#Lowes Deck Builder

[richardlearnsgames]

Legendary PLAYTHROUGH (Fantastic Four 2 of 2: Mole Man Mastermind)

Back to the original Legendary Marvel line, going up against Moleman

[johnnyvenusgf]

Pergolas in Toronto Large minimalist backyard deck container garden photo with a pergola

[yoitisi]

Backyard - Deck Inspiration for a mid-sized backyard deck remodel

[seventracks]

Vancouver Roof Extensions Deck Ideas for a sizable, contemporary backyard deck renovation that includes a fire pit and a roof extension

[yessir38]

Deck Baltimore

Ideas for a medium-sized backyard deck renovation

[dewo-art]

Deck - Backyard

Ideas for a medium-sized backyard deck renovation

[beta-isaac-lahey]

Seattle Backyard

An illustration of a medium-sized backyard deck in the beach style with an awning

[chonxevn]

Deck Chicago An illustration of a sizable traditional backyard deck with a container garden and a pergola

[abstraxx]

Deck Chicago Large trendy rooftop deck container garden photo with a pergola

[richardlearnsgames]

HOW TO PLAY Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game

And so I got to work on the game that, if I made a list of top games, it would be my #3. This one was a beast. I decided to go hard on "be like Rodney". My first major mistake was to just film and edit it. The mistake being, without looking at the instruction book while doing it. A lot of reshooting and inserting happened with this one. Even when I posted it I knew I could have maybe touched up this better, or maybe slightly redone that some more, but I decided to go with "perfection is the enemy of progress" and be done with it so I could move on to the next one, and maybe I'd start with a better baseline. But I'm still proud that I did it.

[zheeer]

Example of a mid-sized transitional rooftop deck design with no cover

[leog4u]

Game Design and Porn Pt. 1

or, How To Fuck Up The Best Intrinsic Reward Ever

Hi, I'm Leo G, veteran pervert. One time while chatting in a server exclusively made of porn artists, I brought up the game design of a porn game I enjoyed. One of them laughed, saying "Who cares, it's just a porn game?" Being unwell, I never let this go. Since then, I have played many adult games and took each one as serious products made by professionals. Fast forward to today, and the demo for my porn game, Joker's Trip, is nearing completion. I also have some sci-fi erotica you should check out.

So you wanna make a porn game. You heard they make money, and hey what’s more fun than making a video game AND porn? But you don’t know where to begin! Well don’t worry, Leo’s got you covered. We’re gonna walk through the line of thinking you should have when designing your porn game. There's gonna be at least three parts to this, with part 1 focusing on how to reward your player.

Define "porn game" for me, Leo.

There are porn games, and then games with porn in them. A porn game is a game where you won’t last 5 minutes, where everything exists solely to meet and, subsequently, fuck. A game with porn in it is a game where everything exists for the purpose of the game, and also, you fuck. Fate Stay Night, for example, is a VN with a story that just so happens to have some CGs where the protagonist rails Saber, but is mainly about Shirou and the Holy Grail War. Much like how I would call Castlevania a game with horror in it, but not a horror game.

Porn games are a lot like horror games. They both get a bad rap for being cheap to make, appealing to base instincts, and generally being low quality. They're also both not actual genres of games, but genres of content. Think about it, if I asked you what a horror game is, you'd say a game that's scary. But what's the actual game part? The unfortunate answer would most likely be "walking sim," but there are a lot of examples that are FPSes, puzzles, driving sims, platformers, deck builders, the list goes on.

The most common genres of game I see for porn games these days are by far RPG Maker RPGs and VNs. I won’t be talking about VNs because they’re closer to writing than game design, which isn’t a flaw but a feature. What used to be everywhere, in days of old, were breakout games, where the more bricks and levels were cleared, the more of the sexy image would be revealed in the background. Other arcadey type deals like shoot ‘em ups and mahjong were also around, and had a similar “strip ‘em down until you have sex” gameplay loop.

Okay, so what’s an intrinsic reward?

There’s intrinsic rewards, and there're extrinsic rewards. Extrinsic rewards, generally, are the number go up rewards. Things that make your character stronger, or give you more resources to buy new gear or whatever. Intrinsic rewards in games can cover a large swathe of things. It can be the feeling of satisfaction of completing a puzzle, a piece of lore or world building, or a new dialogue option with a character you want to fuck.

