#and then the Co Op bots also from Portal

[o-sunny-day]

Thanksgiving with Caines family!

[nitw]

the funniest/saddest thing to me about interpreting portal 2 as a love story is that i don't think it would've worked out the same if chell WASN'T mute.

glados only becomes so deeply codependent and fixated on chell because she doesn't respond. she's the only human test subject left, and while glados probably /would/ have tried to kill her by the end again if she'd gotten the chance (the co-op bots), the way she interacts with chell in the early levels is pretty different from the first game. she talks a LOT more. takes every opportunity to insult her and mess with her. drags out one-sided conversations for as long as she can. it's mostly out of spite of course - chell can't argue back and is forced to keep moving through the chambers to survive, so what's stopping glados from making the final moments of chell's life a living hell?

but it's also so very /personal/. she's not just throwing random stuff at the wall, she wants chell to FEEL IT. she wants her revenge to actually mean something before she cuts the cord. she wants to get a /reaction/ out of her. because chell is always there with her, she's always listening, and yet their relationship is equivalent to talking to a mirror. glados is constantly screaming into a void that never as much as whispers back, and we know she's lonelier than she wants to admit. but even we, the player, never get to see the depths of chell's heart. we have no idea how she thinks other than her insane stubbornness and willpower - which she expresses most clearly in their confrontations to the death.

glados and chell's ONLY direct method of communication is physical violence. and from the perspective of a machine who was built to solve puzzles and calculations, but has too much capacity for human empathy than she's comfortable with, that must be torture.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

ouahhhh 😭

wait a second. hand on wall. on floor.

So unless you're having this read to you from the bad side of a Ouija board, you made it out the other end of issue seven's historically-speaking-pretty-short seven year delay alive. Which isn't too bad. And, honestly, we can think of another, much more popular project we're involved with that you're STILL waiting on: The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, which began construction in 1886 and still isn't done, and which the Spanish government hired us to write a delay-themed blog post about after seeing an early draft of the blog post you're reading right now.

several weeks late b/c i had no idea it existed....i Didn't suppose i'd make it out of the then-indefinite now 7-yr-delay on the next tf2 comic alive which isn't too bad 😭

[99thpercentile]

I get the feeling that I'm in the minority here, but I posit that GLaDOS actually is Caroline, and only "not the same person" in the sense that you'd look at your younger self and be like "that bitch ain't me." I think you actually have to go out of your way to interpret them as two separate people.

evidence:

voiced by the same person (I know the initial reasoning was that Valve didn't want to hire another voice actor for a few lines, but in casting Ellen McLain as Caroline, they incorporated her being the same person into the story).

GLaDOS automatically joins in saying "Yes sir, Mister Johnson" like saying it is permanently ingrained in her. you can interpret this as Caroline taking over, but she says "Why did I just—" immediately afterwards.

when GLaDOS talks about hearing the voice of a conscience, she says "for the first time it's MY voice." I don't think she means that she's hearing the woman she gets her literal voice from. she highlights it as distinctly DIFFERENT from hearing the voices of the cores, and I imagine if Caroline were a foreign entity whispering in her ear, the effect would've been much the same.

the GLaDOS project was originally started because Cave was dying and wanted his consciousness uploaded to a computer. the intent was always for the upload to be the same person. he said if he died first, he wanted Caroline to run the place, to be put in his computer. and that's exactly what happened.

GLaDOS not remembering she's Caroline until old Aperture always made sense to me as the result of a deliberate choice on the part of the scientists. Caroline didn't want to be uploaded, and as soon as they switched GLaDOS on, she tried to kill everyone. it's logical for the scientists to think that if they suppressed her memories, she'd have no reason to try to kill them (but instead, she was just filled with murderous rage and no longer knew why).

the story just doesn't have the same impact otherwise. GLaDOS's reactions to rediscovering old Aperture make more sense if it's her past she's rediscovering, rather than the past of...a human that was shoved into the chassis with her. if it were the second one, I think she would just feel violated, not have any major revelations.

counter-evidence:

"now little Caroline is in here too" lyric from Want You Gone

GLaDOS says she found out "where Caroline lives in [her] brain" and deleted her, like she's a separate entity

but GLaDOS is a habitual liar. she acts like deleting Caroline means she's fully back to her old self and has gotten rid of the part of her that made her want to save Chell's life, but there's...lots of evidence that she still cares about Chell after the fact (letting her go anyway, the companion cube, the turret opera if you think GLaDOS arranged that, talking to the co-op bots about Chell like she's an ex she's still heartbroken over...). I also think GLaDOS would like to imagine her and Caroline as two separate entities, in the same way you might find your younger self embarrassing and want to distance yourself from that person. I think it's notable that both instances where she refers to Caroline as a separate entity are at the end of the game, after Chell has been passed out a while and she's had time to process everything and compartmentalize. her instinct when the revelations are first happening is to refer to Caroline as if she is her.

