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dunmeshistash · 4 months ago

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Ryoko Kui Exhibition & ''Delicious in Dungeon'' Exhibition pamphlet

Transcript under the cut

Disclaimer is that I used an image to text website and then proof-read it myself and made corrections where it got the text wrong. There was a few typos in the original text (like writing fied instead of fried) but I kept those in just in case I interpreted something as a typo but it wasn't.

[page 1]

Ryoko Kui Exhibition & "Delicious in Dungeon" Exhibition Introducing Ryoko Kui (1) Manga artist. After working through her website "Nishi ni wa ryū ga ita" (A dragon in the west) and her own dojinshi (self-published works), Kui made a debut with "Ryu no gakko wa yama no ue: Kui Ryoko sakuhin-shu" (The dragon's school is on top of the mountain: Ryoko kui works) published with EAST PRESS in 2011. Then published "Kui Ryoko sakuhin-shu: Ryū no kawaii nanatsu no ko" (Ryoko Kui collection: Seven Little Sons of the Dragon) in 2012 with KADOKAWA, and "Hikidashi ni terrarium" (Terrarium in Drawer) in 2013 with EAST PRESS. In 2014 she started her first long-running series "Dungeon Meshi" (Delicious in Dungeon) in KADOKAWA's magazine Harta. In January 2024, she released her book, "Kui Ryoko rakugaki bon Daydream Hour" (Ryoko Kui's sketchbook: Daydream Hour) of illustrations she made while working on "Delicious in Dungeon" as well as illustrations from before her debut. She has a diverse range, from science fiction and fantasy to historical dramas. The world building in her fantasy works is particularly unique, as they merge the extraordinary into the everyday to create an overwhelming realism and persuasiveness through meticulously refined settings. Kui won the Excellence Award in the Manga Division for "Terrarium in Drawer" at the 17th Japan Media Arts Festival by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, and "Delicious in Dungeon" has been awarded numerous accolades, including the 2015 Comic Natalie Grand Prize, TAKARAJIMASHA's award for This Manga is Amazing! 2016 Men's category 1st place, the Nationwide Bookstore Employees' most Recommended Manga of 2016, and the 55th Seiun Award in the Manga category, which is awarded to outstanding science fiction works. Introduction (2) Delicious in Dungeon" is a hugely popular manga; over 14 million copies have been sold.* To celebrate its anime adaptation, the large-scale exhibition "Delicious in Dungeon" Exhibition was held in Tokyo and Nagoya from April 2024. This exhibition is a continuation of the touring "Delicious in Dungeon" Exhibition, with the addition of the Ryoko Kui Exhibition; the first exhibition of artwork by the original artist Ryoko Kui. In the Ryoko Kui Exhibition, you can see her outstanding character designs, realistic settings and the unique narrative developments which have captivated readers, through reproductions of manga manuscripts and interview exhibits. We hope that you enjoy exploring the fascinating world of Ryoko Kui. In the "Delicious in Dungeon" Exhibition, you can enjoy photo spots, and impressive three-dimensional monster displays from the labyrinth adventures undertaken by Laios and his companions in the first season of the anime. We hope you will enjoy the fun of the original manga, the anime, and the exhibition to your heart's content. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Ryoko Kui and the original editorial team, including everyone involved in the anime production and everyone who helped with the planning of this exhibition.

Ryoko Kui Exhibition & "Delicious in Dungeon" Exhibition Executive Committee

As of April 2024, including digital editions.

The dragon's school is on top of the mountain (3) This is Ryoko Kui's debut work, and her first collected volume of works. Published in 2011, it collects seven of her stories previously published on her website and in doujinshi (self-published works), as well as two new stories. It includes a trilogy of tales which may have taken place behind the scenes of the heroes' adventures in a Role-Playing Game; and which follow the conventions of an RPG. These are "Kikyō" (Return home), which portrays the sorrow of a hero having returned to his hometown after defeating the Demon King; "Mao" (The demon king), which tells the tale of the Demon King from his birth to his downfall; and "Maō jō mondai" (The problem of the demon king castle), which depicts the course of events surrounding the demon castle having lost its master. The story "Gendai shinwa" (Modern myths) depicts the daily lives of coexisting horsepeople (centaurs) and ape-people (homo sapiens), told from the perspectives of a centaur and homo sapien married couple, and a female homo sapien company employee and her junior male centaur. It comically depicts real-life issues such as anti-labor regulation demonstrations, and the disparity between retirement benefits and life expectancy, and as such can be considered satire of the diverse issues faced by modern society. The title story "The dragon's school is on top of the mountain" is set in a university that has the only "Faculty od Dragons" in Japan. It depicts the members of the dragon research society who seek out ways to use dragons, which apparently have no demand in modern society. They explore uses for dragons, such as for food, as pets, and as advertising media. Other highlights include Kui's sad love stories, told from unique perspectives, such as the fairytale-esque "Daikon yama no yome sagashi" (A bride for Daikon mountain) which tells the tale of a man's efforts to marry a female god in order to bring fortune to his poor village, and "Shingaku tenshi" (School-going angel) which depicts the woes of a high school girl with angel wings.

[page 2]

Seven Little Sons of the Dragon (4) This collection of short stories includes self-published works and short stories published in KADOKAWA publishing's magazine Fellows! throughout 2011 and 2012. The collected volume was published in 2012. The stories are set in different countries and time periods, featuring supernatural beings such as dragons, mermaids, gods, and werewolves. "Ryū no Shōtō” (The dragon turret) is set in two neighboring mountains and sea kingdoms. A dragon builds a nest and lays eggs on the border at the only crossroad connecting two warring nations. The nations declare a ceasefire in fear of the dragon, but as peddlers are also unable to come and go, supplies become scarce. A Sea Kingdom soldier who was taken as a prisoner of war by the Mountain Kingdom is tasked with transporting supplies between the kingdoms, and in time he becomes close with a girl of the mountain Kingdom. But the time for the dragons to leave their nest is approaching, meaning that the war will begin again. “Ōkami wa uso wo tsukanai" (Wolves don't lie) starts out with the premise of being a parenting manga by a manga artist whose son has "werewolf syndrome", then suddenly turns into a story told from the perspective of the son, who is a werewolf. The feudal drama "Kane nashi Byakuroku" (Byakuroku the penniless) tells the story of an elderly gifted artist who always leaves out one eye because otherwise his creatures come to life and pop out of the paper. He is deceived by his apprentice and left penniless, so paints both eyes into the only work remaining, counterfeit picture of a samurai. He enlists the somewhat incompetent fake samurai who has come to life, to help him raise money, and misadventures ensue. Each of these precious seven stories depict the bond between parents and children, family members, and loved ones. While humorous, they are also emotionally stirring.