I like fucking characters, are we talking about porn now?

Yes! I’m of the opinion that you literally can’t make a better intrinsic reward than pornography. On top of setting the tone for the entirety of the game., at its best it can add to a story, add to someone’s character development, or be a beautiful piece of art to look at. AND you can jack off to it! Unfortunately, that’s at its best. Let’s talk about how porn is delivered in a theoretical RPG porn game. (As a head’s up, there will be talk of “bad end” scenes, but this is under the assumption that the player is the one consenting.)

So you’re playing an RPG and get into a fight. Maybe you were underleveled or too cumbrained to remember to buy healing potions. Then your HP goes to zero, and instead of going back to the title screen, you’re getting fucked by orcs. That’s right, let’s talk about Game Over CGs.

You get to watch porn when you lose?

To someone making a porn game with a battle system, this delivery method makes sense. The characters in this world are driven primarily by lust, this is just the obvious conclusion. And it doesn’t even have to be non-consensual! Games like Future Fragments show that it can be presented as a sexy inconvenience rather than anything uncomfortable for the player or our hero. Game Over CGs even have the benefit of softening the blow of defeat, by giving the player a chance to reflect on their defeat and jerk off. Even better if losing a fight isn’t lost progress, but rather a bump in the road. However, there’s a problem here. The player is a dog, and we’re rewarding bad behavior.

The porn is an intrinsic reward, so why are we giving it to the player for losing? Incentivizing losing on purpose isn’t just bad game design, but a waste of time. And to that end, a lot of porn games try to give solutions to this. One being a kill button on the keyboard or a skill that instantly KOs our hero to get to the lose screen faster. What might seem like a convenience is really just expediting failure.

What it says is that the gameplay doesn’t actually matter. You’re just here for the porn, right? In that case there’s plenty of places I can go to see a chick with huge knockers get railed by an orc, with the added bonus of not having to play forgettable and mid turn based combat!

Another solution I’ve seen is the game outright telling you, “hey don’t bother killing yourself to see the porn. Once you beat the game all of the scenes you missed will be unlocked!” At first this seems like a reasonable way to go about it, but it comes with another problem: your game better be fucking good to make me play through the entire thing before getting to see cock. Like I said earlier, porn at its best can reveal things about the world and drive character development. I uh. Just beat the game. I don’t care anymore. Showing me a scene that’s taken out of context by a factor of 5 hours or more isn’t what I’d call great game design or story telling. It’s also too little, too late.

What if we made the porn actual rewards?

Now we’re getting somewhere! Let’s make the reward…a reward! What if, every time the player beats a level, we get some porn? If we tie the CG to beating the boss, we’ll be tying the reward to game progression. That’s good right? So now, on top of the extrinsic rewards you’d normally get for beating a boss (a lot of EXP, better gear, opened areas) we also get that sweet dopamine rush of pornography! So we’re good, right?

There’s 1142 words left in this post, so I’m assuming no.

Well. It’s a start. It has the problem of predictability. If not handled properly, it comes off as lazy. As a game designer, one of your goals is to not constantly remind your player that they’re playing a video game. Get through the level, get porn. It feels a little too “mouse in a maze looking for cheese” for my taste. And much like the game over method, if the actual game itself is mid, the player will start to question if the reward is worth it, and might be afflicted with the worst condition a player could receive: boredom.

Of course there are exceptions. In puzzle or arcade type games where you don’t get extrinsic rewards, giving the player porn as another form of reward per level or whatever is perfectly reasonable (though it does have the issue of being predictable.) This is a perfectly good way of doing it if your game is short, or if the game is, y’know, good and fun to play. Bad Color’s game, Heroine Conquest, is a level based puzzle game with porn as the reward, but only when you do good. Combining the actual challenge of mastering the game, with a genuinely unique game loop makes for a feeling of accomplishment when beating a level. Pair that up with a sex cutscene, and the dopamine rush will hit.

So! Let’s combine giving the player a power trip, with a less rigid structure for giving the player porn. Instead of tying the porn to purely progression gates, let’s tie it to the progression.

