#and depending on how this project that im working on rn goes. i might also post late

[uc-fan-events]

Is it okay if we post things late? Today is a busy day for me and I am not sure if I will be able to do anything for day 1 until tomorrow, but I want to participate.

Posting things late is absolutely ok! As long as its posted during the week (and probably a day after) it counts for the week!

[glazeliights]

Danganronpa in toki pona part 1: names

toki!

since Im both a danganronpa fan and a conlang enjoyer, I had the idea a while ago to try and translate parts of it into toki pona (not whole games, god no. just snippets, maybe some ftes). while I assume this is mostly going to interest people who already know about conlangs, I still want it to be readable by people who have never heard of them in their life. so

what is toki pona?

toki pona is a conlang (short for constructed language, a language someone made up, think: esperanto or tolkiens languages. theres a lot I could talk about here but rn thats all you need to know) made by sonja lang. it was created to be as minimalistic as possible with a vocabulary of about 120 - 150 words depending on who you ask. it onls has 9 consonants and 5 vowels, which means theres some restrictions for how you can transliterate names into toki pona (called 'tokiponization').

lets get into how that works

tokiponization

since tokiponization is based on pronounciation rather than spelling, its important to know what sounds were working with. this is where I might lose some folks that dont know any linguistics stuff, but this section is optional. you only need to read it to find out how the names turned out the way they did, and how to say them out loud.

consonants

the nine consonants of toki pona are m, n, p, t, k, s, w, l, j. these are pronounced like their ipa (international phonetic alphabet) counterparts. its not necessary to know what that means, just know that [j] is pronounced like english <y> (as in yes, not as in synth). everything is else is p much how an english speaker would expect it.

the way consonants are tokiponized goes as follows:

voiced stops and fricatives are devoiced (z, d, g, b > s, t, k, p)

labial fricatives (f, ɸ) become p

coronal fricatives (and affricates) (θ, ʃ, ɕ, ts, tʃ, tɕ) become s

the japanese r [r] becomes l (the english r [ɻ] becomes w)

h is dropped word-initially and becomes w or j intervocalically

v can become p or w but Ill use w here

vowels

toki ponas vowels are a, e, i, o, u. this is almost the same as japanese, which has ɯ instead of u, but since its just the same sound with a rounding difference its tokiponized as u. japanese also has a length distinction, which toki pona doesnt, meaning long and short vowels will simply be the same length.

syllables

toki ponas syllable structure is CV(n) meaning that each syllable must have a consonant and a vowel (except word-initially where it can be just a vowel) and can optionally end in n. this is fairly similar to japanese syllable structure, but one thing is that japanese has palatalized consonants. this is pretty easy to solve by just inserting -ij- to mimic the sound. generally with tokiponization its preferable to preserve syllable count rather than add extra sounds but 1) if you say it quickly its barely noticable and 2) its my project and I can do what I want.

the other thing is that while in toki pona, vowels need to be seperated by at least one consonant, japanese allows you to theoretically chain together as many vowels as you want. I tried to find out whether vowel sequences are pronounced as diphthongs or disyllabically and turns out its a little complicated because those terms are defined in terms of syllables and japanese is mora-timed rather than syllable-timed. Ill admit I only have the faintest clue what a mora is but for the purposes of this project I will be treating vowel sequences as seperate syllables when possible. if it isnt, due to the syllables wu, wo, ji, and ti being forbidden in toki pona, Ill treat them like diphthongs in that the second vowel is just dropped entirely.

some smaller notes:

the only phoneme allowed in syllable codas is n, so for example gundham becomes kantan

stress always falls on the first syllable

and the final, rather important thing

the way names work in toki pona is that you have to describe what the thing is before saying the name (for example, canada is called ma Kanata, which literally means canada-place). therefore people are generally called jan [name], however, some tokiponists use a different term before their name (called a head noun) either for fun or to express something about themselves (such as many plural systems using kulupu ("group")).

theres quite a few options for varying what head nouns someone uses for themselves or others to add nuances. for example, I think gundham might refer to himself as a jan wawa ("powerful (in the sense of supernatural powers in this case) person"), or perhaps hiyoko might call mikan a jaki instead of a jan to insult her. theres a lot of fun to be had here.

the actual names

THH:

jan Makoto Najeki

jan Kijoko Kilikili (note: kili is the toki pona word for fruit so her name here literally says fruit-fruit)

jan Pijakuja Tokami

jan Toko Pukawa

jan (moli) So (note: jan moli here would mean killer to translate the spirit of her original title better, but since her talent would include it anyways Im not sure whether to use it?)

