#I was also going to do it in pixel but I quickly realized that was going to take at least 80 years so opted for my OG style <XDD

[factual-fantasy]

As soon as I got done drawing the refences for my Slime Rancher submas AU, I turned right around and got to work on Ingo's disappearance arc XDD

I'm thinking how the story goes is Ingo, Emmet and Elesa came to the far far range out of their love and interest in the slimes that live there. They truly had a passion for this planet and wanted to explore and learn everything about it.

Now Elesa was super invested in the gadgets and life on the ranch, while Ingo and Emmet were big on the exploration side of things..

One day while the brothers were out exploring they discovered a new area covered in curvy pink trees..

For a while they explored together, but at some point they split up. Looking back Emmet doesn't even remember why they separated.. he wishes he never left Ingo's side..

About an hour passed when Emmet started look for Ingo. When he couldn't find him right away he tracked him on his Rotom. Following the signal he found a hole in the ground leading to an enormous cave..

At the bottom of the cave laid Ingo's abandoned Rotom, and a trail of blood leading to an old broken teleporter.. Ingo was nowhere to be found..

...

I would love to draw more for this AU right away! Though it might be wise to take it easy somewhat. This was a lot more drawing and backgrounds than I'm use to.. 😅😅 Either way don't worry! An Ingo and Emmet reunion hug is on its way! XDD

[keystonepublishing]

The Saga of Hermitcraft on r/Place (1 April 2022 - 4 April 2022)

On the 1st of April 2022, Reddit unveiled a white blank canvas where every user had the ability to place one colored pixel in every 5 minutes. At its height, about 4 million people participated in one of the biggest internet collaborations ever made. The ripple effects reverberated into news reports as far away as Turkey, and the final canvas represents a snapshot of the multiple communities, events, memes, and what was popular around the world at that time.

This is a documentation of the Hermitcraft mural on r/place 2022.

aka.

Remember what I said about my latest ficbind being a distraction? This is what I wanted to be distracted from.

After Reddit's API fiasco of this year and the subsequent controversial event that was r/place 2023, I decided to save as much documentation about the 2022 event as I could. Luckily, I remember how there are already a series of posts by @riacte who documented the progress of the Hermitcraft mural throughout the whole event, from beginning to end. Her blogposts form the bulk of this book (like, 95%!) and I cannot thank her enough for preserving the happenings of the block men mural.

With that said, I quickly realized that someone who's not a Hermitcraft fan - or me if I'm older - might not get the gist of who's who on the mural. The solution? Make several pages dedicated to just listing who's who on the murals! Because of the sheer number of heads, the mural was divided into several pieces for easier labeling. As a bonus, I also threw in another mural nearby which was connected enough to the Hermitcraft community.

For consistency's sake and preserving focus, I decided to not label the peeps from Dream SMP or the MCC secondary mural. Wrangling Microsoft Word to create an infographic was hard enough, let alone 3! If I inadvertently left out a few bits of extra context from this decision, mea culpa.

When it came to typesetting the entire text block, I decided to make some consistent rules. Titles denoting each day or stage of the mural are on their own pages. New sections are titled using the Bahnschrift font and colored blue, while the first paragraph has their beginning lines look Minecraft-coded and topped with a drop cap (aka. those super-large alphabets).

The names of Hermitcraft and Minecraft players in general are bolded when they first appear in the text. Afterwards, they are bolded if they are contextually important to what's being said.

Extra context would be placed in the footnotes section at the bottom of the page. This is also where I dump some background information that would be invaluable for any readers who aren't Minecraft fans, which is why the SpaceX page looked like... uh, that.

My image policy is to go with the flow; I used as many images from riacte's posts as possible, but I also added-in some of my own if more context is needed. Placing them to look smooth with the text was harder - some are small enough to not cause any problems, others are large enough to fill entire pages without any problems, but a few like the Dream SMP mural (hey there! I managed to put you in!) are too wonky to fit perfectly without leaving no empty spaces.

So in that mural's case, I placed them to the side and let the contextual text flow around it. This principle was also used for the Dota2 / Love Live images and in a few other places throughout the book. The biggest case of this are the few images that are just too wide.

Like this one.

Making double-page spreads is not the easiest thing to do in Microsoft Word, and there are a few r/place images that are too wide to fit perfectly in a single page. Confining them to one page would also mean losing all their details, so making them a double-page spread was necessary.

Didn't make it easy though, especially when there are paragraphs of text and other images that needed to be shuffled around. Mess up the double-page images, and they won't meet in the middle. Mess up the text and other pics? There goes the layout and overall flow!

In the end, making this book took a lot longer than I expected, but I am still grateful to have made this as I have now read through many posts from Tumblr, Reddit, and even Youtube - people expressing joy that they have collectively made something together. I can only hope I have made some justice to them by compiling their work and (even if a small sliver) preserving their testaments.

May this r/place be remembered.

[eliyips]

HOW DO YOU MAKE X SO FRIENDSHAPED?!

But also genuinely curious about the design translation from the actual skins to your interpretations due to the small but mighty details added in

Infodump as hard as you want!

If i ever pass up an opportunity to talk about my X design, it will be because I am either dead, or dying!!! neither are true at time of posting, so here you go! I will be going over my ENTIRE design process for Xisuma, starting with my initial design:

My initial design for Xisuma wasn't anything special, in my opinion. Most of what I included was directly ripped from the classic Doomslayer. Though, the face scars were inherited from fanon, of course. :) The changes that I did make were in service of having things make more sense for Xisuma. Namely, the belt buckle, and the fabric covering the arms...

The belt buckle is simple - bullets didn't really make sense as a design motif, all considered - but the fabric is more complicated. I have a couple different ideas about why Xisuma wears the suit, but I haven't settled one way or the other on some of the specifics, so forgive me if I'm a bit vague. Ultimately, It is just my impression that X is not comfortable having his body visible more than it needs to be, whether that be for health-related reasons or for personal/emotional reasons. I don't intend to ever draw Xisuma with his helmet off, because of that. To me, it feels like a violation of boundaries. To be perfectly clear though, that's just for me - more power to other artists who draw him without the helmet/armor! :)

By the time I was full-on fixated on Xisuma, I realized I was unsatisfied with this first pass at his design. Mainly, in regards to the helmet. So I did more work on it!

I feel like my re-design process for the helmet is a good example of the importance of using reference. :) I did a lot of unsatisfactory sketches before pulling up pictures of real helmets, at which point I feel like I settled on something I was happy with very quickly.

Specifically, I referenced motocross helmets! My choice of reference was mostly driven by my passing interest in sports equipment design, though motocross helmets are similarly bulky and have the same distinct mouthpiece as X's helmet, so I think it was a good choice. I also feel like the pixels at the top of Xisuma's skin can be pretty easily read as the brim of a helmet, so it works out!

Other than the motocross helmet influence, I also made the choice to add tubing to the sides and back of the helmet. This rolls with my headcanons about the purpose of the helmet, connecting to air tanks on his back! I also think it helps to distinguish him from the doomslayer, in addition to the new helmet shape.

The only other changes I made were to the helmet's palette, added a few additional grey tones for contrast, and the positioning of his scars. I decided I wanted them to be a little off-center, leaning towards his left eye. I'm pretty inconsistent with how I draw the scars though, lol, so it changed again by the next time I drew him.

At this point my design is mostly settled for him, and I don't expect it to change very significantly any time soon. I don't have much else to say about it, but I listed the other iterative changes I made to the design above! I figure I will continue making small tweaks to his design every time I draw him :)

That said... I have yet to answer your initial question! So I will answer it now:

"HOW DO YOU MAKE X SO FRIENDSHAPED?!"

My answer is that it's (almost) all in the eyes!!! I have already talked pretty extensively about Xisuma's eyes. So I won't dwell for too long! In short, human facial recognition is very closely tied to the eyes. The ability to see the eyes of a character clearly affords you a lot of flexibility when it comes to making a design seem approachable, or "friend-shaped." I painted over a screenshot of doomguy to illustrate my point!

My drawings tend towards being a little cutesy, of course, so that helps :) but you can see that the bright, saturated color, big distinct eyes, and less harsh expression all contribute to making him seem like he is less of a threat, despite this literally just being the doomslayer.

Another thing that helps is, again, related to the style I draw in. My art is very "clean" looking, not gritty. I use a lot of soft shape language and don't texture things too heavily. With Xisuma specifically, I also make no effort to make him seem intimidating. I use very neutral angles when drawing him, I don't frame him in a way that makes him seem intimidating or imposing, I don't pose him too confidently or angrily. Because he's not that kind of guy! Though it would be an interesting challenge to try and make him look as intimidating as possible :) I certainly think he could be quite scary, if he wanted to be. Just a matter of what I'm trying to convey.

... I think that's all I have to say for now! Once again, blown away by all the nice things people have to say about my Xisuma design and my art. Everyone here has been so kind and encouraging, and I really appreciate that. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to yell about Xisuma! If you have follow up questions, by all means, I am ready to answer :)

[azulera]

We Go Together

Pairing: Jadon Sancho x Black Reader

Summary: Jadon wants everyone to know he’s yours.

Notes: don’t know where this one came from really bt i literally gave myself b*tterflies while writing it … it was so fun and i think its so so cute. also helloo to the JS25 girlies how are you :) hope u enjoy :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“This is so random, but, I can’t lie. I hate braids. Like, on girls.”

Jadon looked at Reiss from the side of his eye, barely lifting his head from the back of the couch. Maybe they’d been vegetating on the chocolate-colored sectional too long, the blue light exposure from watching TikTok after TikTok finally getting to his friend’s head. It had to be that.

“What, bro?”

“They’re childish, brother, look.” Reiss leaned over, showing Jadon a clip of a girl being spun in a salon chair, with bright blue box braids trailing down the cape around her back. Reiss sucked his teeth twice before the video even ended. “It’s a little kid’s hairstyle, like primary school plaits. I do not rate them.”

Jadon laughed in a loud burst of sound, and shook his head at his friend’s wild take. Reiss’ complaining had triggered an image in his mind that easily refuted each of the critiques he brought up. He pushed the phone away from his face.

“Nah, you’re tripping. Braids are fire. Especially with the little baby hairs out, slicked down and that.”

“Noo, bro, the baby hairs get so extra!” Reiss rocked in his seat. “It’s gotta go, the whole style’s dead.”

“Maybe on gyal you see, but my girl, her things different. I’m telling you.”

“Oh my days– you almost did it, you know? You almost made it ten whole minutes without mentioning Y/N. It’s been 2 years, bro, we get it, you’re locked down, it’s cute, whatever.”

Jadon shrugged, a smile on his lips that he didn’t care to hide.

“I’m jus sayin.”

Reiss laughed, and switched subjects to show him another TikTok he thought was hilarious, but the picture in Jadon’s mind that his friend had summoned was too strong to ignore now, the warm feeling in his chest too sweet to pass by quickly. He half-listened while Reiss explained the meaning behind the joke, and scrolled to your Instagram profile. He went back a few weeks to spring break photos where you were sea-side in a flowy linen outfit with waist length braids falling over your shoulders, caught in the ocean wind. A minute later, he’d reposted the photo to his story, with a caption below.

“I love box braids. 😍 And my girl 😍”

He smiled again when it published, his thousands of followers viewing the image and leaving a flurry of cherry red hearts rising in the corner of the screen. Reiss, realizing he was no longer being listened to, peeked over Jadon’s shoulder, and rolled his eyes.

“You are such a simp, bro. I would banter you more if I wasn’t a little bit jealous.”

“Don’t worry, brother, it’ll happen for you one day. When you stop hating on girls’ hairstyles, I bet. Saying braids are dead, nah, you’re mad.”