now I don't like stories where a robot has to become or be seen as more human in some way for them to be sympathetic. but I think Portal 2 is an excellent subversion of this trope, because GLaDOS is a robot that learns she used to be human and then discards that humanity (symbolically if not literally). Caroline may not have wanted to be uploaded, but from the Want You Gone lyrics "one day they woke me up / so I could live forever / it's such a shame the same will never happen to you" I think we can say that GLaDOS definitely prefers being a robot now that she is one.

anyway this post was supposed to be much shorter than this, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk

[idkplzhalp]

The Admin in TF2 comic 7 was so GLaDOS and Caroline (Portal) coded. Her character has made me tear up multiple times, there's such complexity to her I'm so upset.

(TF2 comic 7 spoilers)

Anyways. I think her arc is Caro/GLaDOS coded due to similar ways of keeping up this cold facade and then being the pettiest woman on the planet. GLaDOS' cut voice lines are so petty, I posted some earlier but like the way she tries to guilt Chell and makes stuff up... oh girl. And Admin put up a big fake idea of what she was doing and then turns out she's trying to keep one single guy alive for an event she cannot even remember.

They both are so focused on their goals and only do things to help themselves (though GLaDOS definitely gets more of a redemption, at least end of Portal 2). Admin only cared about Pauling & her team in comic 7 because of potentially having australium, then abandoned Pauling when she said no. GLaDOS sent the co-op bots out to rescue the humans, they saved them so she stopped using the robots, and only chose to use them again because she killed all the humans and had no one left to test. They both seem to get bored easily of whatever doesn't help their goals. Bored of anything outside of their path. An obsessiveness. GLaDOS because of the mainframe, it's built into her, and Admin because of wanting to get vengeance for her parents, which had spiraled into her full personality.

Pre-australium Helen was more Caroline in my mind, mainly in her appearance, but also the section about Zepheniah dying? The frame of Admins absolute apathy for life? She lost all her purpose now that he's dead and she feels like she didn't win.

The general story of getting so wronged by someone and basically traumatized into a different personality (Caroline -> GLaDOS -> PotatOS, Young Helen -> Pre-Australium Helen -> Administrator) is very similar. There's this spiral/shift that both of them had.

^ (Her appearance in these, like okayyyy slay girl you look just like Caroline (similarish hair & nose shape)).

^ The feelings that come from the panels of Admin are so strong, you can so easily read what state she's in. Caroline coded in my heart. The way the mansion is left uncared for while Admin sits depressed in bed was just. So emotional for me?

I don't think Caroline felt that way about Cave, the hatred Admin did for Zepheniah, as it was very implied they were besties at least for awhile (notably in scrapped voicelines from Cave about her). The hatred was more likely at the scientists, as they genuinely had no care for her (think about LabRat where they dehumanize GLaDOS and call her "it" during activation tests). Though I feel she'd hold the grief that Admin did for Zepheniah in a different way. Admin is grieving because her purpose in life since childhood was lost, she has no one to focus revenge on anymore once it settles in that Zeph' was dead forever. Caroline lost a friend and was forced into a fate she didn't want, mistreated by employees, left angry and isolated forever. She lived to be the highest assistant of Aperture, working as one for 40 years prior. So in a sense, her purpose was lost as well. We don't hear anything from the Caroline CEO era so I'd like to think she took a step back as she awaited her fate. She probably was barely keeping things together from the stress (though not to undermine how good at her job she was, I just think she'd be depressed for at least some of her CEO time). That's more headcanon territory though, and I wish there was a way we could get more confirmation on how she acted then.

Caroline wanted to live out the rest of her natural life, but it was forcibly cut short and turned into something else. Opposite end, Admin wanted to end her natural life and was forcibly kept alive. While Admin initially didn't want to live, she got stuck in a cycle of trying to spite this guy forever and it was for nothing, she ruined people's lives in the process (Mainly Pauling, ohhh she was so betrayed, someone SAVE HER).

Both were fated to live basically forever and forgot the reasons why they feel the way they do.. GLaDOS didn't remember Caroline/her being a human while Admin forgot how her parents died/that Zepheniah likely killed them.

They are wasting their time forever. GLaDOS is testing and evolving science for NO ONE but herself. Forever. She's alone. Implied to feel lonely in the Lego Dimensions song + her VA thinks so too. Eventually she'd run out of materials and there's no people left to either help her or torture her. Admin admits herself that her plan was a waste of a hundred years and for a moment she's sad. Such big efforts for something miniscule in the end!

