#I'm just gonna add a bunch of random tags

[riacte]

subjective + critical (NOT CRITICISM) wild life thoughts (no spoilers for winner, spoilers for finale gimmick)

Sorry for being back again. Anyways after watching Wild Life, I came to the conclusion that it's very... Grian. THIS IS NOT A BAD THING. In a way, it's always been very Grian (understandably so because it's his server and he picks the cast)— server wide event that gives everyone an opportunity to be involved, mechanics that toss you around haphazardly, random factor for funsies— I've watched Grian's minigames since HC6 Tag, Demise, etc, and there's a Grian-ness that I can't explain but I feel and recognise with my soul. This isn't Grian crit, I respect him massively for coming up with engaging gimmicks, I loved Demise 1, he definitely changed the scene of Hermitcraft 6, etc.

I previously talked about the experimental nature of Life series and how the emotional investment in Third Life was somewhat unintended. Wild Life is an experiment that's giving the expected results of Third Life— Grian-esque experimental gameshow about hanging out with friends and reacting to insane shit flung at you. The finale gimmick is all of the wild cards (seemingly individually chosen because of fun factor, no wider theme that connects them) together at the same time. It's fun! It's dramatic! It... doesn't have to have a deeper meaning!

Then comes the fandom's Swiftie tendency to connect everything (it's me, I'm the Swiftie), which is an inevitable and fun part of engaging with media. Famously, the LimLife winner symbolism debate. Coincidentally, the first three winners fit into celestial symbols, but it starts to fall apart with Martyn. But we love connecting stuff and making up symbols/blessings/curses, so we stuff Martyn and the following winners in anyway to honour them.

But there comes a point in which hyperanalysing everything sometimes feels like a stretch. This is a natural part of the life cycle I suppose. You can't recatch the lightning of 3L in a bottle, much like how All Stars Blue Bats doesn't hit the same as MCC9 Blue Bats. Wild Life is perfectly entertaining on its own, but to me it feels weird that it's tacked onto the Life series, like it's an afterthought. It has all of the cast so far, we get a lot of nostalgia bait, existing duos, but... it personally, subjectively doesn't feel like The Life Series TM. Like, it sure is A Sequel and Continuation of the plot but it feels like a Beach Episode. It's fun to watch! And... yeah!

And then you start to think. So maybe it's us who've been assigning a lot of Meaning to the first generations of Life series and now with Wild Life, it's finally reached its intended vibe of Fun Experimental Grian Gameshow. I remember someone said "what you're missing in the OG Life series was never there in the first place" and I see that viewpoint, it was like a collective hallucination. I'm gonna spitball if Wild Life was written by the fandom with attempts to "script coherent themes":

Fixed six sessions, first five gimmicks refer to previous five seasons, sixth sessions is every gimmick all at once

Clear "wild life" theme, which would keep the snails and superpowers probably, add possibly Origins, and cast members are encouraged to play into the theme (like BigB this season)

Dice theme, something about rolling 1-6, ties in with people starting with 6 lives

And we got the Gameshow. Individual gimmicks are quirky but don't seem really tied to each other. And there's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes you just have a bunch of fun ideas and throw them into a pot. But the fandom expects to have something to work with due to the meta starting from 3L. Even if it doesn't fit perfectly, it's fun to make it fit! That's why we do analyses and symbolism! It's the bread and butter of fandom!

This is where I bring up the Life Seriesification of Hermitcraft, which is probably related in ways I cannot fully explain. The Life series isn't just a fun gameshow, it's a JOB. It brings you clout and views and fandom relevance and fandom propaganda which brings you views and income. The Life hermits have generally become a closed circle, with exceptions like Ren who hangs out the most with non-Lifers. The fandom's desire to connect Life series meta becomes so overwhelming that it seeps into non-Life series stuff, prominently HC, and the non-Life hermits start to get sidelined. Okay, it's more like Life series meta is interesting, so your Lifers become more interesting, so you care about them more, so you care about their HC POVs more. It's a weird reinforcing circle. And if you step out of it for a while (Ren), your clout decreases (Ren), and even when you come back, you kind of.... don't get the same level of mainstream attention anymore even though your personal fanbase is going insane (Ren). (BigB also gets sidelined, although that is a different discussion.)

Anyways it Isn't That Deep and the main reason is probably The Novelty/Interest Is Gone. That and the segmentation of the HC fandom, which I am absolutely guilty of. I don't "need" to post or watch popular POVs because I get to know about them through osmosis anyway. So I end up only "caring" about a few POVs.

I am aware this doesn't make a good deal of sense and I'm sorry for being a party pooper of sorts. This is not criticism, just trying to analyse it through a critical lens.

Life series can keep on being a gameshow. It can be whatever it likes at this point. I'm just sick of it invading Hermitcraft fandom and tilting the balance overwhelmingly in favour of the Life hermits. It's suffocating.

Final reminder to myself, but replace "yourselves" with "Life series fandom":

[freddie-77-ao3]

sup yall we're vibing here

anyway. hey, my name's freddie, and i'm finally trying to write an actual intro/master post which... we'll see how this goes.

important stuff is highlighted in orange.

so, basic stuff:

as I said, my name's freddie. he/him pronouns. i'm a college student (majoring in accounting, might add a psych minor). not gonna say which college but i'm currently in california.

i've been on tumblr since 2019 i think? not under this account, this started as a fandom account and then spiralled out of control... really fast. um, my regular tumblr which i've not actually opened in ages is @chronicchthonic14 so. yeah.

not particularly relevant to this blog, but i might mention it at some point so, i have autism and adhd. and some other things but. like. that list is very long and those are the two most relevant because i promise if i come off wrong/mean, i didn't mean to, i just forget to make my words normal. but. those are the two most referenced. if for whatever reason someone wants to know more or has questions you can send an ask ig?

i'm scottish, born there. moved to US when I was four. finishing uni and moving back.

some quick warnings

this blog definitely contains cursing/vulgar language, whatever you want to call it, so if you're not comfortable with that, probably not the blog for you, as i don't tag cursing or anything for you to filter out.

if, for whatever reason, if i ever reblog something that contains a slur (against racial minorities, queer people, anything) i will ABSOLUTELY tag that though.

also if anyone has any trigger warnings they think any content needs, please let me know-- asks, dms, comments, reblogs

the cursing thing also applies for sort of dirty jokes? think that only applies to like. two posts and very not explicit. those aren't currently tagged but if they get any more explicit they certainly will be.

queer identity because the explicit reminded me, i'm asexual, and probably straight. maybe bi? dunno, don't particularly care. and i'm trans. ftm. this isn't the blog i talk about that on usually though, unless it relates to a specific ask or a fandom thing.

which, getting into what this blog is for because i can't think of anything else i need to add here (guys let me know if i forgot important stuff, please, i'm an idiot!!! i will forget the important stuff and write random shit instead!! i've already deleted three tangents from this!!)

