#and i need character refs and their associated animal

[irusanw4]

Every time that I cannot explain my oc lore to anyone who perceives me, an angel loses its wings

[roukabi]

Well, I said back here that I wanted to do a NYTW critter-ification. So here we are!

As usual, design notes/trivia/comments under the cut:

"Rook, none of these are animals I'd ever consider related to the Hadestown cast."

Yeah, I know. But it looks cool, right?

Orpheus strikes me as someone who was wild as a boy. And by 'wild', I mean biting and growling and hunting squirrels with his bare 10-year-old hands. He got less feral when approached with food and stable housing. With all that in mind, it made sense to give him something that matched that energy. Also, community-minded? Famous vocals? Effortlessly beautiful? The connections are there! And I stole from this drawing I made a long while back. Yeah I bet y'all forgot about that but I didn't! I still really like the idea of werewolf Orph!

...come to think of it though, we give nytw orph too much credit. I think it's easy to pin him as the brave, heroic union leader because of his confidence, but he's just a poet. He's lovey-dovey, he's gentle. He's got a very healthy ego, but it doesn't overpower his soft core. There's a reason his 'If It's True' is so sad - he's not a fighter, he's an artist, and more importantly, a lover. He has no real incentive to finish his song (for better or worse, narratively-speaking). He's an artist who talks big and loves his wife.

That said, it seems a little weird to give him such a fierce animal. But as is the case for bway orpheus's fox choice, i am a fan of designs that betray the real character underneath. His big snarky wolf persona (fursona?) falls apart when he looks at Eurydice for more than 3 seconds.

Wow, that could've been its own post tbh. Moving on, the star-like speckles in his fur were added because of his name - "the darkness of night". Canis Major is somewhere on his fur.

Now, could a catgirl and dogboy really fall in love?

With regards to Eurydice, you can't improve upon perfection, which is why my design looks very similar to @riveracheron's Eurydice design. You can see most of ismene's design here (I can't find the original ref image, sorry!) for reference. I wasn't sure about making Eurydice's nose yellow, but she needed yellow somewhere in her palette, and a black or pink nose looked kind of wrong. She's a loner kitty built for the snow. Not that she enjoys it. Also I wanted to add a cute white/yellow bow around her neck but forgot :( pretend it's there

Anyway, probably the most interesting animal decision was Hermes. I mentioned in my Broadway critter designs that I wanted to keep the neutral characters as birds. That meant I had to find a bird to match Chris Sullivan's Hermes, and, idk, I liked the barn owl the most. Barn owls are screechy and painfully unexpressive, but if Legend of the Guardians: the Owls of Ga'Hoole has taught me anything, it's that anything can be expressive if you break just enough rules. So there.

Barn owls are associated with doom and death in old English tales, and they're known to live in abandoned houses. It would sound like the barn owl should be given to Hades, but I like to think that since Hermes is the one telling the story, he's in charge of the cycles of death and renewal that take place in the story. He's a harbinger whether he likes it or not.

For the Fates, I already had cat designs in mind, but I almost made them birds to fit my neutral rule. Then I kinda waffled on it and said "well, the Fates are kind of mean, and you know what would be fun? Wild animals vs domestic animals". Cats it is! And they are anything but dressed the same: we got stripes, spots, and swirls. They torment their fellow kitty Eurydice for being 'wild', they're invasive, and they get in fights with the local wolf. The relationships write themselves.

I didn't draw Hades and Persephone since they'd already been covered in the Broadway lineup, and there wasn't much of a difference between bway and nytw to justify new drawings. They're still critters though, trust me.

And that's it! I guess had a lot more to say about these than last time. As always, the designs are free to use with credit.

[deepdreamnights]

A friendly wizard and style reference.

Midjourney has just released both the version 6 of its niji anime engine and the first version of its "style reference" tool.

Functionally this is a variation of the image prompting system (explained here), in which breaks a submitted image down into the 'token language' the AI uses internally and uses that as a supplement to a text prompt. "Style Reference" (or 'sref') lets you do this with up to three images, only with only the tokens associated with 'style' being drawn upon.

This is not to be confused with style transfer, a much older and very different AI art process.

But what is a style in this context? And how does it affect generation?

Prompt: a blue axolotl-anthro wizard in a red-and-yellow swirl-pattern robe, holding a sheleighleigh made of purple wood and a potion full of glowing green energy drink. A blue-and-green ladybug familiar stands near his feet, white background, fullbody image

Settings: --niji 6, --style raw --s 50 --seed 1762468963

Here, I've tested the same seed and prompt with a number of reference images.

My semiorganized ramblings under the fold

The first thing I note is that style reference affects the gen so much that same-seed/different style ref comparisons are kind of pointless. Way too much of pose, composition and content changes for it to matter, so for future style ref tests, I'm probably going to drop the seeds.

The second thing I note is that there are certain limitations. You need to change up your prompt for things like photography, and the system interprets styles using its own criteria, not ours. If image prompting misinterprets something, so will style ref, but perhaps not in the same way.

This is notable for the one prompted with a scan from the Nuremberg Chronicle (first row). It recognizes that its a woodcut and emulates that general vibe nicely, but MJ is highly tuned for aesthetics, and emulating real world jank and clumsiness is a weak area. This is literally the first printed (european at least) book with illustrations. Every example thereafter is building on that skillset, so the dataset for woodcuts is going to be largely of a higher apparent quality.

In short, with Midjourney, additional prompt work is needed to replicate the look of early jank or intentionally 'ugly' art styles, and even as recent as v6 I've had no luck with things like midcentury Hanna-Barbereesque cheap TV animation styles or shitty 1990s CGI.

Style reference can help, I've gotten some pretty good cheap 80s-90s TV animation looking stuff from v6 niji and style ref in my early tests:

Color observations: Absent specific requests in the prompt, SREF will stick pretty close to the palette and lighting conditions of the referenced image. With such instructions, you get blending, so the one referencing the okapi fakemon (second row from bottom), for instance, has a lot of colors the reference image doesn't have, but they're in similar in vibrancy and saturation.

One limitation, however, is it doesn't apply to the aspects of the gen that come from any image prompts, so it will always blend the style of the style reference with the style aspects inherited from the image prompt, and that is very strong compared to the style ref.

Using the dog as the image prompt, and the TFTM reformatting as the style prompt, and the text prompt: "a cute older yorkie dog sitting on a bedspread", we get the image on the left. Dropping the image prompt weight to .25 gets us the center option, and removing the image prompt entirely produces the one on the right.

I expect this will be patched eventually, or general image prompting may fall out of favor compared to a combination of style ref and the upcoming character reference option, which will be the same thing, but will only reference the tokens associated with the character in the reference image. Depending on how that works that will have a lot of uses.

Stay tuned for more experiments. There's some good potential for freaky, unexplored aesthetics with combinations of multiple style refs and text prompts.

[b0ne-m3al]

howdy!! Welcome to tumblr!!

WOAH! The last thing I was expecting was a personal greeting! What a delight! ^^

Being as I am here, I will take this opportunity to introduce myself!

HELLO! :D

My name Is Jarvous (Jarv for short)! I use He/They pronouns and I am 18 years old!

I'm currently a college student in my first year, and I'm studying 3D animation for an associates degree! (Im doing my best! 😭)

Why here?

As you might suspect, I am fairly new to tumblr. You might be asking: "Well, What brings you here to tumblr?"

And the answer is. .