Plot milestones

In Third Crisis, sex scenes are peppered throughout the regular game’s plot, starting with some lesbian bondage before introducing the protagonist, who goes through a tutorial before having their own horny encounters. It’s not just given when you win or lose, but is a natural part of the game. Beating bosses, losing to enemies, and exploring dialogue options in sidequests all lead to unlocking new CGs.

Now what’s nice about that, is that the sex isn’t placed somewhere extremely predictable. It isn’t just a reward for beating The Boss Of Forest Zone, Now Go To Ice Zone And Beat The Ice Boss For More Cock. Because that’s the biggest issue of predictable rewards, you know you’re not getting anything until that checkpoint, which will make the player weigh whether or not it’s even worth continuing. This is fine, again, for an arcade type game, not an RPG or adventure game. By sprinkling sex throughout the plot itself, the player will not only want to progress, but their curiosity will have them wondering “what else is out there?”

Rewarding exploration

By putting sex scenes behind optional side quests or encounters, the dog that is the player will scour every single corner of the map, and leave no pixel unturned. Personally, that’s more exciting to me than what you’ll get in the main progression route. In Future Fragments the player can find their rival Faye in sexual situations if they explore the map enough. These are completely optional, and don’t give any direct rewards like more HP or an item, but they’re by far what motivates me to explore the maps as thoroughly as possible, more so than the plot macguffins the game is named after!

So now the player is excited. Sex can happen anywhere. Maybe that daunting off road path with stronger monsters isn’t just hiding a secret, but a sexy secret! They’ll be more likely to venture down those optional paths you painstakingly made.

If we’re using sex in game overs, boss fights, and just randos, why not put it everywhere?

So now I want to talk about the concept of a “sex stat”. It’s not a bad idea! Say, the higher the player’s sex stat is, the more opportunities you unlock for fucking. It could even be tied to the player character’s personality, and affect the story! Instead of using a sword and shield, they’ll end any conflict with sass and sex. They open their eyes to the horny world around them and stop being a hero, and instead become a succubus, and the ending is a massive cum filled orgy.

That sounds excessive

Yeah, it does, doesn’t it.

I’m not a fan of “corruption” systems in porn games. Corruption as a kink is totally fine, and having it be a part of the story lets you incorporate more sexuality into the plot. But as I alluded to, it snowballs pretty fast (and I’m not talking about spitting in someone’s mouth). It ends up being like a cheat code, where you’re bypassing parts of the game for no cost. It stops being a reward, it stops being unexpected, and it stops it from being sexy.

Wait, what? Stops being sexy? What’s not sexy about a succubus orgy?

Alright, listen, we gotta rein it in for a minute. This isn’t so much about game design as it is about writing erotica, but if you have a world where everyone’s fucking and sucking 24/7, there’s no contrast to make what would normally be a hot taboo a hot taboo. If everybody’s naked, nobody’s naked. The aforementioned snowball effect of a corruption system can be seen if you play literally any game that has one. It won’t take long to not have to engage with any combat or adventuring system if you can just press the “Submit to the big dick warlock” button and watch porn to progress.

Which, now that I said that, is exactly the problem. Imagine any other rpg you’ve ever played. Now imagine if every encounter and dialogue option had an option to just watch a short cutscene to skip the encounter. That would suck ass, right? Literally no difference here.

It would. Hey, I’m sort of lost now.

Don’t worry, we’re wrapping this up.

So what did we learn? We learned game over CGs have a critical design flaw that shouldn’t be relied on. We learned that predictable rewards can lead to boredom. We learned to keep sex as a reward and not devalue it.

To summarize, here’s a neat trick to know where to put your porn scenes.

”Would I put an Xbox Live achievement here?”

It’s that easy. “Lose to Goblins for the first time,” that’s an achievement. “Beat orc commander,” that’s an achievement. “Find Hubert the Magical Dickhead,” that’s an achievement. Using that as a guideline is foolproof. Almost.

This sounds like it’d take a lot of resources

It sure does! But don’t worry. I’ll cover that in the next post talking all about how to deal with the resource management of a porn game.

(Shoutout to Taylor, my guy for editing!)