jan Sajaka Masono

jan Lejon Kuwata

jan Siwilo Pusisaki (note: yes this means their name is pronounced pussysaki. do with this info what you will)

jan ante/jasima (note: alter ego. lit: "different/reflection person", I feel like jasima fits more but Im also kinda unsura abt using nimi pu ala in the names and talents. I would definitely use at least nimi ku suli in the actual translations but for names and talents its like. hm :/)

jan Monto Owata

jan Kijotaka Isimalu

jan Ipumi Jamata

jan Selesija Lutenbeku/Tajeko Jasuwilo

jan Jasuwilo Akakule

jan Sakula Okami

jan Awi Asawina

jan Mukulo Ikusapa

jan Sunko Enosima

soweli Monokuma

SDR2

jan Asime Inata

jan Isulu Kamukula

jan Sijaki Nanami

jan Nakito Komajeta (note: I think he may also switch to a more self deprecating head noun when hes having a Moment)

jan Sakisi/Pijakuja Tukami (note: since tu means two, the togami/twogami thing works just as much in toki pona as it does in english)

jan Lijota Mitala

jan Telutelu Anamula

jan Mawilu Kowisumi

jan Peko Pekojama

jan Pujuwiko Kusuliju

jan Ipuki Mijota

jan Ijoko Sajonsi

jan Mikan Sumiki

jan Akane Owali

jan Nekomalu Nita

jan Kantan Tanaka (note: probably calls himself jan wawa or perhaps even usawi ("magic/supernatural") if I feel spicy enough to include nimi sin)

jan Sonja Newaman

jan Kasuwisi Sota

soweli Usami/Monomi

NDRV3

jan Kajete Akamasu

jan Suwisi Sajala

jan Kato Momota

jan Maki Alukawa

jan Kokisi Oma

jan Lantalo Amami

jan Lijoma Osi

jan Kilumi Toso

jan Imiko Jumeno

jan Ansi Jonaka

jan Tenko Sapasila

jan Kolekiju Sinkusi

jan Miju Iluma (note: I think she may also call herself jan sona or smth like that for "genius")

jan Konta Kokuwala

jan Kipo (note: possibly he gets called jan ilo (robot, lit: "tool/machine-person") to convey how the others set him apart from humans at times. kokichi probably calls him just ilo when he wants to get a rise out of him)

jan Sumuki Silokane

soweli Monotalo

soweli Monosuke

soweli Monopani

soweli Monotan

soweli Monokito

UDG. I guess

jan Komalu Najeki

jan Monaka Towa

jan Masalu Tamon

jan Satalo Kemuli

jan Kotoko Usuki

jan Nakisa Sinkesu

jan anpa (note: this is servant, anpa means "below, downward, lowly")

jan Asi Towa

jan Iloko Akakule

jan Tasi Pusisaki

jan Juta Asawina

soweli Silokuma

soweli Kulokuma

[spaceagebachelorstan]

i am very bored rn, so

ride the cyclone youtube au

they all have semi-popular yt channels in this au. i dont know what counts as popular so take that as anywhere from 1-20k each. whatever you see it as will work

mischa

had to start with the king of kaching himself. Obviously he posts frequently to badegg, most of his time on his yt chamnels goes to his music, but he'd start badegg_games as a little side thing and react to horror games he really likes, which gets peoples attention. he puts links to the original badegg in his descriptions which leads to more people finding his music. how much more? you decide. he also collabs pretty frequently with ricky, and brings other choir members on sometimes. his backgroud is just his room, maybe with some extra lighting. he edits his own videos and they are exactly how you'd expect them to be.

ricky

he absolutely has a gaming channel. he might stream as well. he's played every single fnaf fangame, including all the dating sims. hes also played onlycans. that one got age-restricted. any niche game he finds he makes a video on it. he uses text to speech in his videos, most of the time in post production so he doesn't have to type as he plays, and adds big subtitles. he also has a complete timeline of zolarian history. mischa and him collab pretty frequently, often playing multiplayer horror games together. he spends a lot of time on his video borders, and his channel logo is very fun and colourful. his cats show up very frequently in his videos, and when its something he doesn't think will jumpscare him, they're often sat on his lap as he plays. rpgs and sci-fi are some of the main types of games he plays, but theres a big variety. his channel name is linked to cats, zolar, or both.

ocean

she is freesciencelessons, but for every single subject. she is the only reason anyone is passing anything. she started it as either some extra credit project or as a way to revise, but people started following her and she actually quite liked making the videos, so she kept going. she doesn't bring other people onto her channel very often. her videos range from ten minutes to half an hour, depending on the subject, and shes very thorough. if its on any type of standardized test, ocean has made a video on it. she makes props for her videos and asks penny or ricky to animate things for her sometimes. her channel name is something simple like rosenbergrevision or something.

constance

did anyone watch quake n bakes? because that is what she'd do. shed post themed tutorials on how to bake different things. if it was a choir member's birthday, shed make them a themed treat and give it to them in the recording (if they were ok w it). her most popular tutorial/recipe were these 3D minecraft mob marshmallows she made for ricky, but her personal favourite are these little rose-shaped meringue cookies. sometimes she posts sewing videos as well, or little arts and crafts videos. she also promotes the cafe or makes cafe vlogs, but not often. her set up is pretty aesthetic and neat, but nothing extremely fancy. her intro is. short but sweet and she. has a little logo. her channel name is smthn like blackwoodbakes or connie'skitchen.