Reiss shoved against his shoulder, but quickly slipped back down his internet rabbit hole, and a text came into Jadon’s phone.

Y/N: not u reposting my old pics lol you were lurking?

Jadon: No Jadon: Actually yeah Jadon: Reiss was trashing braids and i had to set him str8 Jadon: Can you come by?

Y/N: you 2 are mad i swear Y/N: and i thought u and him had plans after the match?

Jadon: Nah the braid comment was too much Jadon: I wanna see you

Y/N: yeah thats poor from him. i can be there in an hour :) Y/N: and i just got fresh braids done yesterday, i forgot to tell you lol

Jadon: 😍

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What’s your middle name then? William? Zachary?”

The question registered only faintly in Jadon’s headset, all his focus instead zeroed in on the pixelated movements of his starting XI as they ran alongside Marcus’ XI. The teams were so well-matched that every possession was a battle, and the 85th minute found them in a deadlock with one goal each. It wasn’t quite the time for casual conversation.

“My middle name? What do you mean? No-no-no-no!”

One of his center backs made a sloppy pass, and a pressing forward had intercepted it. Thankfully, the keeper recovered and the score remained 1-1.

“Stop trying to distract me, bro! It won’t work.”

“M’not, I swear! It’s just the letter there on your bracelet. It’s catching the light and I can see it through the screen. And it’s not J or S, so.”

Jadon looked down at his wrist for a moment, at the thin gold chain draped along the left one with a capital letter and small, earth figure hanging in the center. Marcus was right – the jewelry did shine in the light coming in through the window and glowing from the computer monitor, and the sight twitched the sides of his mouth.

“It’s not my middle name, it’s for–wait, wait–”

Jadon paused the game and Marcus cursed over the headset. Still, he went on unbothered, more than happy to provide context around the question his teammate had innocently or not so innocently posed.

“So the letter, that’s for my girlfriend's name. She bought it for me for my birthday, couple years back. It’s nice, innit.” The grin that had started as a twitch now stretched across his mouth. “And the little earth thing is like, it’s like a reminder. That when I’m away, different country, different city, whatever. She’s always with me.”

Marcus smiled at him over the monitor, shaking his head even as his fingers itched to get back to the match.

“Aw look at you, Sanch, big softie. It’s too bad your missus ain’t here now though, to save you gettin whooped in FIFA.”

“No, you’re lucky she’s not here, really, cause I’d have been on a hattrick. It’s a miracle you’re even gettin a sniff, bro.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, stop chatting then and press play. Five more minutes and then we’ll see.”

Jadon resumed the game and leaned forward in his chair, his thumbs flying over the buttons. When his team paused for a corner minutes later, thoughts of you, which had been simmering under the surface ever since Marcus’ inadvertently brought you up, flashed through his mind. It was hard when he was in Manchester, and you were in London, but the little spiel he’d given his teammate reminded him, just as the bracelet did, that if the two of you could ever be considered “apart” it was only ever in a physical sense, never an emotional one. There was nothing that could separate him from you as far as he was concerned, unless he were to tear his own heart out of his chest or something equally dramatic. He decided instead to raise his hand to his mouth, pressing the letter charm softly to his lips. It was your name he whispered against the gold, uncaring if Marcus could hear, as he sent the cross flying towards the box.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Can I help you find something, sir?”

The salesgirl rested a hand on his forearm as she asked, and Jadon flinched at the touch. He’d been in the shoe store for a few minutes already and no one had noticed him yet, but the intensity of her look told him he’d been recognized. She was suddenly stood so close some of the hair from her ponytail brushed against his shoulder, and he could see the dark clumps in her heavy lashes. Her fingers were cold.

“Yeah, actually,” He stepped away from her while he talked, letting her hand drop. “I’m looking for a pair of those, uh, ugg slippers, slides, the ones with the fur. Do you have those?”

“I believe we do!” She flashed him a smile that lasted too long to be comfortable, and then turned slowly on her heel. “Follow me.”

They walked to the winter footwear section and she lead the way, walking slower and swinging her hips more than was necessary for the 30-second trip. Her performance, however, was lost on Jadon, who had opened up his phone to read his most recent text thread.

Jadon: Baby pick a color, it’s important

Y/N: for what?

Jadon: Don’t worry about it just pick Jadon: Red, blue, black or brown

Y/N: don’t even know what i’m choosing 😳 Y/N: but i’ll say red, it’s our fave

Jadon: 👍🏽

They’d come upon the display of slip-ons, and the girl swept an arm over them, slipping back into a sales monologue about their current popularity with customers, and how the fur-lined interior was more comfortable than any other ugg shoe she’d tried. He thought her boss must be somewhere around, but noticed there was no one near them.

“Do you have the red ones in an 8? And also a 5.5.?”

“Let’s just see!” She bent at the waist, searching the rack of boxes for the numbers he’d requested and making little noises of exertion all the while. Jadon’s eyes were still on his phone, searching for the notes app entry where he’d saved your clothing and footwear sizes and preferences years ago.

“Ooh, I’m sorry, sir, it looks like we only have the red ones in a size 8 and up. Are you sure you need the 5.5?”

She’d moved down into a squat, and now looked up at him through her lashes, biting on her lip. Her eyelids fluttered like there was something stuck on them.

“Yeah, I gotta have them. One second, please.”

Jadon: Pick another color, sorry Jadon: show you why in a bit

He looked up from his phone, waiting on your reply, and found the girl staring back at him. She took his returned gaze as some sort of invitation.

“You know, we sometimes have more stock in the back, extras that don’t make it on the shelves. We could go take a look together, if you want? The door has a lock on it.”

Jadon’s eyebrows flew into his hairline. He looked around the store bewildered, at a temporary loss for words, because all he could think to say was “Don’t you see my girl standing here?” and regrettably you weren’t. He couldn’t believe that anyone could look at him and not see that he was yours.

“Woah, no – absolutely not–” He stepped away from the girl for the second time, putting his hands up between them to maintain the distance. “I’ve got a girl, still.”

“And? I’ve got a man, too. But you’re Jadon Sancho.” She blinked her lashes harder, looking at him again with a challenge in her eyes that he wanted no parts of. Now, he wished he’d said “no” when she’d asked to help him.

“Nah, you have lost it.” Jadon laughed shakily, still in disbelief that she was propositioning him so boldly when he had your name written right there on his forehead. Or at least that’s how it felt. He shook his head and walked to the furthest part of the shelf where the brown colorways were kept, keeping a wide distance from her crouching frame.

“I’ll find them myself, yeah, thank you.”

The girl made a frustrated noise that he would’ve had to strain to hear, before she stood, her eyes still focused on him. She paused a moment, and with a shrug, took off to another part of the store.

Jadon breathed a sigh of relief. Just after, his phone buzzed with your response and it was just as he imagined.

Y/N: brown, then. it looks good on both our skin (whatever it is)

His smile returned.

At the register, he snapped a photo of the two stacked boxes just before they were bagged up and pressed send.

Jadon: Early bday present for u ❤️ Got a pair too cus I wanted us to match

Y/N: 😁 omg! thank u babey Y/N: that’s so sweet Y/N: i didn’t think you fancied them tho

Jadon: ❤️❤️❤️ Jadon: Yeah they look bare comfortable Jadon: And i need people to know we go together when we go out 😭 u don’t kno what i go thru

Y/N: ugh ur so brave, going out in public for me Y/N: thank u for ur sacrifice

Jadon: my **pleasure, innit ❤️

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“That’s what you’re wearing? You're sure?”

Jadon continued primping himself in the mirror beside you, flattening the crease in his jeans, and fitting clear glasses onto his face. Lastly, slowly, he dragged his palms down the lines of his shirt, and turned to admire the details on its back.

“Of course I am, what you mean? Got it customized and everything, just for your special day, didn’t I?”

The shirt was jersey material and a bright lilac purple with two grey stripes down the front, but the other side was what had made your breath catch when he’d pulled it out of his bag. Y/N’S BOYFRIEND it read, in sparkly block letters across the back.

“I love it! I love it so much. I love you! Come here.” was all you managed at first, through rapid kisses to his lips, cheeks, and neck, but now that the shock had passed the meaningfulness of the gesture began to set in. You hugged him from behind then, feeling the prickle of the glittery letters against your chest through your robe. The love and appreciation you felt was overwhelming.

“How’d you know I’d wear purple, too?” You murmured into his back.

“Cause I just know.” He answered, looking extremely proud of himself. His hands curled around yours as they travelled up his chest, bringing the left one up to his mouth for a kiss.

“You'll make me cry, you know. Ruin my make-up.”

“Nah, none of that. Go on, finish gettin ready.” He squeezed your butt gently. “They’ll have shut the lights off already, and I need everyone to see.”

Now, inside the small party being held in your honor you were convinced the shirt looked even better, shimmering under the flashing dance-floor lights and complimenting his tanned skin. Together with your lavender shirt-skirt set you looked like brown-skinned Barbie and Ken, like two halves of the same whole, and knowing so made your “birthday girl” glow increase tenfold.

Through the night you floated between groups of friends and acquaintainces, trading memories, laughing hard, and saying thank you for the thoughtful gifts and warm messages given from those who’d come to celebrate. Jadon stayed by your side without fail, clocking the eyes on his garment as he passed, and it seemed the the edges of his smile extended each time there was a whisper of “Aww” or a gasp of surprise. Every now and then he would drop your hand, letting you stray a little ahead of him before wrapping an arm around your waist or joining hands again, so that anyone who hadn’t seen the first time knew exactly who “Y/N” was. When you realized what he was doing, it first made you laugh, then feel warm, and then drag him onto the dance floor so you could pull your bodies close.

“I’m not gassin it, am I?” He asked into your ear, hands carefully pressing your back to his chest. “I’ll go chill, let you dance with your friends.”

“Nah, you’re exactly where I want you.” You leaned your head back onto his shoulder for a moment, closing your eyes, feeling the gentleness of his hands on your waist, of his voice in your ear. Remembering how it was your name on his back for all these friends and strangers in the party to see. The music bumped and your bodies’ continued swaying to it.

“I’m happy you’re here, baby. And I can’t stop thinking about your shirt.” You let out more of the happy giggling that had characterized the night. “It’s my favorite gift so far.”

He shrugged, and you felt the movement against your back.

“I’ve been out the city for a while, innit. Just want to make sure people know what it is, that they ain’t forgot.”

“Do you think I don’t do that?” Your body stilled between his arms. “Is that why you’re on about it so much?”

“No, I don’t think that.” He guided your waist to keep moving again, making a lazy circle in time to the beat. “But I gotta make sure. You know that with me people always got something to say, innit. Always speculation, rumors and that. So I do what I can to make sure there ain’t no questions, about us, I mean. Cause there ain’t.”

“Well, I don’t think nobody’s gonna get confused after tonight. You couldn’t have made it any more clear.”

Jadon only laughed, his actions tonight already saying far more than a million words could. He ducked his head down into your neck for two, three warm kisses, squeezing at your hip, and his soft lips on your skin made you shiver.

You turned in his arms towards him, wrapping yours around his neck.

“It makes me feel so good, though, that. That you’re so proud to be with me. Makes me feel very lucky, and special, very in love with you.”

“You are special.” His lips twitched, fighting a smile, and you scratched one hand into the hair at the back of his neck. ”You’re everything. And you’ve held me down for so long, baby, there ain’t even nobody else to think about. It’s just you, innit.”

“I love you” you spoke, a smile breaking across your features, leaning against him, cradling his face, parting his lips in a gesture that said mine. He returned the kiss and the three words in one breath, his heart thumping, and the only thought in his head a repeat chorus of yours yours yours.