Terrarium in Drawer (5) This is a collection of short stories that were published in the literary web magazine MATOGROSSO (EAST PRESS), as well as the cat anthology “Nyansolo” (EAST PRESS), Aoharu (Shueisha) and doujinshi. The story “Ryū no gekirin" (Wrath of the dragon) portrays the process of cooking dragon cuisine from preparation to seasoning with trivia about the ingredients. "Kigō wo taberu" (Eating symbols) depicts unique ways of cooking symbols such as circles being fied whole, while squares are sliced thinly and served with sashimi soy sauce. A motif that is also common in "Delicious in Dungeon" can be found in these stories. Other chapters include “Kawaiku naritai" (I want to be cute) which depicts the makeup techniques of a cat who wants to be beautiful; "Shōtoshōto no shujinkō" (A short, short story's protagonist) which is a meta perspective comedy while having many twists and turns; and "Yume no aru hanashi" (A dreamy story) set in a Santa Claus temping agency during the busy season. You can enjoy 33 diverse stories with creative perspectives and approaches, ranging from science fiction to fantasy and fairy tales. Another charming aspect of this book is the wide variety of styles it showcases, from shojo manga, to horror, gekiga, and even a simple touch of experience-based manga. The homages to famous authors and their works are also quietly amusing. In 2013, this collected volume won the 17th Manga Division Excellence Award of the Japan Media Arts Festival, organized by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, which is awarded to outstanding works of art and entertainment.

Delicious in Dungeon (6) This is Ryoko Kui's first long-running series. It began serialization in Harta published by KADOKAWA from February 2014 to 2023, spanning a total of 14 book volumes. The story is set in an expansive labyrinth that suddenly appeared on an island one day. The main character Laios is an adventurer whose sister Falin is devoured by a Red Dragon while exploring the labyrinth. Falin casts a final magic spell which lets Laios and the rest of his companions escape the labyrinth, but they return to rescue and resurrect Falin. However, having lost their equipment and supplies, the group decides to become "self-sufficient” by cooking and eating the monsters they defeat along their way, as they adventure deeper into the labyrinth. Grounded in the familiarity of classic fantasy RPG elements, the series adds its own unique settings and meticulous world building. Its monster cooking scenes are illustrated alongside detailed cooking instructions, making it a never-before-seen labyrinth gourmet manga, which has become an overnight sensation. According to Kui, the motif of "cooking monsters" was born from an idea she had of wanting to depict what falls between the lines of adventures, such as meals and camping, which are typically not depicted in roleplaying games*. The manga has been adapted as a television anime series to run for two seasons from January to June 2024. A second series has also been announced. The series was produced by TRIGGER inc., who also produced and animated a commercial for the manga in 2019.

First published in an interview in Newtype, February 2024 issue.

[Map showing the numbers from each ection from 1 to 8]

[page 3]

"Delicious in Dungeon" Artwork (separate post with pics) Cover illustration draft, vol. 1 Since this was the first volume, I tried out a few different drawings and had the editor and designer choose which ones they wanted, then made small adjustments. I personally liked the top-down draft, and the one of the cooking processes (back cover) the best. But looking back, I sincerely think it's good that we didn't go with those. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 2 The format was decided for volume 1. So, volume 2 came together quickly. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 3 I thought it might be cool to make the character Chilchuck darker in the foreground, and the background brighter! But it didn't quite work out the way I had imagined. I think it could have been a bit better. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 4 I remember that the overall shape of volume 4 came together very quickly. The character Senshi's hands didn't fit nicely, so I moved them backwards and to the side. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 5 I thought people might start to think "how many have I bought?" so I wanted to create a slightly different impression with this volume. I decided to put the character right in the center and try putting it together all in blue and green hues. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 6 With the Red Dragon defeated, have we reached the halfway point in the story? With this in mind, I thought of how many volumes were left to go, and the number of characters, and decided to pair up the characters Namari and Shuroiro. In hindsight, it would have been fine to have them on one cover each. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 7 The image is of focus lines converging on the character Izutsumi. This is the kind of cover, with upside down characters, which I've always wanted to try once(?) I submitted it as a trial, thinking that at this point the cover wouldn't dramatically influence sales. However, in the end, we decided it would be better not to have it upside down. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 8 I tried blurring the mushrooms in the foreground, then I accidentally saved over it, and couldn't go back to the original. I remember apologizing that it was probably tacky, when I submitted it. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 9 I don't think snake meat is marbled at all, but if it has an unfamiliar look, people might not recognize it as meat… so I made it look like beef to make it easier to understand. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 10 I thought it might be interesting to have more than one of the main characters on the cover again, so I added the character Falin. I remember it wasn't badly received, but it still ended up just being Thistle on his own. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 11 I wanted this cover to be covered in shiny gold. After I finished it, it didn't have enough color, so I painted the tablecloth green, and it ended up looking like Christmas colors. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 12 Up to this point, the covers have featured one of the main characters holding cooking utensils in the foreground and a monster in the background, but I thought it might be interesting to reverse the format just before the final volume, so I drew this cover with that in mind. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 13 volume 13 was meant to be the final one, but it was too thick to be published as a single volume, so we decided to split it into two. The question of “so, what should I draw next!?" may be at the forefront of volume 13. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 14 I had decided that the final cover definitely needed to have everyone eating together on it, but because I was publishing two books at the same time I was pressed for time, and it was difficult to have a cover with so many characters on it. I also submitted a rough for an illustration that didn't need me to draw any crowds, but such obviously easy ideas are never adopted. (Kui)

TV anime "Delicious in Dungeon" About the ending illustration. I drew these based on the director's instruction "This kinds of pictures." I hardly ever have the chance to draw color illustrations, so it was a valuable experience for me. (Kui)

©Ryoko Kui ©Ryoko Kui,KADOKAWA/Delicious in Dungeon PARTNERS ©Ryoko Kui/ EAST PRESS CO.,LTD. Translation by Kyoto International Manga Museum

[page 4]

Interview to celebrate the opening of the Ryoko Kui Exhibition (7) (separate post) About Delicious in Dungeon: Story making

Q1. Your first long-running series has lasted for about 9 and a half years. Has it been different from your previous experience drawing short stories? A1. Compared to short stories, the series has been easier because the same characters appear each time. But I was surprised to find that I got tired of drawing the same characters too many times.

Q2. You have said before that the overall structure of the story was decided before serialization began, but how much of that had you communicated to your editor? Also, what kind of communication did you have during the series production? A2. The goal was something we discussed and had decided on from the beginning. The goal itself was simple, but the path to get there was more difficult and took longer than imagined.

Q3. Regarding the overall story concept and development, did you write out or put anything down in writing (such as the plot)? A3. I did, but it was simple.

Q4. Did you come up with the dishes based on the monsters you wanted in the story? Or did you come up with the monsters based on the dishes? A4. It depended on the story, but usually the story came first followed by the monsters or food. I feel like that was most often the order.

Q5. As you progressed in drawing the series, what elements of the characters, story, or world expanded or grew in the most unexpected way? A5. Nothing particularly unexpected perhaps. When I used to draw web manga, I tended to think up inconsequential settings. So, from the beginning I tried to restrain myself as much as possible and not expand too much. I was surprised when my editor said "Let's expand it more," in the second half of the series.

Q6. "Delicious in Dungeon" starts with a relatively simple setting, but as the series and the labyrinth exploration continues, the map slowly expands little by little in the readers' minds. It becomes more three-dimensional, revealing the secrets of the world, and taking on a multilayered structure. Are there any sources that you used as a reference, or which influenced you in creating this multilayered structure? A6. A long time ago, when I was working on my personal web manga (fantasy), I drew it however I wanted, thinking that "Only people who can read this will read it," but I regularly received feedback that it was "unreadable", so I tried to make it as easily. accessible as possible.