I just need a new change of scenery! Tumblr (from what i've seen) has a nice atmosphere compared to other platforms. . COUGH,INSTAGRAM,COUGH.

Things I like:

• Clowns and Silly Things

• Undertale/ Deltarune

• Splatoon

• Sonic The Hedgehog

• FNaF (?)

(+ MORE! There are those one at the top of my head. )

I will be posting when I can, and you may feel free to ask me anything!

Speaking of Ask. .

I plan on opening an Ask! Swap sans box! I figured it would be fun to interact with you guys. ( STAY TOONED! A post on that is soon to come. >:])

That being said, It's great to be here, and I look forward to interacting with you guys!

COMMISSIONS!

Icon commission! All Icons are 500x500!

Sketch/Doodle Icon: $5

Flat Colored Icon: $10

Fully Colored + Shading: $15

Extra Details: + $5 of the Original Price

(specific touches to the piece, and/or anything that adds onto it.)

Detailed/Fancy backgrounds: + $7 of the Original Price

Flat backgrounds are free. :]

Extra Character/Matching Pfps: + $20 of the Original Price

How it works:

•DM me for a slot (preferably on instagram)

• Tell me what you want!

- When telling me what you want, be very specific and provide clear and concise references! (Oc ref sheets, poses, etc etc)

• After your order has been taken, payment will be due upfront. After payment is received, then I will get to work on your commission!

• The sketch will be done and shown to you within 48 hours of your payment, and the full commission will be done within 1-2 weeks. (Most likely done earlier)

•If anything happens that stops me from working on your commission, you will be updated!

•When the commission is FULLY COMPLETED, it will be send to you via Discord or through email.

���Terms Of Service !✨

• *𝘿𝙊 𝙉𝙊𝙏 𝙋𝙍𝙊𝙁𝙄𝙏 𝙁𝙍𝙊𝙈 𝙈𝙔 𝙒𝙊𝙍𝙆.*

If you ordered it from me, it’s for personal uses only.

• Payment is upfront! I won't start your commission unless you pay in full first.

• You may ask for updates on the progress of your commission, be free to be critical.

• You may not claim my art as yours, do not resell it.

• I have the right to refuse/cancel a commission for any reason .

- (A refund will be given if it has been started)

• I have the right to post completed commission to my socials. (You will be tagged, of course. :) )

CURRENT PAYMENT METHODS:

CashApp and PayPal

(Keep in mind, payment must be in USD.)

• Unless I can't physically finish your commission, or cancel it, there will be no refunds.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

zane, ofc

ONE OF MY MOST ETERNAL FAVS

Why I like them/why I don’t: ZANEEEE oh i could write a thousand essays about how much i love him and why (and i have) but i will keep it brief for now. GX may have dropped the ball with the writing on half its series's cast but they knew what they were doing with zane. His character arc is so agonizing and he's such an interesting and complicated character. He threw so much away chasing after sky high standards and victory just to feel something and then killed himself when he knew he was at death's door and THEN had to face consequences of not actually dying and now having to start the long road to recovery. god. he's just fantastic. not a villain or even really a bad guy at his core but more of a performative bad guy. heel_turn_2.mp3. i love him so much

What I like about their appearance: the hell kaiser look is still just absolutely top notch yugioh outfit design. the black and silver...the ref stripes down the legs, it's such a kickass color palette that really compliments zane's dark teal hair (i also love how he and syrus really do have the same shape of bangs it's really cute)

Do I prefer their dub names or original names? going to be a Zane Truesdale preference-haver until the end of time i fear....it's just such a badass name it suits him so well imo. i do also like calling him ryozane after seeing a twitter oomf do it. the beautiful bridge gap between a dub and sub liker in conversation: just shoving both names together into one word <3

OTP: it has been a hot minute since ive gone insane about them but know zatticus/idolshipping is still an all time fav ygo ship for me. there is so much love there and also they are a fucking mess. ideal zatticus dynamic is a bit this to me i must say. they need a little sprinkling of divorce in there. they came like that

NOTP: idk man i think if you ship him with his little brother you should get a really big rock smashed over your head tbqh

OT3: do also enjoy the zane/atticus/fujiwara Elite Trio.... three guys who are mentally ill and nonbinary in three different directions. i need them to play dnd together so bad

Favourite card they use: tossup between Chimeratech Overdragon (such a cool as hell monster,) good old Cyber End Dragon (probably my favorite ace monster in all of GX and top three for all of yugioh period,) and, of course, Power Bond (*thinks about the truesdale bros and starts crying sobbing wailing etc*)

Favourite moment they were in: gotta be the zane vs possessed!jesse season 3 duel/zane's last stand of course. everything about it. when gx had a lighting and color budget and it shredded like hell. when zane goes out having summoned Cyber End, his ace and oldest friend, instead of using the Cyberdarks anymore, and all the thematic weight to that. the dub exclusive of zane telling syrus he's proud of him immediately before dying. absolute S tier yugioh.

Least favourite moment: HM. LIKE. i dont even hate it i think it's an engaging and fucked up duel but i will say the zane vs syrus s2 duel because it makes people absolutely fuck up comprehending both of these characters like. atrociously badly. see me after class.

im gonna replace the FKM last question with 'something you associate with the character' (song, animal, flowers, etc etc)' instead: hisuian samurott :^) the hell kaiser pokemon ever to me

[dabisbratz]

OKAY OKAY HEAR MEOWUT

So, like just imagine prisoner Dabi, he is kept in the worlds most dangerous prison (ref to that one anime where they were kept in the most dangerous prison in either Japan or of the whole world i just remember one of the characters name was "uno". The prison was also surrounded by water and that kinda thing.) And reader is brought to that same prison because he was associated with a really huge robbery although he didn't play much of a part in it he got framed by his "co-workers". And so reader is in the same cell as Dabi and there lays Dabi on his bed looking at you with his turquoise/blue or whatever the fuck his eye color is and the cell is unreasonable dark and so his eyes are like the only light there other than the one coming from outside (proally doesn't make sense but wtv) and for some reason he takes a strange liking to you, the way you carry yourself, the way you don't flinch even though the other criminals are much more dangerous than you are and the way you act around him; unbothered and fearless but your eyes give them away, because they're filled with fear and cautiousness and something about that makes him addicted to it. Did i tell you that he loves how obedient you are? So much so that he could just fuck you right there and then. And he is so protective over you so much so if someone even lays an eye on you and check's you out, they're dead. So everybody in the prison is just scared of you or doesn't approach you.