noel

he started making videos about poetry and film history and french cinema just to talk about them really. it was a passion project, he wasn't really too bothered about how many people saw it. he put work into it because he liked it, and he's haply with the followers he has. his videos are really long, and he goes super in depth. and then, he loses a bet to someone in the choir, and makes one of those "i watched _____ so you didn't have to" videos about some rlly bad movie that everybody takes the piss out of (think after or something). im picturing him with like a wine glass in hand making quips about whatever scene is on. it gets so many more views than his other videos. he's absolutely livid. but he makes more bcs people genuinely seemed to like the video. his dramatics and insults were quite interesting to watch, and soon its a pretty regular thing (if regular means once every four months). he still mostly makes his videos on things he likes, though. also, he managed to rope ocean into watching some horrible basic film with him and people like their dynamic, oddly enough. on halloween he reacts to horror movies with mischa. his channel name is something serious and probably ties into france somehow.

penny

shes a faceless youtuber and she has a pretty wide variety of videos. she used to be a stan acct for johnny moon before legoland, and she had to post a video on why what she did was wrong as community service. that one got a lot of views. she has a lot of art tips and speedpaints, as well as a lot of vlogs and a draw my life. she has a lot of videos about different types of music as well. her username has something to do with jane doe, she thought abt it because shes faceless and doesnt show her identity online and thought it was a fun idea. her set up is pretty basic, but its nice, and ezra's voice features in a lot of videos. the other choir members don't normally appear on her channel, but she, ricky and constance did an art challenge once.

[batfamscreaming]

do you have any tips for writing batman? im working on my own fanfic rn and im kind of lost. im mainly using the animated series as inspo. (and what i wanna see in bruce)

I have one older post about finding characterization in general that might help, but otherwise.. I mean, it does really depend on what sort of Batman you wanna see, like you said, and what sort of fic it is.

BTAS is a very lukewarm Batman from what I remember: it was episodic and never really made a statement one way or another on canon, and so he was a pretty static character. That’s 100% fine, that sort of thing works well if you’re doing a case fic or a fic that’s about other characters, but happens to have Batman in it.

You can obv do an introspection fic, but it won’t really have any arc because introspection is just... introspection, and it’s not really something to ask for help with since it’s just a way to kinda dig in and see where a character’s train of thought goes, and it doesn’t really imply any growth. I don’t find them super interesting to read but they can be very useful for discovering where your character is presumably at their most interesting, which is I think what you’re looking for. Once you know where you want him to be, you can take a step back and say ‘okay. Now how do we get to that point, or where do we want to grow from that point.’

For example, in RV, Bruce is most interesting in his being conflicted about putting Dick in danger by limiting himself, vs keeping Dick safe by retraumatizing them both. His growth direction is towards feeling more justified in his limits and having other people to help keep them safe, so once he reaches that area, the fic is over. So that’s a ‘grow to that point’ story, where there’s a recognizable Bruce but by the end he’s changed somewhat. A lot of ‘how do we get there’ stories seem to be ‘how do I get murder orphan to batsuit,’ and so you get highschool bruce forming his philosophy and... a lot of those fics get abandoned because people aren’t able to take traits away from Bruce without feeling they’re mischaracterizing him-- but those fics would work really well if Bruce starts out actually a pretty bad detective learning how to be better, or taking his first kickboxing classes, or (my favorite route) is a barely contained ball of anger with an insane flinch response.

I hope that that’s maybe helpful in finding your batman voice? Otherwise, some things that I sort of try to stick to are like

As a rule, he would rather the people he loves be mad at him than they be in danger. They can explicitly say they want Bruce to not do something, but if it’s down to the wire, Bruce will do it even though he had explicit instructions not to.

this is part of why people are mad at him all the time. He will do his best but his idea of best may differ from yours. And That is Why The Batman vs Lord Batman Fight in JLA Is My Favorite Periodt.

similarly, the above is part of why Batman is a vigilante and is trying to set up an outside source of accountability (fixing the justice system). Because he knows he will violate laws and consent, and so absolutely should not be the sole person in charge of like. Fairness. He treats situations differently based on who is in them. Sometimes that’s a good thing, but it’s not something you can build a reliable safety net out of.

his love language is service. If he loves someone, he will try and improve things for them, sometimes to the point where he has so many projects he will forget to spend time with that person in the first place. This leads to the assumption he only cares about work. No, he just thinks fixing a city’s infrastructure to make the park more safe to play with your schoolmates is a comprehensible act of affection.

This one is very much a personal choice but I don’t give Bruce an internal dialogue text. He has trouble speaking to people because his thoughts are very much just pictures and feeling and movement. It’s hard to explain what he feels when he himself struggles to define it, much less to use words to describe it. That’s probably part of why he gets along better with kids, since they’re working off newly developing internal dialogues. Also as a kid, it’s a lot easier to like someone who’s doing their best in the moment, and a lot harder to see their long-term flaws.

Bruce remembers what it’s like to be a child and be 100% overlooked. He will always take children seriously. Unfortunately that also means sometimes he treats them a little too much like adults, even if his brain is like ‘this is a bad plan.’ After Steph’s death, he also got ahold of his passive-aggressiveness. He’s still not great about being direct, but he’s a lot better at not taking frustration out on others.

but yes he would go full force against a child in a video game and play to win. He would feel guilty about this if the kid started to cry. But also he wouldn’t stop. It’s disrespectful.

I hope any of this helps? Good luck on your fic and feel free to drop it off here when it’s done!