[ashlynniis-bracketeers]

Library of Ruina Urban Plague help?

This is my first and only Deck-Builder game I have touched, so my ability to understand them at a glance, even with the in-game tutorials, is... poor, to say the least. I am also not using mods. And trying to look up guides has been a fruitless endeavor. The guides I find always seem to be:

A - Significantly out-of-date.

B - Don't actually describe the fight(s) or what previous cards/builds work well against them, instead discussing the pages they drop.

C - Are basically just "git gud lol".

D - Are so fast and vague that I can't understand them no matter how much I re-watch.

E - Are entirely built around end-game, where you can build much more cohesive strategies revolving around the Abno Pages on each floor.

So, my understanding is... lacking. I have ranged pages, but don't know how to effectively use them with what I have around them. And grinding books from other fights I struggle with to fight the Urban Plague fights, just to get evaporated by the fights and have to re-grind the books (and re-grind the books used to get those books, and re-grind the books used to get the books to get the other books...), and grinding for specific, supposedly "cheesy" pages with a low drop rate for multiple days without getting them, without being able to find any cohesive strategy as to which of the Floors I currently have are best for which fights, means that Urban Plague is starting to just piss me off lmao.

So, I am asking the Ruina players of Tumblr wtf I can do to not want to commit war crimes, without just going "Urban Plague is easy/git gud/use this endgame strategy lol". My non-deckbuilder-playing-ass is clueless. What Floor strategies are good for where I am? What are good early-game builds? Cohesion pls???

I'm a Warframe player, but these grinds suck lmao.

I have completed the Carnival (by the skin of my teeth) and Full-Stop Office. I've been slamming my head against Gaze Office and Dawn Office, and I struggled with (and continue to) the other two and with previous close-by encounters like the Stray Dogs and Molar Office.

Problems I have are that I either keep losing all of my rolls/clashes and are not able to deal damage/defend and just get evaporated in two or so acts, or I keep running out of cards and getting stomped because of it.

I'll be putting my current Abno pages for each Floor under the cut

If anyone is able to/tries to help me, many thanks in advance!

For context as to what Abno pages I have unlocked for each floor:

General Works: Bloodbath (Blood, Scars, Pale Hands), Heart of Aspiration (Pulsation, Urging, Fervent Beats)

Art: Fragment of the Universe (EftB, Tentacles, Incomprehensible), Child of the Galaxy (Pebble, Teardrop, AToF)

Literature: Today's Shy Look (LotD, Social Distancing, Shyness), The Red Shoes (Glitter, Obsession, Axe)

Technological Sciences: Forsaken Murderer (Metallic Ringing, Chained Wrath, Violence), All-Around Helper (Recharge, Repetitive Pattern-Recognition)

History: Scorched Girl (Ashes, Footfalls, Matchlight), Happy Teddy Bear (NEotOD, Happy Memories, Display of Affection)

[aneurinallday]

The Tragedy of James Steerforth

Chapter I: Tempest

As he clung in terror to the rigging of his sinking sail-boat - the only thing he had left to hold onto - James Steerforth had plenty of time to consider the poor decisions that had brought him there. He’d chosen the wrong classmate to befriend, the wrong seaside town to holiday in, the wrong Yarmouth girl to whisk away on a romantic escapade to France, and the wrong night to return. His attempt to sneak back to England under cover of darkness had led him straight into a tempest.

Storm-tossed waves were battering the rocky shoreline of Yarmouth Harbour. Rain pounded his face with the violence of hailstones, and deafening peals of thunder boomed across the heavens. Sea and sky alike were black as tar, illuminated only by bursts of lightning.

Desperately seeking elevation, Steerforth stood upon a wooden cargo box which was lashed firmly to the deck. With both hands, he clung to the thick ropes attached to the mast, unable to move for fear of losing his grip.

The beach taunted him with how close it was - he was going to die within a stone’s throw of salvation. He could see people milling about in horror, holding lanterns aloft, trying to help the half-drowned sailors who were crawling ashore. Occasionally the wind carried their cries to him, and he would hear their voices raised in panic and prayer, grieving the souls that had been lost and celebrating the ones that had survived.