I am so sorry ik this is long but widjdokdlwow

jus got your other ask about this, sorry for takin so long to answer!! btw i think the character you’re thinkin of is from nanbaka !! dabi definitely fell for you when you didnt react to a knife at your throat btw !!

after readin this all m’thinkin abt is dabi walkin along the cafeteria with his hands in his pockets tryna be all mysterious when literally everyone knows what he’s in for n there are guards right next to him so he doesn try anythin..alshshshs but if he can’t walk next to his newly admitted boyfriend he stays behind him! glarin at everyone else n barrin his teeth. n if he’s lucky enough to be under further supervision he’s walkin with his pretty, scarred fingers looped around his boy’s waistband!!

also dabi is soooooo shameless n you’d think!! since it’s a prison everyone is desperate to be touched/touch someone else!! but dabi is… insatiable. he’s so touchy, n so nonchalant about it!! he’ll stuff his hands down your pants in the middle of the cafeteria, he’ll fuck you in the communal showers, he’ll literally finger you while yellin at the other inmates who work under him (did i mention he’s in a prison gang?) n then spank you for lettin others see you like that??? (evil! evil man!)

god forbid anyone messes with you cause… dabi has nowhere else to go. which means if he kills someone the extra years to his sentence don’t mean a thing. n he will kill someone if they get in the way. it’s one of the only promises he can keep. but id imagine bein so lonely has quite a toll on you)): dabi says he’s all you need n he’ll “make it worth your while” n honestly… you don’t doubt that

[ennaku-sirri-da]

Hey man Yknow what I’m actually kinda curious about what the basic plot of Roseverse is ngl. I mean from what I’ve seen habit is a big ol Grumpus muppet kinda fellow(BASED AS HELL BTW) soo ermmm, lore. Plz? *Looks at you with big ol eyes*

Okay I was gonna reply to this with a whole comic but it's taking a wHILE and I don't wanna keep you waiting THAT long so. Here's an answer in text for now!!

Roseverse didnt start out as an AU. It was a bunch of loose ideas all the way back in late 2021 for an idea I was struck with like when that Greek dude with the bathtub and the gold cried EUREKA! Except, you know, instead of making a huge scientific discovery I just made a bunch of nerd shit instead. Which is SOOO Haiderrrr /lh /affectionate

The idea was " What if Habit and Kamal were childhood friends"? ( Plaintext: What if Habit and Kamal were childhood friends? ) And so I worked off that basic premise. I took Habits diary pages, analysed them, and drew and thought out what he'd be going through and looked like at the time, with Kamal as well to mutually play off of each other. I did this ALL with my very good friend @prrusten 's help, hell we didn't even mean to make something so big, we were just talking and having fun and hitting it off!

But yeah. Here we are...Almost 3 years later! And now it's become a whole AU called Roseverse, after its Flower Kid sona/insert, Rose T. Flower. But it's not actually about him HwjjskHAKSJSJ--and its branched out beyond just Habismal though TBH Gillis is still the MOST underdeveloped character in the whole thing LOL I'll think of ideas for you one day someday muscleman. It's changed a lot too. There was a phase with Mad Scientist Kamal and everything. I don't think I'll ever post everything aha! But I will surely share content while I can.

Infact one of the changes is Habit's design...! You've seen some ofthe newer refs as opposed to Grumpus looking Habit, he looks more like a marionette. I still dearly love the old design...but messy stuff just happened and I feel immensely wrong using it again for newer art now. So I needed a specific revamp to indicate change for me. I don't really wanna get into every detail but I'll make a appropriate post about it one day or like update my pinned when I'm ready and know.

Here's a little drawing for you in the meantime Sharko! An old one but I think it still carries the spirit of the whole thing:

[ ID: Simple styled and digital colored art of Dr Habit and Kamal Bora from Smile For Me. It is in mostly dulled purple and pink tones. Habits hair gives a burst of rose and pink against the other tones.

He is closing his eyes and has caught Kamal in a hug from behind, leaning into his head. He looks worried. Kamal looks back at him, visibly tired, but there is a spark in his eye. Here his hair is long and falling down.

Whitish-purple text reads ‘’We’re in this together.’’ Then more transparent, ‘’Not Alone’’ and finally in bold clear text, ‘’Dont forget.’’ end ID]

And a song I more newly associate with Roseverse vibes...

[Thumbnail ID: A screencap from the anime Clannad. A man kneels on the ground to tightly clutch a little girl who hugs back. The background is sheer white snow. End ID]

[ VD: The music sounds melancholic, with twinkling noises throughout, and a slowly played track with echoing ambience. End VD ]

-

Morning edit: Aw Sharko.. I'm sorry this happened right after I told you about it but I've decided Roseverse will be shutting down and I shall post no further content of it for the time being. I will still continue like, using this blog for S4M stuff and make fanart in the Canon style sometime later but yeah man... :") (teary smile emote)

[icefinnphoenix]

Information Masterpost

trying to keep this as organized as i can with links and tags listed here!!! important information about the blog is held here as well.

character refs will be under # refs, info about the AU will be under # info, any ideas for the AU will be under # ideas, any updates will be under # updates, general drawings will be under # art, comics will be under # comic, animations will be under # animation, anything that includes Ice Phoenix will be under # ice finn phoenix, other characters will be included by name, shitposts will be under # shitposts and bloopers will he under # bloopers, anything not pertaining to the AU will be under # misc.

i would also like to point out that i do not want to associate with people who support or otherwise condone romanticization of dark content/themes—this including pr0$h!ppers/c0m$h!ppers or anything of the sort, guilty by association—and other standard DNI criteria. please respect these wishes. this is not the place for debate.

note that this post will be edited to fit more information as needed.

feel free to ask clarifying questions.

information about the AU:

basic information, reference of Ice (Phoenix) Finn, and link to part 1 of the main fanfiction

part 1 & part 2 of the main fanfiction (fanfic series link)

Ice Thing reference

canon artwork:

“Jay Finds Ice Finn” comic

tag: “jay finds ice finn”

part 1, part 2, bloopers of scrapped dialogue (part 2)

context

more to be added!

[wisteria-project-archives]

FAQ

What is "The Wisteria Project?"

In universe, that is the name of the project started by Vega 5!Wis's father, who discovered the clones and the lab facility they were inside. The objective was to be able to release all of the clones safely from suspended animation, and adopt them out to families that would be willing to love and care for them, and pass the story of their unusual origins onto them. Did they succeed? Mmmm...sort of...

Out of universe, that is the name I've put to developing all of these characters, through art, writing, and whatever else will help me tell their stories!

I have questions about the clones’ lore…

See this post! But also feel free to send an ask if you got another question (especially if it’s for an individual clone!) :>

Can our OCs be friends/lovers/etc??

ABSOLUTELY!! I would love having more fwends for my silly gorls, and I’m a multishipper, so they could potentially smooch 👀👉👈 Feel free to ask in DMs/asks/notes/etc….I am shy and I barely know how to ask y’all 😅

Are your asks/DMs open?

Also ABSOLUTELY!! Please feel free to say hi or give me an excuse to yap about any of the clones :> Only request I have is to keep things SFW…the OTAS NSFW section is perhaps the only place I feel comfortable talking about that stuff lol

Why clones? Where did this concept come from?

I’ve never made proper OCs before, even for farming/life sim games. For player insert characters, I just make myself 😂 Normally it’s not a problem, each game is its own lil universe. But with the My Time games, they all take place in the same world…so between having a “me” in both Portia and Sandrock and those games taking place at the same time, more or less, I had to be able to justify that somehow in universe. And then I thought, what if they were just clones??? After all, this is kind of a sci-fi world and it’s implied that the Old World was VERY advanced, so it’s 100% plausible, isn’t it?

If you’re wondering whether they’re still self-inserts or not, the answer is kind of? They’re separate characters from me and always have been, but all of them take inspiration from parts of me and my life or the lives of people around me!

What about each individual clone and their story?

When it comes to creative work, I’m very much a top-down person. Everything stems from a core premise, purpose or idea, and whatever else it needs on the side to flesh it out or to get it executed comes afterwards.

Portia!Wis and Sandrock!Wis were tied very heavily to the stories of their respective games, but I also use them to expand on or analyze some central part of the generic player character. For the clones in other cities, their central premise was based on me thinking about what little we know about these other places, and what kinds of people would come out of being ingratiated into their respective cultures. Who would you become growing up in the culturally rich and laid back city of Walnut Groove? What about the power hungry army of Duvos? Right on a war front in Lucien? etc.