TLDR, Both characters were mistreated at some point in life, causing them to became isolated from everyone around them. They're both self absorbed and manipulated everyone they knew for an objective that only mattered to themselves. They had no reason to be rational anymore and their hatred for normal life pleasures grew as they strayed farther from humanity.

And both are voiced by Ellen McLain, nicest woman on the planet. Wow. Thanks Valve.

Really gives same character different universe, doesn't it.

[miloscat]

[Review] Warhammer: Vermintide II (PC)

Rats 4 Dead.

My brother and I, always looking for co-op games to play, got this for free in a giveaway. About halfway through the main campaign, he got tired of it so I did the rest solo. He’s much more of a Warhammer Fantasy fan than me so was able to school me through some of the lore, although this setting is much like other Tolkien pastiches like D&D, so the basic premise (and sadly some of the inherent racism) is very recognisable.

But to understand the gameplay experience of this one, all you have to do is look at Left 4 Dead, whose homework Swedish studio Fatshark has been shamelessly copying since 2015 to great effect. It’s a level-based four-player co-op campaign where our heroes have to achieve various objectives while fending off hordes of zombies/ratmen & “barbarians” (it’s ok to kill them because they worship “evil gods”...). In amongst the teeming throngs of fodder are special enemy types, with particular abilities that do heavy damage or incapacitate individual players until they can be assisted by their comrades. This formula all works well here as it did before, as long as the players are sufficiently cooperating.

Added on top of this are systems of leveling up for perks, looting variant weapons, and most importantly differentiating the characters to allow separate playstyles. My brother favoured the dwarf Bardin, a melee-focused character with an explosive projectile. I stuck with Kerillian, the sardonic pan-Celtic elf with an enormous quiver for racking up rapid-fire ranged kills. I was decent at getting headshots and liked her crowd-control daggers for melee. Despite being a four-player game, the devs cleverly built five playable characters, so that nobody would be stuck with their least favourite when choosing a party: there’s always another option. We usually filled out our slots with bots, and when we figured out how to we opted out of Saltzpyre, a tiresome witch-burner type who is always snootily banging on about heretics.

The campaign takes you through various Skaven-infested caves, ruined towns, swamps, etc. in an effort to stop an alliance of Chaos and ratman and their big glowy portal machine. Content updates, both paid and free, have added new mini-campaigns, some of which reuse maps from the first game. The level design tries to keep things interesting and moving forwards, although at times as a first-time player with bots I would get lost and not have much indication of where to go next. These instances are rare though and there’s still things to find tucked away in corners and enemies to fight spawning in.

At least the bots follow you (most of the time). The most frustrating times were when the characters separated, were attacked by special baddies, and suddenly half an hour of progress goes right down the drain as you start the level all over. This is what made me turn the difficulty back down to the lowest setting for the later levels and especially bosses, who can also easily overwhelm you in their small arenas. Good coordination, communication, and focus are required on higher difficulties, which is why I had more fun blasting away on easy.

I just don’t think you’d get the value out of this title at full price unless you’re more invested in replaying levels and unlocking things than I am. It was a decent romp through once, but for me a good part of the experience was the novelty and figuring out what to do in each level. There’s also a whole cosmetic store which seems pointless to me (in the way I played the game), since it’s a first-person game so you the player never see what your character looks like. Anyway, this is a good iteration of the Left 4 Dead gameplay style, a good use of the licence, and has good production values. As long as you can get past the absurd violence of beheading countless half-naked people as their black blood sprays everywhere, you can have a good time.

[rubye402]

Disclaimer right here and now, this is not to attack OP, this is my own critique saying "Hey I disagree a lot with this take." And don't send hate their way either. Play nice.

Anyways, ignoring the fact that this is a scripted game where the player was actively trapped in the elevator and couldn't walk out even if they wanted to, so blaming the player in THAT regard makes no sense, I'm gonna assume we all understand that fact, right?

How are we meant to communicate ANY positive acknowledgement of Wheatley before hand? The opening joke of jumping instead of saying "apple" proves to us we can't talk to him so that's a no go. And Wheatley is CONSTANTLY on his railings that's higher than the player, so even if taking him off the rail WOULDN'T make him question if that's a negative response (After all, if someone wordlessly pulled you down to their level without warning, and just stared at you without speaking after you were talking, I'm PRETTY SURE your reaction wouldn't be to assume anything positive.)