Q7. The series combines many elements, including "fantasy", "gourmet", "battles", and "puzzle solving", but I think it's also important that it is a "comedy" which makes people laugh. Could you let us know if you have a creative commitment towards depicting humor? A7. My hopes are that I can make it fun for people to read.

[page 5]

About Delicious in Dungeon: Drawing manga

Q1. Please tell us about the drawing tools you currently use, both digital and analogue. A1. In terms of analogue tools, I use a light box, a G pen, a round pen, and a brush pen. And for digital, I use CLIP STUDIO PAINT and a Wacom LCD tablet. Screentone pasting is always done on the computer, so ultimately it all ends up as a digital manuscript. Q2. Do you have any rules or reasons for using digital and analog separately? A2. I'm always looking for ways to draw better and save time, so the exact approach is probably different for almost every chapter. Personally, I feel that analogue methods create more appealing lines, but I feel like digital saves time, so maybe I'll do a digital rough sketch and do the inking by hand… I might have been using a G pen, and maybe I'll try out a turnip pen, or this time I'm short on time so I'll draw it entirely digitally, but with digital I can redo it over and over, so maybe analogue is still faster, and so on and so forth. I'm indecisive in this way and so haven't developed a consistent process.

Q3. I understand that you prepare 3D data for your assistants to draw the backgrounds. What kind of data did you make for "Delicious in Dungeon" ? A3. You could call it 3D, but it's not a proper model, just something to help with the rough sketching. I line up cubes to share the perspective and sense of scale, and they use it as a reference.

Q4. At the beginning of the series, the characters and backgrounds were somewhat simply drawn, and it seems like they became richly detailed over the progression of the story. What was your intention behind using these different styles? A4. It's simply that my technique isn't stable. I thought I'd put a lot of effort in at the start. I remember being confused when my editor asked me to add more in to the drawing, and I wondered "Where…?"

Q5. Thinking about the food, were there any menu illustrations that you were particularly satisfied with, or which you struggled with? A5. I've never liked my own food illustrations. But the times when I read other people's manga and thought "That looks delicious," I think it's been more an influence of the movement, the staging, and the situation than the drawings.

Q6. For the world maps and the terrain of each continent, did you refer to any maps of the real world? I feel like the shape of the 'island' is similar to the shape of Fukuoka Prefecture or Kyushu. A6. I didn't reference any specific geography, but I did try to put thought into things like whether a developed city would be near a river or the sea, and what the coastline would look like. I'm pleased if it feels similar to a real place, because it means my interpretation was pretty accurate.

About Delicious in Dungeon: Other

Q1. Which is your favorite monster? A1. Nightmare.

[page 6]

Q2. I'm sure you have received a lot of feedback from readers in countries and regions outside of Japan. Please tell us if there was anything from them that made you happy, was unexpected, or which made a lasting impression on you. A2. When you play foreign games, there are times when you think "Why did they translate it into Japanese like that?" But having been on the side of having something translated, I've realized some things are unavoidable, or endless, and there are many things that don't matter either way from the author's perspective, so it was interesting.

About Ryoko Kui's short story collections and herself Q1. Dragons are a consistent and important motif in your work. Was there any particular work or experience which inspired this? Also, are there points about drawing dragons which you find interesting or have had to work hard on? A1. It's less about liking dragons, and more that I'm interested in the worlds in which dragons exist. When I draw dragons, the depiction in itself has a sweet feeling to it. I have never had a pet reptile, so I don't have a very good understanding of them.

Q2. Unomiya University in your story "The dragon's school is on top of the mountain" has a Faculty of Dragons, Department of Environmental Studies, and Department of Technology Studies, and a Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. If you were to enroll in the university, which department or faculty would you like to enter? A2. I probably wouldn't be accepted….

Q3. The collection includes a short story staged as an essay manga. Are you a fan of essay manga? Please tell us about any genres of essay manga that you like. A3. I love all kinds of essay manga. I read them often.

Q4. If you were to make your own game, what kind of game would you like to make? A4. I prefer being a player when it comes to games.

Q5. When did you first start drawing illustrations (doodles)? A5. I don't exactly remember when I first drew a picture, but I think I started drawing manga around the fourth or fifth grade of elementary school. in my notebooks and had my friends read them.

Q6. What is the most fun part about drawing manga? A6. Every part is fun and hard in its own way.

Q7. Please tell us if there is anything you "just can't stop no matter what". A7. My procrastination habit.

Q8. Could you please tell us if there's something you want to draw now? A8. I've been working continuously since the serialization, so I'd like to take about 2 to 3 months to just draw whatever I want.

[end]

#Dungeon Meshi #Ryoko Kui #Dungeon Meshi Exhibition #Ryoko Kui Exhibition #Delicious in Dungeon Exhibition #Delicious in Dungeon #Im gonna make the transcript of a few sections their own posts #exhibition

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arminreindl · 1 year ago

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Fossil Crocs of 2023

2023 has been a year with its ups and downs, but one consistent thing has been its fossil crocs at least, giving us another interesting variety of species and genera not known before. Like last year, I'll go down each of them (including phytosaurs) and give you some key notes. And since I've done my best to make individual posts for them I'll link those when available. I'll also try to give translations where possible, but do note that sometimes I might switch around a word due to it just sounding awkward otherwise.

Scolotosuchus

Starting us off is Scolotosuchus basileus ("royal scythian crocodile"), a basal, rauisuchian-like animal from the early stages of the Triassic. An animal roughly 3 meters long, it is primarily known from vertebrae and some other material, which however does have interesting implications. Based on the anatomy of the vertebrae, it has been speculated that Scolotosuchus performed a lot of rapid movement of the neck, presumably while hunting. Furthermore, it might be that Scolotosuchus lacked osteoderms, instead having developed a bracing system for its body much more like that of dinosaurs and mammals. Artwork by @knuppitalism-with-ue (he'll pop up quite a lot)

Colossosuchus

Fast forward to the Late Triassic, the hayday of early Pseudosuchians, and we find our first phytosaur of the list. Colossosuchus techniensis ("colossal crocodile of the Indian Institute of Technology") was an enormous animal from India's Tiki Formation. This one is known from undisputably better material, perhaps some of the best on this list as we have an entire bone bed of these guys, possibly representing a mass death site. Size estimates of the large specimens generally range from 6 to 9 meters in length, also making it the largest animal of this list, with the authors favoring an estimated 8 meters for the largest individual. Of course this is all subject to change, as we don't know the precise proportions (the downside of a bone bed is that all the bones are kinda jumbled together and god knows what belongs to what). Artwork by Joschua Knüppe again, a female being courted by an overconfident and confused Volcanosuchus (told you so)

Kryphioparma

Ok I won't bother you with this one too much. Kryphioparma caerula ("blue mysterious shield") is an aetosaur from the Late Triassic Chinle Formation of Arizona. Now aetosaurs are cool of course, but the thing is that Kryphioparma is known from exclusively osteoderms, their large armour plates. While thats valid, its also not really exciting (as you could have guessed from the absolute lack of artwork). Best I can say is that it coexisted with a bunch of other aetosaurs, which surely would have been a sight to see back in the day.