sooooo

fandoms!! ones i write and/or post about or will potentially post about

percy jackson extending to hoo, toa, tkc (definitely post way less about this), mcga (again, way less). haven't read TSATS or COTG yet, but spoilers are fine. i post way more about minor characters. write fanfiction for and have some posted (both on here and ao3) and a bunch of snippets.

dcu-- films, comics, animated shows, all of it. personally, my favorites are young justice (the comics, not show version), new teen titans, and batman inc (batgirls, nightwing, and red robin esp). late 90s yj run is my favorite, and i loved the DCeased event. favorite batman comic is definitely court of owls run. no fanfics posted, but some on docs.

mcu-- way less so, but have a stucky oneshot. slowly making my way through in timeline order.

throne of glass. i'm an aedion and chaol apologizer because they do a bunch of dumb shit but then WHO DOESN'T in this series. fanfics in doc, not posted.

this would go on for ages if i listed everything so instead, here's an ask i answered on my fandoms/genres and everything. feel free to send me asks about anyone. if you send me something about radium girls i may cry though (tears of joy) so there's your advanced warning.

main things you'll see on my blog are incorrect quotes, snippets, and the occasional fic

this^^

my... idk, contact policy? seriously what do i word this

asks are always open, anon is on.

if you send hate... whatever. i'll probably delete it.

unless i find it funny. then I'll post it. there's really little you could say to me that would hurt.

when i say asks are always open, you can drop anything you want.

literally anything

you need to vent? want advice? want to request headcanons? request a fic? give me a prompt? ask random things about me? something else I've forgotten? go right ahead

if you want to ask me to update my fics? go right ahead. sometimes i forget i didn't post something.

send as many asks as you want, i don't care if it might be spam

i can't promise i'll respond to asks in a timely manner, sometimes i open my inbox and forget they exist for months, i'm sorry. if it's something you really want answered you can send another one

dm's are alright? if you want to be friends or something, go right ahead.

anyone can reblog any of my posts/comment/heart, i don't care. you want to heart 50 things in a row? i adore you. if i had kids, you would get my firstborn

if we're mutuals you can ask for my insta/give me yours.

now, other accounts:

anyway, i think that's it?

[misc-obeyme]

I'M ALIVE (BARELY) !! Work is kicking my ass. Also, lots of things went wrong for me this morning, but they all worked out in the end ?? Like I forgot to set my alarm, had to bring my mom's phone to her job bc she forgot it, my bus ended up running late because the doors would get stuck at stops. But I woke up on time, caught the bus after taking the phone, and made it early to work because the bus forgot to take the detour? My luck is insane (thanks Mammon.)

ANYWAY, i can no longer contain my thoughts about Mammon x Solomon x Mc. I'm just imagining my mc and Solomon who are both very curious, and love messing around with potions at purgatory hall, and finding alternatives to rare ingredients. This has definitely gone wrong a bunch of times (most days without a potion incident: 4)

and I'm imagining Mammon tagging along bc he misses mc and is jealous that Sol is taking up their time, but denies all claims - "I'm assigned to protect ya, ain't I?" "From Solomon?" "W-Well, he's a shady sorcerer!"

He sits on the floor by mc's feet, and will fetch them things because he can't say no to them. But he spends so much time listening to them brainstorm, he starts learning and will chime in randomly. Mc and Sol who are stuck on what to add, Mammon drops something in there, and they're both horrified until they realize the potion is perfect now. He just has a little database in his mind of what to add to something, and rare ingredients that the two wish they could get their hands on.

Thinking about Mammon doing a favor for a witch and she tells him to pick anything in her collection since she's low on money. He was about to be angry when he saw an ingredient that they've both been complaining is rare and hard to find. He asks the witch for that and then brings it to the two. He acts all nonchalant about it, trying to brush it off. Mc tackles him, meanwhile Solomon is in awe and staring with a twinkle in his eye.

Now Mammon starts requesting trades with witches, for a lower portion of grimm. Gets ingredients he knows they dream about, because the way mc and sol will get all giddy after he presents them with his earnings makes his stomach flip (he will never admit this)

"This is missing something" Solomon

"Yeah but I can't figure out what" MC

"Have you tried *insert seemingly common ingredient that doesn't work for most things*" Mammon

"But no one uses that, it's why we're always stuck with it" MC

"Couldn't hurt to try. See, watch." Mammon.

"WAIT, MAMMON DON'T- ... IT WORKED!?" Mc/Sol

----

"MAMMON HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET THIS, IT ONLY BLOOMS ONCE EVERY 100 YEARS" mc

"Dunno, got it from a random witch. Said she didn't need it. *spent two hours haggling with said witch*"

"...am I in love?" Solomon, reevaluating life

"Eh? What are ya mumbling about? If you're gonna thank me, I want it loud and clear!"

my crack ship <3 they mean everything to me. I caved and hunted down the plushies of them on ebay too. ALSO I GOT TWO OF MY COMMISSIONS BACK AND I'M 😭 they're perfect !!! I'm so so happy with them. Literally the lock screen is beautiful bc it's me and mammon cuddling (HIS MUSCLES CC!! IM DYING) and it looks like it was taken by like asmo or something who walked in to wake us up.

i think I'm also a hopeless romantic, I'm just scared of confronting my feelings lol (you're right in that it is worth it, I just need to figure out how to be brave </3). I throw myself into romance books and fanfics. Vaguely related, thinking about coffee shop au with barista!Mammon and college student!Solomon.

OKAY SORRY IM DONE RAMBLING 😭 HAVE A GOOD DAYYYY

- ✨ anon

Wow that does sound like a crazy morning!! I'm glad it all worked out, though~ Mammon is totally watching out for you!

OKAY but all of that sounds exactly like Mammon! I mean, he's super smart, he just doesn't usually bother to apply himself to anything. So it totally makes sense that he'd just pick up things because he's spending time with MC and Solomon. And then of course he's gonna end up seeing rare ingredients and being like, okay yeah I'm taking that. That all sounds absolutely adorable~

I'm curious about whether or not Solomon and Mammon would make a pact in this situation? I mean, if it's both of them and your MC that are in the relationship, do you think they would? Do you think Solomon would move past his obsession with getting a pact with Lucifer and end up in one with Mammon instead?

I always felt like Solomon doesn't really get Mammon, you know? But that doesn't mean he can't learn. And oh man, Solomon is such a tease and Mammon is so not good at being teased lol. That idea is giving me so many entertaining images, I can't even handle it.

Anyway, I'm totally here for it! It sounds really cute~

I'm so glad you're happy with your comms!!! They sound amazing!

And don't worry, you'll figure it out. I don't know how old you are, but I suspect you have plenty of time! It's a balancing act, you know? It's important to be honest with yourself about your feelings without letting them control you. But it's easier to decide what to do about them if you know what they are. Anyway, not to get all philosophical over here lol. I think the key is to find someone you want to be brave for, you know?