[hear-that-music-in-the-air]

Helping Hand

My first RD fic! I haven't written proper fanfic in a hot minute but the little pixel people grabbed me by the throat and opened my google docs

Also shoutout to @nightmun for helping me visualize Ian's silly little mug

Summary: After seeing Ada struggle with the rhythm treatments, Ian comes up with a way to help her out.

Fic under the read-more :)

—

Dr. Edega loomed over her, his eyes boring into her back over the top of his clipboard.

"I expect better from you, Dr. Paige. Times are changing. If you can't keep up, then maybe you're not cut out for this job after all,” he said lowly.

Ada couldn't meet his gaze. Instead she stared down at her hands, balled into trembling fists, as her heart pounded in her ears. Burning tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, and she immediately felt ashamed, like a child being scolded.

She had messed up. She had been treating a patient with the rhythm defibrillator and started to panic as soon as she lost track of the tempo. Ian had frantically swooped in to take over and finished the treatment smoothly, while Ada had watched, feeling numb.

She was distantly aware of Ian pushing past her, positioning himself between her and Edega.

"D-Dr. Edega, sir—this is a very new, experimental treatment method. We're still working out the kinks and—and no one's going to be perfect at it right away."

"That's no excuse. There's no room for mistakes when lives are on the line. You both know that."

"N–Not every case we get is life-threatening," Ian said, and she was faintly surprised at the edge of anger creeping into his tone. "And she'll practice. She can—"

Edega pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"I don't care what she does as long as her performance improves. See to it that she receives more training as soon as possible. And keep looking for any bugs in the program in the meantime."

Ian opened his mouth to say something else, but was silenced by a single look from Edega. He shrunk into himself.

"Y–Yes, sir. Of course."

Edega turned on his heel and strode out of the room, leaving a heavy silence behind him. Ada didn't realize that she was still shaking until Ian placed a tentative hand on her shoulder.

"Ada?" His voice sounded so far away, as though he were speaking to her from underwater. She attempted to pull herself back, focusing on the warmth of his hand as a grounding point. She placed her own fingers unsteadily over his and gave him a tremulous smile.

“I’m…okay.”

Ian watched her face, brow furrowed in concern.

"He—he shouldn't speak to you like that. I—I hate it."

She sniffled and quickly swiped at the tears that were threatening to spill under her glasses. She took a deep breath and straightened, attempting to look professional instead of pathetic.

"No. He's right. We can't afford to make stupid mistakes in this line of work. And it’s not…it’s not just him.” She remembered the way the patient’s heart rate had spiked on the monitor when she missed a beat, and let out a shaky sigh. “I just...can't stop thinking about what might have happened if you weren't here."

Ian frowned.

"Ada. You can't go beating yourself up over what might have happened."

"Sure I can," she joked weakly. Ian didn't laugh.

"We're—we're all trying our best here," he continued. "And Edega doesn't see how much you do for the patients every day. He barely comes out of his office, and when he does it's only to—to reprimand us for something or other. Everyone else in this hospital loves you. You—you're a good doctor, Ada."

As she stared at him, all of the tears that she had swallowed came rising back up in her throat. She let her head fall against his shoulder with a soft thump, and a quiet sob escaped her. She felt Ian freeze for a moment, uncertain, before he awkwardly wrapped an arm around her. She leaned into the warmth.

"Sorry," he whispered. "Not really a hugger."

Ada let out a watery laugh.

"I know, doofus. Thank you."

She pulled back and tried in vain to wipe the tear stains from his coat.

“Ugh, I’m sorry. I’m crying all over you. This is gross.”

“Yeah, a little bit,” Ian said. “But that’s okay.”

Ada collapsed into a nearby chair, suddenly feeling indescribably exhausted. She pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes before letting out another long sigh. Ian sat down next to her, awkwardly rubbing the back of his hand.

"Personalized care, comforting patients, that's what I'm good at,” Ada said. “You're the one who’s amazing at all the technical stuff.” 

She stared up into the harsh light of the overhead fluorescents, letting her vision go blurry. 

“All Edega seems to care about is getting people in and out of treatment as quickly as possible. Seems like if he has his way, pretty soon everything will be done remotely. I guess I just feel kind of useless,” she muttered.

“You’re not useless,” Ian said quietly.

Ada made a noncommittal sound.

“Like you said, there’s so many other things you’re good at. Trust me, Ada, we—we’ll always need you. You’re everyone’s favorite doctor. Otherwise, they’d all be stuck with me,” he joked.

She attempted to muster a smile, but she knew it didn’t quite reach her eyes. Ian frowned again and fell silent for a long moment, seemingly lost in thought. Then he stood abruptly, nearly startling her out of her seat.

“Oh! I—I might actually know a way to help you!” he cried, pacing excitedly. “M–Meet me in the basement when you come in tomorrow.”

Ada blinked up at him, baffled. “Oh…um…okay? What—?”

Ian was already gone, scurrying down the hallway towards the door that led to the basement. Ada shook her head bemusedly, before scooping up her clipboard from the nearby table to see which patient she needed to check on next. She took a moment and closed her eyes, mentally preparing for the rest of her shift. 

Deep breaths.

She heaved herself onto her feet, and set off in the other direction towards Cole’s room.

—

When she came down to the basement the next morning, Ian looked haggard, yawning and rubbing at his eyes under his glasses. When he saw her, however, he lit up in a smile and eagerly waved her over.

“Ada! Hey! C-Come here, I have something to show you.”

On his desk was the rhythm defibrillator device, and attached to it was a new button that she didn’t recognize.

“...What’s this?” she asked as she slowly descended the stairs.

Ian spun around in his chair to face her, gesturing enthusiastically.

“I was up all night testing this, but it—it works! Basically, it modulates the detected heartbeats to—to simplify them on our end, and then it translates the button input back to the original complexity to match the patient’s heart pattern. S-So you’ll still be administering the same treatment, but it should be easier to—”

Tears welled in her eyes all over again, and Ada practically fell forward to pull him into a hug, grinning from ear to ear. Ian stiffened uncomfortably, and she suddenly remembered herself.

She stepped back and laughed sheepishly as she wiped away the tears.

“Right. Not a hugger. Sorry, I really need to be better about that.”

Ian looked at her for a moment, sighed, and then smiled. He stood from his chair and wrapped her in another hug, tighter than before.

“I’m willing to make exceptions,” he mumbled into her shoulder. Ada’s heart swelled, and she squeezed him back just as tightly. Then Ian let out a yelp as she lifted him off his feet in her excitement, and she quickly set him back down. 

“Too much?”

Ian laughed weakly, smoothing down his rumpled coat.

“Too much.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

She returned her attention to the new button, running her fingers over the smooth surface. It looked fairly similar to the standard one, though slightly bigger. She gently pressed it down and it made a satisfying click.

“Thank you, Ian, seriously. This is…incredible.”

Ian scratched the back of his neck bashfully.

“It’s the least I could do. You already work so hard. H–Hopefully, this’ll make your job a little easier.”

Ada suddenly remembered his words from yesterday. You’re everyone’s favorite doctor. Otherwise, they’d all be stuck with me.

“You’re doing a good job, too, by the way,” she said softly. “Edega’s an idiot if he doesn’t see that. I know that a lot of your work is behind the scenes, but it’s just as important.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Ian looked away, embarrassed. “Y-You don’t have to say that.”

Ada smiled fondly.

“Just want you to know that you’ll always be my favorite radiologist.”

“I’m quite literally th–the only radiologist that we have.”

“Still.”

Ian finally broke into a smile, too. “Okay, okay. H-How about we test this thing?”

—

A week later, Ada told him that she had a gift for him, and produced a small white coffee mug from her coat pocket. Ian burst out laughing when he saw it.

“Wait, d-does that say ‘number one radiologist?’”

It was a “Number One Dad” mug from the dollar store that Ada had drawn over with a permanent marker. She had added two lines under the first D to turn it into an R, and had scribbled “-iologist” underneath, along with a little smiley face at the end. The mug soon became a permanent fixture on Ian’s desk, and she grinned to herself every time she passed by it.

[cerastes]

Question, Dreamer: Do you think Irene gets forcibly dragged into the Abyss Hunter polycule, or does Specter just seduce her with violence, cheer, etc.?

Right, so, to understand the dynamics of the Abyssal Hunters plus their unwillingly honorary member by association, Irene, you need to have a deep Insight of Bloodborne, but worry not, I will hold your hand through this nightmare and see to it that you get as firm a grip on the subject as an Amygdala does on people picking up the top hat for the first time without getting lost in the umbilical chords.

The important thing to understand here is that Irene is a recently minted Good Hunter. In Under Tides, she thought she was hot shit, because she beat Dark Souls 1 with a Havel build (which is like bragging that you know how to tie your shoes), but quickly realized she was, in fact, cold diarrhea when she invaded Skadi several times and Skadi kept shoving her arm right up her ass and wearing her like Kermit the Frog. It took seeing the PvP between Skadi and the High Inquisitor to realize she was playing a whole different ball game that Shield Souls 1, so that's when you could say Irene really started playing Bloodborne.

The thing is, everyone else in the Abyssal Hunter storyline is already a NG+3 Good Hunter. Skadi is your usual, run of the mill Lv. 260~ Strength build Ludwig's Holy Blade jane, as generic as it gets, but like a dynamite flinging poet once so eloquently declared, "hey, as long as it works", but Skadi is hot garbage at communicating because she's had bad prior experiences with Xbox Live kids telling her all about the activities they plan to engage her mother with, so she doesn't really communicate with Irene beyond beating her ass black and blue. Gladiia is a Lv. 260~ Rifle Spear Dex-Bloodtinge build, but she does not interact at all with Irene because at that point, Irene had school the other day and had to go to bed early. However, Irene watched the VODs the next day, and realized just how much stronger and better Hunters everyone else was compared to her.

Now, with this in mind, we need to talk about how Specter fits in the equation. Without going into details about what Stultifera Navis, the sequel to Under Tides, will entail, Specter's dynamic with Irene is different: Specter, a Lv. 260~ Whirligig Saw BIG Vitality-Strength build, infamous for her magic pixel clutches against even the meanest Chalice bosses, but here's the biggest difference between her and every other Good Hunter so far: Specter will tell you what it did. Between Under Tides and Stultifera Navis, Irene honed her skills with Devil May Cry and Super Monkey Ball, and no longer champions the Havel school of thought: She's sharper, faster, deadlier, and most importantly, receptive to the lessons others may have to impart in the arts of not beefing it in front of girls. Now, the Specter factor is that Irene and Specter met briefly on Twitch chat while Skadi was PvPing, and Specter (who is a mod) was like heeeey I recognize you, you got your ass kicked, let's co-op some time, I can help you out, and Irene was like "bet", so they did some Chalice Dungeons co-op and Specter could communicate exactly what it was that Irene was doing wrong: The Seaborn, see, or Bloodborne enemies, are a completely different breed of adversary than your regular Terran, or Dark Souls enemies, so you have to play ball their way or it's the high way. So Irene not only Knew What It Did, she had the fortune of having a high level Hunter help her figure out What Else It Did and how to step in and handle it. In various ways, it's this humbling yet formative experience that polishes Irene from a rough piece of Havel charcoal into a vibrant Dex-Bloodtinge Reiterpallasch build that doesn't get mad and that can handle Orphan of Kos just fine.

Okay, now you have the necessary context, now I can address your question: All of this comes with a TAX, now that Irene is also a top Bloodborne player, she ends up going to meet Specter IRL so they can do some PvP seshes with no lag, so Irene shows up to Specter's place with her PS4 (nervous, first offline meeting) but surprise surprise, it's not just Specter, Skadi is there too in a shitass 5 dollar comfy as hell hoodie and nothing else, getting in a HEATED 1v1 in the Nightmare of Mensis with Gladiia. They are both sitting in stools, drinking stale soda and eating cold pizza from yesterday. Irene realizes what's going on, but it's too late, the shark already has a grip on her wrist, and is showing her to her stool. They are going to do round robin 2v2s. Irene's going to drink 7up. There's no getting out of this one.

