s for sure… But let’s get back to the past decade: My inner child is still amazed by graphics like these! And my inner child who loved the first Jurassic Park film is also amazed that suddenly, she can create her own park on her PC!

One thing I do not like is side-scrolling games – except for Terraria (launched May 2011) where I think it works perfectly. I especially like how open the world feels despite being 2D only and how immersive it is despite the simple graphics. However, once Trove launched (July 2015), I more or less stopped playing Terraria. I know, Trove isn’t a Terraria-clone, but it fills the space of digging through the world for me. Part of the appeal of Trove is certainly having a lot of other players around. I just like seeing others around me, even if I usually play on my own.

Whenever I played Civilization, I kept whining that there is too much of a focus on war. I didn’t want to fight! Also, the stacks of doom in Civilization IV were annoying. I wanted to conquer peacefully through culture instead. And then I found the first Warlock game (Warlock: Master of the Arcane, launched May 2012)… and I conquered through war. And I loved it! The game has a sequel, Warlock II: The Exiled (launched April 2014) which I like even more. So, the game series as a whole is in my top list.

L. A. Noire (launched November 2011 for PC) is one of the first games I actually played through. And the immersion level has been amazing! I’m still not happy about the ending, but I guess that just shows how much I could identify with the main character. Another detective game is Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments (launched September 2014). Ever since playing this game, I want more like it! Unfortunately, the sequel, Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter, couldn’t win me over like the other one did. And then there is The Painscreek Killings (launched September 2017) where your task is to figure out who killed Vivian Roberts. Other than that, you’re on your own exploring the now abandoned village. I did not like the little extra play sequence at the end, but other than that, it was a really good game. There is no guidance where to go first and what to do next. There are no quests or missions and no direction. I did manage to figure out everything in the end and it was a very enjoyable journey.

Life is Strange (launched 2015) cannot be missing from my list. If I did any ranking, it would be very high up. I’m still pestering bookahnerk to pick up the game and play through it because I want to hear his opinion about this one moment (no spoiler!) where you need to make a certain choice. I think you only have this one choice in order to advance, so it’s basically not a choice. But I sat here with tears in my eyes imagining how I’d feel if I was ever asked to do something like this by a person close to me.

Last but not least, I haven’t listed any action RPGs (as you may have noticed, I did dig through my favourite game genres to detect all possible games). There is definitely Torchlight 2 (launched September 2012) followed closely by Grim Dawn (launched February 2016). In this case I say “follow”, because I feel that even though I’ve been playing it for a long time, I haven’t even seen a third of the content that Grim Dawn has to offer. And yet, it is such a strong game with an interesting world and very compelling classes. Torchlight 2, on the other hand, seems like a lightweighted action RPG in comparison. But it has the pet system and no matter which ARPG I’m playing, I always wish I had a little helper like that who I can send to town to sell all the items I found. It saves so much time and adds convenience, but not at the expense of immersion.

I’ve got one honorable mention: The Secret World/Secret World Legends (launched June 2012). I absolutely love the idea and the atmosphere of the game! However, I find the gameplay itself too clunky and I never liked how combat felt, including the character’s animations. So while it has something that makes it very memorable for me, I just couldn’t play it for a long enough time. Hence, the honorable mention. It tried, but it didn’t really succeed with me.

I guess that’s it – unless I forgot some game now which I probably did. There are so many more games that I enjoyed playing, of course. But these do stand out for one reason or another.

My Top Games of the Decade Writing about my Top Games of 2019 was a bit too short-sighted, apparently. I have seen others talk about their games of the decade - most recently…

[moriveth]

