#Skill-Based Gaming

[zaahvi]

GLORY TO THE RISEN GODS

[breadandlottery]

One man. Three personas. Each one a foil to the protagonist in a different way.

[keirientez]

Pokemon trainer AU, Reborn is the champion meanwhile Tsuna is his apprentice. Tsuna’s design belongs to my friend @Cloud_Knee (Twt or X)

[pzyii]

RPG update, santana pov, and it’s immediately ansgty

[grantmentis]

what do you think is behind boston's scoring issues?

(a lot of the stats im referencing in this come from here)

So Boston has been pretty great defensively over the past two seasons, and this year no one has a smallr expected goals against than them. Despite this, they're still only at 46 xGF% because the offense has been that bad

I think it stems from a lot of their play in transition. They use uncreative breakouts that often lead to turnovers and every defender but Keller is playing so conservatively. They don really use the middle of the ice on breakouts and use a lot of right ups / having two forwards ahead for a stretch pass and its easy to defend against for most of their roster and is not great for possession (which is part of why their hit total is so high - they never have the puck!) They also play SO conservatively that they don't really support each other in the inevitable puck battles that come from these entries' and counteractively allow the opponent just a ton of space (there's a game against minnesota on the 8th and play right before minnesota scores first is kind of an example of this.) The end of the Montreal game on dec 30th is also a great example of this - they couldnt get through the zone at all! Once they are in the offensive zone, it sticks to a lot of low to high plays with shots that never get through and lead to the forward having to retrieve the puck against the boards and end up in board battles that they've been losing a lot of the time (in part because this is an exhausting style of hockey to play)

Tapani Bilka Knight line has been able to overcome this sytematic issue mostly because of their talents but could probably be doing more in a better situation, and the rest of the lineup hasn't been producing because of it and you're seeing good forwards like brandt and muller suffer because of it

[ryuki-draws]

[Losing My Religion by R.E.M. playing the background]

I had Wendigoon's Faith The Unholy Trinity video and gameplay in the background when I was working on my thesis film and you can say I grew fond of one sad and traumatized priest

[djevelbl]

GUESS WHO I'M DRAWING NOOOOWWWWW~!!!!

[cybergrapeuk]

Have you ever noticed face-to-face conversation feels like real-time strategy games whilst online interactions are turn-based?

[meli-mouse]

didnt draw anything big but happy belated bday to this guy who pogged in 2012

[0ccuria]

new bio-cards! used @tav-dex's template as a base to build off of.

[gloryfore]

Me: dies instantly

Everyone else:

[squintsintwink]

I think bands would’ve been a cooler addition to high school years than thrifting, and bubble tea

[loveydoveykris]

Decisions decisions..

[homestuckreplay]

FAKE BANDS (they are not real)

(page 1307-1327)

THERE IS A MIDNIGHT CREW ALBUM!! According to Hussie’s 4 February 2010 newspost, this came about because the Homestuck music team make way more music than is actually needed for Homestuck, so albums like this are another way of promoting that music. This one’s theme is ‘dark jazz’ and is written as though the Midnight Crew were a band, which… maybe they are when they’re not planning time heists, I don’t know. Either way I really like this album, and I think it captures the characters well and is a good fun time. Hollow Suit was a highlight on first listen and Hauntjam is also a total bop, but there is a lot of talent in every song.

Back in the comic, the whole Midnight Crew has gathered in the same room as Lord English’s SECRET VAULT (p.1155) and has engaged in an extensive shootout with Biscuits and Eggs. Following a few explosions, the only Felt members left to defeat are Clover, Cans and English himself. We are definitely heading towards the final showdown of this intermission despite having two characters who haven’t even been introduced, and I’m no clearer as to how it will end.

‘You're sure as hell not going to drive all the way over there, so you just shoot at them in person’ (p.1307) is an amazing reminder that the Midnight Crew know how to drive. Their getaway van was mentioned on page 330 and I forgot because it is so silly and goofy to imagine (complimentary) (there is no way Deuce’s feet would reach the pedals).

Much like fighting 10,000 rats, Biscuits and Eggs are sort of unbeatable just due to there being so many of them, even though as individuals they are barely a threat. Luckily, Slick comes in with the crowbar, and marks a distinction between ‘Felt members who have inherent powers’ (Itchy, Doze, Trace, Clover, Fin, Snowman, Stitch??, Sawbuck) and ‘Felt members who have a magic item, but might just be regular guys’ (Die, Crowbar, Eggs, Biscuits). The magic items are especially interesting because I feel like the beta kids might end up finding/unlocking captcha codes for similar items as they get further into the game.