AUGH I love coffee shop aus sooooooo much!!! I was very obsessed with the idea of barista!Mammon for a while, mostly because of a daily chat where he was working at a cafe and then got into a fight with customer. He's good at finances, so I think he could be pretty business minded if he wanted to be. So I was thinking about a situation where he owns his own cafe, but when the customers get rude with one of his fellow baristas, he gets into a fight with them lol. I hadn't really considered who that other barista was, but it could be MC.

Anyway, I could ramble about coffee shop aus all day because I love them aklsdlkfjdfjkl

I hope you have a lovely day/night, too!!

[telugu-girl-13]

this a list of journal prompts i've made and collected! some of these have to do with tumblr! also idk the concrete definition of bullet journaling so some of these might not even fit into that category-- @bookworm-fangirl1 also tell me if you wanna see any of the ones i've done because ik i havent been positng my jouraling

big ideas:

which album am i? bracket

i'm doing this right now! just a bunch of polls to see which album y'all think i am from my favorite artists! when they're done, i'm going to write down the albums and the percentage of votes in my journal with like song lyrics and such.

dream log + sleep scenario

so basically, what scenario you fell asleep to, and the dreams that came out of it. currently waiting for an interesting dream so i can journal it.

my green and red flags

gonna do this sometime in the near future, but i'll just post a text post asking y'all to drop my green and red flags in my ask box!

what's in my trash can?

i literally always have the most random shit in my bedroom trash can from drawings to tags to sticky notes to paper clips so this is kind of one that i could do but not everyone.

notebook clean out

scour through old notebooks, yearbooks, etc and cut out parts that you like! random photos, thoughts, drawings, and add commentary when you glue it into your journal. i did this with my aruden page <3

misc n generic

ten things that make me happy

addictions + bad habits

newspaper/magazine cutout page

most unlikely list (this is kinda niche and from the book here we are now, where the mc has a list of people most unlikely to show up on her doorstep, one of whom show up)

future schools and jobs (like a whole ass list. of random things. i could do. when i grow up.)

my albums and tracklists. (OF SONGS THAT I WROTE LIKE THREE YEARS AGO this one is fun)

nytimes daily word game scores (i play them everyday so doing a journal page on it would be fun for me)

my quoootes (me when im feeling like socrates)

things about me from a to z

worst moment of my life

draw/find similar photos of your outift!

write down your name in a bunch of languages

those rlly creative and pretty monthly tbr or books read pages!

favorite piece of writing this year!

stuff i've done already

things i would take with me if i moved (so things i have an attachment to) and the corresponding page of things i would want if i moved (because my parents would only let me get these things if we were moving, practically my wishlist)

i have a bunch of mini drawings so i glued those in for a bunch of pages!

envelope page! (i have a mini envelope that i glued in, and on the matching card i wrote my goals for this year!)

faaavoriiiites

whenever finding a book, always... (this is bascially me reminding myself in a creative way to ALWAYS CHECK AGE RANGE, PAGE COUNT, SPICE RATING on books)

summer goals (because i can)

sticker vision page! so fun!

my playlist of literal goddesses (female artist dominated playlist yesss)

dear future me...

friends i dont wanna lose

and other misc stuff!

[gemorycave]

There will definitely not be an introduction post any time soon because I do neot know how to intro! But I have blogs ! I will share most and I will add on cuz I am kinda lazy and if I don't post this now I won't ever !! Anyway here some stuff

List of blogs!!

@gemorycave this blog, of course!! Mostly post art and random thoughts or just whatever in general :3 it is blog where I interact from too!! This basically just has everything I guess!

@gemorycave-artz Basically where I reblog all of my art from here, so people could view art without all of my nonsense posts and reblogs since I can get a tad bit silly with those and they end up taking over entirely teehe

@mossspeltwithc this ones a more personal blog, I tend to vent a lot more on that than on here. I think I just. Yap a whole lot more in general yeaaa woops

@digital-lands floorphone side blog!!! No wayy?? I post allll about floorphone cuz it's on my mind so bunches I chat about so much laalala!!! Right now there isn't like any art at all but I plan on doing floorphone art on it! So floorphone sighhss I love floorphone!!!

I do have a bunch more blogs but I am not going to explicitly state that I run them,, just gonna let people figure that out on their own

Also, my discord is gemorycave if anyone wants to add me!!!!

Now,

Tags!!

I might also add on to these, maybe! Since im so forgetful i might be missing some and if I come up with any more I definitely will add

#gem talks - basically for any post that includes me yapping or whatever just regular talking post!

#gemorycave art - pretty self explanatory, tag for my art! Could be anything from a finished product to work in progresses or just any quick sketch or doodles I may have!

#gem answers - basically just post where i am answering my inbox!

#mawce daily struggles - self explanatory too I think! I'm most likely complaining about something when I use the tag and I just happen to have it as a thing i deal with daily or just pretty ofetn!

#gem pinned post - might not actually be a currently pinned post but it might be important to me so I wanna have something to go back to it

[skeletonmunroe]

Playing Card RPG Framework Notes 001

These are very initial, untested notes. I was playing Balatro and had an urge to mess up a deck of cards so thought up a way to do so in an RPG way. Gonna dig up some one page adventures and run them later but here's the gist of the system:

playing cards as both stats and randomizers. and more! right now I'm picturing a simplified Mind/Body/Social stat sheet with each being a (randomly drawn?) card and stat checks being resolved by drawing another card. likewise weapons, armour etc. also regional challenge rating (added to checks in area), challenge difficulty etc.

some sort of suit-based roshambo system of strengths and weaknesses

other suit-based stuff? even if it's just elemental etc.

messing up cards by writing on them or using label stickers etc. this is the fun part. the three things I'm picturing right now are: a. adding numbers, b. adding suits for the roshambo, c. adding tags or other text such as "flaming" or "sly" that would allow for an extra card draw if the context is right

card messing up can happen on the fly. draw a card, add "mighty" or "+1" to your axe attack and then the card goes in the discard pile and so over time the deck becomes very weird.

Bunch of things to solve obviously: is it going to be too hard or easy, when do you get to mod the cards, etc. also I keep picturing a move where you flip a card and make another card on the back but I don't know what the point of that would be.

