#and i still have the goal of getting through fnaf books

[cel-aerion]

There are too many things that are relevant to my interests going on and as a result I am in a weird haze where I want to do everything and thus I do nothing.

[kaimukiwahine]

Just gonna type my thoughts out based on my notes I wrote while playing the To the Moon Beach Episode. So spoilers/long ramble.

Short things:

They brought back many minor characters from Finding Paradise, thought that was very cute

References: The "Are you winning, son?" in the airport was charming but I did not expect to get a full FNAF section

I love the use of previous games OST: updated versions and the lo-fi versions

Animations were very charming and expressive; they even joke about it ("didn't have a budget for it. The dance lessons")

That inverted/hanging jellyfish planter. I need it. I need it now.

Rob learning what people are up to on the internet these days only to instantly regret it

Willis and Taima still going at it. They are lifelong couple goals: keeping the flame alive while dropping wisdom

I need that soundtrack.

Bigger things:

Johnny and River addressing what most players/general audience found concerning about the original game and overall premise of the series: Altering and overwriting of memories or basically the reality of the dying. While jokingly Johnny says he could never see himself using their services, both conclude it's their choice and they just need to accept it

This was slightly touched on in the Minisode but for it to be brought into attention by the original characters that kicked off this series, it's something.

The three books at the beginning already set forth what this game is gonna be all about: grieving and acceptance of the passing of a loved one. The first run through, Eva completely numbed her memories to enjoy the beach and time with Neil. But there was always something.

Second run, she "confronts" as Faye states the truth: Neil is dead.

It was hinted that Eva started drinking (in the store) and has been repeatedly using the machine Neil left behind that Neil becomes concerned for her. (Similar to Collin in Finding Paradise.) While she wants to stay on the beach and relive the same day over and over, it's not possible.

There was a brief mention of immortality. One being a jellyfish that reverts back to infancy as it reaches the end of their lifespan and questioning if it's still the same jellyfish or not. Then compared to humans how we regenerate new cells except the brain and heart.

Roxie finds it romantic, Eva wishes that those also gets replaced with every pass.

Neil's death was either sudden or his condition was kept secret from Eva? Eva mentioned he didn't give her enough time to prepare and Neil didn't know what to do and I think he said he made the machine just so he just doesn't disappear and to leave something behind for her.

*Edit* I completely forgot about Paper Memories. I'm guessing the phone call Eva got from Roxie was that Neil passed away (given how distressed Roxie was in that one panel). It is possible that that portion was in the machine and that Rob and Roxie were aware. That whole portion is basically like this Beach Episode.

Edit2: thinking again, the call could be him in critical condition since in the comic Neil mentions making that garden. Eva not replying to Neil on how he died makes it sound like it was traumatic. She mentioned something about a surgery when talking to Lynri and Quincy and asking how he is when he visits them but not sure if that's involved or just a throwaway line.

Neil lives on with regrets; mostly wishing Eva was his girlfriend and more. Though he isn't real in the game, he still carries the memories he had. He built her "a garden" (comic reference) but she started spending too much time. And she can't fully enjoy it because he continues to keep her at arms length.

Neil locked himself in his room, much like he did in many instances throughout the series and now canonically, all throughout the life Eva and Neil has been together. Thinking he's doing what's best for her when all she wanted is him to be "here'

He regrets those decisions but it's understandable on why he did it. In Impostor Factory, Lynri's condition was hereditary and is in Neil. Seeing Quincy's face of absolute loneliness knowing he's about to lose his wife and eventually his son, it would devastate anyone. Neil making a machine to make it so that Eva would never have to go through that, while admirable, changed nothing. If not, made things worse.

How they close the game was brutal: The world Neil created for Eva to never be alone after he has passed slowly fading away, concluding with Eva being alone, crying, as she turns the machine off.

You couldn't just leave it like this for them. Together alone on the beach.

No. It's just Eva. Alone.

[hose270]

On 2023

I stand upon the precipice of 2024, considering the errors made and chances missed before. Of joy, I think, of misery, of hope and of regret, and mental mirrors fill my head while watching the sun set.

A year ago, I focused on accomplishments and goals. My homework and my love left me no time to shape my soul. I got a job as a T.A.; I went to DLC; my roommate had a Nazi flag ‘cause he liked history.