[cryptocism]

So since pretty much everyone agrees that Tim needs a name change, and I think most people dislike the first two RR costumes (I dislike the pretty much Robin one too, because it seems like he hasn’t accept losing Robin, when I feel a lot of his comics right after Bruce W died was about that?) which leads me to: What do you think Tim’s costume would look like if he got a good outfit, and what name?

o yeah i was not a fan of the cowl. and the n52 design is just… so busy and excessively accessorised (excessorised???) - i drew it a couple times for this project im workin on and the whole process was me squinting at reference panels and whispering softly but passionately “what the fuck” - and i agree on the rebirth RR design, it looks more derivative of dick and jasons retconned robin costumes than inspired by tims og 80s design (however. the unternet costume - its simple and appealing and clearly nightwing-inspired and i am a fan, also the giant scythe/halberd/mace thing was so ridiculous i loved it)

which is why i thank pat gleason for my life bc tims new outfit is such a good modernisation of his original robin design. so i mean to answer ur question i think tim has a p good design right now (although not for long i guess since they announced hed get a new look/codename soon) BUT if i were in charge of debuting a new design and name… hm……….

whatever his new name is, it’d preferably have something to do with wherever his personal storyline is headed, which i dont know, and for all my complaining abt how red robin is a shit name i dont actually have great alternatives lol. i did see somewhere the suggestion for the name “Cardinal” which i dont hate, so ill use that as a placeholder for now (although “Halcyon” is an interesting option)

tangentially, my personal preference for his robin graduation would be a miniseries featuring tim and damian both as robin, begrudgingly having to work together to fight some greater enemy and becoming true brothers along the way. ending with tim giving damian his blessing to be robin (a post-mantle blessing but still) with the first amicable passing on of the robin title literally ever

as for Look: his new design should a) accurately reflect his character b) mesh well with whatever tone his personal storyline is going for c) be a natural progression of gleasons newest iteration while still d) able to stand as its own iconic look

i always thought tim would do really well in a more grounded noir-style detective story, both using and especially subverting the tropes of the genre (for instance tim befriends every femme fatale and romances absolutely zero of them. theyre pals and have weekly movie nights or smthn) obvs using some of the mystery elements to springboard into classic comic wild times etc etc. theres also a great opportunity to include some more cyberpunk aesthetics to the look and feel ofthe story

i.e. tim is part of the waynetech r&d teams, working with them to develop new technologies, and proceeding to test out some of the prototypes while doing vigilante work (bc terry had to get his rocket boots from somewhere ok). gotham is still gotham, but its starting to see some of that neo-futuristic/blade runner flavour from batman beyond.

so. cyberpunk detective story starring cha boy tim drake. im not gonna draw it rn but lemme just gather some ref elements here in case i ever do

first off - motorcycle, obviously. redbird is back babey and this time its a two-wheeler. all his gear would be modded the hell out of, but the motorcycle itself would be an approximate balance of 70% ducati and 30% tron lightcycle situation. a speedy bike with ample room for the edgy overkill batfam aesthetic, with maybe a little akira in there who knows

same goes for helmet; 70/30 on this modern/cyberpunk situation. heres a quickly photoshopped “cardinal” helmet lol 

although theres totally room for some daft-punk leds in there. serving as a heads up display AND a fun neon aesthetic. I really want to play into that John Wick neo-noir situation.

besides that… ive got a preference for street style over the superhero spandex, so… detective jacket. every detective has a good jacket. norm breyfogle made a comment on his early tim robin designs that itd be pretty either/or on jacket vs cape, merging the two looked a little silly. for robin they probably decided on cape to keep things classic, but for cardinal i can do what i want

and i want to bring back some of this popped collar.

which i basically did for that other tim design i drew, which i still like, so this one would probably be at least a lil borrowed from that. 

attempting to merge cape/jacket might end up smthn like these:

which admittedly i like. 

admittedly… i do also like the concept of wings introduced in tims n52 design, i just think they couldve been hidden/incorporated better

greig rapson had a sweet robin design that had a sort of flight-suit (which dove into the actual mechanics??? i love) and since id want to dive into tim testing out waynetech prototypes, its a pretty good natural progression from him to terrys glider thing

the whole ensemble would be fairly understated however - enough to semi blend in with any crowd, hero or civilian. after all the story focus would be just as much about solving the mystery as it is punching the bad guy

the various interchangeable gadgets would be both prototypes of terrys eventual batsuit, and also all the failed prototypes that never managed to get off the ground. just to add an element of tension/plot devices wherein tims gear could break or malfunction pretty much anytime.

im fixated on this rocket boot situation though so itd be a paired down version of terrys eventual seamless/invisible design. still noticable and clunky, but working with the sleek modernish style outlined by gleason

smthn almost similar to the prowler actually from spiderverse - as in: Clearly Rocketboots, and clearly diy’d the shit out of, but still working with that Aesthetic

(most of the screencaps of prowler are dark af so im taking this from jesus alonso iglesias concept art) 

im debating on the addition of more overtly birdlike/cyberpunk elements, so ill add this here cause its dope as fuck (from ahmet atil akar). 

and a lot of batclan capes tend to end with that concave spiked look, which works great for bats but not really for birds. a tailcoat might emulate the bird tail, but it also might evoke Penguin a lil too much idk.