How the hell can you tell the clones apart?!?

I know, it's hard! 😂 But these are the primary distinguishers:

Color: I associate each clone with a particular thematic color, all in a rainbow. I mark their tags with a respective color heart emoji! You'll see it as the background of their ref arts, and I try to incorporate them in some form into their designs.

Hairstyle: Each clone wears their hair differently, though they all share some features like the hair part or tucking it behind their ears when it's long enough.

City/country: Each clone is associated with a particular place. Note that it's not necessarily the place where they were raised in, just the place that they're most strongly associated with (and also, to be able to distinguish them somewhat because there's a bit of overlap where some of them live with each other lol). When I refer to a clone, unless it's obvious which one I'm talking about, I'll always prepend the first letter of their place to their name (e.g. Sandrock!Wis -> S!Wis)

Surname: Every clone has a unique surname….but I’m not expecting anyone to memorize all of them lol 😂

[zaruba-needslove]

the elements are rock fire, metal thunder, and funk blizzard... fire, a combination of metal and electric (metal thunder) and a combination of cold air and wind (funk blizzard)

on top of beat form's rejuvinating capabilities.

we saw ice during its debut fight.

i totally forgot the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MDTwrLmegE for the elements present in beat axe

Eh... (i combine the two asks just so I can answer it together)

Honestly of all Beat's attack moves I mostly only remembered Rock Fire (being the one mostly used) alongside its supersonic attack (due to Ace taking advantage of it during Maze run as well as GotchaGeats). Metal Thunder just happened to exist in the corner of my mind due to Win's rocking the guitar. Funk really not making me remember its connection to Ice attacks.

That said, it still doesn't change the fact that just from the earlier series writing, Na-Go Beats doesn't immediately make you think of 化け猫 (bakeneko) instead of a normal cat JUST like you don't immediately think of 牛鬼 (ushioni) when you look at Buffa Zombie. Like you generally look at Buffa and think <buffalo> or a normal bull. Which then trying to connect Na-Go Fantasy and Ploison Rage to 猫又 (nekomata) and Gozuki or 牛頭き鬼 (gozuki-oni or bullheaded demon) seemed NOT like a natural thing to do or doesn't feel like an immediate association. (Again, I'd blame to Nekomata and Gozuki not being as well known as Kitsune and Tanuki... but not really.)

Like as much as Neon's baseplot did have a lot of cat references, those references screams more normal cats (or stray cats) than bakeneko. Same with Michi with all the silly cow/bull jokes and bullhead attitude; the initial writing of Buffa and Michi doesn't make you think of ushioni JUST a buffalo.

In contrast, Ace's writing had PLENTY of 化け狐 (bake-gitsune) allusions as much as Keiwa do have a lot of 化け狸 (bake-tanuki) references. Like both Ace and Keiwa can be quite a trickster as much as their animal motives do. As with a lot of Gumiho or Nine-tailed fox legends go, Ace is very pretty and he does make full use of his prettiness. And I don't think I need to list out more on this topic, cos Nine-tailed foxes are quite popular and you can just google. You can just take one look at Ace and all the gumiho/kitsune lores will come to mind.

Also Keiwa, a lot of his writing do have a lot of tanuki lore... besides the love of tanuki soba. Like you just need to pull out the basic lores or folktales involving the three famous Tanuki. Keiwa being a really kind person (Shibaemon - Hyogo legend) and often performed good deeds (Yashima no Hage tanuki), a warrior (Shibaemon - Tokushima legend, Danzaburou Danuki) and protector (Yashima no Hage tanuki, Danzaburou Danuki) really draws a lot from many of the tanuki legends*. Heck just taking a leaf out of Danzaburou Danuki's story you can already glean a lot and relate it to Keiwa alongside the Tanukitsune rivalry.

*i just look up wiki for a basic rundown, cos imma lazy.

But well, it does help A LOT that tales on tanuki and kitsune folklores are VERY well known and often referenced in other media like kdramas/jdramas, anime/manga and novels. And because of that, even if you're not a hardcore otaku on these asian lores you can easily pick up all these refs on KeiAce...and it reflected a lot on their rider designs. And we din even touch the creation myths.

So even from this you can tell how different KeiAce were treated in terms of writing and rider designs (and concepts) as compared to NeonMichi, tho to be fair... I understand the reason for it. I mean, it's not an easy feat to be able to juggle a lot of characters in any stories (and make sure that eveyone gets equal attention) and Rider series do still need to follow a certain airing schedules too. Even then, doesn't mean that we can't dissect the series and have a discussion on the things they could've done or not.

[choshasan]

To "expand" a bit more on this,

If I ever open my commissions, I would have to set some extremely strict boundaries (imo), such as;

Payment upfront (upon commission being accepted)

No time limitations (meaning I could not accept a commission with the condition of "I would need it by [x] date")

No cashback for any reason (dissatisfaction, etc..)

Credit for art remains mine (and yes, I would make sure to put my signature on every piece of art.)

I also, like most artist, would have to set boundaries on what I do make and do not make, but I feel mine are fairly basic and average for that

No NSFW (I'm not uncomfortable with it, I'm just not good at drawing naked people honestly)

No furry art (I simply don't know how to draw in a furry artstyle) (this would not include things like requesting fanart of anime/manga like Beastars or BNA, for the simple fact I can find refs to draw from for those, I don't have anything to figure out, just do as I always do and base myself off of a refs)

No fanart of Vtubers, Youtubers, Streamers, Influencers or celebrities as a whole (while I do draw celebrities at times, I'm the one accepting to associate my name and art to someone that may turn out to be a bad person in the future, but even for money, I would not take that risk, because while I do not mind taking down my own posts if it turns out I made fanart of a problematic person, I would not be comfortable asking someone else to take down their post/pfp/wherever they may be using my art if they payed for it)

I would retain the right to deny any and all commission I do not want to do for any reason I may feel

I would retain the right to deny any text being put on a piece of art (e.g. text in a language I do not speak, for I have no way of being 100% certain that there are no douple meanings, that it is not hate speech, or goes against my values as a person, etc.)

No religious symbolisms of any kinds **unless already present in the original character design, e.g. Tokyo Revenger's use of the Manji on uniforms.** (I personally am very open to the fact I am non religious and non spiritual, and I simply do not want my art to be associated with religion with the current climate around the world towards different religions, and I also would feel very uncomfortable having to say no to certain people (e.g. requesting a Manji symbol) because certain people in the world cannot differenciate between a symbol of peace and harmony, and a symbol of hate that rips it off by simply turning it to a 45° angle..., but then saying yes to another religious symbol like a cross, and so on)

I would *NOT* make fanart of a character and change aspects of their designs, such as; changing ethnicity/nationality, adding/taking away disabilities, etc.

Now for things I would accept

I would allow requests for specific artstyles, but cannot guarantee 100% accuracy (studying a piece of media's art style can only get me so far)

I would gladly accept gore, though boundaries of what is "too much" would have to be discussed, because as a lover of media like SAW and MADK, there simply is no such thing as "too much gore" in my eye, but I do not want to make the person who recieves the art uncomfortable, therefore, I would have to be certain of what they feel is too much/too far.