I planned an awesome Valentine’s and gave a decent gift; we seemed to spend every weekend in Utah on a trip. I planned a sci-fi birthday heist and shared my favorite world with friends who loved it—but not her. In truth, that kinda hurt.

But not as much as did my throat for fourteen following days! Mononucleosis sucks; that’s all I have to say. I went to my first national scholastic conference and spoke about the views of a medieval feminist.

An angel from a comm class taught a lesson about friends: connections are created when you’re vulnerable with them. But when I tried to share myself, I felt she didn’t care. Afraid of getting something wrong, I asked for help in prayer.

And so I broke her heart—mine too— ere winter ceased her chills. I looked for peace in Hyrule’s fields and Idahoan hills. I failed to make connections both with Frisbees and with friends, but as I wrote “The Fount”, I felt my heart begin to mend.

I learned to recognize—to feel!— the power telling brings, and found a way to channel it through small and simple things. I went to Pride; I made a game about being the light; I made a movie for a class on dreams inspiring life.

A tabletop adventure with my friends taught me to quit obsessing over endings and look for beginnings. It was summer soon: my brothers and my father and I spent a week to bond and bike and hike all to our heart’s content.

My friend was wed; I soon realized that funds were a concern. No options left, I went where I’d swore never to return: the service deli, Albertsons. Although I made new friends, it still was hell; I felt relieved when school began again.

Dating sucks, I quickly learned, but tried it anyway, and finally found myself living with friendly, good roommates. A new FHE group of friends played Frisbee, which I caught! The PPC launched story to the forefront of my thoughts.

The Lump was taken for repair; I shared my poetry; watched FNAF—that girl got bit in half!— a Minion Halloween! And then a diagnosis shook my family’s world… but a promising prognosis eased the fledgling fear, somewhat.

Inside a cabin with new friends beside a mountaintop, I wrote my dreams and wished that I would never have to stop. I learned my lines as Death as I went home for turkey day, and realized I feel more like I’m at home when I’m away.

I wrote a book on rhetoric and playing D&D, and helped my friends reclaim a heart upon an endless sea. I went ice skating with a girl, delayed returning home, and spent my Christmas researching how stories help us grow.

And now I stand upon the edge of 2024, considering the choices made and lessons learned before. Of friends, I think, of amity, of hope and faith’s duet, and to this nascent year, I say, “You’ll be the best one yet.”

[fandomfuntimem]

Its been a week since the fnaf movie came out and I'm here to give my thoughts and talk about why I personally have almost no gripes about it. Aswell as address the complaints I've heard, and why I disagree.

Tho, I still warn spoilers if you have not had the time to see it. Continue if you dare.

Ok. So. Fnaf movie. I loved it! It did an amazing job. Yes, some point felt a bit hokey and off, but overall it was very good.

The story was understandible. The characters likable (or they made you hate them in all the right ways), and the visuals were awsome.

I personally am glad Mike wasn't William's son. That was too predictable. It also gave reason for why Vanessa was there. The addition of Abby and the Aunt was great too, it gave Mike motivation and a reason to be at freddies. The introduction of Geret gave William motive to give the job to Mike, making it easy to kill him if he found out.

The animatronics? SUCH BABIES! Love them! The movie brought back a lot of the spookieness they had, aswell as reminding the audience that they're still just kids. Yeah the fort part was a bit jarring and hokey, but again, they're still just kids. Kids who have probably been waiting for a new friend for years.

Now. To address the complaints I've seen and give my reason for why I disagree.

"Not enough gore"

So? The most gore you got in the fnaf series was Springtrap and the pixelated scene of William dying. Other than that it wasn't a lot. Also you gotta remember, there are young fans out there who genuinly do like the older games, but unfortunately cannot handle the more violent aspects. Also it was PG13, you should have gone in knowing there won't be a lot of gore.

"It's nothing like the games."

Yeah, thats cuz it's probably based around the books. Adapting the games would be really hard. The lore is everywhere and has been switched up many times, there isn't enough information about any of the characters to build up enough to make them an actual person, also the gameplay in the older games is so minimal that its just better not to use that as your basis for a movie.