Venkatasuchus

Now Venkatasuchus armatum ("Venkata's armoured crocodile") is in a similar boat. This Indian aetosaur too is only known from osteoderms, tho at least a lot more of them that were found together, meaning we got a much better idea of its shape. There are some interesting implications it has on paleogeography and how different animal groups spread across Pangea, but that's probably beyond the scope of this post. There is at least some art of it tho, including one piece by Joschua featuring Jaklapallisaurus, an early sauropodomorph.

Mystriosuchus alleroq

Now we got our first new species of a preexisting genus. While I did my best to make posts on new genera, which typically went hand in hand with their respective wikipedia pages, species are a different matter since they'd require me to overhaul and research the whole genus. Which for Mystriosuchus would go all the way back to 1896.

Anyhow, Mystriosuchus alleroq ("jawbone spoon crocodile") is the newest in a long line of Mystriosuchus species and has been recovered from western Greenland of all places. Like Colossosuchus it is known from multiple individuals, at least four in fact, And like Venkatasuchus, it appears to have wideraning implications for the spread of archosaurs during the Triassic. Oh look its Josch's art again, neat.

Jupijkam

The final phytosaur and the final Triassic taxon of the year, Jupijkam paleofluvialis ("horned serpent of ancient rivers") was recovered from Nova Scotia Canada and represents one of the northernmost phytosaurs (alongside obviously our friend Mystriosuchus alleroq above). It is far less complete than the other phytosaurs I covered so far, but still nothing to scoff at. It's also one of the youngest known phytosaurs, possibly having lived during the last stage of the Triassic. There's no art but here's an image of its snout from the original paper.

Turnersuchus

And with this we have reached the Jurassic and somewhat of a double feature. Ordering these via chronology makes this almost like storytelling. Turnersuchus hingleyae ("Hingley's and Turner's crocodile") is the oldest and basalmost named thalattosuchian, a group of crocodylomorphs that took to the seas. As such it shows a mosaic of features, already having begun to reduce its limbs, having a moderately long snout and still bearing osteoderms, which some of its descendents would come to lose. Turnersuchus dates to the Pliensbachian, a stage of the early Jurassic, tho the paper mentions how its not likely to hold its title as oldest member of its group for long as even older material has been discovered and is awaiting publication. Artwork by Júlia d’Oliveira and Joschua Knüppe

Torvoneustes jurensis

While Turnersuchus gives us a glimpse at what the earliest thalattosuchians were like, Torvoneustes jurensis ("savage swimmer of the Jura Mountains") represents them at one of their most derived. At 4 meters long, it must have been an impressive creature, entirely smooth and lacking osteoderms, highly reduced arms and a tail fluke to boot. There are some interesting features, as unlike other species of Torvoneustes, this one does not appear to have been as durophagous, instead appearing to be more of a generalist. It's the last Jurassic croc of the year and practically lived at the opposite end of this time period relative to our previous thalattosuchian, during the Kimmeridgian. Artwork by Sophie De Sousa Oliveira, not to be confused with Jùlia who drew Turnersuchus.

Comahuesuchus bonapartei

From marine to terrestrial, Comahuesuchus bonapartei is a member of the Notosuchia, land-dwelling cousins to the Neosuchia. This new species is known from the Cretaceous of Argentina and was described on the basis of a lower jaw, which differs from the previously described species of Comahuesuchus by the fact that the teeth are situated in individual sockets. Its jaws were short and wide, being described as U-shaped, giving it a somewhat pug-nosed appearance. In case you're wondering why I don't have the translation of the name thats because I can't access Bonaparte's first paper, so all I can say is that the new species is named after famed Argentinian paleontologist Jóse Fernando Bonaparte. Artwork by I mean you probably guessed it, its Josch again.

Aphaurosuchus kaiju

I have some mixed feelings on Aphaurosuchus kaiju ("powerless kaiju crocodile"), not just because I have to rewrite its genus wikipedia page that I am no longer happy with. No, Aphaurosuchus is a great genus in my opinion, given the complete nature of the holotype. But I do think that the species name of this second form is a bit of an exaggeration, seeing as it is to my knowledge not that exceptionally big. So why name it kaiju other than to sound cool? I also think it just kinda becoms funny when you consider the meaning of the genus name. Anyhow, it does look pretty mean, but thats to be expected from a baurusuchid. It lived during the Late Cretaceous in Brazil and the phylogenetic analysis that accompanied its description had some interesting implications that I'm curious to see tackled in the future. Other than that it's just another baurusuchid from a place crawling with baurusuchids, which tbh is pretty cool itself but doesn't really help make it stand out. Arwork by Paula Zeinner

Dentaneosuchus

It is the middle Eocene. France is entirely occupied by mammals. Well, not entirely... One indomitable reptile still holds out against the invaders. Yes, I am of course talking about Dentaneosuchus ("frightfull crocodile"), the titan of the Eocene, the terror of the jungle. Easily among the most exciting finds, this animal was an enormous sebecid previously thought to be a member of the genus Iberosuchus, but recent research not only shows its distinct but enormous. With a lower jaw around 90 cm long, it rivals even the famed Barinasuchus of Miocene South America. The total body lenght is of course a matter of debate given how little we know about sebecid proportions, with the paper lowballing it at 3 to 4 meters and I personally recovering something more akin to 5 meters. Regardless of the specifics, this would make it easily one of the top predators of its time, tho sadly this was not meant to last. It was among the last non-mammalian apex predators of Europe, before climate change and competition from mammals eventually drove them to extinction. Arwork by Joschua Knüppe and @mariolanzas

Baru iylwenpeny

Our last three entries were all members of the Notosuchia, the terrestrial crocodiles that existed from the Jurassic to the Miocene, so lets jump to the other major group of the time, the Neosuchians, specifically their most recent branch, the Crocodilians. Yes finally we are getting to crocs in the stricter sense.

Baru iylwenpeny ("divine crocodile thats good at hunting") is an animal we also knew for a while under the informal name Alcoota Baru based on where it was found. This year I spent a lot of time writing in the Mekosuchinae, Australasian crocodiles of the Cenozoic and just when I had finished the page for Baru, this guy got published. It's the largest, most robust and most recent member of the genus. Good at hunting is a good choice for the species name, as this animal was over 4 meters long with a head commonly likened to a cleaver and a hunting style speculated to consist of inflicting a lot of trauma on its prey with its massive teeth. I could gush about Baru for ages, but thats the important parts. It lived in central Australia during the Miocene only 8 million years ago. Artwork by the incredible @manusuchus

Antecrocodylus

Now for the last crocodilian described this year and one I remised to make a dedicated post for due to time constraints (I had a busy few months). Antecrocodylus chiangmuanensis ("before Crocodylus from Chiang Muan") is a close relative of the modern dwarf and true crocodiles from the Miocene of Thailand. It is only known from the back of the skull and an associated lower jaw, but it serves to highlight how little we know about the crocodiless of eastern Asia during the Miocene, which is a shame given that this region is crucial to deciphering where true crocodiles originated.

Alligator munensis

And our final taxon is Alligator munensis ("Mun river alligator"), which, obviously, is a member of the modern genus Alligator and thus most closely related to the still extant Chinese and American Alligator. Likely having been split from its Chinese relatives when the Tibetan plateau was lifted up, this species lived during the middle Pleistocene in Thailand and may have survived until the Holocene. It's head was short and robust and its teeth globular, which could indicate that it fed on hard-shelled prey like clams and snails. It was also small, likely not much bigger than 1.5 meters. Artwork by Joschua Knüppe

And that should be all of them, all new species and genera of Pseudosuchians described this past year. It's once again been fun to look back and I hope that you find them just as interesting as I do. Lets hope that 2024 will bring equally fascinating discoveries.