And as we all know, the only thing that follows Bloodborne PvP is furious earth-shattering building-demolishing back-scarring supersoldier sex and that's how Irene joins the polycule, I hope this explains it.

[boots-with-the-fur-club]

Special auvember entry, me and my rise bestie wrote our own parts! This is part 1! Part 2 will be posted soon by @daboyau !

@tmntaucompetition

Artificial

“-and the award goes to….Donnie!”

Donatello smirks as he stands up, beginning to walk over to the stage. He carefully fixed the collar of the white shirt under his black suit and purple tie.

He was completely prepared for this. It was just obvious he’d win. The cheering all around him was still music to his ears though.

Reaching the podium, the award was draped around his neck in the form of a medal.

The national medal of technology and innovation.

He pivots back towards the crowd and speaks into the microphone.

“Esteemed guests and colleagues, I stand before you to receive yet another very well deserved award. This probably comes as no surprise to you all at this point, but I appreciate it nonetheless. My achievements are so impressive, I took the liberty of bringing them here with me! Behold!”

With a wave of his hand, the nearby curtain drops and reveals three color coded robots.

The blue robot poses dramatically.

The red robot has his arms folded over each other but smiles proudly.

The orange robot waves enthusiastically.

The crowd cheers louder. Donnie’s smirk only gets bigger.

“As incredibly amazing as my work is, I do have to credit the people I based them off of, my-“

The smirk is wiped completely off his face. The only person he knew in the crowd was April. His other family members were nowhere to be seen.

“….brothers? Where are they?”

“We’re right here, Dontron!” The blue robot leans over.

“You are not my brothers. While I did have this idea as a backup plan, that was only for emergencies! You’re not the originals.”

“Of course we are! You built the perfect family!” The orange robot chirps happily.

“Come on Dee, you’re supposed to show us off. This is your time to shine!” The red robot insists.

“What is this? What’s going on here!?” Donnie begins patting around his pockets to try to find his folded up tech bō.

The blue robot walks over to him.

“Big bro, you need to chill. You’re kind of bumming the mood of your own award ceremony. How about we just go home and watch Lou Jitsu? We can watch Punch Chowder, eat some pepperoni pizza, what do you say?”

Donnie stills for a moment.

“I have just one thing to say.”

“Yeah? What-“

The robot gets a bō to the side of the head that sends it flying into the curtain, pulling it down with him.

Everything starts becoming pixelated and glitchy around the area the robots were. It spreads terrifyingly quickly. He only has time to scream before it reaches him.

He finds himself screaming into darkness. He can feel something on his face.

His hand reaches up and throws it off. It hits the wall and breaks. It seemed to be some kind of headset.

That’s when he realizes several things.

One: He wasn’t alone.

Two: He wasn’t as young as he thought he was.

The headset had messed with his head. In that dream, or more accurately that probably artificially created scenario, he was 16.

He was about twice that age now.

That was very apparent from seeing his brothers also in this small room.

They were slumped over with headsets similar to the now broken one on the ground.

Obviously, they had all aged as well.

The other things he noticed became more apparent as he got his bearings.

Three: He was desperately thirsty, hungry, and his body felt like it hadn’t moved in ages.

From this, it could be concluded that the warped reality had him under for much longer than he thought.

He rushes over to try to take the headsets off his brothers, seeing their lips chapped made them situation all the more urgent.

Who knows if they had been there longer than him?

A strong jolt of electricity has him yoink his hand back in pain.

“Dammit! I can’t get them off….how did I free myself?” He picks up a piece of his broken helmet.

There’s a quiet hiss from himself as he notices the Purple Dragon symbol.

It was Purple Dragon and not Dragons ever since Kendra’s friends left her. An inevitably considering how she treated them.

She was going to pay for this all the same.

There were traces of purple, a different kind of purple, on the headset as well. That extra purple was his own ninpo.

It must have short circuited it.

He drops the piece back on the floor. If he woke himself up, then his brothers would have to too.

But that wasn’t something he could or would want to wait on. It might not even happen. He could have just gotten lucky.

Looking at his brothers, he wonders who he should try to help first.

His eyes land on Leo.

There’s a soft ache in his heart. The last time they saw each other, it didn’t end very well.

If he saved him he might be able to hold it over his head enough for them to have a proper conversation.

And if he was being honest, which he wasn’t, not even to himself, Leo usually had good strategies in situations like these.

He sits down next to him and closes his eyes.

Entering a mind meld again after so many years was an odd experience. That was especially true because of what the headset was doing to Leo’s mind in the first place.

There was some disorientation as he not so gracefully landed on some carpeting. Glancing around, it’s clear that he’s wound up in a random house.

He stands up, rubbing his now sore lower shell.

“What could you possibly want that has to do with a house like this, ‘Nardo?” He mumbles to himself.

Donnie begins to walk around to try to find him.

Sounds coming from nearby lead him into a living room. The couch in there obstructed the view of the two people sitting on it.

They were unfamiliar.

Their voices weren’t.

“Leo, stop it! I know you’re cheating!“

“Me!? You’ve been cheating from the start! This is just my revenge!”

He frowns.

This was a conversation they had while gaming plenty of times. One he hasn’t heard in years.

When was the last time he even talked to him?

“You think that’s enough to win against me? That doesn’t even scrap the surface of my genius ideas!”

God, is this what Leo thinks he sounds like?

“Oh yeah? What else could you possibly have left?”

“This. Oh look at that! Shove.”

Leo gets shoved off the couch.

Okay, maybe that was fair.

Leo was younger here as expected, but also….human. So was the artificial version of himself.

He stares straight at him and gets no sign that Leo can see him.

This would be complicated.

This also isn’t exactly what he was prepared for.

Why was Leo’s perfect world one where they aren’t turtles anymore?

“Cheap shot! Come here!” Leo lunges towards the fake Donnie.

They roll around fighting until the front door opens.

“Guys! We’re home! I got first place at the art exhibition!” Mikey calls out.

Leo shoots straight up, blonde hair messed up by the fight.

“Ha! Told you! I knew you’d win!”

He drops out of view as artificial Donnie pops up instead.

“Mazel. Put your trophy in the case so I can put it in my achievement data.”

“You’ll have to add mine too! Got a plaque from the animal shelter for employee of the month.”

Leo goes back into view.

“Woah, 3rd month in a row Raph. You should be running the place by now.”

Original Donnie walks over to the largest trophy case he’s ever seen in his life. It was not practical by any means.

There were tons of trophies lining the shelves. He expected a lot of them to be Leo’s, but they surprisingly were divided just about evenly among them.

Mikey and Raph place their awards inside. Artificial Donnie inputs the information into a tablet while Leo pats Mikey and Raph’s shoulders in congratulations.

“Boys! Are you home? I brought dinner!” A voice shouts from the kitchen.

Ordinal Donnie’s blood runs cold.

He should have seen this coming.

“Coming, dad!” Leo responds before running to the kitchen.

The artificial brothers follow, as does original Donnie once he’s able to get a hold of himself.

Everyone sat around the table while a human version of their father places takeout on it.

Splinter.

He looks exactly like Lou Jitsu in his prime here.

Oh gods, it’s been so long.

He misses him so much.

Of course Leo would have him here.

“Papa, did you film that scene with the seven deadly vipers move today?” Artificial Donnie asks.

“I did! You should have seen Chad’s face when they sent him in as the stunt double, hehe. Enough about my day, I heard the trophy cabinet opening. Tell me who got what.”

Raph and Mikey happily talk about their accomplishments as the four of them all eat.

Original Donnie felt worse the longer he was there.

He was the only one aware that it wasn’t like this.

That it could never be like this.

He watched as Splinter turned his attention towards Leo and artificial Donnie, praising them for things he had heard about happening earlier in the week.

A good basketball match, an exemplarily grade on a math test.

Jealousy bubbled up inside him as this fake father pat the him that wasn’t him’s head.

The mention of pride broke him.

He slams his hands on the table, purple ninpo dancing across his arms.

“This isn’t your life, dumb dumb!”

The artificial family and Leo finally see him and have looks of fear.

“Who’s that!?” Mikey screams.

“Kids, get behind me!”

“Dad, no! I’ve got this!” Leo insists.

Crap.

Well, if there was one thing that might be able to break Leo out of this, it would be a major shock.

Possibly.

He didn’t have many data points to work with.

Original Donnie leaps over the dinner table and grabs his artificial self.

He didn’t have it in him to hurt the fake Splinter.

“No! Stop! Leave him alone!” Leo shouts, grabbing his plate and throwing it at original Donnie.

Donnie easily deflects it, shattering the plate.

“If you want to save your real brothers, you have to wake up, Leo!”

“What are you even talking about!? Just let him go! Please! You….you can have me instead if you want, okay!? He’s a nerd! You don’t want him!”

“This is the only way.” Donnie slams artificial Donnie’s head into the table.

Leo screams and jumps at him.

After some glitching and pixelating, it’s suddenly the real Leo that’s tackled him.

His hands are around his neck as the pieces of the headset crumble all around him. There’s tears dripping down his face.

“You hurt my brother!”

“I-Idiot! I am your brother!” Donnie struggles.

Leo’s expression takes a second to change, but when it does he finally releases his grip on Donnie’s throat.

Donnie takes in a big breathe and then tries to get said breathing under control.

Leo lifts him up, hugging him tightly.

“Donnie! You glorious nerd, I thought something happened to you!”

Donnie quickly takes the opportunity to hug him back just as tight.

He knew it wouldn’t last very long.

“Leo. I’m sorry, okay? Please just listen to me.”

“Huh? Of course, why wouldn’t I-“

The disorientation finally fades away and Leo let’s him go.

“Oh.”

“Leo, I didn’t mean any of it.”

Leo looks anywhere but him, which let’s him see Raph and Mikey still unconscious.

“Did you do this? Did you bring us all here?”

“No! It was Kendra, I don’t know why, but I know how to fix it.”

“Then why would we waste time having a conversation!? Help them, Donnie!”

“Because if we don’t talk now you’re going to leave the moment this is all handled!”

“Oh, I’m going to leave!? That’s hilarious! Dad did always say you were the funniest, didn’t he!?”

“Leo-“

“The funniest thing you ever did was say you were getting some air at the funeral and not coming back!”

“I didn’t-“

“Or maybe it was even funnier when I found your room empty! Just hilarious! I was venting to a door with no one on the other side! Perfect time to make me look like an idiot!”

“That wasn’t my-“

“No no, it was actually comedy goal when I managed to find you and I was so so happy I did. It was when you told me that if I needed something I could just ask the robot you left behind. It was when you refused to come back with me and said to consider you gone too! That’s it!”

Donnie looks down in shame.

“I didn’t know how to handle how I felt. You had everyone else. It’s not like I left you alone.”

“I only had Raph and Mikey for a few more years! We all split off because we weren’t whole anymore! Did you think I was okay!? With you gone I had to pretend so hard I was because I wanted to help Mikey keep us together! Mikey of all people gave up, Raph gave up! I failed as a leader! And you weren’t there!”

“I already told you I’m sorry! What do you want me to do to have you forgive me!? Whatever it is I’ll do it!”

“I want you to act like it was a tough decision to leave me behind! To leave all of us behind! I want you to lie and say you missed me! Missed our family!”

“You think it wasn’t hard for me….?”

“You didn’t hesitate! You had no emotion on your face! You snubbed me that whole last conversation we had!”