I would 100% accept to do fanart for pieces of media I am familiar with (a few examples: BNHA, Monster, Haikyuu, Hunter × Hunter, Tokyo Revengers, Beastars, Genshin Impact, Sousou No Frieren, Baldur's Gate, Sally Face, and more.)

I would gladly do art of your OCs, but I would most likely require *some* detail on them (again, simply to protect myself and make sure I am not associating myself with something I don't stand for/believe in)

**if** you have reference pictures, and a lot of detail of what you are looking for, I would be glad to make OC designs, DND OC designs, Vtuber Designs (reference art, I am incapable of rigging a model or producing art to rig your model from)

I would gladly make profile pictures, (And I would consider banners but I am not 100% comfortable with those kinds of canvas dimentions in general, it just.. feels awkward to draw on for me)

Anything else would have to be discussed, but that's what I can think of right now.

If you've made it to the bottom of the post, thank you for reading my ranting, and this is a simple reminder; My commissions are, in fact, still closed, this was just a rant post.

commissions

I've gotten this question a couple times now, so I figured I'd pin a post to answer it;

No, My commissions are not open,

Both for personal reasons, and because I simply don't have the time at the moment in my life to be working on commissions,

I apologise to anyone who wishes to commission artworks from me, perhaps someday in the future, but not currently 🙇🏻‍♂️

[kaypeace21]

Idk if this is possible or not or if you've done it already but could you list all the rainbow references in the show?

Haha- talk about pandora’s box. Sure, personally i think the rainbows have multiple meanings -3 meanings to to be exact

1) Rainbows being associated with psychics + Will’s powers plot twist

*We see in the stranger thing novel 'suspicious minds' when overusing powers you may hallucinate rainbows (which are also associated with the void/ monsters in the series) .

Terry: “Spots bloomed behind her eyelids. Every color … as the sunlight turned to rainbows” ( p44-45), “streaks of rainbow appeared (p47)”,“The rainbow stayed with Terry for a long while, but eventually it faded and in its place: darkness. A pit.”(p. 48). 

Alice (who sees visions of the future) : “Snarling, snapping monsters,RAINBOW LIGHTS playing in the air around them” (p. 121).

cough Will being in the upsidedown/being chased by “monsters”. And Joyce communicating with Will  via “rainbow lights.”

The rainbow room (from s2) also has a rainbow on the door- according to the novel kali drew that rainbow. Similar to Will's rainbow drawing. Kali in the book also creates a rainbow allusion with sunflowers (Terry ref).

Kali: “field of yellow sunflowers  grew up around them. A rainbow arcing over the golden tops.” (p. 139).  “He noticed she’d drawn up there, a rainbow with her colored pencils. Maybe he’d suggest that for the playroom” (the rainbow room we see in s2) (p. 298)

I also already talked about how Terry saying "breath, sunflower, rainbow " is actually a reference to s1 Will- here (in link including pic of Will and Terry being told to “breath”.

*El in s3 also thinks of papa, her mother , and the rainbow room- cause she sees a cereal box with a rainbow (on it).

Dustin and susie sing a song from the film adaption of the book "never ending story". Which indicates how Will is subconsciously creating the supernatural creatures & people in the series . Before they sing, we also see  susie is next to a ‘wizard of oz’ posters & she reads & talks to Dustin about the book "wizard of earthsea'. 2 of the 3 examples have  rainbow-related songs (in their film adaptions) & all 3 hint at Will’s powers.

* wizard of earthsea:

It’s about a pre-teen wizard named Ged who has a bowl cut (Will) who casts a powerful spell, but the spell goes awry and instead he releases a shadow creature (by opening a portal between the living & dead- Will is a zombie boy remember?)! The new Archmage, Gensher, describes the shadow as an ancient evil that wishes to possess Ged. But the ‘shadow’ turns out  to be a representation of the darkest aspects of his personality. It’ only when he calls the shadow monster by his own name “Ged”(cough mf=will the wise) does the monster stop acting out. The only way to save the world is for ged to then  merge with the shadow(and for Ged to accept himself-and “become whole”).This also reminds me of the “Jungian shadow” 

* never ending story: 

Bastian ( who has a bowl cut- and is from single parent house hold) subconsciously creates a fantasy world being over run by darkness (symbolizing the loss of hope and dreams). One of the characters he creates is Atreyu (El). Atreyu ( was the child deemed the ‘chosen one). “Atreyu is knocked into the sea of possibilities. There he wakes on the shore of abandoned ruins. And Gmorick (mindflayer) then latches his jaws onto Atreyu’s (El’s) leg.”Pretty much what happened to El.”The Empress in the story later tells Atreyu, that despite being told he was the chosen one (he never was). And that it was always Bastian (Will) who was the chosen one-since his imagination created Fantasia (so he’s the only way to stop the darkness from over -running it).”

Will has mental health issues and  accidentally writes a “story” about the shadow monster (reflecting his tra*ma). Bastian is depressed (over his parent) and subconsciously creates a story about darkness over-running everything. Like how Hopper describes his depression- like a black hole.

song Dustin & Susie sing:

 “Written on the pages is the answer to a never ending story” (cough the books susie referenced - are explaining the answer to what’s causing the mindflayer/upsidedown/the lab...this story )

“DREAM a dream. And what you DREAM will be” ( Will’s imagination making his nightmares come true)

“Rhymes that keep their secrets Will unfold behind the clouds.And there upon a RAINBOW Is the answer to a never ending story.”

(the lyric “rhymes that keep their SECRETS” purposely pans to Will both times the song is sung). Because the ‘SECRET’ is -he’s causing everything. And thus he’s the only way to stop it- or they’ll all be stuck in a never-ending story. The only way to stop it is for Will to face his shadow/the mindflayer (aka the other Will) who is always shown within the STORM CLOUDS . Will needs to create a RAINBOW (out of those storm clouds). Like rainbows that show up AFTER a storm.He’d do this by accepting himself , his tra*ma/mental health relating to his dad, and or his gay identity- then the story will be able to end.Dustin even says “ defeat his RAINBOW of DARKNESS” (and later says a “rainbow is the answer ”(to the story). st book:”The RAINBOW stayed with Terry for a long while, but eventually it faded and in its place: DARKNESS. A pit.”AKA: Will has to face his symbolic darkness and the storm/and than create a rainbow from it- for the story to end...

When Dustin says ‘rainbow of darkness’ he talks about my little pony- where one of their friends became a dragon.  in d&d wizards can become dragons &Bastian also summons a dragon with his imagination powers in ‘never ending story’. And Will is associated with dragons: s1he  has dragon comic & drawing, s2 Will has dragon poster in his room + watches his friends play dragon game. And again... dungeons & dragons.

Also tw for s.a/parental ab*se (so skip to ‘wizard of oz’  if you prefer ). In the 4th book of wizard of Eathsea (20 years after the original, where ged was the protagonist). The new main  protagonist - was r*ped and burned by her father as a child (and in the sequel she became a dragon as a form of empowerment ). which goes with my lonnie theory-sadly.

*wizard of oz: 

it’s about a Dorothy creating a mythical world based on people she both likes and dislikes . Dorothy sings in the movie a song about a ‘RAINBOW’ and references ‘DREAMS’ coming true in a mythical land -much like the ‘never ending story’ song (referencing “rainbows”/”dreams” coming to life).

“There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby Somewhere over the RAINBOW, Skies are blue, And the DREAMS that you dare to dream, really do come true...”