In my personal opinion, it's best Michael Afton wasn't the main character. Now don't get me wrong, Michael Afton is my favorite fnaf character, but he is not a good character to be a movie protagonist. All his character development happened before the games, in the games his personality, goals, and motivations are already there you just follow him through him putting his plans in motion. It would be hard for the audience to sympathize with such a gruff and obsessed character who's only goal is to undo what his father did. Mike Schmit is a good protagonist. He has realistic goals, you watch him grow and improve, and he has better motive than just "my dad was a shit bag." Mike Schmit is realistic and that is very important for a movie protagonist.

"The animatronics were too childish"

They're kids. They're kids who had their lives ended too early. Also the movie made a point that the games also made, they like kids but they don't like adults. They were peacful with Abby because she is a new friend, probably the only child they have seen in years. The thing about them communicating through drawings was a book thing I'm pretty sure. Every scene where they interacted with Abby before William began influencing them again was a soft reminder that they're still kids. Them being childish is completely understandible.

"The springlock scene wasn't good"

I kinda agree. It could have been better. But heres how I view it. William could have been, on some level, in shock. Everything he built and worked his ass off to keep stable was litteraly falling apart around him, his past came back to bit him in the ass in the form of Mike Schmit, his daughter, the only person he even remotely trusted, just betrayed him, and now he is dying. All because, years ago, he decided to kidnap one random little boy. He was in shock, processing all of this, and realising there was no way out of this. In true psychopath fashion, he smiles, gives his last words, both a reminder and threat, "I always come back!" Then he accepts his fate. In all honesty, its poetic. Karma came for him and it hit him hard. The beginning of his murderous career, was also the end.

Bur yeah. Thats my personal opinions and view of the movie. I liked it a lot and I'm very excited for the sequal.

[fearthepandas]

here’s the draft of my video game essay if anyone wants to read it (or help edit)

kay two notes, this is a script for a video, so places where there are weird notes are because those are for the video part and also I'm trying to cut maybe a minute out of it, so if you want to help edit it, do it ruthlessly

Costuming is important to games. There are some who knock it out. You often end up seeing those looks over and over again at conventions, during Halloween, even with enthusiastic kids with chill parents. Those looks don’t happen by accident. Of course they don't. They are carefully crafted by people trained to do so: a costume designer. They aren’t often considered as a typical and integral part of the game development process as other positions. But their efforts enhance the game world while also going largely unnoticed.

Take this example. I'll make a guess: you aren't assuming that that guy in your class with the boat shoes and “Vineyard Vines” shirt is trying to say something in the way he dresses. But, intentional or not, he is. At the very least, he’s telling you what social groups he belongs to. But he could be telling you what he values, what his socioeconomic status is, what his gender his, what the weather is like, and more. All this happens through what he wears. Clothing and textiles have huge capacities to convey information. And they belong to a language that a lot of us can understand. You know, since most of us exist in a world where the majority of people around us are wearing clothing. And luckily for creators, this language isn’t limited to the real world.

In a book, the author has to describe what a character is wearing in enough detail for the reader to understand the situation, and that can take quite a bit of time, or paragraphs, to do. The color and texture and shape of someone’s clothes can be hard to describe when a lot of people don’t know the words used to describe fabrics. In a more visual medium, that message may take equally as long to create. But the audience receives that message in a fraction of the time. We don’t have to know the words. We only have to be able to understand what we see. A flowy dress is a flowy dress. Dirty clothes look like dirty clothes. Belts are belts. Even if we don’t quite know what they’re doing…. (Kingdom Hearts) This is a huge storytelling advantage for costume design.

When video games were first appeared in the 1970s, game hardware was more like our modern calculators than our TVs and consoles. Technology improved over the next decade, but there were still massive limitations in what developers could actually achieve. And this forced them to get creative in addressing a key question. How do you make a recognizable character in as few pixels as possible?

For Mario, who first showed up in Donkey Kong in 1981, the designers made particular decisions which lead to him looking the way he does today. He wore a hat so that animators didn’t have to try to animate his hair and a mustache so that they didn’t have to animate a mouth. And those iconic overalls exist to help the player know where his torso ended and his arms began. These were practical choices. And they have completely shaped the most iconic character and franchise of video game history.

This is a novelty born out of necessity, though. This isn’t how most characters are designed. Characters don’t end up looking how they do by accident. And that’s when costume designers become so important. Costume designers put an incredible amount of thought and time into designing a character’s look.