Leo’s face softens as he sees Donnie shaking.

“I’ve never regretted something more in my life! I do miss you! I miss you and Raph and Mikey and I miss dad! I threw myself into years and years of inventing and hiding and any distraction I could get my hands on! By the time I snapped out of it….I felt like it was too late. You all moved on. I didn’t deserve to talk to you again after what I did. Even now I hoped being the one to save you was enough for….something! Anything! I…I….am pathetic.”

“…..Yeah, you’re pathetic….”

Donnie breathes shakily.

“Let it all out, I guess-“

Leo once again clings to him.

“But so am I. I love you, Donnie, even if you’re the dumbest genius I know. I’m so pissed….and even if you had come back earlier I still would have been. But I will always let you come back.”

Donnie returns the clinging and presses his face into Leo’s shoulder, quietly sobbing.

They continue holding onto each other until they finally feel they can let go.

Donnie wipes his eyes.

“I used a mind meld and ninpo to bring you out of it. You couldn’t tell I was there until my ninpo activated. I had to make you activate yours too to break the headset.”

“So that’s how we can save Raph and Mikey.”

“Yes, but we have another problem.”

“What is it?”

“Judging by the light from the one window in this room, the small amount of time I spent in your artificial prison was actually a few hours.”

“We don’t have that much time to save them then. I’ll help Raph while you help Mikey. Afterwards, we find a way to escape.”

“I have to admit, hearing you lead again is somewhat strange.”

Leo chuckles softly.

“Maybe if you had left an address for me to send Christmas cards to, I could have let you know that I’ve got new guys I’m helping out. Nothing like we were doing, but….helping with a yokai theatre camp in my spare time is still something.”

“I’d….like to hear more when we have time. Truly.” Donnie smiles softly.

Leo smiles back.

“I’m going to hold you to that. Now let’s get to saving them so we can hold it over their heads forever.”

Donnie nods.

They sit down next to their brothers and begin their mind melds.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t be too late.

[talesfromthebacklog]

Are you looking to click with a new game and want something genuinely different?

I am always hunting for new titles to reinvigorate that click I feel with video games. Not all video games will click but when they do they can be something truly special. I wanted to go over some of my favorite games I’ve played in recent years that are available on current gen consoles. I’m not covering anyone upcoming, these are titles you can pick up today. Cheaply at that. Several of which are on sale on Steam right now as of writing this.

So. Enough chit chat. Lets’s start with an easy one:

Paradise Killer:

PC Switch PS4/PS5 Xbox

I just finished this one and am in the middle of writing my review on it. Painfully stylish with a killer vaporwave soundtrack this game oozes aesthetic. Kaizen Game Works understood the hauntology assignment and took it to the MAX. You are an investigator trying to solve an immortal god-like council’s murder in a dystopian society. You’ve returned to this gorgeous open world parasite paradise from your exile of 3 million days (about 8219 years)! If you’ve played Outer Wilds this is among that same vein. (And I will caution you, while not hard, the game relies on you wanting to just explore. It will provide hints but it won’t hold your hand.)

This is an Ace Attorney-esqe collectathon mixed with open world and exploration. There is no combat. Both the writing and the world are spectacular. Don’t deny yourself something this wonderful, because it is.

This has quickly risen among my gaming ranks as a favorite and it hits to being as close of a favorite as my number 2 suggestion…

Outer Wilds:

PC Switch PS4/PS5 Xbox

This is perhaps one of my favorite games of all time. I wanted to talk about this second because Outer Wilds has received more of the notoriety it deserves in recent times and I wanted PK to get the main spotlight. Don’t get it twisted though If it wasn’t for UpIsNotJump’s video (<— Spoilers) I would have never realized what I was missing. And I still think a lot of people don’t understand what they’re missing too. It is an absolute masterpiece. And seeing it getting released physically again is a god send. I want people to play this game. (And it’s DLC Echoes of The Eye)

No combat. You are a scientist exploring your local solar system in your spaceship in an open “universe” instead of an open world. The sun explodes every 22 minutes which sends your memories back in time. Again, I will caution you that the game relies on you wanting to explore. It will not direct you.

Eastward:

PC Switch Xbox

Too much exploring. Let’s reel it back with Eastward. A Zelda-like where you control an older man and a little girl with psychic powers in a post apocalyptic world. If you’re looking for those fun pixel games that pack that quirky feel this is it. A bit existential, a great sense of humor, and fantastic writing are all part of the Eastward package. (You startin’ to see a theme here? Ha ha)

All while boasting a seriously killer pixel soundtrack. The original Iron Carbine trailer for the Nintendo Direct had an immediate impact on me as a gamer. I knew this was a game I would fall in love with. Sometimes you just know when something is special. This game is beautifully pixelated and packed with lovingly crafted content. Puzzles are the right amount of challenging and there is so much fun side stuff to do. Including a Dragon Quest-esqe game inside the game! It also received DLC via Eastward Octopia! Which I also love.

Moon: A Remix RPG

PC Switch PS4/PS5

I do play games with combat. I swear. Several of these games just don’t have it! (Ha!) This will perhaps be the hardest game to sell to you on this list. I have a soft spot for quirky games like this, but know that this was a PS1 Japanese exclusive game in the 90s. And it sure acts like it. Slow to start, weak tutorial, and doesn’t provide a ton of direction. This game was ported into English for the first time in 2020 and I love it. It is a trial and error experience though.

This cult classic is one of the games that inspired Undertale and when you play it becomes wildly apparent. I dare say it reminds me more of Undertale than its other main inspiration Earthbound. You are a little boy that’s been fallen into his video game and you have to save the souls of monsters the hero has killed using love. (Sound familiar?)

Light hearted and weird this game also has a great sense of humor as it pokes at classic RPG tropes. And that slow intro comes into play providing a unique perspective as you journey through the game befriending people. It won’t be for everyone, I would research this one before sinking the… $18.99 on the purchase. But I think it is worth experiencing if you love Undertale.

I think I’ve yakked enough. If folks like the post I’ll follow up with a part two with a little more genre variety! I wanted to the first post to include my top favorites. So. I hope there’s something in there that invigorates you the way these games did for me.

[yakkolicious-writing]

Brotherly Love

"Oldest child bedroom 001" by Tim Evanson, Modifications: Resized to 3000x1055 pixels is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Family Fandom: Animaniacs Central Relationship: Wakko Warner & Yakko Warner Wordcount: 1,473 words Summary: When Wakko tries to get a glass of milk in the middle of the night, he hears crying coming from Yakko's bedroom. What's going on? Warnings: None Rating: G. Suitable for all audiences.

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56653579

I'm back with a new one-shot! This is an alternate universe one-shot that isn't canon-compliant at all. The Warners are children in 1930s America in this story. Yakko is five, Wakko is two, and Dot is a newborn. The Warners also have parents (loosely based on Sir William the Good and Princess Angelina Contessa II) in this story! I hope you enjoy it!

It was a quiet, peaceful night at the Warner Bros. water tower. Everyone was asleep except for Wakko Warner. It was midnight, and he had been put to bed at eight, but he couldn’t sleep; he was thirsty. He needed a glass of milk, but he didn’t know how to get it. Normally, he would call for his mother, and she would bring him a glass, but ever since his little sister Dot was born, she became preoccupied with her. She didn’t leave Dot much either, as Dot would cry every time she was separated from her. Mom was out of the question, but what about Dad? He might’ve been asleep at the moment, but maybe Wakko could ask him for help. All he had to do was get out of bed to make sure.

Wakko rolled off the side of his bed, landing on his belly with a thud. He was silent for a moment, but he giggled afterwards and crawled to his bedroom door. He looked up at the doorknob. He couldn’t reach it like this. He reached his hand up, but he still couldn’t reach it. Wakko stuck his tongue out slightly as he realized what he would need to do: he had to stand up. He wasn’t particularly good at standing or walking yet, but if he was going to ask Dad for milk, he had to try. Wakko stood up with a grunt and reached his hand up. He opened and closed his hand rapidly as he tried to grab onto the doorknob. Wakko jumped, and once he did so, he managed to grab the doorknob. He gasped and grinned, and his tail began to wag like that of a dog who had just been handed a bone. Wakko turned the knob, and the door cracked open just enough that Wakko could walk out. Wakko giggled and hobbled out the door.

It was strange to be in the tower hallway all alone. Neither Dad nor Mom was there to guide him. It was just Wakko and his little feet against the world. His first instinct was to check his parents’ and Dot’s bedroom, since his parents slept in the same bed. He never understood why anyone would want to sleep in the same bed as someone else, even if they loved each other. Wakko loved Dot and his older brother Yakko, but he wouldn’t want to sleep in the same bed as them. He liked having his own bed, where he could stretch out as much as he wanted to. Regardless, apparently Mom and Dad liked to do that, so their bedroom would be the first place he’d check. Wakko walked as quickly as his little legs would let him. He stumbled every once in a while, but he walked very well for a thirsty two-year-old.

Before Wakko could make it to his parents’ bedroom, he heard muffled crying. His ears perked up, and he turned his head to the nearest door: the door to Yakko’s bedroom. He hobbled closer to it, and the crying continued. He also heard a sweet voice trying to comfort the crier.

“Hey, hey,” the voice said, “it’ll be alright, Yak. Monsters aren’t real. They won’t getcha.”

Wakko’s heart sunk as he realized it was his father trying to comfort Yakko. Yakko! For as long as Wakko could remember, Yakko was never upset. He always had a smile on his face and something to say, whether it was something sweet or something funny. Nightmares were for little kids, like Wakko and Dot, not big kids like Yakko. Why was he of all people having a nightmare? This wasn’t right. Yakko wasn’t supposed to have nightmares.

As much as he wanted milk, Wakko wanted to see if Yakko was doing alright first. Wakko did as he did before and jumped, grabbing onto the doorknob, turning, and opening the door just enough so he could walk inside. The door creaked as he opened it, and Yakko and his father’s eyes focused on Wakko. Both of them went silent, Yakko only sniffling once. They sat on Yakko’s bed, side by side, the brothers’ father’s hand on Yakko’s shoulder. Wakko waddled into the room, his tongue hanging from his mouth, and he looked up at his dad and older brother.

“Wakko, honey,” Dad began, “Daddy needs to talk to Yakko right now. Could you go someplace else and wait? Wait, how did you even get out of your room?”

Wakko giggled.

“He’s smart, Dad,” Yakko said with a sniffle.

“Smart!” Wakko repeated.

“That you are,” Dad replied, “anyways, go someplace else, Wakko.”

“No!” Wakko shook his head.

Dad sighed and looked at Wakko curiously, putting his free hand on his hip.

“Why don’t you wanna leave?” Dad asked, “ya thirsty?”

Wakko gave his father the stink eye. He was right about him being thirsty, but that didn’t matter right now. Right now, Yakko was crying, and he wasn’t supposed to do that. Yakko was more important than anything else.

“No,” Wakko answered, “sad.”

“You’re sad?” Dad asked, “how come?”

“Yakko’s sad,” Wakko said.