We see in s1 Hopper cop-partner calls the lab “emerald city”. Murray in s2 says people “don’t want to look behind the curtain” (to see what’s causing the supernatural -in the film what was literally behind the curtain was a wizard-cough like Will). We also have -lion, tiger, and bear stuffed animals (as a ‘lion, and tigers, and bears-oh my!’ quote )from the film. And David harbor (Hopper) when referencing the s4 rainbow room (quotes the song)  and he also quotes a speech from Dorothy-when posting about the cabin the mindflayer destroyed.

2) Rainbow cups (hinting at Lonnie’s return) 

We see 2 rainbow cups in the series. 

in s2) when Mike & Will are sitting together & saying they’re “crazy together” . This cup next to them says “happy birthday” in rainbow. Later that season- they talk about Will’s birthday-rainbow drawing, Mike&Will meeting & Lonnie leaving. And in s2, we also see in Will’s room a card that says “sorry, I forgot your birthday”(most likely from Lonnie). So both Lonnie & Mike are associated with Will’s bday.

in s3) We see a woman yell “I don’t want her in my house!” (while she sits next to a rainbow cup). reminiscent of Joyce saying to Lonnie “get out of my house”. We also know there are rumors s4 takes place during Will’s birthday & Lonnie’s actor may have been spotted on set.  Along with the fact (it’s pretty much confirmed) Mike will be visiting the Byers in s4. However, the woman (next to the rainbow cup)  also says “2 visitor only. 2!″

THE 2 VISITORS ARE MIKE &LONNIE (for Will’s b day). 

Also, in s3, when El is drinking from cup- she sees a rainbow. And what’s the first word she thinks of? “Papa.”

so rainbow+cup= shitty dads (lonnie & brenner) probably returning

*And of course if that’s the case -Lonnie (the same guy who called Will h*mophobic sl*rs) will not be supportive of Mike & Will’s “friendship”. And will not be nice to Mike (to say the least). Like... imagine Hopper in s3 - but we know he’s not bluffing and the audience won’t have the option to take it as a joke... and yes the s4 movies hint at that...

3) gay symbolism

First we have Mike wheeler. He in s1 has rainbows sheets, rainbow bedroom blinds , and in his basement there’s a heart propelled by a rainbow. This is like how in s3 Mike kisses El and there is a drawing that says "Mike'. And on the drawing is a heart propelled by a rainbow. I already explained how its symbolic of him trying to be straight/fighting his feelings for Will, but wherever he goes a rainbow still follows (even when he tries being romantic with El). He’s trying to hide his “rainbow heart” by dating  El- why in s3 (the rainbow-heart in his basement) mysteriously disappeared from his room (but a similar symbol follows Mike even when he kisses El). 

Even in s2 when talking about Will (in the AV tech room): Mike is placed in the center of 2 objects : an object with 11 on it & on the right a rainbow apple (this apple is supposed to be an ode to the gay father of computers- but also about the forbidden apple). Hinting at the love triangle of Mike (with El/Will). PLUS, in the ST book ‘worlds turned upsidedown’ they literally show Mike in the AV room- and  put the caption “FALLING IN LOVE- with tech” (and placed rainbow flags next to the caption). And of course we have Mike & Will pose next to the rainbow apple- in the AV room.

 We also see when Mike and Will says they’re “crazy together” (aka LOVE-as Flo stated) and they’re next to a rainbow cup that says Happy birthday .

And later that season they ref the rainbow ship Will drew for his birthday-which Joyce was "proud" of.  And while dancing with a girl (Will according to the script was looking at Mike instead of her) . That girl is wearing a rainbow heart hair pin. This is essentially a parallel to Mike . Will (next to a rainbow heart) is dancing with a girl, but is secretly thinking of Mike. Mike (next to a rainbow heart) is kissing el but secretly thinking of Will (and immediately goes on a movie double date with Will after this). The lyrics of both these scenes indicate they're not happy pretending to be straight. The lyrics for Will are "every smile you fake". And Mike while kissing el is "just a little uncertainty can bring you down" (and during this lyric is when El puts her hands on him-and he removes her hands from him *aka he’s not as confident in the relationship as he pretends to be.

We see in s4 bts that the rainbow heart hair pin (worn by the girl Will dances with) is also worn by nancy while standing next to Robin (who is gay). So being near a  ‘rainbow-heart’ is prob a hint a character is gay. Aka robin & Will & Mike.

tumblr user “awhstrangerthings” pointed out the nancy -hair clip detail.

In s1 when troy is calling Will h*mophobic sl*rs (in front of Mike) he wears a rainbow shirt. And max while often critiquing m*leven (in s3) (to Mike) often wears rainbow shirts. I talked about how I thought Troy and max subconsciously remind Mike he isn't straight - so they're associated with the rainbow iconography-post here. Like we see Max with rainbow sheets (like Mike) and than she immediately talks to him on the phone. I mean she could be queer- but I lean to that theory at the moment. 

The whole being near rainbows when associating with a queer character makes sense (it’s like a ‘gay-dar”). Similar to Nancy’s hair clip when being near Robin/ that Girl having the same rainbow hair clip when dancing with Will. If we assume this theory than see a pattern with other characters (when speaking about/being near queer coded characters)....

it’s similar to how : When lucas (via subtext) criticizes m*leven- he is also next to a rainbow (in Erica's room). I explained here- why it’s about m*leven.

or when Jonathan says he’s going to hang out with Will (it’s near a rainbow).

This Jonathan moment -Is similar to when Steve ( who has a rainbow bandaid-from the Byers’ house) calls Mike “Nancy” (which is slang for a gay guy)

*another addition: you see in the comments of this post ghostgirlsatin mentioned Dart has a rainbow blanket. But, I noticed a couple of other things. 

notice Dustin says "we have to talk- its about my friend ,Will". As Dustin is near rainbow lights and a rainbow bed sheet. Like how

A) rainbows are associated with the supernatural creatures + Will

B) rainbow lights associated with Will

C) rainbows near straight characters when talking about /near queer characters... similar to how Jonathan is near a rainbow when talking about Will

*also can’t tell if that is a ‘rainbow ship’ poster?

We also see Erica has a sunflower & rainbow drawing in her room... at the moment not sure if its just a random easteregg , foreshadowing something supernatural we're not aware of yet? or just for the m*leven diss?

(although given the fact i think some characters were created by Will- and given all the Max &Billy/Will & jonathan parallels ... the rainbow stuff may be a hint Will created them? I mean they even made a Troy comic just to show his dad is a bully.) But, at the moment, i still lean to (some) characters having rainbow iconography because they’re referring to/are near a queer character.

[pathfinderunlocked]

Mummified Dove - CR 1/2 Undead

Why not?  Why shouldn’t I mummify a pigeon?

Doves have symbolic meaning in some cultures that aren’t New York City.  They are used worldwide to represent peace, love, and freedom, and in ancient Greece were often used as sacrifices, especially to Aphrodite who was associated with doves.  The blood of a sacrificed dove was thought to purify an altar.   So if you’re going to mummify some kind of animal to put in a tomb alongside whoever is actually entombed there, they’re not an unreasonable choice.

But, you know, if you say “pigeon” instead of “dove,” even though they’re just two different names for the same animal, it kind of loses that mystique.  Especially when it’s the multi-colored American breed, and looks as derpy as the image above.  So you could definitely use this as a more comedic enemy as well.