also in the interest of keeping everything within the same sort of design language, i would Love to see some new villains emulating deconstructionist/architectural kawakubo fashion:

like could you imagine the supervillain potential

so uhhh yeah. budding cyberpunk detective story with a little noir and a little technological advancement progressing in fits and starts. taking from the gleason foundation with heavy black featuring brighter coloured accents and modern sleekness, made a little dorky via prototype technology, with some extra neon blade runner shit thrown in there.

depending on how much i love or hate the new codename/design reveal i might draw this via inspired motivation or spiteful motivation lol

[starlightshore]

im kinda want to get into this sort of thing so is it okay to ask u a few questions? if not just delete this, but here goes? would u reccomend game maker studio 2, and how hard is it to use in ur opinion? and is there anything u wish u knew at the beginning of making ur fangame?

aw anon you’re so sweet! don’t worry about asking about this, its really exciting to make games and trying new things! i would not say i’m an expert, and i wouldn’t even say i know gml like. at all. i just understand a how the code is used, but now what the code itself is or what to type exactly. like, i understand the theory more so than actually doing it. which is, eh, fine? i’m getting by, and i’m still learning. i’ve only been using gms 2 for 2 months now.

also, i’m using a fangame engine! i feel its kinda like cheating lmao, but its just meant to be a framework to build your own thing off of. and i still need to learn gms2 to use it, and i plan on doing more advanced and complicated things (ie: changing how battles even work structurally.) so. i’m not good at gsm2 yet, but uh, really once you understand coding its not any harder than i’d imagine w/ other professional game engines. compared to unity, i like this better because it seems built on the idea of making 2d sprite games. its SO much more simpler and the userface (while. i’m not a fan of how it has its workspace but whatever) is simple and easy to grasp.

i can’t say for certain if i recommend game maker. its very pricey and doesn’t go on sale often. (big sales i mean, it goes on 15% somewhat frequently) i really, really recommend doing your research first. 

so here i talk about what game engines i’ve used over the last year. (also i hear Godot is good!)

at the end of that post i said this: “TLDR; figure out what kind of game and story you want to tell/make. i could of saved a year’s worth of work if i just sat myself down and realized i wanted to make a completely new fangame separate from my old blog stuff. and that i wanted to make an rpg specifically.“

and so! past me has good advice. figure out the scope and what story do you want to tell. with AL, I know it has 2 chapters, and rn i’m only concentrating on chapter 1. chp 1 has 7 nights and one area where you fight enemies. its very story/character driven and is more so like. a deconstruction of the rpg genre than an actual rpg game. (i know that the word deconstruction is over used as hell, but it is what this is.)

it builds off the themes of the original, while focusing on things that i want to focus on and develop. ut, at it’s heart, is about stories and grief, i’m just taking it to a different extreme and angle.

uh, anyway, i really wish i knew what i wanted to make and understood the source material more and what i wanted to make. i’ve. thought really really hard over what UT means, what message toby was trying to convey, how he did it and what I thought about it. understanding what YOU want from and for your project is the most important thing. WHY do you want to make this? WHAT do you want people to feel and think about when playing? or even, after playing? it doesn’t have to be super deep either.

so, figure out what you what to make, and then you can work on the how. really plan your story, but honestly i wouldn’t recommend planning it in super big details right off. also, super helpful to have a friend help you brainstorm and plot check things for you. (shout out to my friend the sniffer

anyway, don’t plan things TOO detailed because things are GOING to change no matter how well you plan! just try to get get an outline done, then rewrite it 5 more times and then MAYBE you’ll be ready to tackle a more detailed version. then write it 5 more times. i can’t stress enough how important planning is, and how you shouldn’t expect everything to work out even on draft 10! things will work, and when they do, draft 10 is going to look like bad awful nonsense cause you’re at draft 20 now and everything is much more coherent and better. games aren’t written or consumed all at once on the fly. its not a piece of fanart, a fanfic, a comic. its not updated more than once. its out, and then its just out. plan for it.

and real quick, don’t worry about art assets! depending on how you do the art, that’s most likely going to change and its going to be polished LAST. i could go more into how you should think of art when game developing, but thats another topic. just. honestly use shitty art assets and worry about it later.

kris’ place holder sprite for deltarune ^ it don’t need to be pretty, it needs to be practical.

second advice: start SMALL!!! i feel i should of done this, and frankly i probably will have to sit down and do this lmao, basically, you should make boring small games to learn the basics. I know, i know, nobody really wants to recreate asteroid when you got big ideas of making stories and animations u wanna make. but like. you really need to figure out how the program works and how the code works in theory and practice.

ok so like, think of coding like this. i got this from a skillshare video series, so uh. i’m going to retell this but in a shittier and likely less nuanced way. sorry

ok so imagine. you’re telling this guy who is trying to get to Gary’s house. now, Gary’s house is just down the road, few houses down, now, you can tell this guy that and he’ll likely find the house just fine. but if you’re telling a robot it’s not going to understand what “down the road” means. what road? how long? it needs instructions that are simple and work in a language it understands.