Yakko sniffled and started to cry again. Dad patted his shoulder gently, when Wakko got an idea. He hobbled towards Yakko’s bed and grabbed onto it, wagging his tail. He grunted and jumped up and down, but he couldn’t seem to get up. As Yakko sobbed and sobbed, Dad noticed Wakko trying to get on the bed. He took his hand off Yakko’s shoulder and held his arms out for Wakko. When Wakko saw his dad’s arms, he walked over to him. Once he was in-between his dad’s hands, Dad picked Wakko up and set him on the bed. Wakko quickly looked at Yakko as he cried. So many tears were streaming down his cheeks that his entire face looked drenched, and his blue striped pajamas were a bit wet as well. His normally white face had turned red in the middle. Whenever Yakko would take a small break from crying, he would shake and shiver. Wakko hated seeing Yakko like this. He was so… scared. Yakko wasn’t the type to get scared too often. He had to make him feel better, but how? Whenever Wakko had a nightmare and Yakko saw, Yakko would try to make him smile, usually by telling him a joke or singing him a song, sometimes by picking him up, giving him a hug, and telling him that everything was going to be alright in the end. Wakko didn’t know how to tell a joke or sing a song, and he wasn’t strong enough to pick Yakko up, but he could try to hug Yakko and share some comforting words, even if he didn’t know too many.

Wakko wrapped his arms around Yakko’s arm and closed his eyes. Yakko looked down at him, teardrops shimmering in his eyes.

“Huh?” Yakko asked.

Wakko did not reply. He squeezed Yakko’s arm as tightly as he could. It didn’t hurt Yakko. It felt like a nice hug, just around his arm instead of around his entire body like a conventional hug.

“It’s OK, Yakko,” Wakko said, “it’s OK.”

Yakko sniffled and shook. He wanted to tell Wakko a lot of the stuff he told Dad before he came in, but he didn’t want to scare Wakko either. All he did was watch Wakko in silence.

“I love you,” Wakko whispered.

The boys’ father’s eyes glistened with joy, and a massive smile appeared on his face.

“That’s the first time Wakko’s ever said ‘I love ya,’” he whispered.

Yakko’s frown grew softer and softer before eventually it turned into a smile. Tears were still in his eyes, but instead of tears of fear, they became tears of love. Yakko wrapped his arms around Wakko with a grin, and Wakko smiled back at his older brother.

“Look at my boys, they’re so sweet,” Dad softly said, “I’m so glad they love each other.”

Wakko and Yakko’s dad stood up, put his hands on his hips, and looked at his sons, still hugging each other, Yakko looking much happier than he did before.

“Hey, since the two of you are here,” he began, “would you like me to get you boys anything?”

“I’m fine, Dad,” Yakko said, “Wakko’s making me feel better.”

“That’s good,” Dad replied, “how about you, Wakko?”

“Milk!” Wakko exclaimed.

The boys giggled, and Wakko’s tail wagged rapidly.

“Alright,” Dad said, “if milk is what you want, then milk you shall get. I’ll be right back!”

The Warners’ father waved to Wakko and Yakko before slipping out of the bedroom. Once he left, Yakko and Wakko focused their eyes on each other. Nightmares weren’t fun, but Wakko knew he could count on Yakko whenever he had one. Now, Yakko knew that he could count on Wakko when he had a nightmare too.

[hgejfmw-hgejhsf]

Find the Words!

Thank you @anincompletelist and @theprinceandagcd for two tags in this game!

*cracks knuckles* Let's see what my WIPs have, shall we?

My words are: make, hide, square, edge, atmosphere

AND

hope, smooth, skin, water, paper

After the cut for length and suggestibility (on a couple)

Word: make WIP: Henry hurt/comfort

“I think,” Alex starts, wondering if this is one of those moments that his mom meant about flying too close to the sun before he realizes that no, being in this car and leaving this way is. So he quickly adjusts course, “I’d like to go back. To make sure Henry’s okay.”

Word: hide WIP: A deleted scene from Take Your Time

You’re the sun. Shining your warmth down on the icy waters. Bringing an end to the darkness. But also shedding light on the destruction that has been wrought. I strayed from the light for so long because I feared what I would see when I could no longer hide behind the excuse of blindness to the truth of my own existence. Cold-hearted. Turning back all who venture near out of fear. And now I realize precisely what that all means. I’m not the unsinkable ship. I’m the iceberg.

Word: square WIP: None of the above, I'm afraid haha

Word: edge WIP: The Notebook AU

“What the fuck is all this security doing here?” Alex asks as June blows a kiss to Nora that she catches and apparently uses as some sort of secret fuel for her bumper car, jettisoning it head-on into the wall and screaming as she does it. He glances at the surrounding perimeter along the edge of the carnival, security guards in suits with earpieces like something straight out of a spy movie standing unmoving nearby.

Word: atmosphere WIP: Also none of the above!

Word: hope WIP: DNC fill-in-the-blanks

It remains even after collapsing, physically and mentally spent, into sheets that are not his own, and sliding his own calloused fingers over his bare skin in the desperate hope that the memory of Henry’s soft fingers playing a muted melody over his ribs might come back to him. It lingers despite the sight of Henry’s face, pixelated and blurry in the dark of the night on his phone screen, enough to make him come with just a few strokes of his hand at the tenor of Henry’s voice. It hums through his body, until he has no choice but to seek refuge against the closest nearby structure to regain his composure, for every single second that all six of the senses he was blessed with aren’t filled with Henry.

Word: smooth WIP: Lake house 5+1

The sun is just beginning to start its descent to the horizon for its well earned slumber after another perfectly dazzling summer day spent bringing new freckles to life as previously undiscovered landmarks on a map of soft, smooth skin, dancing in narrowed blue eyes rarely unhidden from behind dark glasses, and bleaching already golden hair to a resplendent color unnamed by nature. Alex lounges on the hammock, drifting somewhere in that blissful heaven between sleep and waking, when you can feel the breeze on your skin as your subconscious slowly concocts the perfect dream of long legs and nimble fingers and effervescent laughter. Henry lies beside him, his sun kissed skin warm against Alex’s leg, an anchor to the consciousness he can slowly feel slipping away with each passing moment.

Word: skin WIP: Drunk Me

But privately, he wondered if he’d ever have the chance to meet the boy who he so deeply admired for his ability to exist entirely beneath the world’s spotlight without so much as a flinch to indicate that it ever made him uncomfortable. Alex, on the other hand, had taken to pressing his lips to the key around his neck before each public appearance, a grounding technique that reminded him he always had a quiet home to return to when all was said and done. Henry, on the other hand, had nothing but palaces behind wrought iron gates. He hoped maybe someday they could be friends, and maybe he could even show Henry where he grew up. The Texas sun on his skin would definitely be warmer than the glow of ancient chandeliers.

Word: water WIP: Alex's bedroom canon divergence (movieverse)

He smirks at that thought. At Henry, standing in a steaming shower, with water dripping from his golden hair and collecting in dewdrops on his eyelashes, the suds from whatever expensive body wash he uses that keeps him smelling like clean linens and fresh grass even in the dead of winter sliding over his bare skin to reveal 10 small purple bruises in the shape of Alex’s fingertips. A part of Alex he won’t be able to wash away as easily as buttercream melts and slips down a drain.

Word: paper WIP: NYE Get Low Alex POV (movieverse)

“I’d be a writer…live in Paris,” Henry explains, and it suddenly makes so much sense. Like a piece of a puzzle sliding perfectly into place and revealing an entirely new image. Alex can see Henry, the same Henry who waxes poetic about Byron’s poetry for as long as Alex will tolerate and then some, sitting inside a coffee shop in Paris with a stack of paper and a pen, scribbling furiously, his eyes bright and alive with the same passion Alex can sense when he speaks of the work of other famous writers. Alex can’t help but smile at the thought.

I'm going to make this an OPEN tag, because I know a lot of people have already been tagged, and I don't want y'all to feel overwhelmed by all the words! @kiwiana-writes as the person I know with the most WIP options, you know you're always open to do this...but only if you want!

The words the random generator came up with are: proud, ceaseless, worried, dark, and pointless.

[joviantwelve]

Hello! I've been doing some long, hard thinking about my current commission offerings.

TL;DR:

I am doing away with my "standard" menu (headshot/halfbody/fullbody/etc.) in favor of more experimental work.

Effective June 1, my commissions will close completely, including the waitlist.

If you want any of my current offerings, please let me know before then. You will be added to a final waitlist queue, with payment only required once I get to you.

If you're currently on my waitlist, or are interested in what's next, please see the bottom of this post. Once the final orders are complete, I will focus on relaunching.

Below is a more elaborate explainer of why I'm doing this, and what I'll be doing next.

Introduction

Essentially, commissions have worn on me more and more as time goes on (which may be tangible if you ordered one recently and it took months). Part of me wondered if I was burned out on art in general, or it was just becoming less of a hobby for me, but that sentiment didn't feel quite right. After all, I could still get grabbed by a picture idea every now and again, which I would then crank out in one evening.

Was there some sort of difference between the pictures I could hammer out quickly vs. the ones I couldn't? Well, I wouldn't make a post about an investigation without already having a prime suspect.

My Art Style

When I first started drawing aliased, it was to quickly crank out panels for my forum adventures, mostly because I was using GIMP and didn't know anything about brush settings. I was way too frustrated with anti-aliased lines and how little I could make them look how I liked, so I retreated into something completely different.

It worked for a while, but as I became more comfortable with the style, I developed bad, perfectionistic habits (something I've already mentioned being A Problem I Have). I would tweak lineart at the pixel level, just because some stray bump or two bugged the hell out of me. I consider this one of the reasons my art output has slowed down.

Trying to embrace a "perfectly inconsistent," or "consistently imperfect" look as "my style" just created its own irony. For example, I will deliberately draw patterns and textures by hand, because it sticks out too strongly otherwise if I just paste it in. You can bump into this quickly enough by scrolling through my various character references.

I would love a world where all my OC references feel "current," but as it stands, I'm finding it increasingly hard to work on the remaining characters I want to draw while commissions are also an obligation. Taking a break from aliased character art commissions in order to work on aliased character art references is...just doing more of the same? It isn't a break.

In order to create breaks that actually feel like breaks, I have to compromise. ONE of these has to go home and change. My personal art gets priority here, and I still very much want my OCs to look consistent in their reference art, so...I need to find a more efficient way to draw for money that keeps my dysfunctional brain entertained.

The Long, Slow Realization

Back when I used GIMP, I tried the chalk brush on a whim and ended up quite liking it. The rough look helped me ignore what I would consider "imperfections" otherwise. However, perhaps because I had a comic or character references I wanted to keep consistent, I mostly considered it a fun oddity and nothing more.

More falling dominoes that would eventually lead to this post were my experimental style offerings that I introduced last year (at the time, I just offered it because I thought people may be interested in art that looked relatively unique), Art Fight (having to agonizingly obey "finished not perfect" because of the event deadline), and other gift art I did around this time (the reasoning being, it's gift art, they wouldn't mind if I used it to experiment).

Now that I use CSP and am no longer bound by webcomic obligations, I've been experimenting more with brush settings. Wouldn't you know it, most of my modern art of my original stories is no longer aliased. I go "off-model" deliberately, fuck around with layer settings and effects, and enjoy creating pieces just because I saw a cool tutorial, brush, or program I wanted to try. These are the types of pictures I mentioned I could crank out in one evening. Maybe they're not "formal," but I feel like they're the most "me."

With all this new experience swirling around in my head, I finally realized: Why am I not selling art I actually find fun to draw?!

The New Offerings

Currently, I'm leaning toward one style of illustration only, cheaper than the experimental style I offer presently, and "rougher" as a result. I want something equivalent to my '22 Art Fight output; something flashy, unique, and most importantly, quick to do.

The specifics are what I intend to figure out while I work through the queue. Here are some thoughts already rotating around in my brain:

Should I offer price "tiers" that roughly equate a level of "polish" (equivalent to sketch/flats/shading) or just go with one-price-fits-all?

Should I still offer sketches as a cheap alternative, or is that too confusing with my Ko-fi already sort of being that?

Should I offer specific pricing for bust/halfbody/fullbody/etc., or was that another symptom of why I had commission burnout before, and should be avoided?