Spring Attack lets a mummified dove dive-bomb characters without being automatically killed with an attack of opportunity, but you still need at least one more dove than PC in order to be a reasonable threat against readied actions and crossbows.  Or some other threat like a stronger enemy or ongoing trap for the players to pay attention to.

This creature was created with a cross between the mummified animal template and the mummified creature template, because I wasn’t happy with either of them.

Mummified Dove CR 1/2

This gray dove is wrapped from head to toe in linen bandages.

XP 200 NE Diminutive undead Init +2 Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +2

DEFENSE

AC 16, touch 16, flat-footed 14 (+2 Dex, +4 size) hp 9 (1d8+5) Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +2 DR 2/— Immune undead traits Weaknesses vulnerable to fire

OFFENSE

Speed 5 ft., fly 30 ft. (clumsy) Melee bite +1 (1d2–3) Space 1 ft.; Reach 0 ft. Special Attacks servant’s curse (DC 12)

STATISTICS

Str 5, Dex 15, Con —, Int 1, Wis 15, Cha 14 Base Atk +0; CMB –2; CMD 5 Feats Spring Attack, Toughness Skills Fly +4

SPECIAL ATTACKS

Servant’s Curse (Su) Once per day, a mummified dove can touch a creature or hit a creature with its bite attack to deliver a curse.  Any living creature struck by this attack must succeed at a DC 12 Will save or take 1d3 points of Dex and Wis damage.  The save DC is Charisma-based.

[arthallea]

hey, i'm skylar! here's some important blog info

WHAT TO KNOW:

-not 18+, though some questionable memes may be reblogged sometimes. please read below the cut for what i tag for that!

-i don't have a dni because i just block people instead. however, i don't tolerate transphobia and transmisogyny, aphobia, racism, antisemitism, and the like. additionally, palestine needs to be free and israel is - and has been - committing genocide. do NOT ask me about israel. i also simply block people who i just don't want interacting with me for any various reasons.

-my lovely girlfriend and fiancée is @jessicameleon and you should go check her out!!! 💜💜💜

-my ask box is open if you need things to be tagged! i will do my best to tag them

-i have 2 side blogs, @art-thallea for my artwork and an 18+ one you can dm me to follow!

tags i use are below the cut!

TAGS I USE

-notsfw/notsfw text: for funny text posts or memes that may contain sexual or otherwise not sfw themes, but may be hard to discern from a distance. use discretion there! (minors please block this tag)

-skylar talks: my personal posts! okay to reblog unless stated otherwise in the tags

-ask to tag: i'm unsure what to tag it, ask if you want it tagged

-fave: hall of fame posts, probably made me laugh harder than it should have

-happy tag: self explanatory. stuff that made me laugh or happy that i would come back to on a sad day

-(animal/character/thing) tag: pictures/posts relating to something i really like, like elephants and rocks! (disclaimer: the snail tag often contains snail-adjacent creatures for simplicity)

-ref: a post i wanna come back to later, usually for art inspiration

i also tag food, flashing lights, arachnophobia, and other common triggers/fears. those will just be tagged with the associated name! (i.e. food, insects, spiders, etc.)

the rest of the tags i use are also pretty self explanatory!

[causticsunshine]

i was tagged by both the lovely @dyingstars-x and @harrymegirlfriend to answer twenty questions about myself! this was a lot more candid than i anticipated but here we go~

💗what do you prefer to be called name-wise?

alex!

💗when is your birthday?

july 21st! cancer season baybee

💗where do you live?

in the US! i've been in the pacific northwest for about eight years but i'm definitely still a californian at heart

💗three things you’re doing right now?

1. jobhunting 2. trying to open my online shop 3. attempting™️ to finish deadline stuff and this HSLOT drawing i've been working on since saturday 🤞🤞

💗four fandoms that have piqued your interest right now?

i go through little phases where i have my one big primary interest—one dee since returning to it last summer—that sticks around for awhile and then some smaller, less involved ones that tend to come and go, so i'd say right now the only other 'fandom' i'm kinda in is for MDZ/the untamed/cql, even though i'm a very late member to the party!

💗how is the pandemic treating you?

okay i guess? i'd really like to be moved out already as being in therapy and gaining confidence since my big mental breakdown last fall—accompanied with quitting my job of nearly four years that didn't get me anywhere in life—i've realized how many unhealthy behaviors and mindsets are perpetuated in my household and how they're....really not good for me at all. but i also know i can't get to the place i'd like to be mentally and emotionally without moving out, i also can't move out until i find a 9-5 with bennies with all my health problems + me losing my insurance in the new year so it's been....a time.

buuuut besides the soul crushing terror of being an adult living at home with people who don't understand you, i'm confident now and a lot of my mindsets have changed to healthier ones and i've regained my love of art and being creative?

💗song you can’t stop listening to right now?

it's a combination of 'i wish i never met you' by loote, 'crowd' by sophie cates, and...... 'stay' by the kid laroi + justin bieber (although i think that one's just an earworm i need to work out lmao)

💗recommend a movie

i just got to rewatch 'cowboy bebop: the movie' and it's sooo fun....(spoilers) i know the ending of the anime is supposed to be purposefully open as it just covers a section of time in the characters' lives where they're all together but i kinda wish i'd watched the movie after as opposed to when it takes place because it's a little bit...of a nicer (and much clearer) wrap up!

💗how old are you?

twenty five 🧓

💗school, university, occupation, other?

currently jobhunting for a Boring grown up job just for some regularity and insurance (and $$ to get my ass OUT) but i want to take on freelance commission work again too! i dropped out of uni in like 2018 because the school i was going to kept fucking me over with credits just to get my associate's but maybe i'll go back one day.....maybe.....

💗do you prefer hot or cold?

HOT only because it's so gd cold and wet where i live now and even when the summers are warm they're super short and don't compensate for the months i spend not moving out of arthritis pain and freezing my ass off

💗name one fact others may not know about you.

i always come up with fun ones when i don't have any reason to share them lmao but i guess.....staying on-brand with 1d stuff, and i might've said this before, but louis gave me my first bout of gender envy that i recognized as actual gender envy when i was like, fifteen? and as i was coming out of my obvious emo phase into one more subdued, i totally dressed like twink louis for almost a year....haircut and everything....

if i can find the one photo i'm thinking of i'll post it but until then use your imagination sjkgdf

💗are you shy?

i can be? i think once i vibe with someone enough it becomes easy to talk to and open up to them but before that i can be pretty closed off and a bit impersonal.

💗do you have any preferred pronouns?

they/them!

💗any pet peeves?

i'm one of those 'people talking or random noise being made near me while i'm trying to concentrate on something fuels my murder response out of nowhere' people but otherwise...outside of common courtesy/manners stuff being ignore, i don't think so? although i genuinely hate when people walk right behind me or right in front of me...shit makes me anxious and ticks me off dfjkngdf i got shit to do!!

💗what’s your favourite “dere” type?

am i boring if i say tsundere just because it's relatable? although dorodere is kinda fun in the right setting....i love a good character twist!

💗rate your life 1-10. 1 being really crappy and 10 being the best you could ever be.

i'd say a 5? there's a lot more i want to do and achieve and things i know i could have right now if my ADHD and anxiety didn't still have such a death grip on me but i'm also in the best headspace i've been in in years so i'll take that as a win!

💗what’s your main blog?

this one!