so you tell the robot “go down two houses, stop at sign until x seconds pass, turn right, go forward 1 house, turn ect. stop at house, ring doorbell. IF Gary answers, go inside; ELSE: do not go inside, wait;

so this what i mean by understanding the theory behind the code rather than the code itself. yes there’s complexities and differences in each language, but they’re ALL based on the same concepts. different program languages are less like different speech languages, but rather different dialects of the same. (uh, like us english vs uk english) its just different rules and “spellings” of the same core concepts.

next advice: don’t be afraid to ask for help! but also! do so within reason! if people are OPEN for helping, be sure do so in the right environment and within what time works for them. compensate people for the time and effort if you can. ALWAYS try to figure out the solution yourself first. often with coding, it can be a simple solution that you could of thought of yourself if you took the initiative to. google is your friend, youtube is your friend! (ok, youtube isn’t, but in this case! yes!) the answer might not always be easy to find, and its perfectly fine to look for help but its good to at least try on your own first!

speaking of which! LEARN LEARN LEARN! be ready to devote A LOT of time to watching and reading about game development. this goes to every game making program, not just gms2. i watch. so many videos on gms. i rec having the video play at 1.5x or 2x speed to cut down time. obvs you still need to retain the information, so speed might be not a good idea then. and its REALLY GOOD to pause and type out the code and follow along. but its also good to just understand the concepts, and theres no harm in rewatching once you’ve understood it  better at a different speed.

things WILL click and work out for you, and its going to be a very time consuming and long journey to get there. i LOVE making this game and telling this story but I also had no idea what i was getting into! and i probably will have more advice once i’m further in, (i’ve only used gms 2 for 2 months!) but thats the best i can say for now! i hope you pursue your dreams and start making things!!! you can do it!!! 

the best time to start is yesterday, the second best time is right now! even if you put a little effort into it everyday, you’ll  build up progress and you can learn SO MUCH over time and theres this whole world of possibilities out there! the world NEEDS your story and your perspective, and i think creating it in anyway you can is necessary for humanity! your work will mean something to someone someday, and i am so excited for you to start your journey!

[somnilogical]

petty bitch

[22:58] somni: this body is really pretty 2 me rn [23:14] somni: that lasted 16 minutes [23:59] somni: okay this is super petty but im kind of annoyed that porpentine

>talks big about the experience of being ugly and gross >has a fleshform thats amazingly pretty

i feel so betrayed??? (i dont actually feel betrayed, i just feel i want to be pretty)

i wanna be pretty so bad

i wish i could stop wanting to look pretty and okay

ill probably end up having an abstract n dimensional figure if i have a form. idk if id still use a vision analogue in simspace

liike non-passing -> passing as 10000-dimensional representation of parts of my psyche

i kind of wish i could look nice in the middle(edited) 24 March 2018 [00:00] somni: kind of sad but at least i look better than i did before hormones [00:42] somni: okay

i think ill acknowledge petty and hug her but not let her front because letting things front makes them stronger? [00:43] somni: i think. ive read this no strong experience corroborating it with 2 sec of thought [00:45] SmolDuck: I think uhhh It’s important to try to like make sure all your subagents have their needs met and letting them front can lead to them taking care of their needs and then going to bed and leaving you be, while keeping them from fronting can lead to them going crazy and driving you nuts [00:45] SmolDuck: it can also lead to them sabotaging things tho so [00:47] somni: i knoooow mertl i originally wrote ‘fork’ [00:47] somni: because i also thought that and wasnt sure!! [00:48] somni: this is actually a hard choice for me,!,! [00:48] somni: but specifically petty i will ask her what is up [00:48] SmolDuck: sounds like you might want to gather experimental data by trying each path and seeing how it goes [00:48] somni: and not go autobloodlet [00:49] somni: hmmmmmm its haaard to be systemic about this thouuuugh thats a cached thought and may be #invalid [00:50] somni: (all thoughts are valid ooohh bb im so sorry for saying that omg. what was i thinking) [00:51] somni: i think the cached thought might be inaccurate [00:52] SmolDuck: nodnod [00:52] SmolDuck: outdated [00:52] SmolDuck: obsolete [00:53] somni: i want to try reinforcing things that i want to be stronger hmmmmmmmm [00:53] somni: merrr and talk privately with the other voices?

that would annoy me if people did that tho [00:54] somni: less so if they listened and changed policies based on my input? [00:55] somni: idk i dont like to declare things conserved quantities, because particular kind of zero sum thinking can cause lock in…. in most people i dont think it would lock me in because im actually good at noticing this

but it does seem like these two things trade off(edited) [00:56] SmolDuck: Hmmmmm [00:57] SmolDuck: Gentle reminder that this is not at all a private location for talking to your voices [00:59] somni: this is true [01:00] somni: the voices are #screaming tho and i gotta process

so like i thiiink that i want to be able to shift between these states depending on a thing but i d k what the thing is [01:01] SmolDuck: External cue? [01:02] somni: like between the states of letting everymodule out and trying to reinforce what ecosystem i want to have (who i want to beee) [01:03] somni: im keeping this post https://radimentary.wordpress.com/2018/01/16/the-solitaire-principle-game-theory-for-one/ in the back of my mind as a guiding framework when i say this(edited) [01:05] somni: and have been thinking of incentivizing and reinforcing parts of me i want (different but not disjoint from what i find pretty) [01:10] somni: i was also thinking of the process by which i passively gain most of my updates in personality traits and aesthetics and beliefs

where you have:

evaluate {laugh, aesthetic response, ooh i like it!} inspect for coherence with other parts (okay i often skip over this but also sometimes do it here instead of later) mirror the thing i like reinforce pattern by imitating independently let other people who have the pattern do discernment on your imitation, take criticism [01:11] somni: –

its like getting minor updates on all your programs nbd. passive growth / expansion [01:13] somni: –

but this is like directed towards growth and change which is different from being okay with and acknowledging the parts you currently have… except its not?