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demonslayerunhinged · 2 months ago

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Hi! I’m new here and I wanna start off by saying I absolutely LOVE your takes/analyzes/rants about KNY and you are literally so funny and omg I love. Here��s my actual question😂😅 it does contain Manga spoilers so if you don’t wanna answer it that’s totally fine but do you think there was a significance to both Sanemi and Genya encountering Kokushibo in the Infinity Castle Arc? Bc if we kinda sit down and think about it, it kinda relates to what happened to them as kids. They were attacked by someone who they had trusted in and believed they would have their back (i.e. the boys’ mom) and in the Infinity Castle Arc, they were also attacked by someone who they were supposed to trust in and believe would have their back (Kokushibo, a former Demon Slayer). This could absolutely be reading too much into it, but I find it peculiar that both brothers were confronted by someone who had personal connections to them, one being their mother and the other being a fellow Demon Slayer, and a former Hashira at that. Idk what are your thoughts?

~🦊

Hi! thanks so much for your kinds words and your ask!

You're not reading too much into it, trust me. Gotogue-sensei's work has so many layers, symbolism, metaphors, folktales, allegories etc. and this isn't just because I like to do analyses, a Kobe University researcher Akiko Ue published analyses on each character that was made into a book, but sadly there's no English translation 😔

Anyway, yes there is a significance to their fight with Kokushibo! All the fight matches in KnY are significant and meant to develop our characters by confronting them with their faults, fears and so on. Your analysis is brilliant! I didn't even think of it! It makes sense even for Gyomei who was betrayed by Kaigaku, a former slayer and Koku's disciple!

thanks for sharing! ❤

#kny #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #sanemi shinazugawa #kny anime #kny spoilers #sanemi #shinazugawa genya #shinazugawa sanemi #kny genya #demon slayer genya #unhinged asks

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all-hail-trudos · 6 months ago

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Something interesting that's come to light: Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is being developed in Unreal Engine. I can't find which version, but either way this is actually excellent news, since RF5 was made in Unity. I don't know how many people know this, but despite being a go-to engine until recently, Unity is a pain to optimize for the Switch by most accounts. RF5 had a number of development problems, but the choice of game engine definitely did not help. (It's also appropriate that they used a game engine favored by indie studios when it sounds like they had a really small dev team). This might sound like nerdy rambling, but hear me out. The fact that RF:GoA is being made in Unreal Engine 4 or 5 instead says two really encouraging things!

1.) This is an engine favored by larger studios with a bigger budget. Not that we don't see indie games using UE, but primarily this is what AAA studios use if they're not running on their own custom solutions. It's safe to say this is a sign that Marvelous is genuinely investing in the series and wants it to go places.

2.) Unreal Engine is without question a lot more powerful than Unity but needs more tinkering out of the box to get it running right. More importantly, it doesn't have Unity's reputation of needing a lot of finessing to work right on the Switch. Back in 2017, most UE4 games were just not coming out on Switch, because optimizing things enough to run at anything more than 12 fps was impossible. That has since changed enormously, but the key takeaway here is: If Guardians of Azuma is made in UE but is still coming to the Switch, we're 100% going to get better performance than RF5.

Also, this is much wilder speculation, but the release date of Spring 2025 coincides with when we're finally for sure getting details on the Switch 2. There's a very good chance this game is either going to get a re-release on the next gen system, or we're going to see it get a backwards compatibility patch adding DLSS which WILL FOR SURE improve performance like 100x over.

In conclusion, Guardians of Azuma has many signs that point positively to the future of the series, and to running well on the Switch and, since it deserves a place in the conversation, the Steam Deck. Solid performance on the PC is obviously a given. Just buy a GTX4090 and you'll never see less than 60fps ever again. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

#rune factory #guardians of azuma #rf:goa #is that a tag yet?#it is now

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nepofm · 10 months ago

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* ꗃ event unlocked . . . CASINO NIGHT !

hey ues readers . it’s finally hitting seventy degrees out so that means spring is here and with that so are this season’s most anticipated events . and we’ve got word on a new exclusive grand opening party for you .

club 1919 is a new speakeasy that’s making waves in manhattan’s social circle . located in the basement level of the empire hotel , this club is rumored to be the next exclusive location . a callback to prohibition , this club serves prohibition-era cocktails and operate just like a speakeasy with a nondescript entrance requiring a password . but you didn’t think it’d be that easy , did you ? passwords change monthly and only communicated to members via word-of-mouth . this grand opening party is simply to give everyone a taste of what club 1919 has to offer .

and what better way to commemorate this opening than a casino night theme ? a perfect juxtaposition between elegance and pure debauchery . and of course , it wouldn’t be an event with manhattan’s elite without a dress code . this will be a black tie event and as usual , we expect to see your best .

event invites were sent out months in advance so i hope for your sake , your invitation didn’t get lost in the mail . word has it that the invite list is exclusive and comprised of celebrities , influencers and most of the upper east side social scene . anyone who’s anyone will be here . and as always , make sure your nepoupdates notifications are on ! we’d hate for you to miss out on a good time .

OOC DETAILS

out of character: this is a full length event ! the duration is three weeks , starting on friday , may 17th at 12:00 am est and will last until sunday , june 2nd at 11:59 pm est .

in character: the party will take place in the span of one night on friday , may 3rd at 8:00pm at club 1919 in the empire hotel . dress code is BLACK TIE FORMAL . along with the club's signature drinks catered specifically for the grand opening party , an open bar will be available to attendees as well as a varity of food selections . additionally , there will be live musical performances throughout the night . you can view this pinterest board for event inspiration . this is a dash only event .

event participation is optional , however highly encouraged ! by participating in the event , you can apply for 10 points from our points system ! points can be redeemed for both ooc & ic prizes .

please utilize the #nepofm.event009 tag for any event related posts be it muse outfits or starters . feel free to share your muse’s outifts in our ooc discord channels as well !

nepoupdates will be interactively involved in the event . muses can send in anonymous ( or not ) tips to the gossip blog .

once the event is over , you may continue & finish the threads from the event but please do not start any new ones ! if you decide to fade to black plots for event , please leave plotting updates for nepoupdates .

finally , this event is 100% about character & connections development as well as fun for both muses & muns ! if you have any questions , please don’t hesitate to reach out to admins on main or through our #questions channel on discord !