Through the darkness and rain, he fancied he could almost recognise the figures congregating upon the shore - the familiar shape of his mother, the tall and gangling form of David Copperfield, the elegant figure of Agnes Wickfield, and perhaps even Emily - the girl whom he’d seduced, taken on a whirlwind tour of Europe, and then abandoned mid-adventure.

He spotted a moving shape in the water - a man swimming towards him with strong strokes. Who would be foolish enough to attempt a rescue in a storm like this?

As Steerforth held on for dear life, the man climbed aboard the doomed boat, and crouched below him, shaking like a wet dog. Tied around his waist was a long rope, the other end of which was held in the hands of the crowd onshore.

Steerforth recognised the round face and blue sweater of Ham Peggotty, the local boat-builder. The man he’d ruined, the man whose fiancée he’d stolen. Had he come to personally make sure Steerforth drowned?

“Steerforth!” Ham yelled, his voice lost amid the thunder and the crashing waves, “We have to go now!”

As the deck heaved beneath them, he reached out an open hand towards his betrayer.

Soaked to the skin and paralysed with fear, Steerforth neither moved nor spoke. He didn’t dare let go of the rigging. He knew that if he put his trust in the proffered hand, Ham could simply drop him in the sea and pretend it was an accident.

“Steerforth, come to me! Give me your hand!” Ham shouted.

Steerforth’s eyes turned to an approaching wave, bearing down upon him like a great wall. As lightning flashed and Ham screamed his name, he shut his eyes and braced himself. The ocean crashed upon the boat, causing it to rock. His feet were swept from under him, but he managed to hold on. The wave passed, and he scrambled to regain his footing, gasping for breath.

“Please, Steerforth!” Ham insisted. “For your mother’s sake! She’s watching from the shore. You’re her only child. Don’t make her see you die!”

“What do you care?”

“I care about those who love you! Now give me your hand!” Ham’s voice was both angry and frantic.

Steerforth hesitated. He was now ankle-deep in the sea - the deck had sunk low enough that the box he was standing on had disappeared beneath the foam. Soon the rigging would follow suit.

“I can’t!” he protested. “I’ll slip - ”

“I won’t let you slip! I’ll catch you!”

“Do you promise?”

“On my honour!”

What honour did a lowly labourer have? But Steerforth was out of options. His arms were weakening, and another wave was coming.

He took a deep breath, thought of his mother, and sprang towards Ham Peggotty’s outstretched hand - throwing himself quite literally upon his enemy’s mercy. Immediately he slipped on the wet planks, but Ham caught him easily.

“I’ve got you!”

With Steerforth in his arms, Ham dived into the waves. The men and women on the shore began to reel them in, hauling upon the lifeline with all their combined strength.

The waves were overpowering. All sense of direction was lost as they were thrown around like ragdolls by the battling currents. Steerforth was struggling to hold his head above the surface - each time he pushed upwards for a gasp of air, the waves shoved him back under. He felt quite sure that he was going to die. Ham was faring little better.

And then suddenly there were rocks underneath them, and they realised they’d entered the shallows. They could see lanterns dancing, and arms waiting to pull them to safety. They half-swam half-crawled towards the waiting hands, and collapsed in relief upon the wet pebbles, coughing and spluttering.

The brush with watery death was too much for Steerforth, who as soon as he felt solid ground underneath him, promptly fainted.

Chapter II: The Beach

[istumpysk]

to bad lady stoneheart will crown arya in robb’s crown leading her to be queen of the north at least sansa can enjoy her life with her two timing husband in the vale 😌

Top 10 Funniest Ship Girl Foreshadowing

10. Gendry's very important question.

He looked dubious. "Did you ever sail a boat?" "You put up the sail," she said, "and the wind pushes it." "What if the wind is blowing the wrong way?" "Then there's oars to row." - Arya II, ASOS

9. Excellent names!

I mean to use your second son as well. He will take Lady Marya across the narrow sea, to Braavos and the other Free Cities, to deliver other letters to the men who rule there. - Davos I, ACOK

x

"Just so. Your father was oarmaster on a galley. When your mother died, he took you off to sea with him. Then he died as well, and his captain had no use for you, so he put you off the ship in Braavos. And what was the name of the ship?" "Nymeria," she said at once. - Arya II, AFFC