not really? not the way i do it

i mean yes its a different process but i d k if the two actually trade off in me when i do this thing

i was. autocompleting from memories of others subjective experience reports [01:13] somni: hmmmmmmmm [01:15] somni: i could probably both accept parts of me while reinforcing other parts at the same time [01:15] somni: meeevvvvvvvv okay so the thing nathan said is also a good observation that we also noted [01:15] somni: wanna address that [01:16] SmolDuck: wait which thing [01:16] SmolDuck: I say a lot of things [01:16] SmolDuck: fully half of them are framed to sound insightful but are actually kind of bullshit [01:16] somni: I think uhhh It’s important to try to like make sure all your subagents have their needs met and letting them front can lead to them taking care of their needs and then going to bed and leaving you be, while keeping them from fronting can lead to them going crazy and driving you nuts [01:16] SmolDuck: oh, yeah that one I endorse [01:16] somni: me too! [01:16] somni: i think!! [01:17] SmolDuck: ……uh [01:17] SmolDuck: if you did disagree, what would your disagreement be? is maybe a good way to find out [01:18] somni: let me think

ummm i might want to ask the subagent what its going to do [01:18] somni: if it fronts and talk with it [01:20] somni: but idk why do the council of elders have to be in concordance before i do anything

they dont thats literally not how you work

but i mean like in the ideal, or like in this ideal

we talked with person about how we have the council of all the parts of you, they talk it out and give their cases and then if their cases dont agree with you, you throw them out and do what you wanna do(edited) [01:21] somni: um! ！！ [01:21] somni: there are like three different alerts saying that’s wrong [01:22] somni: >yeah but one of them is our sim of nathan’s reaction so we can throw it out [01:22] SmolDuck: I endorse that [01:23] SmolDuck: if you want my reaction I can give it to you directly [01:23] SmolDuck: if you don’t want my reaction, toss your simmed version [01:23] somni: omg okay i miiight endorse this way of choosing

it is consonant with the way of choosing where to live where you have a bunch of spreadsheets and crunch the numbers and if in the end you dont like what the numbers say, throw them out and move where you wanna [01:24] somni: but its important to deliberate first because figuring out what choice you want to make is not always clear [01:26] somni: but also sidenote most choices branch out and then converge to roughly the same endpoint and for these you can actually do whatever you want without consideration as long as you can identify this sort of structure well [01:29] somni: um this is related to impulsive longsightedness where you mentally model the state of your body 1 day in the future and see that you are more or less safe invariant over a wide range of actions. so you are free to do fun and weird stuff. (that often looks really impulsive and reckless to people who are running shortsighted or people running 24hr!longsighted but who occupy a different epistemic state. but ime most of the objections and autoresponses come from people running shortsighted.)(edited) [01:32] somni: –

ooookaaay coming back to… what was the thing before the branch?

how to choose!

you have a bunch of voices in your head! how do we determine how fronting works and whats a good idea and how to pursue goals

and whose goals matter and how the system will grow and change and what parts of it to practice

okay stating it right here, evermodule’s goals matter [01:32] somni: >matter

like every module gets to be heard [01:50] somni: hmmmmm

this looks like a Project

okay!

so i want to be able to direct my growth #VALID

i also want to be able to tend to the parts of me [like id tend to a garden] #VALID

i dont have to maintain and reinforce things i dont want to grow in to #VALID what?! how is this valid??

>so look if i grow into new things and go in new directions, old things that are depricaded kind of iwhrvissh… i want to say fade away but idk what happens. they stop existing as much. stop being as available and salient?

i think there’s an important distinction between actively going around optimizing for killing parts of you. and like growing outwards into something new and the old stuff doesnt get that much reinforcement anymore because you cant hold on to everything, and even of i could i don’t want to?

some old parts are depricaded because they are clearly inferior on all fronts from their replacement, some because im not that interested anymore

maybe this is deathism? (mer what is it doing that causes harm though?) i may want to keep more in the gtf but not everything. though rn i want a memory with no non-con deletions [02:01] somni: -

okay

i want to be able to reinforce stuff i like and grow  directedly

um does this mean things that want to cant go out to play sometimes?

wait okay i think we are talking about different things because there are a lot of desires and stuff that you cant make die by not feeding them? the will to masturbate under t being one of them

i feel there’s a distinction between the thing you are talking about and other sorts of values and desires that are embedded in people.

um im addressing both the hard to get rid of and the more ephemeral things like 'hi im workethic bot!’…. my work ethic, when i have it does not sound like that but okay. and also 'work ethic’ isnt a native concept??? it isnt part of us yet but i know it as a thing that is part of other people.

maybe its part of us but havent really processed what 'work ethic’ is in internal terms when people use it. i think we have something different than the median meaning of work ethic but also it could be projected down to 'work ethic’ for legibility and people would still be able to follow most sentences i would output with the concept. …. given that i also worked to make the other stuff 'legible’. i hate the word 'legible’ now!!!