#nepofm.event

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pinkmoondoll9shihtzu · 10 months ago

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Hello there 🙏🫶 I just want to share this rn with you..... 💌 Recently i have developed a crush on a girl. She is so wonderful and we talk every day & i feel so giddy LOL. I don't even know her face😭 I am so unsure over alot of things & it is both mortifying & exhilarating to experience .. & thats the fun if it..omg.. recently i feel like so many friends are having crushes i wonde r your thoughts on this..

also i forgot how to flirt entirely so i dnt even know if its noticeable to her at all that im interested that way since i havent been bold enough LOL any advice on signaling this to her is appreciated i feel like13 again likeso clumsy LOL its so exciting too omg wishing you a beautiful day when u reaD this i hope it;s fine to send this to u i know u like your inbox used as a confessional but i'm still shy HAHA

🙏🌞🫶🫧🌈

AWWW💞💞💞 happy for u Anon :]....Ues it seems lately many people have been finding new love, i noticed it too the past few weeks :o I've only had that feeling a handful of times over my life, its a special one cus it can be quite fleeting depending on how fast things move, treasure it🌟 altho W/ me and slimbo it lasted ages so by the end of it when we finally confessed love i was FRIED from haveing butterflies in my stomach for so long lol i was losing my marbles over it. anywyas--

Honeslty im BAD at flirting like. i have noooo idea how to make a move , slimbo n i both tried to keep it .pokerface. for years because we're like, i dont even know, we're stupid we were almost enemies for a while. there was a timespan where we were SOOOO competitive and whenever we tried to play games we'd fight so much and i'd end up crying LMAO im laugjing so hard typing this cus we're not even like that now. Like as soon as we got together we became the ultimate harmonious team of considerate affectionate lovers but the courting phase was such a trainwreck lmao. i love it like its beautiful it all worked out, but yeah i suck at flirting i am swagless in that position🧎‍♀️

Altho when it's irl i definitely at least try to Thot it Up, concoct minxy outfits , move in a charming way, one of my most successful tactics has been attempting to orchestrate accidental voyeuristic scenarios for them to catch in their peripherals lol. but you have to be reeeeally subtle to pull that one off ;] i guess mostly i just try to talk to them a lot !! and be thouggtful. send telepathic uncondtional love. SHOW THEM SONGS!!!!!!! if its an internet thing, maybe u can watch movies or youtube videos together. be inquisitive and ask her lots of questions ^_^ one thing that always drew me to slimbo is how curious they are and their #intellect.. But everyones different so just feel it out day by day thru communication💓💓💓

hhope that helpes in some way.. its ok to feel giddy and clumsy im sure ur crush just wants to get to know the most authentic -you- so dont stress too much about specifics ^u^ Enjoy your weekend love ~ ~ ~ P.M.d.9

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dorianwolfforest · 2 years ago

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I feel like your blog would be the best to ask this, haas anyone here watched eleanor nightwalker's new video about Alex and Maya as queer rep? My adhd brain is curious but would not let me waste my time on it

you just made me click on an eleanor nightwalker video on my own accord and download it onto my computer (she gets no seconds of watchtime from me, fuck that) how dare you

Basically "ue ue ue all the relationship development happened outside of the game" which, fair, but it's hard to retcon things when they've already happened in your main story line.

"The events in Elli's comics don't feel official because they don't add anything to the game" die mad wtf are you on about, we got so much lore regarding the game and the characters in it from those comics

"You meet them as two separate characters and then all of a sudden they're cuddling in a field" yes, people in relationships are also their own separate entities, good job!

"We need something to explain why they're a thing, not just that they are" yet you do not push this narrative on any straight couple in the game. queer people do not owe you a grand romantic story to be "permitted" to exist, sometimes their relationship can just be one small part of their story and their existence does not need to be justified.

"Alex had a crush on justin in the clouds over silverglade comics!!! She also thinks about him a lot when we need to rescue him and is the one who suggests breaking him out of jail." WHAT. OUTRAGEOUS. BISEXUALITY? IN MY VIDEO GAME? (Doesn't even need to be bisexuality a lot of queer people mistake their close friendships as romantic feelings because they haven't clocked what they're attracted to yet) Also, like, yeah, if i was breaking someone out of prison i'd... think about them too? "She needs to stop defending him to make Alex and Maya's relationship seem more genuine" She's being a good friend? A good Samaritan? A person who sees someone get kidnapped and says "yeah i don't think that's right, stop it"??????

"Lisa would be the best queer rep because she doesn't have a romantic past and it fits her character" Lisa is word-of-god-confirmed to be bisexual. Get dunked on. Also, die mad.

"Maya's model is smaller than Alex so it looks weird" ok? fuck short ppl ig.

In short yeah, i'm sure we all want to see more of alex and maya, but that doesn't make their representation forced or bad. To finish off, die mad.

#TW eleanor nightwalker #none of this anger is aimed at you anon i just fucking. hate her lmaooo #that is 8 minutes of my life i will never get back

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puroresu-musings · 1 year ago

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NJPW NEW YEAR DASH!! 2024 Review (Jan 5th, Sumida Ward Gymnasium, Tokyo)

NJPW World TV Championship - Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi **1/2

Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Kaito Kiyomiya & Ryohei Oiwa ***

El Phantasmo & Hikuleo vs. Yuto Nakashima & Oskar Leube **1/2

Tama Tonga, Shota Umino, El Desperado, Master Wato, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. EVIL, Ren Narita, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SHO, Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo *1/2

Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb, HENARE, TJP & Frencesco Akira vs. David Finlay, Gabe Kidd, Alex Coughlin, Clark Conners & Drilla Moloney ****

Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI vs. SANADA, Taichi, Yuya Uemura, DOUKI & TAKA Michinku **1/4

KOPW 2024 Championship ~ Pinfall Only 10 Minute Sprint - Toru Yano vs. Great-O-Khan vs. YOH vs. Taiji Ishimori *1/2

Kazuchika Okada, Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste & Kosei Fujita ***3/4

Photos.

This was your typically fun, brisk NEW YEAR DASH!! show, that was as always was more about the angles and story progressions into the year ahead (or indeed, lack there of) as opposed to great matches or anything. Debuting in the Sumida Ward Gym, the show was a mystery card, with the matches only becoming apparent once the participants entered. Things kicked off with Tanahashi defending the World TV Title against Ryusuke Taguchi, in an inoffensive, but totally superfluous opener. It only went 5:40, and was pretty much all your typical Taguchi comedy bout, which Tana obviously won with a cradle. The post match was eventful as a video aired of none other than Matt Riddle challenging Tanahashi, so that's certainly an interesting development. Tana claimed to have no idea who Riddle was. Next up, NOAH Ace Kiyomiya and NJ Young Lion Oiwa put in a losing effort against former tag champs Bishamon. This was a nice little match which saw Goto pin Oiwa after the Shoto in 7:40.

The next outing was Young Lion's Nakashima and Leube's official last match before their excursion. They took on the new Tag Champs, ELP and Hikuleo in a standard tag match. Phantasmo pinned Yuto at the 8 minute mark with Thunder Kiss 86. After bidding the Young Lions farewell, Chase Owens attacked the champions, and announced himself and KENTA as their next challengers. Fab. It was 12 man tag action next as the entire House of Torture took on the New Japan Babyface All-Stars. This was pretty bad, and devolved into the usual HoT nonsense. Umino pinned Togo in 8 minutes after a Death Rider, then the heels beat everyone down in the post match. Narita focussed on Shota, so their feud continues, Kanemaru laid out Despy with a whiskey bottle, so there's his next Jr. Title challenger, and EVIL laid out Tama, cut his hair, and posed with the NEVER Title, which he then stole. I can't possibly pretend that any of these pairings interest me in the slightest, but if there's one positive, it's that at least EVIL isn't anywhere near the main event scene.