[itslc123]

welcome!

hey! i'm LC, and i crochet and make videos and do a lot of stuff. don't know exactly what's gonna go here just yet, but it's likely to be a lot of crochet lol.

about this blog

lots of random stuff- my thoughts, and my art. mostly crochet art, but the occasional other random thing as well.

click the read more for more about me, relevant links, relevant tags, and the like :D

about me:

i'm 22

currently in school for mechanical engineering

that being said, i often drop off the face of the planet because of school

certified math enjoyer

certified music enjoyer (if you mention a band i like that i feel like is small/underrated i WILL freak out) (scratch that, if you mention a band i like i will freak out)

certified dropout enjoyer

certified enjoyer of a bunch of other stuff too

i also do youtube, and there's a couple channels i have for that: gaming, random stuff (i might add a crochet channel because. reasons.)

relevant links

will update as i post. if i post. everything i ever do is purely aspirational :D

tags/organization

very much work in progress

#lc's crochet lab - anything I'm prototyping or thinking about in terms of crochet design, especially weird/unconventional approaches.

#lc's guys - i do not have a better term for these because i refuse to call them dolls. anyways these are my guys!

#ramblebamble - Thoughts™

[gaybroons]

Talk Hockey To Me

( @ghostgeno's tag game)

The thing that got you hooked on hockey

Started reading “hey now, you're an all star (get your game on, go play)” by @buckyismybicycle while it was ongoing because even though I was 1) completely uninterested in hockey and 2) also uninterested in Stucky as a ship, this specific author’s works have always been phenomenal and with each new chapter email I started getting more and more intrigued until I eventually gave in and started reading it (literally so worth it everyone should read it). In the end notes of each chapter, HR (the author) would add some fun facts and extra context for the hockey related stuff (considering it’s a whole hockey AU) that made me go “huh that sounds fun” more than once but I was still not super into the hockey thing.

Until. 

I reached the chapter with a beautifully written match and I was like???? Is hockey like this irl?????????? This sounds so good?????????? Cue YouTube hacking into my brain and suggesting me hockey compilations which included the infamous Lick. I saw this random man just being a menace to everyone and decided he is now the love of my life.  (i usually omit the stucky fic part bc ppl have opinions about marvel that i do not want to hear lol. so if i told you abt this before without the full context i'm sorry!!)

Your first ever fandom friend

@hard4softthings !!!! Love is stored in the ao3 comment section uwu 

The jersey you would most like to own

I can’t pick one so I’m just gonna list in descending order: Marchand home jersey (with a C !!!!!!!!😤) ,  Pasternak (also home. Sorry it’s just nicer than the away version) , Quinn Hughes (the pride one because I’m obsessed with the design it’s so pretty) 

YOUR player (you only get ONE so choose wisely)

The rat king himself 🖤💛🖤💛🖤 can u tell I have a favorite 

A pairing that deserves more fic

Sid/Ovi ‼️ tuukks/pasta and Brady/Quinn too, there’s just so much potential for them. 

Your favourite on-ice moment

Picking is difficult so you’re just gonna get a bunch <3.

Bertuzzi stealing cousin’s stick and trying to break it

Marchy kidnapping The Child

pigeon

dancing with the stars

tuukks Exhibiting homicidal tendencies (rightfully so)

flower wanting to feel included

whole team under arrest

Brady Tkachuk: why is there a fucking animal loose on the ice he’s going to give me rabies

marchy waving to a booing crowd

marchy blowing kisses to a booing crowd

flower asserting his dominance tripping TWO first round picks

Quinn Hughes seeing a fight break out and says ✨no✨

Marner spinning like a ballerina

+ link someone else's art/fic/etc that you love & think everyone should check out

ART: 

this ADORABLE mcdrai art by @saviorified

MattMcDrai art by @adelphenium , obsessed with the blushing and the HAIR plz it’s so cute.  

Awfully pretty sid and geno art by @ceanspam

Captaincy transfer by @adelphenium I’m so weak for rat marchy, and ALSO bergy’s eyes <33333 i’m so <33333

the kiss of life by @stillfertile

FICS: 

The “All Caps” series by @makeit-takeit rewired my brain I’ve reread it countless times i think i can recite it by heart. 

“hard to be soft, tough to be tender” The Hanahaki fic by @hardforsoftthings I love love love the emotional progression AND denial in both of these fics (also, horny. Thank u) 

speaking of which, in less emotionally charged and more horny fics, the “spit cup” and “scratch that itch” non-traditional omegaverse doulogy by @ whitchbhitch (i do not know their tumblr)

+ link something you made & are proud of & want people to see

I’m honestly really proud of my flowertalbo fic, “Inevitably you will burn (as all living things do)” it’s really short (646 words) but I think I did a good job on it :>

Also, I find myself coming back to this one McDrai crack fic, “Oh Puck No!” idk what possessed me to write it but I had fun with it and i still find it silly and enjoyable lol

no pressure tags: @lindholmline @darkangel0410 @gilliebee @owchar1ie and anyone else who wanna do this!!!

[jellyskrimp]

Hi skrimpus! You got one of the best blog names on the site in our opinion. Anyway we're 293 batteries plus a human and you seem like fun so we're sending an ask to introduce ourselves.

We do quite a bit of crafting (pretty sure we found you through the crochet tag actually) but we're kinda slow so we don't post about it super often. We used to draw a lot, but not really anymore cause we weren't very good at it. Looking to start up again when we're less busy though.

As for video games, we never had the sims but we enjoy similar video games. Our current game is stardew valley, but pokemon is our obsession and we're always down to discuss haha.

A bit more about us personally (but vague so we don't dox ourselves accidentially). We're 18+, and similar to your age. Also, we're uni students who live in the us of a, and we're gonna be pharmacists one day. We're relationshipless aces, but it's pretty cool y'all are already married. To find that person for you at a young age is pretty neat, and we hope things go well for you!

Anyway, glad to make your mutual! Feel free to dm or tag us on anything and hope you have a good day :)

hello, battery friends!

dudes i literally was so surprised when this blog name was available like i fr got lucky with it but thank you i'm proud of it lol

i haven't crocheted in a while, and i have joint problems so i totally understand going slow with it. i've been working on a granny square blanket (literally just one giant granny square) for almost a year now and it's not even that big. i just add a few rounds along the edges whenever i feel like it, but now that it's a decent size it takes me like an hour to do one round.

i don't think i'm that good at drawing either, but i've started doing it anyway. i draw bugs, ocean life, little gremlin creatures, anything that sparks joy. i do get discouraged when it's not turning out right, but i'm working on letting myself be bad at things. it's helping me feel less pressure in my day to day life and it's also helping me feel more of those random moments of joy. that one meme or whatever, i am cringe but i am free, yknow. i recommend it

do you have a fav pokémon? mine is bulbasaur. basic, i know, but i just love him. i have a stuffed one, his name is bubs. i also love cressalia!

thank you for the ask, it makes me really happy that people (and a whole bunch of batteries) are nice enough to say hi to me :) i hope y'all have a great day too!

[g-on-ef]

Rant part 3

Army twitter really thinks that just because they have been around since 2013~2018 have college degrees that they are somehow above everyone else and are immune to propaganda.

Are there armys on that app that I genuinely love and respect ??? Yes.