Top Ten Games Of The Moment

I just finished DQ7, which I enjoyed, but it got me thinking that I still liked 5 better, so now here’s a list of my Top 10 Games that I can think of right now. No numbers because I hate quantifying stuff like that. It’s hard enough picking 10 games, let alone putting them into any actual order. Dragon Quest V: Hand Of The Heavenly Bride - This game just oozes charm and the story is still one of my favorites. Dragon Quest games hold a special place in my heart because despite some raw-ass shit going down the world is still optimistic and cheery, there’s still room for heroes to do hero shit and for people to be happy! And as a dad, the emphasis on being a parent (and starting out with your dad) really helps too.  Diablo 3 - I love all the Diablo games, but I have put more than a few hundred hours into Diablo 3, especially after the addition of Reaper Of Souls and the new-old loot system. The story may be trash, but I’ll never tire of demons exploding around me and me being showered in loot.  Terraria - Minecraft is great and all, but when I fall into a Terraria hole, I typically don’t get out for a while. The fact that you gather various villagers to your ramshackle homestead made me enjoy building more than the strictly utilitarian residences I normally do. Plus, the music is very good. It’s a great game to listen to a podcast while playing due to the general lack of focus on story. Just... build. And enjoy. All The Classic Lucasarts Games - Okay so maybe this one is cheating, but I can’t think of a series that really informed my sense of humor as much as the various games this company made. That’s something to be remembered for. Baldur’s Gate 2 - The ultimate culmination of the often-fantasized idea of being a hero who starts out as a nobody and ends up deciding the fate of the world. Baldur’s Gate 1 was a great start, but BG2 really kicked it up a notch by introducing you to some real-ass stakes in the world that you’re a part of. And then Throne of Bhaal goes even further with your character finally meeting their destiny. It’s got a load of memorable characters, and also Valygar. Sorry Valygar, but you are kinda boring.

Assassin’s Creed 2 - After the game that was full of promise but a not-great payoff, that was AC1, I have to admit I was doubtful of Assassin’s Creed 2. But after playing it, it was an amazing evolution of the game that improved basically every lacking aspect of the first. More mission variety, actual rewards for collecting the collectibles (also significantly less collectibles), a move forward with the modern-day story... It was an amazing step up for a game that really deserved it. I know Brotherhood is a better game overall, as it finally gave you the ability to run your own Assassin’s guild, but AC2 was such an unbelievable improvement over the first game.

Jagged Alliance 2 - I loved the first Jagged Alliance but I never got terribly far in it. My love for the game was mostly rooted in the cheesy voice acting and the fact that you could hire a huge variety of mercenaries - some of whom were actually entirely useless in most respects. JA2 took that and ran with it, adding copious amounts of customizability, new mercenaries, returning old mercenaries, hell, even explaining what happened to the mercenaries that didn’t make it into the game. The 1.13 patch adds even more, probably way more that’s needed, but the ability to turn various new features off and on adds a lot to the game. Although the game trades excessively heavily on stereotypes (which might make it understandably hard for some people to play), I feel like since the game is so reminiscent of 80′s and early 90′s action films that it would seem weird if the characters had much actual depth to them. 

Overwatch - Gonna be honest here, I’m only level 15 in Overwatch. But man, the fact that I can continually come back to this multiplayer-only game and play a few rounds, and feel like I still did okay despite not playing obsessively? That is a rare, rare feeling for me. Blizzard made so many smart decisions in the design of this game that I can’t help but applaud them for it. I’m never going to be good at Overwatch, but the fact that the game makes me feel good when I do well is completely laudable. 

Fallout 1 & 2 - There was a summer where I essentially played nothing BUT Fallout 1 and 2 for hours at a time. That’s not something I can do nowadays, I don’t really have the time for that, but at the moment then it seemed like there was a limitless amount of things to do in those games. I was definitely too young for them at the time, but man. MAN. I even have fond memories of some of the bugs in the initial bug-ridden release of Fallout 2 - specifically the one that made your car disappear but left the trunk, and it followed you around from area to area like The Luggage from Discworld. 

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - Morrowind is another game that I played a ton of, and the beginning of my tendency to just ignore the story of Bethesda games and stop playing when I felt satisfied. My first game of Morrowind was, largely, the story of an Imperial Agent who immediately fucked off from Seyda Neen to make his own story in the world, a story that mostly involved stealing from everyone he met, and when the time came to save the world, he had to run back to Seyda Neen to buy back the story item that he had accidentally sold to the game. I still enjoy the successive Elder Scrolls and Bethesda products, but Morrowind had such a bizarre world that it was terminally disappointing to me that they walked back the weird fantasy aspect in favor of more standard fare. Less castles and knights, more mushroom towers and chitin armor. 