>why tho?

it is overused and i feel like you papered over subtleties there and there are more good details. buuuut ill think about this later. [02:07] somni: -

okay!

back to what i was thinking about. i think that

>i

k, lotsa agents up in this skull

stilll we think directed growth is nice and i think im okay with letting parts be deprecated

so a core problem here is that fronting does more than one thing!!!

so far im tracking two things i think fronting does:

(1) lets a module take full control of the body so it can get its needs met (2) reinforces the strength of the module [02:08] somni: -

autoquestion: (can we seperate these things?) are there other ways to let a module get its needs met besides fronting? are there ways to reinforce the strength of modules without fronting?(edited) [02:11] somni: @SmolDuck also im on 20 mg moda which i think accounts for a bit of why im Like This. but ooh! what do you think about the separability of the things? [02:14] SmolDuck: Hmmmmm [02:14] somni: ill take some l theanine to help CALM and help the comedown process go smoothly

(i think im coming down a bit) (im p sure this is moda comedown qualia) [02:15] SmolDuck: It depends on the need [02:15] SmolDuck: Seraph does better the less they front, currently [02:15] SmolDuck: the little one needs gentleness and respect [02:16] somni: nodnod [02:17] SmolDuck: if their need is like, 'attention’ they might need to front to get that fulfilled [02:17] SmolDuck: if their need is 'feeling safe’ then they can do that without fronting [02:17] SmolDuck: in my personal experience, ymmv, ianad, etv [02:18] somni: (i think im only a little more than median fragmented but of people in my fragmentation reference class im a LOT more self-aware of the thing) [02:18] somni: nod

hmmm [02:21] somni: you are very focused on taking care of parts and this is good and a thing to do…….

i dont think im as attached to parts-as-they-are but like parts that are anthropically called into existence because they can optimize over a thing (like if a module for containing anxiety isnt good at it, it sort of dies and is replaced with a new pattern; whatever anxiety containment module i have after a bit is a result of an iterative process like this*)

hmmmmmm

i do care about their welfare, but i think i care about them differently?? its hard to put my finger on(edited) [02:24] somni: *i also have spiritual feelings about this wrt people. where problems form voids in space to be filled by people who have shaped themselves to solve the problem [02:25] SmolDuck: hmmmm [02:26] somni: <i <l<3ve3 my spiritual feelings3 [02:31] somni: liike i think okayness works differently when parts of you keep getting replaced and this is standard operating procedure

whereas your parts seem like humans who eat soup and live in a village together and talk

and less like theyll quickly die and be replaced with another thing when the problem shifts [02:31] SmolDuck: nod [02:31] somni: wow okay i have low confidence in this model of my structure but it is like 1/3 right [02:31] somni: maybe 2/3? [02:32] SmolDuck: ………idek if any of us like soup [02:33] somni: hm i meant soup as a stand in for comfort and eating [02:33] SmolDuck: Ahhh [02:33] SmolDuck: I think we like clam chowder [02:35] somni: also im on moda so a lot of the descriptions will be biased towards mania / inducing in me a visceral sense of motion i thiink (die and be replaced is motion-y) [02:35] SmolDuck: ahh [02:35] somni: oooh…. everyone likes clam chowder? [02:38] SmolDuck: yeah [02:38] SmolDuck: some things, we all like, cause they’re pleasant for our body [02:40] somni: wheeew

this is better than last time

wait last time was 50 mg; okay i feel like i might be approaching the harsh meta-ing out event horizon and id want my squid module analogue to help keep calm [02:40] somni: –

hm it is nice that you can agree on something [02:41] SmolDuck: we cooperate pretty well now that we’ve actually talked about this and agreed that mutual cooperation is optimal [02:44] somni: like i can do better meta but at the event horizon things become a Lot and stuff dissolves and syntax feels like an illusion and things connect to other things without bottoming out and stuff dissolves

idk i feel like it diverges from metacog, though the chemicals help metacog in some ways [02:47] somni: okayyy feeling better

i dont need to be so tied to this visceral experience but also have the impulse that i want people with me

it doesnt affect my core i dont think which means panic attack is probs not going to happen [02:49] somni: -

if i become enlightened do i have to let go of drama? (no)

okay good because i like drama and snark and all that gay stuff [02:55] somni: -

so like ive been okay the whole time im so proud of me? im able to meditate in the eye of the storm, of course ive maintained calm under much more difficult circumstances but that was unexpected and i improvised as best i could.

i feel like i can actually do this reliably?

i still have the urge to grouse about it and snark which is spooooky why is this still appealing? is it blindsight grousing? force of habit? if im still attached and want to grouse maybe i havent let… something… go completely? idk what i mean by 'let something go’ but i def mean something [03:14] somni: @SmolDuck thanks for talking with me [03:15] SmolDuck: 👍👌