Are there armys on that app that have shown they are a bunch of hypocritical sheep that think they're better than everyone else just cause they went to school and been with BTS longer than others ??? Abso fucking lutly

Since this whole t**nnie rumor I'm noticing how easily fooled these people are and how quick common sense is to leave them so long as it fits their narrative.

Bitches on that app will preach about trust the members don't trust the media and respect their privacy and these past days have proven point on how hypocritical these fuckers are.

Like yall mean to tell me that Taehyung, the person who values privacy above all else, Taehyung the one who thanked armys for not bothering him in Hawaii,

Taehyung who has mentioned time and time again that he doesn't want to lose his morals and principles who's always been open and honest about things would just casually stroll the street of Paris and allow himself to get caught with his partner ???

The same man who's managed to keep his family away from the spotlight will suddenly allow the paparazzi to catch him casually strolling with his partner ??? !!!

Its just so funny how no one was able to capture a huge celebrity like Tae on camera when he landed in France and yet some random paparazzi was able to. A paparazzi who mind you tagged the wrong accounts ???

Like you mean to tell me a "professional" journalist tagged not one but two wrong accounts ??? !!! And the fact that everyone is saying they got permission from their security to take pics but from afar ... like why ??? Why is it okay to take pics so long as it's from afar but in the past they've been attacked and taken their phones when they tried to take pics ??? Also how convenient that they got a "clear" photo of Tae but not a single one of Jennie and all we got is a video from an odd angle where her face isn't even shown.

Again let's go ahead and say they are dating why would either Tae or J*nnie need to be vague about it ??? Again Tae is a very vocal person and is not afraid to speak his mind.

Need I remind everyone how he was quick to shut those rumors down about the girl who he was supposedly dating ??? And before yall get on me on oh well he hasnt shut these down, let me also add the reason why he shut it down is cause the media got a hold of it.

Also isn't it odd that Dispatch and other news/gossip outlets haven't spread this shit ??? You would think that wit these two "dating" there would be news everywhere and yet it's always funny how whenever these two are "spotted" it's always outside of Korea.

Hell even when they were spotted Big Hit issued a statement that they were gonna sue the guy who was making edits of the situation cause it was fake.

So they can hide in Korea {which remind you is very small} but can't hide anywhere else ???

Also I'm bringing this up Tae is a very private person why would he or hell even J*nnie at that matter subject their partners to the hate their Fandom will give them ??? Blonks have attacked ridicule and done irreparable harm to Tae and armys are always retaliating why would they put their partners through that when said Fandumbs can't act normal ???

Like do armys not listen to a word these men say ??? They always preach about wanting privacy so why would they subject their partner to a Fandom where yall can't act normal whenever they fit your little hetero narrative ???

No seriously I can show yall screenshots of them being hypocrites when it comes to them being around women but if you bring up them being with the same sex it's all don't label them we don't know their sexuality you don't know if he likes men.

Just say you're homophobic and leave. It's better than yall having to harassing queer people whenever they make their art queer related.

Another thing I find it funny how these fuckers

Are so quick to attack taekook shippers and call them delusional and say the ship isn't real but are quick to believe this.

Like you mean to tell me it's impossible for them to be single, it's possible for tae to be dating J*nnie but it's delusional and a lie for Tae and JK to be dating each other even though there's a ton of proof that'll state other wise.

It's also funny how again yall preach about privacy but won't shut up about it cause for some reason yall need to constantly talk about it

A blurry video surface oh its him let's spread it talk about and have his name drag through the mud 😀 never mind we should just ignore it and not give it any more attention than it needs to cause at the end of the day it's his name that'll get dragged.

I can go on and on about how dumb these fuckers are and how they are making a situation into a bigger mess than it already is but every time I go to that app I'm reminded that 99.9% of the times there's no reason to do so cause yall already made up your minds especially when it fits yall heteronorm narrative.

And please don't get me started on the cosplayer bullshit -_-

Anyways this was a rant that went longer than it needed to so have a good day/evening/afternoon my Tumblr friends.

[dirtbag-linecook-kyloren]

Spinach Asparagus Risotto

OKAY SO @tinpotterror (WHY WONT TUMBLR EVER LET ME TAG U ILL JUST SEND IT TO U)

the first thing to cover is that recipes, like real recipes in cookbooks, have been tested and written carefully, thought about and shit

I'm going to do none of that because the few recipes I have written are so full of shorthand to be illegible to anyone else, and they're only for baking

but I start with the things I need to do before you ever get the shallots for the 'sotto going

the chicken was just chicken thighs with salt pepper oil chili powder and onion powder, cooked on 400 until done and then set to the side. i nuked it in the mike to serve because chicken thighs are forgiving abt that, chicken breast less so.

the vegetables were cooked on a sheet tray at 400 for ??? until the tomatoes started to blister. It was a pound of asparagus, ends chopped off, cut into like... 1/3-1/2 inch long pieces and a pint of... grape? tomatoes cut in half. If you have thick asparagus i'd leave teh tomatoes hole, because youll need a longer cook time, but mine were really thin which Im not pleased abt but whatever

while ur cutting veg i'd chop your shallot, I go for pieces the same size as the rice grain, when I'm adding it to any rice dish, because I DO NOT like cooked onion texture and I want to lose it in there. set it aside

ur also gonna want to grate your own parmesan, i use a microplane, pregrated cheese is covered in cornstarch to keep it from sticking together and It fucks with the consistency of everything

I also cooked 4 slices of bacon and rough chopped them, set them to the side. Save the grease if you want to use it to sautee ur onions, i did bc i wanted the extra flavor. otherwise use ur oil of choice

the most annoy part was blanching the spinach? you can ABSOLUTELY just rough chop some spinach and throw that shit in after you've added the other veg, but i had a whole bunch i needed to process that I got for free from work. You get a large pot of water, boil, dump in your spinach. dump into a strainer, squeeze out some of hte excess water, but be careful it's hot as hell, and then dump it onto a sheet tray and throw it into the freezer for a few minutes. Take it out, blend or food process it, and then put it back on the tray and then back in the freezer. i know ur about to use it, in this case, but cooling it quickly helps retain the color, some bullshit to do with chlorophyll

then you can start the 'sotto. take ur bacon grease or oil, let that get hot, then add ur shallots. when they get transparent, add minced garlic, i use the jar kind because I'm VERY LAZY, give that a minute, listen to the sizzles, dump in ur optional bacon, and then u add ur rice. get the rice to stock ratios from a random recipe online, that's what I did, and then you toast that shit for a little bit. I don't really know WHY you're supposed to do this, maybe depth of flavor maybe liquid retention?? i just know that you DO and it helps or some shit.

once it's like, toasted, (I had a lot of rice and a bit too much fat so it took like five minutes), add your stock like, 1/2 a cup at a time? I don't measure, so idk if i'm actually adding 1/2? you just add a little stock, let it get fully absorbed, and then add more. when you can scrape the bottom of the pan and the like, goo stuff, stays fully in place, thats when ur good to add more. once you've added all the stock, dump the spinach puree in, if you pureed it, because it will have to come to temp. then add the veggies you roasted, then ADD the parmesean, then let it cook a bit longer to get everything together

i don't cook with alcohol really, so I don't use white wine, but i know lots of recipes do use it? i hope that ANY of this makes sense, but that's what I did!

oh yeah and then nuke the chicken in chef mike and put it on top and BAM you got 'sotto!!!