[barbosaasouza]

GDC 2018: David Brevik on It Lurks Below, Solo Development, and 27 Years in Gaming

There's always something new to learn in any profession, no matter how long one has been involved in it. The art of game design is no different. Even for the veterans, the pioneers, and the legends, there's always something new for them to learn every day. After decades in the business, there's still something new out there.

This is no different for Blizzard North co-founder David Brevik, one of the most respected names in the business. In 2016, he departed from Gazillion Games as its CEO, citing unhappiness with being on the business end of development and vowing to return to what he loved most: designing games. That has led to It Lurks Below, a dungeon crawler with world building elements. While originally intended to be an indie game with a small team, that team soon became Brevik and only Brevik.

That has led to some new learning experiences, something he was happy to share with Shacknews over coffee at this year's Game Developers Conference. Brevik talks about It Lurks Below and what's gone into its development. He speak about learning different aspects of game development, including taking online courses to learn pixel art. He goes into what it's like to be a solo developer (with occasional help from his daughter) with a Twitch channel where he can take feedback in real time. Lastly, Brevik reflects on his 27 years in the gaming industry and ponders all that has changed.

Shacknews: It's great to hear that you're back into game development. I've seen the art style, thought it was really good. I didn't know this was your first time working on the art side!

David Brevik, Blizzard North co-founder: First time! I took a couple of classes online on pixel art and I have a 15-year-old daughter who's extremely talented at art. She helped me out a bit.

Shacknews: Is she looking to get into the gaming world herself?

Brevik: She is! Actually, she's done this... there's this program called Girls Make Games. Her team has won two out of the four years that it's existed. She says she wants to work in video games, especially as an artist. And... we'll see. She's 15, so you know, those things change often.

Shacknews: So tell me in your own words, what is It Lurks Below about?

Brevik: For me, it's really about... I've played an absurd amount of Minecraft. I played a lot of this game called Starbound that I really liked. And I played a little bit of Terraria, but I had problems with the UI and I could just never get into it, but I've watched many people stream it for hours and hours. I really enjoy watching other people play it, but I just don't like to play it myself. And all of these games lack something, the depth that I was looking for. I love the world, the randomization, I love all of these things, but they just felt kind of shallow and goal-less. They're kinda sandbox-y games without much point.

For me, I wanted to put a structure on top of it, tell a little bit of a story, make it an RPG, give the thing depth, have character classes. So the idea of just taking that kind of Minecraft kind of gameplay and crossing it with Diablo, where I have random levels, random monsters, random loot, I just wanted to play that game. So that's where the idea came from, playing these games and looking for something a bit more RPG-ish.

Shacknews: What made you decide to go this alone, rather than gather up a band of hungry developers?

Brevik: I don't really know why I did this. I'm not a control freak. I like getting input from all sorts of people when making a project. But I got inspired by a few indie devs, like this gentleman that made Stardew Valley, made it by himself, for instance. I thought "Wow, that's kinda cool." And then my friends Erich [Schaefer] and Travis [Baldree], these two guys that I worked with for a long time, they made this game called Rebel Galaxy. And it was just the two of them. I thought "Yeah, I could do this with a really small team." I just came from a company with hundreds of people. I don't want to do that anymore. I want to go small. I want to go indie. I knew that and I thought I could do it with a team of five or something like that. Then I started prototyping the thing by myself and I thought, "I think I can do this by myself. I'm kinda enjoying doing this by myself." So I just kept doing it by myself. It wasn't any kind of conscious decision. I always planned on hiring a few people and making a small team. But then as I got going, I was just enjoying it so much, I kept going that way.

Shacknews: But you know how many hours go into making a game. We hear about crunch all the time. So you know the late hours that go into developing a game. Was that a concern for you at all?