United Empire battled the Bullet Club War Dogs next in a 10 man. This was all excellent. The match itself only went 5:10, but it was all-action and super intense; they brawled around the building, Akira hit a balcony dive, Connors Speared and beatdown the referee, Gabe Kidd juiced a gusher after hitting the exposed buckles, the War Dogs all threw chairs and guardrails from the crowd into the ring, and the match was thrown out, ruled a No Contest. There was a crazy post-match beatdown, which included the heels trying to gouge Akira's eye out with a metal object, and he juiced too. Just when it looked like they were done, the UE fought back and cleared house, only for Gedo to blindside Ospreay with a lowblow. They were about to take him out when TJP made the save by Misting Finlay, and Ospreay hit Gedo with a running Powerbomb through an upright table in the corner. Ospreay then said his last night in New Japan is New Beginning in Osaka on February 11th, and challenged all 5 guys to 10 man war fare, and he'd let Finlay choose the stipulation. The new Global Champion chose a Cage Match, so that should be outstanding stuff. This was the highlight of the show by far.

LIJ and Just Five Guys faced off next in a total House Show affair. It wasn't bad, but certainly wasn't good, and the post match didn't fill me with much excitement. TAKA scored his first win in maybe 15 years when he pinned BUSHI with a Michinoku Driver II at 8:47. The post match saw SANADA challenge Naito to a rematch (meh). I'd much rather someone else challenge for the World Heavyweight belt at this point, maybe even Taichi, but this was the inevitable issue with putting the belt back on Naito. There just aren't many/any fresh matches for him. The 2024 KOPW Champion was decided in the next match, which was a pinfalls only 10 minute sprint. This sucked, the crowd was dead, the action uninspired and even though it only went 10 minutes, it felt 30. After O-Khan pinned everyone, Ishimori snuck in, stole a pin, then ran away to beat the clock and win the Championship. Whatever. I think this belt is way past its Use By date now.

And then it was main event time, as the Dream Team of Okada, Ishii, Mox and Danielson took on the TMDK guys. This was lots of fun, everyone looked great and all the individual stories made for a compelling watch. Ishii tore the house down every time he got in there, and Danielson and ZSJ's exchanges were the best wrestling on the show. Obviously. The finish saw Haste and Nicholls put Ishii away with the Tank Buster whilst Sabre had Danielson tied up in a Manjigatame at the 13:50 mark. The post match saw Zack challenge Danielson (now THAT'S a rematch I can get behind!), with both guys promising to tap each other out (despite all the talk of submissions, their last match ended in a pinfall), then Fujita said he, Nicholls and Haste were next for the NEVER 6 Man Titles. Okada was very annoyed at this, saying Fujita was in no way ready to face him, then they stared down Tanahashi on commentary to end and eventful show.

NDT

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nonbinary-coder · 5 months ago

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after some research and deliberation, I've decided to do my game development in Godot.

I had been considering Unreal Engine, because I've used it before, but since I'm mostly interested in 2D gaming atm, and UE's idea of 2D appears to mostly be "3D but flatter", which probably takes more processing space than I want, I figured I'd go with something actually intended for 2D. I did consider GameMaker, which I've also used before, but decided that since it's been long enough that I'd basically have to relearn it anyway, I may as well try something new. (and I wasn't about to consider Unity, because of that whole mess a few years ago. last year? idk, time isn't real)

Godot is open source and free, which is nice. Including that they won't ever charge you to use their program to make games, no matter how much money you earn for it. Unlike Unreal, which wants royalties once you earn above a certain amount. I'm not currently planning on monetizing my games, but it's certainly good to know.

Currently, I'm midway through the tutorial to make your first 2D game. I'm really liking the program so far. It's different from what I've used before, but it makes sense, and the user manual / tutorial instructions are comprehensive.

It's largely script based, using its own language, and having learned a couple languages before means the logic makes sense to me. Just gotta learn the vocab and syntax.

I'm really excited to finish the tutorial and then start on my own games.

#nonbinary coder #godot #game development #godot engine #solodev

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terrainofheartfelt · 2 years ago

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Sort of inspired by your discussion of Jenny needing to go to London alone to really grow into herself and mature as a person, in an ideal world in which none of the main characters were forcibly tethered to the UES or its more toxic inhabitants post-high school, how do you generally - like broad strokes - imagine them developing as people in college and throughout their twenties? I always wonder where everyone might have ended up had they not been constrained by the type of narrative they were living in, and I’d love to hear any headcanons you have on the subject!

I've been thinking about this on and off since i received it (an embarrassingly - for me - amount of time ago) and now finally feel like I can answer.

because, like, what if we weren't constrained by the harsh realities of making tv? what if the rules meant that they could leave new york?

well, first, let's dovetail off jen moving to london and blossoming, and send eric along with her. he can go to cambridge, or any of the other big name universities in the area, and he and jenny would be flatmates and live their own hilarious queer sitcom of being students in london.

I've already plugged nads' yale au in my answers this evening, but I still really like the idea of dan and blair attending yale, and outside of the maelstrom of manhattan drama, they settle into their own selves and learn they could actually...like each other? and then they fall in LOVE as far as careers, they are the most driven. and we've talked about novelist dan and editress blair and art historian blair and college prof dan.....but lately I've been thinking about blair working in costuming. It's not high fashion design, but I think it's a great synthesis of the things we know blair loves: literature, film, history, art history & fashion history, Evil Dictator of Good Taste, being a specialist and big boss on a niche subject...yeah...

i still enjoy the idea of vanessa being at nyu, or at another arts college in nyc, and making her own way and building her own story (without being boxed in to the secondary character of anyone else's story!) I like the idea of her attending Tisch too, and expanding her skill set into screenwriting in that way.

to plug another au by a friend, S's goodbye stranger introduced the concept of Serena attending Berkeley, and I LOVE it. I love that for her. Berserk-ley. I think that school in that part of the country would be where Serena would really thrive. She becomes a full glamorous SF queen. perhaps she opens a coffee shop. Blair is outwardly mortified but inwardly very proud.

As for Nate, I think he is the character who really should take a gap year. It's never questioned, but the way he is yanked around by the collar those first two seasons, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense that nate would decide that he needs some time to figure out what it is he wants. sidebar: bc the serena gap year felt disingenuous in many ways, yk? serena was so eager to leave new york and go to school and study. she likes learning, we see it, and the opportunity to reinvent herself that college would provide....why would she walk away from it? except for TV Reasons. so, I like the thought of nate taking at least a year. traveling, volunteering, maybe he takes a community college course or two. he falls off the grid for a while and he realizes how healthy and how happy he feels without the constant eyes and pressure of his family & gossip girl. and after that time, he's found what he actually wants to do, and goes to school to do it. -- as always, I'm fond of nate working in health care, as a nurse or pt or something, but it could really be anything. teacher? chef? social worker? children's librarian? (actually culinary student nate has come up in convos with ivy & cherry before and I am into it.)

and uhhhhhh i guess chip wiskers can crash his inherited business and money into the ground bc lets be real that fucko would try to launch his own cryptocurrency and since he seems to hold such disdain for education and self-betterment, he stagnates and falls off the face of the earth byeeee

#gg hcs #asks #anon #gg au #wow I want this all to exist now ty #i am now feeling very passionate about nate taking a gap year #it's like the good version of what carter baizen did #and tbh it did kind of feel like nate would go that way #like in s1 when he was full out crushing on carter and the life he was living?#really thinkin bout it now. what if nate and vanessa went backpacking and nate decided not to come back?