8. Hey, what's with this Stark they keep telling us about.

That's a Brandon, the tall one with the dreamy face, he was Brandon the Shipwright, because he loved the sea. His tomb is empty. He tried to sail west across the Sunset Sea and was never seen again. - Bran VII, AGOT

x

It was Bran's turn to tell a story, so he told them about another Brandon Stark, the one called Brandon the Shipwright, who had sailed off beyond the Sunset Sea. - Bran III, ASOS

7. Arya spells it out.

Only Braavosi were permitted use of the Purple Harbor, from the Drowned Town and the Sealord's Palace; ships from her sister cities and the rest of the wide world had to use the Ragman's Harbor, a poorer, rougher, dirtier port than the Purple. It was noisier as well, as sailors and traders from half a hundred lands crowded its wharves and alleys, mingling with those who served and preyed on them. Cat liked it best of any place in Braavos. She liked the noise and the strange smells, and seeing what ships had come in on the evening tide and what ships had departed. She liked the sailors too; the boisterous Tyroshi with their booming voices and dyed whiskers; the fair-haired Lyseni, always trying to niggle down her prices; the squat, hairy sailors from the Port of Ibben, growling curses in low, raspy voices. Her favorites were the Summer Islanders, with their skins as smooth and dark as teak. They wore feathered cloaks of red and green and yellow, and the tall masts and white sails of their swan ships were magnificent. - Cat of the Canals, AFFC

6. Arya spells it out again.

Arya bit her lip. She had crossed the narrow sea to get here, but if the captain had asked she would have told him she wanted to stay aboard the Titan’s Daughter. Salty was too small to man an oar, she knew that now, but she could learn to splice ropes and reef the sails and steer a course across the great salt seas. Denyo had taken her up to the crow’s nest once, and she hadn’t been afraid at all, though the deck had seemed a tiny thing below her. I can do sums too, and keep a cabin neat. - Arya I, AFFC

5. Arya spells it out one more time. (Plus one more, because she's so generous!)

It made her think of the sea. Maybe that was the way out. Old Nan used to tell stories of boys who stowed away on trading galleys and sailed off into all kinds of adventures. Maybe Arya could do that too. - Arya V, AGOT

x

"It won’t be so bad, Sansa," Arya said. "We're going to sail on a galley. It will be an adventure - Sansa III, AGOT

4. Ned Stark makes a bizarre prediction about the future of one of his children.

"No," Ned said. He saw no use in lying to her. "Yet someday he may be the lord of a great holdfast and sit on the king's council. He might raise castles like Brandon the Builder, or sail a ship across the Sunset Sea, or enter your mother’s Faith and become the High Septon." - Eddard II, AGOT

3. An entire fandom forgets what made Nymeria famous.

He sang of Jonquil and Florian, of Prince Aemon the Dragonknight and his love for his brother's queen, of Nymeria's ten thousand ships. - Sansa VI, ACOK

x

He had not noticed that before, no more than he had noticed the picture on the tapestry, a scene of Nymeria and her ten thousand ships. - The Soiled Knight, AFFC

x

That is Nymeria's star, burning bright, and that milky band behind her, those are ten thousand ships. - The Queenmaker, AFFC

2. They could be like Nymeria, and sail beyond the Sunset Sea.

Lord Gylbert began to speak. He told of a wondrous land beyond the Sunset Sea, a land without winter or want, where death had no dominion. "Make me your king, and I shall lead you there," he cried. "We will build ten thousand ships as Nymeria once did and take sail with all our people to the land beyond the sunset. There every man shall be a king and every wife a queen." - The Drowned Man, AFFC

A marriage is arranged between Arya and Elmar. El mar. The sea.

"Also, if your sister Arya is returned to us safely, it is agreed that she will marry Lord Walder's youngest son, Elmar, when the two of them come of age." - Catelyn IX, AGOT

[wish-guardian]

Calling All Cozy Gamers!!!

Wish Guardian is an upcoming cozy indie game, which combines farming with deck-builder gameplay. Your feedback will help shape what cozy components we focus on as we continue development.