Brevik: People don't really know me very well, but honestly, I'm a workaholic. I always have been. If I'm not careful, I could, not exaggerating, literally work all of the time. Sleep three hours and work the rest of the time. Because I love what I'm doing so much, everything else doesn't matter in a lot of ways. But I have a family, a wife, and things like that, so I have to be able to balance that, so in a lot of ways, it's good for me to have this balance of people around me and things to do other than just work. However, that said, any spare moment, I am working. I work 100 hours a week, easily, just because that's what I enjoy doing.

Shacknews: You have something now, and you kinda had it during the Marvel Heroes days, but now more than ever, as opposed to the old days, you have a Twitch channel! You have an audience that can actually offer feedback. Tell me about you use your Twitch channel to aid in your development.

Brevik: This is actually one of the most important parts of the development for me and one of the reasons that I can do this project on my own. It's because of this interaction. First off, when you're making a game by yourself, I'm huddled down in my office in the basement, and I'm working away for a year and... it'll be a year and a half in the summer. You don't know what you're making. "Am I going completely insane? Am I just making a piece of garbage here? I'm not getting any feedback from anybody. It's fun for me, but what do I know? I'm just drinking my own..." whatever. Anyway, so I don't know what it's like. And then to be able to put it out there and get response and get a positive response, which is a big breath of relief, but also get that feedback from people in the community is so helpful.

One of the things we did when we released Diablo, was before we released Diablo, we put this game on a disc for PC Gamer and for Microsoft DirectX. And they shipped a bunch of these CDs, you can buy the little demo before you buy the game, if you bought the magazine or picked up the CD from Microsoft. We got such great feedback from that, that altered the game, actually. The hot bar was not vented before we got feedback from them. We put that in the last three months of development for Diablo. Getting that feedback is the most important thing, because I don't have all the great ideas. I want to hear feedback from people. I want to create the best game I can and the only way I'm going to do that is to get feedback from the community. And people that are passionate about it, that watch our streams, that enjoy the work that I've done and things like that, they'll ask me questions, I can ask them questions, I can interact with them, and they become ambassadors for the product. They're out there saying, "I'm really enjoying this, the developer listens, I'm giving great feedback. Hey, I saw one of my suggestions go in the game and that's really cool for me." Everybody wins, I feel. It's kind of that old CD demo on steroids, with instant feedback that didn't exist. I really enjoy that entire process and that was really important with me in Marvel Heroes. I want to do it even more this time with It Lurks Below.

Shacknews: Is there an idea, in particular, that you saw in chat that made you think, "This is really cool. I didn't think of this?"

Brevik: Yeah, there's been all sorts of things. From suggestions about new wand types, there are suggestions people made of different types of wands that I've put directly in the game. But there's been a lot of great feedback from people. "Oh, I didn't like this. I didn't understand this quest. Let me go ahead and change that." There's been dozens and dozens of changes that people have suggested, plus they find all sorts of weird bugs that I didn't really think about. Because when you're bug testing by yourself... hundreds of people find bugs much faster and do weird things that you never really thought of. So that's also really helpful.

Shacknews: This is something I always used to be told on the QA team. Think outside the box and try to do weird things, because the consumer will do weird things. Think like an end user, but go nuts, because you never know what they're going to do.

Brevik: Also, people play the game and stream it and I'll just lurk in the channel. I'll just watch what they're having trouble with. That's something we used to do at Blizzard back when we made Diablo where we would go to game shows and have the game playable at these game shows. I would just sit back behind everybody and watch everybody play, because I would see where they were getting stuck, what they were enjoying the most, and that feedback speaks volumes often times. And so that is also really helpful. I get to do that from my house now, instead of having to travel to a show.

Shacknews: Do you have an end goal in mind for the game? Because you mention you're a workaholic and you can just go nuts for months on end, but do you have a set goal for how long you want the game to be?

Brevik: I do. I have a set period of when I would like to release it. I'm thinking in the next few months that I want to wrap it up. There's plenty I can add after launch. I'll give updates for everybody that buys it. I'll continue to work on it, if it's successful enough. If it doesn't succeed, then I'll have to get a job and raise some money and make a small dev team. But if it's successful enough, I want to continue to work on it, add features, like someday I'd really like to add multiplayer.