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capyquest-logs · 8 days ago

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Update: Change in plans

So! I have to cut down the scope of this project a bit.

TL;DR: Combat and enemy design would eat up way too much of my time. I can't learn C++ fast enough to keep up with the game mechanics, and it takes an insane amount of time for VS files to update in Live Coding.

The two things I'm cutting are combat with enemies and... using C++. I'm really upset I can't use C++ for this particular project, but allow me to explain.

First, combat was sort of tacked onto my plans, so when I started to get a feeling of just how much work the rest of the game was going to be, I just decided it'd be best to just leave it out. Maybe in the future I can add enemies, but the grappling hook mechanic is more important and, probably, more work, so I'm setting combat to the side for now.

Now what I'm personally really bummed about is that I'm switching back to normal blueprints instead of coding in C++. There are a few reasons. First, learning the C++ syntax initially was easy and gave me a false sense of confidence. This is because I already had a really strong grasp on object-oriented programming, so just learning the new syntax was easy.

What's not so easy is the fact that Unreal Engine has hundreds of UE5-specific coding classes (by classes I mean the object-oriented coding term, not literal educational classes). And in order to use them, it would take me tons of time to do research and go digging in the documentation for every single new operation I wanted to use. I simply don't have that much time. If CapyQuest was my only responsibility, I would absolutely be okay with doing the research, but I am a full-time student and have other classes that need my attention as well.

The main reason I can't use C++ directly, though, is because my computer can't handle it. Compiling and saving within the blueprint editor takes mere seconds. When I was doing this Udemy course and started using Live Coding (basically the equivalent of blueprint compiling, for these purposes), it took a few seconds to a minute or so for the instructor's project to update. It took mine anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes for every single change I made. Even something as simple as adding a new variable would take ages to update. I just can't work with this happening.

From a little bit of research, I found that many UE users with 32gb of RAM took a few minutes to update, and the UE docs says that Epic employees use 64gb for their own development computers. I have 16gb on my PC, which is simply not enough.

If you've read to this point, thank you! I will refocus and use my time more effectively, and maybe look into upgrading my computer's RAM.

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altconsm · 17 days ago

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Custom Input (UE)

by adding custom inputs, i am able to program special features into the game. It is also useful for development testing, such as being able to reset the level with a single key.

By adding a new input action and programming it in the player character, you can have any key or button trigger an event.

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vinnyradio · 20 days ago

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Global Game Jam 2025

This past week was the Global Game Jam 2025 where individuals or teams come together to create a video game within a weeks time frame. The goal was to design, develop, and produce a playable game around a specific theme.

For this year, my team, Team Rubber Ducky participated in the Central Florida Global Game Jam, where the theme has been revealed to be around: bubbles.

I would highlight the processes in making our game.

First we had to brainstorm ideas as to what our game would be about and sort of how it would work. Ideas included information as to genre, brief mechanics, camera style, to game features. The team provided several ideas all while keeping in mind the theme for this year's jam.

Upon each idea being elaborated on, we eventually we had to settle on one. We voted to create a story driven 2.5D platformer with roguelike elements where the player dives into the ocean in the hopes of retrieving their lost personal treasures. The game would begin when a box is dropped into the water, prompting the player to dive in and navigate through increasingly gloomy and treacherous underwater environments, where oxygen serves as your health. The player would have to collect air bubbles to stay alive, fight monstrous fish with an upgradable harpoon gun, and uncover lost personal objects that trigger memories and unlock new paths. You could gather currency to enhance your diving suit and oxygen supply with the ultimate goal being to reach the ocean’s deepest point and retrieve a sentimental locket tied to a love story, which would trigger a cinematic. Visuals would feature dark yellow tones and dynamic light shafts.

Upon getting the idea down, we got to work. The team focused on their roles in order to bring the game to fruition.

Roles consisted of a VFX Artist, Composer, Character Artists (including animation specialists), Developers, Game Designers, a Community Manager (me), 3D Artist, UX/UI Designer, Environment Artist, Sound Designers, a Narrative Designer, and an Art Lead that also specialized in rigging.

We also had to come up with a team name and so, we came up with Team Rubber Ducky.

Lets dive into the different elements that made up the game.

Narrative With a story came narrative design. The narrative team had to incorporate a story into the gameplay. This included a backstory to the items that were to be collected and narrative that was to unfold as the player progressed. Without giving too much away, here is the initial concept map for the which a narrative could be built upon.

Art We needed art to implement into the game. This included items that the player would collect, interact and run into throughout the game. 3D visual effects software such as Autodesk Maya were used to create such items. Here are some pictures of the items and their progressions.

We also added animation sequences to the characters to help bring them to life.

UX/UI was needed for players to be able to interact with the game. We incorporated artwork into into the interface in order to match the overall theme of the game. Such incorporation brought about a more immersive experience.

With characters and models came visual effects. In order to really bring the whole game to life and bring the player into the game, we added these subtle little touches really bring immersion into the game. Here you can see the bubbles that were added in response to the theme for the Global Game Jam.

Sound

Audio such as sound effects and music was experimented with to add to the game to create a more immersive and whole experience for the player. We incorporated a sense of progression to the music as the player navigated further into the game.

Sound effects were added to complete the package.

UE Developer

To tie everything up, the UE Developers were responsible for putting everything together and bringing the game to life. From constructing the game mechanics to implementing the asset creations into the game, the game developers put together all the ideas into something that was playable in Unreal Engine.

As my first game jam, it was interesting to see the behind the scenes of everything coming together into a making a game. Seeing everyone's different talents and ideas come to life was pretty cool. All in a weeks time as well. I have a newfound appreciation for game development and a new perspective on video games. It is definitely a difficult journey, but not impossible.

You can play the game here: https://teamrubberducky.itch.io/fragmentsofthedeep

Shoutout to the team:

VFX Artist

Ashton Jensen Portfolio: https://ashton3ddesigns.com/ itch.io: kranox21

Composer

Bart Hipp itch.io: Nufane

Character Artists

Brandon Ramos Portfolio: ArtStation itch.io: ramosb

Lucas Ahrens Portfolio: lucasahrens.info itch.io: MeltdownLou

Character Artist/Animation

Yelena Iachonkova Portfolio: ArtStation itch.io: yashonkova

Game Developers

Seth Rolfe Portfolio: sethrolfe.com itch.io: Hexnite

Tony Nguyen Portfolio: https://t-engine.itch.io/ itch.io: T Engine

Game Designer

Kamataya Portfolio: https://kamataya.itch.io/ itch.io: Kamataya

Community Manager

Kevin Park itch.io: Vinny-itch

3D Artist

Meiranda Zook Portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/meirandazook3 itch.io: Skittleslette

UX/UI Designer

Michelle Lee Portfolio: michelleleej.myportfolio.com itch.io: migumi

Environment Artist

Nic Bushell Portfolio: Vimeo itch.io: bushellart

Sound Designers

Paul Naser Portfolio: paulnaseraudio.com itch.io: pnaser74

RRACOS Portfolio: rracos.co.uk itch.io: RRACOS

Narrative Designer

Quinton Rocke itch.io: somanypromises

Art Lead/Rigging

Rob Garcia Portfolio: robgarcia.carbonmade.com itch.io: FT-USER-1

#global game jam #game development

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