💗list your side blogs and what they’re used for.

swmpwxtch is my art-only blog because i'm slow at finishing things and know there's no point trying to make this an 'art blog' when i reblog so much, and then prickelndauge is my insp blog (so if you're wondering why there's a startling lack of fashion and art on this blog, it's mostly over there!), then i have one for creepy/spooky stuff (bonepickng) because i know not a lot of people want to see that on main, aaaaand am-ref a ref blog for art tips, life things, donation pools, etc.! (and some old urls i have saved)

💗is there anything you think people need to know about you before becoming friends with you?

at the risk of sounding like a YA protagonist: my heart is full of love and i try to be as understanding and open as i can be but i also have a very short bullshit fuse, so while i'm still happily understanding of certain behaviors and mindsets, if you cross the line that i put very bluntly in the sand, you're not crossing back over.

(ie i love my friends but don't be a dick and if you are you get one warning and that's all <3)

uhhh i know a lot of people got tagged already and have done this so! i'll be tagging @grimmpitch @hershelsue @niallnailme @dragmedown @ialwaysknewyouwerepunk @justmehernthemoon @non-binharry @genius0flove @mamaharry @theymetinthetoihlet @saintqueer and uhhh anyone else that would like to!! and if you've done this already please ignore me~

[thebeardphantom]

Multi-Dimensional Game Events

I'm currently working on a prototype for a project and needed a super flexible and reusable event system. I took some inspiration from Far Cry's dynamic, emergent systems (and this wonderful GMTK video) and made this... thing (GIF at 1/4 speed):

Breakdown

So what the heck is happening here?

Well, right now I call them "pings", but they are definitely worthy of a more descriptive name in the future. They act as a "multi-dimensional event system" for games. They aren't 4D in the way that you're probably thinking, however. The basic gist is:

A ping is fired off in code and added to an internal list to be regularly "pulsed".

Every "pulse", all ping listeners within range of the ping that can respond are notified.

Each valid responder will receive a notification every pulse unless it returns a response, after which it will no longer be considered as a responder for that specific ping.

So, how are these useful? In so many ways I never even realized until I implemented this system. Here's a few examples of the types of problems this solves in my current project:

AI senses. This works for sight, hearing, heck, even smell. For example, the player's feet can create pings for each step.

Reduces coupling. Pings can have any amount of data associated with them, and can thus track the "source" of the ping. I use this to, for example, have the player create a "wants reload" ping with a very small radius. The player's gun will pick up this ping and trigger the reload. Using this model, the player doesn't need a reference to the gun. The gun's resulting "reload" ping can be then picked up by nearby enemies, as if they are "hearing" the reload and know to fire on the now vulnerable player. It's also picked up by the UI, which can show a reload animation in the HUD.

Extremely easy to write debug tools for. The above GIF shows how much information can be very easily visually parsed by rendering debug gizmos.

It should be noted that this system separates the concerns of "listening" and "responding" -- they are two separate interfaces. This is because a single listener might be able to hear multiple different types of pings.

Now with all of that out of the way, time to dive deeper into the individual elements of the equation: pings, listeners, and responders.

Pings

Ping is an abstract class that you create a derived class from, such as TakingCoverPing, or ReloadingWeaponPing. They are basically like regular code driven events, except with 5 distinctive differences. Pings by default are:

Positional: They have a 3D position in the world.

Radial: They are spherical in shape and have a radius.

Temporal: They have a start time and duration.

Continual: They don't have to just be fired once. Instead they “pulse” at a regular, custom interval (if desired).

Global: Responders don't register to specific instances of these pings. I'll get into this more later.

There are some hidden bonuses that can be derived from the above properties. For example, since pings are positional and radial you can calculate a signal attenuation value for any 3D position. When used with AI senses this attenuation value can then be fed into RNG systems to determine if an enemy "heard" a sound that they were a bit far away from.

The continual nature of these events isn't a very widely applicable property, but does allow for very slick implementations of specific behaviors. A good example can be found in the Hitman games (specifically the trilogy started in 2016). Any weapon not in an expected location will attract the attention of NPCs. Instead of engineering a specific AI sense to accomplish this, weapons that are dropped outside of specific locations could create a ping with an infinite duration and regular pulse rate. While you still would need to write the response behavior, you don't need specific code to have the AI pick up on these sort of gameplay conditions.

By default Pings can also store the source GameObject that fired the ping. This is used by the debug visualizers to draw a line from the ping to the object that created it. It's also used by many of the responders to determine if specific pings are relevant to them. Going back to the gun reloading example, each gun only responds to a WantsReloadPing if the source of the ping is in their transform hierarchy (in this case it's the character that wants the reload).

Listening

Listeners inherit from the IPingListener interface, which just describes the listener's Position and Radius.

Yep, just like pings, listeners are also positional and radial in nature. This means that determining which listeners can "hear" a ping is done via a very simple sphere overlap check.

Where L is listener, P is ping, p is position and r is radius:

This is a very important distinction between pings and other event systems. In a typical Observer-pattern-like event system, each handler registers itself to specific instances of events. It will always receive a callback for those instances of those events as long as it remains registered.

A typical event bus implementation will remove the coupling between the owner (publisher) of the event and the handler (subscriber). Instead, anything can fire an event of any type via the event bus, which then selects handlers based on the type of event. This is also known as the Mediator pattern.

Pings are closer to an event bus in nature. However, with regards to selecting handlers in this system, I refer to this process as "Listener Discovery" due to how varying the resulting list of handlers can be based on game state.

Some of the information derived during listener discovery is stored in a struct called PingLocality and passed to the responder. It stores the square distance from the listener to the ping, as well as the attenuation of the ping based on the listener's position.

Its very easy to abuse listener setup to achieve more flexible behavior. For example, a global listener just needs a radius of float.PositiveInfinity (this is how the UI listens to events in the world). Listeners can be attached to transforms by returning transform.position as the Listener's Position property.

Responding

The inheritor of IPingListener will also need to inherit at least once from IPingResponder<T> in order to do anything beyond "hear" an event. This interface looks like this:

public interface IPingResponder<in T> where T : Ping { void RespondToPing(T ping, in PingLocality locality, ref PingResponse response); }

The first two arguments have been discussed, but the last needs explanation. As I previously mentioned, whether or not a listener will continue to receive notifications about a nearby ping is related to the response given. PingResponse is an enum with 3 values:

None: This responder needs further notifications for future pulses for this ping.

Acknowledge: The responder no longer needs to know about this ping.

SoftAcknowledge: A very specific response, I'll explain in a bit.

When the system receives a "none" response, it'll make sure to notify that responder again during the ping's next pulse. If it receives a "acknowledge" response, it'll log some information about the acknowledgement, and add that responder to the ping's list of acknowledgers to ensure that it's ignored during future pulses. A "soft acknowledge" is like a "none" response, except it is logged in the same way as an "acknowledge" response. Again, this is very specific and is only used for cases where you want to know that the ping was potentially relevant to a receiver.

As a reminder, the primary reason why listening and responding are treated as separate concerns is so classes can inherit multiple times from IPingResponder<T> with different types for T. This allows a single object to respond to multiple different types of pings without having to specify unique listener position and radius values for each response.

Wrap Up

Everything above can be summarized into this potentially overwhelming flow chart:

That's about it! There's some other details not really worth mentioning, such as using object pooling for Ping subclass instances, or potential future optimizations on listener discovery (i.e. using an octree). I also plan on writing a "history visualizer" to show historical ping information. This is important due to how transitory these pings can get.

I'm curious to know what people think about this sort of system. If you want to chat about it, here's where you can find me.