“When you’re designing anything that’s based in a particular locale or time period (even if you’re not, really), research lends an invaluable legitimacy and depth to your design; the real world is generally way more interesting than what we can come up with on a blank sheet of paper… It’s impossible to recreate the variety and cultural context of a time period out of whole cloth, so you might as well lean on the resources history has been so generous as to provide for us.” Claire Hummel

Characters have to be unique, identifiable, well-suited for the genre and setting they’re in. And if they’re not, there has to be reasons that will tell us something that's 180* different about that character.

Unfortunately, most of us aren’t spending a lot of time trying to “read” a character’s outfit. We may be actually looking at it for the entire course of the game, but might not consider what it’s supposed to mean. It’s an invisible communication. We get the basic message and never realize there was a message at all. The hours and hours the designers poured into writing the perfect message gets forgotten, shoved into the bottom of the pile. And it shouldn’t.

We tend to think that costumes that look more like our everyday outfits aren’t as planned or as valuable as costumes that are more… ambitious. When costuming falls into this category, it is essentially invisible to us. This phenomenon isn’t limited to video games either. Every winner for the costume design Oscar over the past few decades has gone to either a fantasy or period based flick. But there is no less thought put into designing Franklin’s (GTA) look than there went into making Siegmeyer’s (Dark Souls).

Games wouldn’t exist like they do if designers weren’t putting the effort and consideration that they do. And games are better for it! “The movement and texture of clothing really adds to the realism of the game. Often I look at games and everything seems so flat.” Lyn Paolo

Designers do research, and sketching, and tests, and review, and then possibly more research, and sketching, and final drafts, all until the developers find a design (or designs) they want to use.

And they have to nail it, or the effectiveness of the whole game can be put at risk. “When the design feels inconsistent with the world, I’m distracted. Fiction bears the burden of being hyper real. To make a story we know isn’t true convincing, it has to avoid plot holes and take place in a consistent world. The moment that façade is shattered, players may have a harder time staying engrossed in the game.” (JennyJackProse) This is a sentiment shared by a lot of players. The anachronism is jarring. So designers have to make sure they put the extra work in to make a design feel appropriate. And, a lot of the time, they don’t even know which game they are designing for when they start their work. Lyn Paolo works on shows like “Scandal” and “Shameless” and also a little known game called GTA V. She created all  her designs for the games based solely on design boards given to her by the developers. She had no title, no series name, absolutely nothing. And she helped build a cohesive, diverse world.

Games have come astronomically far over the past four decades. They look more and more real every year and try to achieve bigger and bigger goals. Designers these days aren’t as limited by technology in how they can make a character look. Costume design for video game characters these days is almost identical to the design done for TV shows, plays, and movies. In fact, there are plenty of costume designers who have worked across these mediums, like Lyn Paolo.

Designers these days aren’t free from limitations, of course. Those restrictions have just taken on a different shape. Designers still have to consider setting, genre and everything else taken into consideration when planning a character’s look. The major issue is that there isn’t enough money to achieve everything they may want to do.

The cost of games continues to skyrocket as the visual fidelity does. And a lot of consumers have decided that they aren’t willing to pay more than the standard $60 price tag established when games were much cheaper to produce. I honestly can’t blame the standard consumer. That's considering that I am a broke college student who might be able to buy only one full-priced game a year. There are competing drives here that are going to limit what designers and developers are going to achieve. Which is going to force creative solutions in new ways.

Think about how many games that have come out in the past few years where you never see another person on screen. (Show Firewatch, Amnesia, Portal, Layers of Fear, FNaF) There’s quite a few isn’t there? Designing a believable human model is hard, and things that are difficult often end up costing more money in the end. So a lot of developers have decided to nix the presence of another person entirely to cut costs. This isn’t great for video game costume designers, but it's understandable from the developer's perspective. And It’s unfortunate that this critical aspect of storytelling is going to be present only in the biggest Triple A games . Which it might considering the standoff over pricing.

A good game obviously doesn’t need great costume design, or even other characters at all, but it can take a game from good to phenomenal. The world becomes lived in, diverse, maybe a little broken. The playable character isn’t some empty shell we inhabit. They’re someone with a personality, drives and faults we may or may not share. They cease to be Mary Stus and Sues and become actual beings.

We should make sure to take a second and really appreciate the work that costume designers do and they’ve contributed to our favorite games. Go on. Hug your local game designer.