[swordshapedleaves]

I have used Reddit and Tumblr as my main online social platforms concurrently for over a decade, and I have some advice for our new reddit refugees.

Your blog is your house. You get to post whatever you want. It can be personal, it can be educational, it can be whatever you want at any given time.

The way you fill your feed is mostly by picking people who post and reblog things you like and following them.

Tags are the subreddits of Tumblr. You can follow individual tags for specific topics, or search for them and get all the #baseball or whatever you're into. Following a tag won't put every post so tagged on your dash, just a random sampling of the most popular posts.

Blocking tags is also a very useful tool, especially if someone you follow gets into something you're not interested in or if there's content you find upsetting. If it's a common triggering topic you're likely gonna have to block a bunch of different versions.

There's basically three motives for tagging posts. The first is for people to find or block your post based on the topic. This is big keywords stuff like #baseball or whatever.

The second is for personal organization. These tags will often be fairly unique code words like my own #sword eats for my food blogging posts.

The third is commentary. Only the OP and the person you reblogged from, people who follow you, and people who specifically go looking in the tags will see your tags. So if you have a personal anecdote or commentary to add that you don't know is good enough to attach to all future reblogs, you put it in the tag. I like to add compliments to any art posts I reblog in the tags so the OP sees it.

In addition to reblogs and tags, there's a third way to add text to a post, and that's replies. Replies are the YouTube comments of Tumblr. It's for when you want to yell at a post without actually putting it on your dash. Really popular posts often attract weird RPs, bigots, and people with truly bizarre points of view. It can get a bit wild in there!

Try not to trauma dump on other people's posts because it's generally going into at least two people's inboxes and if a post is bringing up those feelings for you, chances are a lot of people are also feeling that way and it can get pretty rough for the OP.

Use the block function as much as you like! Block people with opinions you don't like, or whose vibes are bad, or who use the colored text that hurts your eyes. This is the hedonism website

This is just advice! Do whatever the fuck you want! If people yell at you, block em! Or not! I'm not the boss of anyone

(video description: Max Miller of Tasting History says "If it does not spark joy, then let it spark the fire." end description.)

[just-some-random-blogger]

Hey, I just had an idea for what happened in Character Development skskks

After what happened to that disaster, the reader decided to ignore Joel cuz she done being with him being an "ugh," ya know? She desurvvvv. And Joel, being what he is, tries to um get notice by her, but failed everytime (I really forgot her name, but the one who's Joel supposed to "court" is with him then he spotted the reader, he be like nyooom but the reader is already poof! Gone). That Ellie had to have to make fun of it, like she being a little shit as usual. And the woman he "courting" is really confused by his behaviour and said, 'Ghurl, I'm outta here, you weird'

Then, someday, he noticed that whenever he sees her, she already had a bunch of flowers like a random ones that you picked out from some grass and bushes, holding it with a soft smile on her face, making him shuffle to the core and get jealous, and ask her but the reader answered, annoyed by his insistence: "Someone." and she's out.

Then, another day with a makeshift wrapped gift that has a card with a hand drawn heart. What really triggered him tho was a home cooked snack that tasted a little bit sussy (said by others, maybe Ellie), asked why she's still eating it, she said, "It's the thought that counts blah blah blah" making Joel getting more oomf. The other person jokingly said, "What? You gonna say yes to him now with all this wooing lmao." she answered with a wink. "Maybe"

And that my friend sets Joel off the space. My man said he ain't gonna back down, so he confronted her, then a whole ass argument happened, like shouting there, shouting here. The suprise was that all those gifts she was getting were from a little boy who had a crush on her, wooing her lolol (just thought's cute and hilarious hehe) making Joel embarrassed from what he's acting.

You can choose what is ending it be, but please make it a happy ending. My poor heart can't handle angst again... also add Ellie finding out what happened and making fun of his old man

heya nonnie! i gotta say, when I saw this I was really excited then really nervous HAHAHAH. i'm so honored that you got so into my fic to not only want another part, but to as well as send me this ask with a detailed plot. what you just gave me is a full on fic tbh and I am not in the business of rewriting someone else's brain child.

I think it's a really cute idea but it's not at all what I envisioned this fic to progress if I ever made a part two. I think if you really want a joel fic with that plot/theme, maybe write it! hopefully you could tag me and my fic if you do! I'd love to read it as well.

BUT! you should know i have decided to make a p2 😌 cos of the bad influence @sloanexx who should be thrown in JAIL. i love her but the way our minds just link should be illegal cause what about my sanity?

cheers nonnie!

[runekeepershymnal]

"The lack of feedback stems from the outdated decision to only show content from followed blogs on the main dashboard feed (“Following”), perpetuating a cycle where popular blogs continue to gain more visibility at the expense of helping new creators. To address this, we need to prioritize supporting and nurturing the growth of new creators on the platform."

(Emphasis mine.)

@staff Y'all. Kindly look at the stats of how many people have "In your orbit" or "Good stuff first" turned off. This would be right up there with Twitter rate-limiting how many tweets you can see in a day in terms of shooting a platform in the foot.

I don't go on facebook other than to provide occasional proof of life to family members / long distance friends who don't use anything else because 50% of what I see is ads, and because random posts I want to read get buried / don't show up on my feed for whatever godsforsaken reason.

I don't go on twitter because I can no longer block all the accounts posting crap I don't wanna see, which is what I'm concerned you're effectively proposing here.

I don't go on TikTok because of the algorithm obsession of its users. I don't want to watch a bunch of ill-informed, clickbaity, "tiktok trend" videos, but, since this is the kind of content it takes to game an algorithm, that's a hell of a lot of what's there.

I'm sorry that new users have difficulty building engagement right off the bat. I follow new accounts all the time because I pop into the tags of things I am interested in when I am inclined to look at them. I am far, far less likely to follow someone whose work was plopped in front of me by an algorithm, just as I'm much less likely to read a book if someone chases me down the street trying to get me to read it.

If this is a profits thing, there is already a way for a creator to get their post to more people- Blaze. If you want to make Blaze more effective, hell, add a higher price tier to Blaze a post specifically to people who follow certain tags, with the understanding that tag spam is tag spam, and if someone Blazes their post to an inappropriate tag, we'll report as we've always done with the standard consequences. You'll have the money already.