Should I eschew all of the above and just offer one thing at one price (e.g. "give me $50 and I'll draw your OC" with no other choices for the buyer), or is that too intimidating?

And so on. The last option is currently what I'm vibing with the most, but it's definitely the most daring idea of the bunch, too. (& If you have any thoughts on this, let me know! I have so much more thinking to do.)

The Old Offerings (But New)

When I reopen, I would like to have as few options as possible. However, I have considered the possibility that an old offering would speak to me and I would add it to the new menu again. Here are some thoughts on those:

Icons have a pretty high chance of coming back.

I've always liked drawing faces and headshots the most. If I decide not to bring back headshot sketches, I could just roll it back into "icons" and instead offer colored sketchy headshots. This would be similar to the headshots I did for Art Fight, but...with colors.

Half/fullbodies would depend on how the new style goes.

This is elaborating on what I said in the previous section. While I'm sure my core audience (i.e., you) will be fine with a potentially spontaneous angle to my commissions, buyers I'm less familiar with might not be. I want to try "one price fits all," but if someone gives me shit about me drawing a bust when they were anticipating a fullbody, I might have to add options to specify this.

Regardless, the style would still be "experimental" either way--the composition is what's important about it (which is also why I feel like I can get away with one single price). If anything, I feel like forcing myself into the little boxes of "halfbody" and "fullbody" was partially what was stifling me. Like, when do I ever consciously decide to draw a halfbody of an OC? I don't. It feels very arbitrary, and I'd like to distance from it.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Character design is NEVER coming back!

I deeply appreciate those that did want a brand spanking new OC from me, but I've never considered myself to have a terribly strong design sense. They just kind of ended up being extra nervewracking to do because I had to design a character on top of drawing a fullbody. I will still take the final requests for these, but this is your absolute last chance for a Jovian Twelve™ Brand Original the Character.

What if I'm Already on Your Waitlist?

You don't have to do anything! I will get to you when I get to you. After June 1, I will close the waitlist, and whoever is on there will be able to have one of my old commission types, as promised. You can change your request anytime as long as I'm not currently drawing it!

Reminder that my waitlist is NOT "first come, first served;" I order it based on the complexity of what's wanted. Because of my slow pace, I didn't want to keep someone waiting forever when all they want is three sketch headshots, you know? This is a heads up that if you change your request, your position in the list may change as well.

I have no ETA when the current waitlist will be completed, given that currently, fullbodies are taking me months. Sorry :( Just another reason I'm making this post!!

What if I Want the NEW Style?

I will accept up to five (5) waitlist slots that want to "test drive" the potential new commission style, placed after the "traditional" queue is all cleared out. (So, you'd be waiting extra long.) If you're interested in this, get in touch! I will offer them to you at a lower rate than what I'm expecting to charge for the real deal, as thanks.

If you're already on the waitlist for something else, and want to test the new style instead, let me know! Just be aware this would bring you to the bottom of the queue as described above (but it WOULD give me one less commission I'd have to go through to get to the new stuff, WINK).

In the chance I get no takers the entire time it takes me to go through the waitlist, then the first five commissions I do in the new style will just have to be "test slots" instead.

Final Word

I know these long posts might not be terribly interesting to anyone that's not me, but I find it therapeutic to scrawl my thoughts out in text. Additionally, I'm over 30 years old and conclusions are still the hardest part in writing an essay. I can feel my writing style begin to devolve the closer I am to the end...

Uhhh.

Thanks for reading, and understanding?! See you soon, maybe?! Get in touch if you want to discuss Commissions From Me?? 💃 Cool.

[deusvervemakesgames]

Project RBH Devlog 0007 – Reflecting and Looking Ahead

I realize that last week’s DevLog was somewhat short and not exactly fleshed out, as I was somewhat exhausted at the time from trying to get the release done. But there are some things I skipped over that I still feel are worth discussing. So before we get into the next steps and what I’ve been working on, let’s take a step back and talk about some of the things I didn’t last week.

The art style of Project RBH is something I already knew going into it. I have nothing against pixel art, but it’s generally not what I want from my own projects. I’d prefer something more like Hollow Knight, Shantae, Indivisible, etc. Something that is or looks hand drawn. However, I encountered an issue with the implementation of that idea with the in-progress build.

Maintaining the art style I want at the scale I need is trickier than I anticipated. I thought that I could simply draw the sprites at a smaller scale through coding instead of scaling the images down. However, doing so resulted in complications with collisions. As such, the public build had images scaled down and compressed, resulting in pixelization.

I’ll either need to find a way to resolve the collision issues or scale up the entire game to fit the art assets at the proper size.

Speaking of art assets, let’s talk about the hub area of the game, which I refer to as Nexus. This is the room where the game starts and where you return to on death. If I go through with adding story content and the added development time it will bring, then Nexus will act a lot like the House of Hades from Hades, being a place where other NPCs can be interacted with in various ways.

As for the area’s design, Nexus is directly inspired by Dark Space from SNES classic Illusion of Gaia (Known as Illusion of Time in some regions). Dark Space is the place where you save the game, as well as use the protagonist’s ability to transform.

The similarities between them are… more than passing, but Nexus serves as mechanically different from Dark Space and Quintet vanished from the face of the earth so I doubt they’ll sue, SoulBlazer Remake notwithstanding.

(Square Enix remake Illusion of Gaia I am begging)

So this past week I’ve been back at the drawing board, planning what will come next. I feel as though the gameplay of this build is a solid base, but it’s ultimately far too simple in too many places. This is most obvious with the upgrades system. There’s like nine of them. In a roguelike.

Not to mention the method of acquiring them. Chests placed at random throughout the dungeon is… less than ideal. There’s no real thought involved. You open the chest, you get the upgrade, you move on. There’s no builds, no strategy. Everyone ends up the same.

Luckily, Warframe recently released the Duviri Paradox expansion, which is an open world roguelite experience, and a useful source of inspiration.

Upgrades in Duviri are awarded at the completion of an objective, either a side objective or a main one. You are given a choice of four ‘Decrees’, each of which imparts a passive bonus to you, like adding fire damage to your melee or applying an aura of cold status affect around you. Additionally, most upgrades can be taken more than once, usually three or five times.

What’s really clever about Duviri, as confirmed in a Devstream, is that the Decrees are weighted in their random chance. The more Critical Hit based Decrees you have, the more likely you are to get more to pay off that build.

A system like this would be excellent for Project RBH and for diversifying player options.

Speaking of which, I’d like to add Critical Hits and Status Effects to Project RBH. I’d have to be careful to avoid making Status Effects interchangeable, resulting in a Status Build having far more power and versatility than a Critical Build, and to avoid a Critical Build only being about big numbers, as this would result in their playstyle quickly becoming stale.

I’ve also toyed with the idea of damage types and resistances and weaknesses, like enemies weak to fire. This too would require careful balancing to avoid any situation I which one damage type is objectively better than the others.

I could also add some sort of basic companion system. I have the code to have a drone follow the player around and shoots are where the player is shooting. I did not include it in the build because it is in need of improvements, but it should be simple enough to implement.

The other two mechanics I’ve considered aren’t powerups, but things the player may innately be able to do, to add a bit more strategy into both combat and encounter design: dodging and parrying.

Both of these would be very simple. Dodging would make you move quickly in the direction you’re moving and take no damage while you’re dodging, allowing you to escape the rings from a Shockwave enemy. Parrying is a bit more complicated, but still easily manageable. It would have a tight timing window, but if the player did it correctly, then the incoming bullets would be deflected from the player and deal damage to enemies.

I also want shops in the dungeon. That would add some strategy and risk/reward in getting money for upcoming shops.

Of course, I’m still in the planning stages for all of this and will be for a while. A good diversity of powerups will take time. Ideally I would want at least one hundred different upgrades to ensure some diversity.

Until next Devlog!

-DeusVerve

Special thanks to my Tier 3 Patrons, Haelerin and Christos Kempf!

Support me on Patreon

[twst07]

WELCOME TO TWISTED WONDERLAND

Vanellope meets TWST characters: Part 1

Please enjoy.

My name is Vanellope Von Schweetz, the fastest and best racer in a sugar rush game! Well, that was before, and now I stayed in the cool and awesome game called the Slaughter Race! The game was amazing! It’s like I never dreamt of. I know it’s a dangerous game but not as dangerous in my driving skills! Anyway, a few years back, Ralph and I were getting the steering wheel fast to save my game, but then this slaughter race became my home now - Correction, 2nd home. Honestly, I missed my 1st home and my old friends back in the arcade, but sometimes I visit, and Ralph also sometimes visited on the internet, bringing some burgers from burger time burger.

Where was I? - Oh! I’m having the best time of my life here! Driving anywhere I go without tracks and then lots of explosions are crazy! Hanging out with Shank and her crew was awesome! But do you know what’s more awesome? EXPLORING THE INTERNET MORE! I go to the search bar to ask Knowsmore if there are any games somewhere I could explore.

“Hey, Know more!” I greeted him cheerfully. He looked up to see my face and smiled. “Well, hello there, Vanellope! What brings you here?” Okay, now I’m about to ask him something exciting. I opened my mouth and started to ask him. “What game that something exciting that is full of adventures, wonders, magic - but not some oh my Disney or princesses, like something… twisted?” I guess? I hope he does his best to get what I ask him to find and hope it’s not the so-lame game.

“Oh, I found the game you were looking for.” I immediately looked at Knowsmore with a gasp of excitement and wanted to hear what is the name of the game. “What is it? Tell me!”

“Twisted Wonderland.” I pause. “Twisted Wonderland???”

He fixed his glasses. “Well, according to what you said: Something exciting that is full of adventures, wonders, and magic with an add of something twisted, you say.” He repeated what I said. “That’s all you’ve ever asked.” Welp, I better go and found out what is it.

“Great! Thanks, Knowsmore!” I quickly pressed Twisted Wonderland and was carried off by a pixel bar. Say goodbye to him.

While Knowsmore watches her go. “She didn’t ask what kind of game it is.”

Later, Vanellope finally here where she was looking for. It was beyond Oh My Disney. Vanellope looked at the creepy dark-looking place with some thorny vines, a giant coffin behind the giant mirror that looked like an entering doorway, and a title: Disney Twisted Wonderland magically glows in the front of the coffin. Vanellope thought it was weird why this place was spooky. She didn’t say something scary, but she’ll take it and go anyway. She can’t judge it quickly, she thought.

I entered the giant mirror to see what was inside. I didn’t know where I was, but when I first looked around, there were seven mirrors. “Huh?” Above the mirrors and read. “Pomefiore? Heartslabyul? Diasomnia? Octavinelle? Savanahclaw? Scarabia? Ignihyde?” What are these weird names? But it sounds unique.” Anyway, where should I start? Hmm? How about Heartslabyul? Here I go! With no questions, she runs up and enters Heartslabyul.

Woah!

Bunch of gardens, heart-shaped trees, red roses, weird-looking birds with long legs, etc. So this is Heartslabyul. Makes sense because it says, HEARTslabyul. Right?

I walked through the maze, and there were so many roses around the labyrinth. But I noticed some roses are dripping with paint. Huh? What on Gumdrop painted the roses with red paint? Should they buy actual RED roses? Weird.

Later, I smelled something sweet and went to see where is that coming from. Sweet mother of monkey milk! I spotted a strawberry tart at the table. Luckily no one was there but the tart in front of my eyes. I used my glitching powers so no one could see me trying to eat the delicious tart. Bite by bite until I realized I had eaten it whole tart. Sorry, but it’s delicious! I heard someone chattering, and they were going in this direction. Well, time to go before someone caught me.