Shacknews: I'd imagine that would be an entirely differnt workload in itself.

Brevik: It is, but I've done multiplayer things so many times now that the game is coded and ready for multiplayer. It's just that multiplayer, in itself, there's so many weird bugs and timing issues and all sorts of stuff that comes up when multiplayer. It's just too big of a scope by myself, especially while I'm funding the entire game by myself. At some point I want to release it and then, if it's successful enough, add multiplayer post-launch.

Shacknews: If the workload does become too much, because you have a lot of ambitious plans for after launch, do you feel like you'll hire on a few developers to help you out?

Brevik: Yeah, absolutely. If it becomes too much. There's no reason not to. The only reason I'm by myself right now is, because I've become a little stubborn about it. Now I feel like I've talked about it and I want to finish it. But I'm not really that attached to any of it, so I could hire an artist who can make better art than I'm making. I could hire a programmer who can help me out with multiplayer and porting it to other platforms. There's all sorts of things that can help me there. I can hire a musician to help me out with some of the music. There's a whole bunch of things I could do to improve my ability to focus on just running the game.

Shacknews: This is really fascinating to me, because you've been in the business for over 25 years, what have you learned on this project? You talked about getting into art, but what else have you learned about game development for the first time?

Brevik: There's been all sorts of little things that I've learned here and there for the first time. Learning how to make pixel art and critique my own art was a challenge, something I've never really done before. I've drawn art for a long time, but it's all been boxes and circles to make prototypes out of. But to actually iterate on art and continue to make it look better and not being satisfied with something, that process I haven't really gone through. That applies to music, as well. I'll write a piece of music, then I'll take a break for a couple of days, I'll come back and listen to it and, "Ehhhh... I like where that's going, but I like this a little bit more." That process of iterating on things; which is what you do when you're programming, you make a small thing, you work it, it wasn't good enough or the code wasn't flexible enough, you gotta improve it, go back and make it more flexible, or whatever. This happens all the time. Same thing happens for the game, you play the game, "I had this idea for this," you play it for a bit, "Eh, it's not good enough, I want it this way instead." That iteration process and applying it to everything I'm doing is definitely a new experience for me. I've never had to apply it to music, sound effects, or art before.

Shacknews: I'm still stuck on what you told me earlier about your daughter doing art for you. It's amazing! Game development is running in the family for you!

Brevik: Yeah, it's weird and there's a few people I know that have second-generation people in the game industry now. I've worked with these people. We're old now. We've got grown kids and they're working in the video game industry. So it's strange, but there's quite a few examples now. It's becoming more and more of a thing.

Shacknews: Going back to that whole '27 years in the industry' thing. You've been everywhere, from Blizzard North to a startup MMO to now your own project. How have your views on game development changed over the past 27 years?

Brevik: I don't think my views of development have really changed. I'm still super passionate about what we're doing. I believe in the video game industry. I'm super happy that it's extremely popular. The industry itself has changed so much. You can't even compare it. You can't even compare the industry today to what it was three years ago. So much has changed, much less ten years ago or twenty years ago. It's so different. When I started out, it was a niche geeky hobby and only the nerds played video games. Now, it's mainstream and there are millions and millions and billions of gamers. To go from a really small, closed industry to something this massive, where people walk around playing games all day on their portable devices and things like that. It's hard to even comprehend the amount of change that I've seen.

Shacknews: And yet still accessible, from the giant company making a AAA title to a small indie team making a passion project...

Brevik: That's really [due to] the advent of things like digital distribution. And all sorts of really easy-to-use engines, there's all sorts of ways that people can make games that they've never been able to make before, publish them themselves, and do all of these things, which is great in a lot of ways. It's also bad in other ways. The bad is that there are thousands of games released and most of them get lost. And the good is, there's thousands of games released and you get some real gems.

It Lurks Below is aiming for a summer release on PC. For those looking to help Brevik on his development path, be sure to follow Graybeard Games on Twitch and offer some feedback.

GDC 2018: David Brevik on It Lurks Below, Solo Development, and 27 Years in Gaming published first on https://superworldrom.tumblr.com/