You wanna get more engagement and people on here? Let people post smutty art again. That policy change drove a lot of creators to Twitter, and since Twitter's imploding, you might regain a goodly chunk of the userbase you lost by making that change now, because you know Threads ain't gonna allow anything that fun.

Leaning into algorithms and turning this into an "influencer" platform is going to drastically alter the personality of the platform. A huge part of what makes Tumblr more appealing to its userbase is what it DOESN'T do as much as what it does.

Tumblr’s Core Product Strategy

Here at Tumblr, we’ve been working hard on reorganizing how we work in a bid to gain more users. A larger user base means a more sustainable company, and means we get to stick around and do this thing with you all a bit longer. What follows is the strategy we're using to accomplish the goal of user growth. The @labs group has published a bit already, but this is bigger. We’re publishing it publicly for the first time, in an effort to work more transparently with all of you in the Tumblr community. This strategy provides guidance amid limited resources, allowing our teams to focus on specific key areas to ensure Tumblr’s future.

The Diagnosis

In order for Tumblr to grow, we need to fix the core experience that makes Tumblr a useful place for users. The underlying problem is that Tumblr is not easy to use. Historically, we have expected users to curate their feeds and lean into curating their experience. But this expectation introduces friction to the user experience and only serves a small portion of our audience. 

Tumblr’s competitive advantage lies in its unique content and vibrant communities. As the forerunner of internet culture, Tumblr encompasses a wide range of interests, such as entertainment, art, gaming, fandom, fashion, and music. People come to Tumblr to immerse themselves in this culture, making it essential for us to ensure a seamless connection between people and content. 

To guarantee Tumblr’s continued success, we’ve got to prioritize fostering that seamless connection between people and content. This involves attracting and retaining new users and creators, nurturing their growth, and encouraging frequent engagement with the platform.

Our Guiding Principles

To enhance Tumblr’s usability, we must address these core guiding principles.

Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Retain and grow our creator base.

Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Improve the platform’s performance, stability, and quality.

Below is a deep dive into each of these principles.

Principle 1: Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Tumblr has a “top of the funnel” issue in converting non-users into engaged logged-in users. We also have not invested in industry standard SEO practices to ensure a robust top of the funnel. The referral traffic that we do get from external sources is dispersed across different pages with inconsistent user experiences, which results in a missed opportunity to convert these users into regular Tumblr users. For example, users from search engines often land on pages within the blog network and blog view—where there isn’t much of a reason to sign up. 

We need to experiment with logged-out tumblr.com to ensure we are capturing the highest potential conversion rate for visitors into sign-ups and log-ins. We might want to explore showing the potential future user the full breadth of content that Tumblr has to offer on our logged-out pages. We want people to be able to easily understand the potential behind Tumblr without having to navigate multiple tabs and pages to figure it out. Our current logged-out explore page does very little to help users understand “what is Tumblr.” which is a missed opportunity to get people excited about joining the site.

Actions & Next Steps

Improving Tumblr’s search engine optimization (SEO) practices to be in line with industry standards.

Experiment with logged out tumblr.com to achieve the highest conversion rate for sign-ups and log-ins, explore ways for visitors to “get” Tumblr and entice them to sign up.

Principle 2: Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

We need to ensure the highest quality user experience by presenting fresh and relevant content tailored to the user’s diverse interests during each session. If the user has a bad content experience, the fault lies with the product.

The default position should always be that the user does not know how to navigate the application. Additionally, we need to ensure that when people search for content related to their interests, it is easily accessible without any confusing limitations or unexpected roadblocks in their journey.

Being a 15-year-old brand is tough because the brand carries the baggage of a person’s preconceived impressions of Tumblr. On average, a user only sees 25 posts per session, so the first 25 posts have to convey the value of Tumblr: it is a vibrant community with lots of untapped potential. We never want to leave the user believing that Tumblr is a place that is stale and not relevant. 

Actions & Next Steps

Deliver great content each time the app is opened.

Make it easier for users to understand where the vibrant communities on Tumblr are. 

Improve our algorithmic ranking capabilities across all feeds. 

Principle 3: Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Part of Tumblr’s charm lies in its capacity to showcase the evolution of conversations and the clever remarks found within reblog chains and replies. Engaging in these discussions should be enjoyable and effortless.

Unfortunately, the current way that conversations work on Tumblr across replies and reblogs is confusing for new users. The limitations around engaging with individual reblogs, replies only applying to the original post, and the inability to easily follow threaded conversations make it difficult for users to join the conversation.

Actions & Next Steps

Address the confusion within replies and reblogs.

Improve the conversational posting features around replies and reblogs. 

Allow engagements on individual replies and reblogs.

Make it easier for users to follow the various conversation paths within a reblog thread. 

Remove clutter in the conversation by collapsing reblog threads. 

Explore the feasibility of removing duplicate reblogs within a user’s Following feed. 

Principle 4: Retain and grow our creator base.

Creators are essential to the Tumblr community. However, we haven’t always had a consistent and coordinated effort around retaining, nurturing, and growing our creator base.  

Being a new creator on Tumblr can be intimidating, with a high likelihood of leaving or disappointment upon sharing creations without receiving engagement or feedback. We need to ensure that we have the expected creator tools and foster the rewarding feedback loops that keep creators around and enable them to thrive.

The lack of feedback stems from the outdated decision to only show content from followed blogs on the main dashboard feed (“Following”), perpetuating a cycle where popular blogs continue to gain more visibility at the expense of helping new creators. To address this, we need to prioritize supporting and nurturing the growth of new creators on the platform.

It is also imperative that creators, like everyone on Tumblr, feel safe and in control of their experience. Whether it be an ask from the community or engagement on a post, being successful on Tumblr should never feel like a punishing experience.

Actions & Next Steps

Get creators’ new content in front of people who are interested in it. 

Improve the feedback loop for creators, incentivizing them to continue posting.

Build mechanisms to protect creators from being spammed by notifications when they go viral.

Expand ways to co-create content, such as by adding the capability to embed Tumblr links in posts.

Principle 5: Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Push notifications and emails are essential tools to increase user engagement, improve user retention, and facilitate content discovery. Our strategy of reaching out to you, the user, should be well-coordinated across product, commercial, and marketing teams.

Our messaging strategy needs to be personalized and adapt to a user’s shifting interests. Our messages should keep users in the know on the latest activity in their community, as well as keeping Tumblr top of mind as the place to go for witty takes and remixes of the latest shows and real-life events.  

Most importantly, our messages should be thoughtful and should never come across as spammy.  

Actions & Next Steps

Conduct an audit of our messaging strategy.

Address the issue of notifications getting too noisy; throttle, collapse or mute notifications where necessary.  

Identify opportunities for personalization within our email messages. 

Test what the right daily push notification limit is. 

Send emails when a user has push notifications switched off.

Principle 6: Performance, stability and quality.