Although every Eggs has a timer, destroying the current timeline’s Eggs’ timer sorts out the whole mess. He's easy to deal with, but again Biscuits is secretly the smartest and best Felt member and proves an unexpected challenge. His oven might be the most powerful item here because it’s immune to Crowbar’s crowbar, which puts some limits on an otherwise gamebreaking item. I like the idea that some things are powerful specifically because they don’t have time powers, which can be a weakness as much as a strength. I think Slick would like this idea too. He and this oven could get along.

Boxcars’ attempt to eat Eggs is a powerful moment and makes me love him as a character. Definitely one of the funniest pages in this intermission so far, and kind of reminds me of WV being unable to resist eating every green thing he finds. And hey, that timer went off a lot, those eggs are cooked, Boxcars has been at all this for a while and is probably hungry, and eggs are full of protein. Perfect, no notes.

On page 1310, Slick charges at the current timeline Stitch (who is in the background about to set fire to Slick and Droog’s effigies) and attacks with both the horse hitcher and Snowman’s lance like the mounted cavalry. The caption reads ‘This is incredibly delirious biznasty’ and links directly to a page midway through Problem Sleuth, featuring (apparently) Death attacking Pickle Inspector in a similar way, with the caption ‘This is incredibly silly!’ (PS 791). I believe this page was less obviously referenced earlier in Homestuck, where John charges down the stairs on his pogo mount brandishing hammer and shaving cream, with the caption ‘This is incredibly dangerous!’ (p.497). But this reference to ‘delirious biznasty’ comes from elsewhere in Homestuck – Dave’s bro’s computer shows a program with this name, featuring an icon of a cool skater. This same icon is in the narrative text below page 1310, along with the Problem Sleuth link and ‘delirious biznasty’ caption.

So, why? I love to close read and to notice small details, and I totally understand the drive to reference previous work. In this case there’s no reward for making these connections, there’s no new understanding of the story or hint to the future that gets unlocked by making this link (I don’t think??) and the joy is just in seeing all the red strings link up in a fun shape. Which I think is cool in moderation (the level is fine right now), but if there’s too much of it, I want it to mean something.

I am SO excited that we learn more about Clover! He is so jittery and has a lot of interesting things to say about luck. Apparently, ‘mirrors that tick and have numbers and tell time’ are ‘the worst kind of mirror to break, luckwise’ (p.1323), which could mean that tampering with time (or, more literally, destroying clocks) causes bad luck in some way? The description of Clover as ‘so lucky the gun will probably jam’ if he gets shot makes me think luck might be a literal, measurable value and one that can be adjusted, just like in some video games and tabletop roleplaying games. Who’s to say Sburb doesn’t program a luck stat into its NPCs (and players?)

Clover’s ‘hee hee’s would be so annoying if I was enemies with him, but I’m not, so I think it’s very cute and fun. ‘You don't have to be all that unlucky to get whacked around with a newspaper. It's sort of a gray area.’ is another very good intermission line. I gotta agree, if I got whacked around with a newspaper by a rival I would consider it more a funny story than an unlucky day. It also suggests that Clover’s one downfall is pranks, which are funnier than they are unlucky, which we’ve already established is something Slick is bad at (but Deuce could totally handle).

Finally, a moment that stuck out to me:

He begins spinning a fanciful series of riddles illuminating the true path to opening the vault. Mysterious music fills your ears as your mind assumes the shape of a pretzel. (p.1324)

I'm thinking always about the multimedia aspects of Homestuck and thinking especially today about the imagination as one of its mediums. Like the reader command format is explicitly asking the reader to imagine what will happen next in a far more active way than in any other stories outside of computer text based adventures and (again) tabletop roleplaying games. Clover's riddles are a small example of this happening in the text as well, where we don't get an image of Clover on a vision quest surrounded by glowing polygons, but fill in the blanks anyway. I don't have loads to say about this right now but I might circle back to it someday.

[precociouscoffee]

Dustborn is the most interesting game of 2024, i am baffled and enamored by every sentence,each new scene brings with it more knee slapping derangement. Most videos are only reaching for the surface level, and twitter people are just saying "le woke immigrant song game" I promise you these people have not passed the 1h mark and have no idea how weird it gets, it has been festering in my mind with each horrible, horrible decision each character makes, dustborn for me falls under the "so bad its good" metric for sure