After Vanellope leaves, a young man with red hair came to the tea party with four students following him to start eating the strawberry tart. Once they finally came, the tart was gone. All it’s left were small crumbs. They are all shocked, but mostly the man with red hair. His face was boiling red. “Who eats the tart??!!!” He turned around to look at the Heartslabyul students furiously. They were scared, but they knew it wasn’t any of them tried to eat the tart. Another young man with glasses stood up and explained it wasn’t any of them eating the tart because all of the Heartslabyul students just arrived. He was right. No one ever tried to eat it because they knew the punishment. He wonders who eats the tart.

I finally left Heartslabyul. Phew! That was a close one. If I got caught, maybe I go straight from punishment. I laughed, but I had to pay for whoever baked that tart and apologize later.

I left the area and went to the next. Honestly, I didn’t know where I was going because this place was huge. I go to some locations with long wooden tables and a chimney. But one thing I noticed was a tall man with horns facing the screen. He was surrounded by some floating circle stuff. Question: why was he standing there? And it hit me. Oh! I guess players playing with him while standing on the screen? I guess.

The player noticed a child in the background. Weird.

I glitched myself and stopped from where I was now. “What is this place?” I think it was a hallway - Wow! It’s so nice and breezy. I was standing and watching the view outside the building. Suddenly, I feel someone behind me. “Hee hee, who is this lost little nemo doing here~?” Oh no.

To be continued…

[just-a-carrot]

Hey Carrot do you have any beta designs for your characters that your willing to show I don’t really care what game it’s from I just love your character designs in general and how you draw them… ya that’s all

Do you mean like designs of characters for games I haven't made yet? Or like early art of games I've released?

Tbh I don't really have any other art of original characters (except for like,,, REALLY old stuff that is literally embarrassing to look at LOL) as until I began doing game dev I pretty much mostly only drew fanart 🤣💦 I don't have any beta-ish art for Easter, as everything I drew at some point got used either in-game or online (and I also just didn't draw all that much for Easter because I drew everything with my mouse back then which was tiring and took a long time ldkjfad).

I do have some early art for OW from years ago tho. OW was going to be a variety of different things, from an RPG horror (but I got too frustrated at my lack of pixel art skills) to a storybook-style VN without sprites and just CGs (but I quickly realized it would literally take me years to finish). And I still have some old art and assets from those versions. Everything looks very weird looking back on it now,,, also it was again all drawn with a mouse since I didn't get my tablet until two summers ago. But I can share some of it here!

You can see that some of these clearly influenced some of the Arc 1 CGs lol...

And here's some assets from the RPG Maker version:

Actually I forgot there were even two different RPG Maker ones LOL This deep dive reminded me that I started one in VX Ace, then decided to change to MV so started all over again. Dang I really tried to start making this game so many different times in so many different ways 🤣💦

[lex1nat0r]

The Danse Mechabre: White Elephant

AAR #01

Ran the first session in what is hopefully going to be a full Lancer campaign over the weekend. Gonna be posting these after-action reports from the GM perspective in case it's useful to anyone (and it turns out there are a couple of things I need to make sure I remember). No spoilers because at least half of the players are on the tumbles (eye see you).

Characters (LL 0):

Raiju (Hacker/Ace/Centimane) - GMS Everest - Delta

Sunshine (Grease Monkey/Technophile/Leader) - GMS Everest - Exchange of Affection

Rook (Walking Armory/Stormbringer/Brutal) - GMS Everest - Not Fun By Myself

Daylight (Technophile/Crack Shot/Infiltrator) - GMS Everest - Hits Different

Magpie (Hacker/Technophile/Centimane) - GMS Everest - General Protection Fault

You will notice right away that there are three - count 'em, three -characters with the Technophile talent. That means there are three bonus NHPs in the party. And the first thing I neglected to do is prompt for more interactions with the bonus NHPs. The only one that got characterization in this session was Molotov, Sunshine's little buddy.The reason I didn't prompt for more interaction is mostly because this group is used to 2.5-3 hour sessions and I am trying to hit one combat per session, which does not leave a lot of time for roleplay outside of combat. The schedule will need to be adjusted somewhat.

So in the year 4570u the PCs depart as crewmembers (and one stowaway) from the secret KRAKEN facility on the highly experimental blinkship Eye of the Tiger. The crew of the Eye of the Tiger had secretly been replaced with revolutionaries, planning to use its blink carver to quickly head towards the core worlds and help overthrow Union's Second Committee. They go into stasis, trigger the ship's blink carver and wake up to a variety of alarms blaring. It eventually turns out the year is now 5016u and the blink carver may have moved them in space as well as time. Or something. They fix up the ship a little and realize that they're near a planet that is putting out a distress call. When they also get the opposing force's broadcast about returning the planet to 'traditional Cradle values' they decide the situation requires mechanized intervention. Important note: I'm very happy with my players for not immediately deciding they need to intervene on the side of the people putting out the distress call and that maybe they need more information before getting stuck in. Keep hold of that instinct, just because you didn't need it this time doesn't mean you won't in the future.

So while the Eye of the Tiger engages the enemy fleet in orbit, the lancers drop right in to protect an urban area.

Combat 1.1: We get to be the Cavalry for Once

Sitrep: Control

OPFOR:

Pyro x2

Priest Vehicle x2

Hive x2

Grunt Breacher Vehicle x6

Outcome: PC victory, 11 - 8

No PC structure or stress damage, though Hits Different and Not Fun By Myself both used a Repair. The only mech to not get hit was Delta, which secured the lower left control zone and blasted away with its howitzer (whoever put the howitzer on the default Hacker loadout in COMP/CON is a real joker).

Here's the aftermath of the battle after I invoked the mercy rule when it became clear the NPCs couldn't take enough control zones some time around the middle of the last round (not pictured: the Hives' Razor Swarms that were still in 3/4 control zones).

(Tokens by Retrograde Minis (on the basic blank 1-hex tokens that come with Lancer so they show up well), map by Interpoint Station's pixel art assets, they released their new mapmaking tool like the day before we played. VTT is Roll20)

Most of the civilians had already been evacuated from the area with two exceptions: the blue building just above the lower left control zone (some kind of cultural building maybe, there were a lot of civilians around it), and the orange building to the left of the lower right control zone (an IPS-N showroom/liaison office). Those were both intact at the end of the combat, which will be relevant next session.

The enemy comp is very short-ranged which ended up working because the PCs had to get at them to get into their control zones. It also features a lot of burn which I ended up not using correctly (see below). I maybe went a bit hard on Strikers with that many Breachers, but I knew it would be fine because Breachers can only hit something once in a blue moon (Hits Different was the only one to get tagged by a Breacher shotgun). A lot of vehicles because I like combined arms in my mecha (I think I get this from my exposure to Battletech). No optionals on any of the enemies to reduce cognitive load on me, and even then there was plenty I forgot (see below).

I was worried about cover and LoS going into this because it doesn't feel like the Lancer rules have enough detail on that but it was easy enough to adjudicate in practice. Also shout out to one of the best rules in Lancer: the PC that went last nominates the PC to go next. That helped speed things up a lot.

Overall for a first combat with 5 PCs, getting through it in ~2.5 hours is pretty impressive! HOWEVER:

Things I Definitely Forgot About:

Tech attacks ignore cover!

Engagement gives +1 diff on ranged attacks!

Pyros deal double burn to anyone who already has burn!

Pyros can put out their FIREBREAK shield at the end of each of their turns!

Breacher's shotguns have a threat of 3!

All the PC talents!

Thankfully this can kind of be written off in fiction as the OPFOR being kind of bozos and the PCs not being fully familiar with their mechs (maybe some residual grogginess from stasis and the fact that mech warfare was still pretty new to them).

So definitely some things to keep in mind for next time - I'll have to come up with a format of NPC stat blocks that works for me because just using their stats in the core book clearly means some things get overlooked.

Next Time: Straight into the Wall?

INDULGE ME:

Campaign notebook is a Maruman Mnemosyne N195A, 7mm lined. A month ago I swore I would only use binders for campaigns going forward but Lancer seems constrained enough (note I did not say 'on rails') that I can get away with not doing that (as opposed to, say, a hexcrawling sandbox) that I can get away with it. Plus this notebook was only holding a half-done campaign idea that is unlikely to see the light of day so I figured I'd use the rest of the pages up. I've found the paper is very good at taking fountain pen ink, though I'm not using a fountain pen for these notes. I've settled on a Zebra Sarasa Clip 0.5mm gel pen as working best, and I do like that pen (it's what I used to finish out my #Dungeon23 notes).

[thecringemachine]

I have no self control.

Soooooooo, this is just a hunch.

Zane leans more toward the Ler side I feel. At least, with the other ninja. Though, he is also a Lee.

I'd say Zane is a Lee, but is also a pretty big Ler.

So, Zane is a Ler with the ninja, but what about Pixal? I saw some fanart by sleepysheepytea, and I kinda made a fanfic for it.

Now, I just want to say I love your art sleepysheepytea. It is so cute and I'm surprised it hasn't killed me yet. I LOVE IT SO MUCH!

Now, time to see Lee Zane, and Ler Pixal!

(I've read this over and over because I can't believe how great it sounds!)

Zane couldn’t stop his laughter as Pixal worked on the circuits in his arm. Zane involuntarily started trying to pull his arm away from Pixal. When he did Pixal let him go because she didn’t want to accidentally hurt him. But Zane winced as a painful shock shot up his arm with the movement.

Earlier that day, Zane had been walking over to the training area when he felt an electric shock shoot painfully throughout his body. He cried out and fell to the ground. “Jay!” He said angrily, thinking Jay had just electrocuted him. As he got up to turn and look behind him he felt another shock and realized that it was coming from inside him. It seemed most intense around his arm. That was when Cole came around and found Zane scrunched on the floor.

“Woah, Zane, are you ok there buddy?” Cole asked, concerned. Zane winced as he looked up at Cole. “Just take me to Pixal, please.” He said through clenched teeth. So, Cole picked Zane up bridal style and carefully got him down to their headquarters below.

And here Zane was. He was trying his best to hold still, but Pixal’s probes as she was fixing him tickled. He couldn’t help his slight squirming. Pixel stopped and put her tools down.

“Zane, is it possible for you to stay still? I don’t want to accidentally hurt you.” She said firmly. Zane looked down, but he couldn’t stop the small smile that was forming on his face. “Pixal, I’m sorry. I’m not trying to make this difficult, but your small probing on my circuits tickles.” He replied.

“Well, that is necessary for me to fix you. You were the one who didn’t check yourself to make sure nothing was damaged after that mission you went on.” Pixel shot back, slightly annoyed. Zane couldn’t say anything to that. She was right. Zane hadn’t checked himself over. He looked down again.

“Well, what do you suppose we do?” He asked, refusing to make eye contact. Pixel suddenly grabbed his other arm gently and exposed his circuits on that side. He looked at her in shock and asked, “What are you- HEY!” He exclaimed as his elemental powers were triggered and she iced his arm to the floor. He winced as it caused the rest of his body to move causing another painful shock.

“Did you just hack into my elemental powers?” Zane asked incredulously. He stared at Pixal, shocked. Pixel grabbed her tools and before she started working and sent Zane into a laughing fit, she replied, “You needed a way to do this, and I found one.” Zane’s expression went from shock to awe.

Pixel began working on Zane’s arm again, making him giggle. Pixel couldn’t help smiling at how helpless Zane looked as he laughed, involuntarily trying to pull his arm free. Then, in what seemed like no time to Pixal, but ages to Zane, Pixel was done. She broke the ice around Zane’s arm and he instantly pulled his arm away, rubbing it gently.

“Thanks Pixal.” he said, smiling fondly at her. Then, before she could get any ideas about this newfound ticklishness, he went to the elevator, walking rather quickly. Pixel chuckled after him and put her supplies away.