The stability and performance of our mobile apps have declined. There is a large backlog of production issues, with more bugs created than resolved over the last 300 days. If this continues, roughly one new unresolved production issue will be created every two days. Apps and backend systems that work well and don't crash are the foundation of a great Tumblr experience. Improving performance, stability, and quality will help us achieve sustainable operations for Tumblr.

Improve performance and stability: deliver crash-free, responsive, and fast-loading apps on Android, iOS, and web.

Improve quality: deliver the highest quality Tumblr experience to our users. 

Move faster: provide APIs and services to unblock core product initiatives and launch new features coming out of Labs.

Conclusion

Our mission has always been to empower the world’s creators. We are wholly committed to ensuring Tumblr evolves in a way that supports our current users while improving areas that attract new creators, artists, and users. You deserve a digital home that works for you. You deserve the best tools and features to connect with your communities on a platform that prioritizes the easy discoverability of high-quality content. This is an invigorating time for Tumblr, and we couldn’t be more excited about our current strategy.

[scary-serafim-xd]

Intro :3

Dni: literally overall anyone fucking problematic.. You'll be reported and blocked as soon as my eyes lay upon your wretched account.

I do not mind if adults interact with my account but obviously I am not gonna be talking with you or indulging into any type of conversation unless it's you having questions about things on my account.

──────⊹⊱⦻⊰⊹──────

Sup there, name's Serafim if you didn't already notice in my user. I'm 15 and well just started art high school which is bangerrrs.

⦻

I really love drawing/painting (except I'm not that good at painting yet :'3 ) of course, same as cosplay. I have a bunch of other hobbies... Which are writing, making/writing songs (oh I wrote a lot if you wanted to know) and playing violin. (I'm planning on starting guitar too).. Oh, and photography is very fun to me but I don't really have a camera that works... So it's just me, my phone and a dream.

⦻

My other interests online and/or well fandoms I'm in are; creepypasta in general so that also counts marble Hornets and everymanhybrid, FNAF, uhh Minecraft is bangers I love playing it...

⦻

Artists/bands I love listening to are; ghost bc, Rammstein, beartooth (found out abt them recently), get scared, set it off, MCR, sleep token, Mitski and a bunch of others because the list would go on together.. Oops

⦻

If there's any other questions you might have for me such as my headcanons for creepypastas, my songs or anything related to my hobbies or idk what you'd want to ask; don't be scared to ask me, I'm more than excited to answer.

──────⊹⊱⦻⊰⊹──────

My tags

(more will be added as I go)

#yapping sessions w serafim -answering questions/discussion posts or polls

#slenderverse book -posts about my book, whether it's just me spilling out random info or progress about it

(I'm probably gonna update this more if I remember to add something)

[ar-rapidprototyping]

Brick Breaker TUT pt2 electric boogaloo

Launching unity on a new computer sure does take some time...

So I start off adding some of the objects I need (walls, bat and ball) and I make the camera vertical (portrait) for a view.

Then I give the ball a simple script where it will move right of the object.

Something thats rather important is the physics material, which allows the ball to bounce automatically (without me having to code it all in).

Having a bounciness of anything below one, expect zero, will make the ball slower when it bounces; anything higher will speed it up. Keeping it at one ensures it stays the same speed.

For the bat controls, its literally just this:

So when the A key is pressed it'll move left until it gets to -8 on the x axis; and pressing the D key will do the opposite.

This is what I got so far: the ball and the bat move correctly.

Next I added the bricks to the game. They were very simple as they didn't need any new scripts, they just needed a few lines of code in the ball script:

This simply will check the tag of each object the ball hits and if it returns true, it will destroy the object that it hit.

I now need to add a bunch of these into a prefab so that I can spawn a bunch at once.

I've got three different shapes that I can spawn. Speaking of which, I made a game manager object and assigned it a new script.

This uses an array to detect how many bricks are in the scene, if there are 0 bricks; it'll spawn 1 of the 3 prefabs above.

Also another thing to note, is that GameObject and GameObject[] are two different types, the latter is used to declare arrays.

Now I'm at the same stage as the Unreal project.

Just for effects, I added a particle system to the balls, where it leaves a little trail like a fireball. This was just a case of adding and tweaking a new component within the inspector.

Whereas adding audio required a few lines of code within certain scripts. I imported 3 sounds from jsfxr (I ended up not using break2) and created variables for them like this:

The audio clips are what will be played, the audio source is where its gonna be played (which is more important in 3D). Here I set the clip in the audio source to 'explosion' and then play it.

I also used the Invoke() method, which runs a function after a certain amount of time. I used this because as the ball had the audio source, when I destroyed the ball, there would be no audio source to play the sound through.

I also added an animation for when there are no balls in play:

This was done in the game manager script as the ball cant communicate when it is destroyed. Also I made another array to check if there are no balls, as I plan on having a way of getting multiple balls. All this does is plays animation where it blocks the player's view of the screen and displays the classic "GAME OVER" text.

The player can still move the bat, but as there are no balls its pointless (although they cant see or hear the bat).

Something I forgot to add is having the ball spawn at the bat rather than having it someplace in the scene. So here, if ballOut? is false, it'll spawn the ball just above the bat and give it a random rotation so that it doesn't always go the same way. I also set the balls velocity here because it would be inconsistent before.

Just like the Unreal project I made a fakeball child above the bat that disappears when the real ball is spawned. So here there is no balls in the hierarchy:

I have added a power up that will spawn another ball at the bat when picked up, it spawns rarely from destroyed bricks and it will move downwards before it gets destroyed itself.

On the ball script, when a brick is destroyed it picks a number from 1 to 100 (or 0.01 to 1) and if that number is 5 or less, it spawns a power up where the brick was.

On the bat script if it hits the power up, spawns a ball and destroys the power up.

Another thing about arrays is that you can select them with a foreach loop:

For each ball in the balls array, it sets the speed to 14.

After experimenting with that, I decided to ditch the foreach loop and just increase the speed by 20% each level.

And then I spent around an hour trying to wrap my head around why my game manager script wouldn't reference my bat script. I was looking around both scripts trying to figure out what the problem was...

This line was in the wrong order. It couldn't reference the bat script because it was trying to figure out what this was. It's because I set the scripts AFTER the line that need the scripts.

Anyway after that I added bricks that have to be hit twice.

The only difference is the colour and that it a different tag.

This will detect what kind of brick it is, if its a normal brick it gets destroyed. Otherwise it destroys the brick and replaces it with a normal one. Making it seem like it has two lives.

What would I do to improve upon the Brick Breaker?

I would add some sort of rougelike element to it, like upgrades or some sort of abilities. I would also make the level a bit larger to fit more bricks on it and to give the player some more time between the ball hitting the bricks and it flying at them.

Obviously, I would add some more level types as well as some new bricks that could just be stronger, or could do something different like explode and clear many brick within a radius.