"Oh but in Chapter 1 we can reach him on the bed!" And using the interacting button does what exactly? A whole heap of nothing, I promise you. Hell, in the same chapter we COULD balance his model on out head, but the Portal Gun doesn't work to catch him, so we HAVE to drop him. Believe me I've TRIED and it DOES NOT WORK.

OK OK, that debunks the player is at fault part, but surely that means Wheatley is innocent right? No the FUCK it doesn't. Am I saying he's a straight up villain? Absolutely not. But if you'll notice also with GLaDOS there's this thing called being "Morally Grey" (Or "Gray," depending on how you want to spell it. Same thing, different spelling.)

See now, I acknowledge that Wheatley was mad with power in the chassis. I'm sure that the "itch" clouded his decisions. And I'm not so sure on if the Aperture scientists were KIND to him, but admittedly THAT part is speculation... But the problem becomes is that he's still the one in the chassis. As he points out in the ending "[He's] still the one in control [of the facility.]" His actions are still on HIM.

His plan to kill Chell the moment he finds the Co-Op testing bots, forever living, able to come back from what would be a humans death, and most importantly, eager and built to test.

Not the Chassis.

Not Chell.

Not the Player.

Not even GLaDOS.

And you could argue she was the catalyst that got him enraged enough to go beyond the point of being able to be reasoned with, even sit here and talk about how he even says at one point that he wanted to try HER (GLaDOS') way so he could get "his itch scratched" properly, but that's all another topic for another day.

Now does he deserve to be sent to the moon? Or for GLaDOS to torture him like she was at one point planning? No. I argue he doesn't. I hear the pain in "you didn't even catch me!" But what I'm not gonna do is agree that he's done something wrong and HAS fucked up... Because even towards the end he realizes this. As he floats in space, with nobody- aside from Space Core maybe- to hear, he apologizes for his actions. He couldn't be lying, because what reasons would he even have to after all he's JUST lost?

Wheatley is not a perfect fucking cinnamon roll. But that's OK because he admits he did wrong, and I'm sure if given the chance he'd try being better.

I’m gonna say it

Wheatley did nothing wrong. Everything that he did is the pc’s fault

[superverity64]

“There was just something about seeing Chell there, against the diffused light of the test chamber, that ensnared her attention. The way that she was so casually leaning against the wall, arms folded loosely as she watched the bots below—it brought up a strong emotion inside of GLaDOS, as if this soft light had somehow smoothed out her own hard edges, if only for this moment.

It was the way that, despite seeming laid back, she also intently watched the co-op bots, eyes tracking like a leopard.

(…)

It wasn’t just the fact that Chell was in the observation room, GLaDOS realized. It was the fact that they were there together.

Together.”

@silverstreams - The Long Game, Chapter 22

***

I couldn’t help but draw something from this fic, which is amazing, btw! Hopefully getting into TLG is the impetus I need to start drawing more Portal fan art ❤️

[nerdstreak]

portal for the blorbo meme!!

YES YES THE BLORBOS FROM MY GAMES

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most)

wheatley ofc!!!

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped)

space core is a precious scrunkly, he just loves space so much man and i love him for that

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave)

caroline. yeah i said it she's underappreciated, both in universe and irl

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week)

the co-op bots!! love the lil easter egg with p body in one of the test chambers like omg hi!! pls dont run ilu!!

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave)

wheatley is also my poor little meow meow he can be both

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason)

idk fact core? no offense to fact core enjoyers i just think its funny

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)

cave johnson no questions asked fuck that guy

[devillain]

Carlos and Video Games

Carlos is a nerd we know this. But he also loves video games. His favorite are adventure puzzle games akin to that of Legend of Zelda. He likes the length of them, and he likes the challenge element. He also very much like platformers because of the precision elements that are involved. Carlos is also unnaturally good at first person shooters which in Auradon deals with slingshots and bows and arrows. But he has a knack for them.

In addition to enjoying playing games, Carlos likes breaking them. And not in the physical sense. He likes breaking the mechanics to see how things work. He has quite a few speedrun records because of figuring out mechanics to make games go faster. He is an incredibly talented speedrunner.

In canon we know Carlos plays at least two games. The first is the fighting game that he and Jay play in D1. This is essentially a first person Mortal Combat type of game called Royal Guard’s Rumble. It essentially takes you through different types of combat and stages against various friends to train, and then has you apply it to enemies once you reach the rank of Royal Guard.

The second game is from Mal’s Spellbook and he playes a game called Journey into the Enchanted Forest. This game he starts of playing with Jay who gets bored, then he gets Evie to play with him. It is a game he has beat on his own, but also beating it with Evie is one of the best things to do. The game is described as running through a forest and dodging evil fairies at least at level 10 to Level 12, there is likely more. I view this game like a 3D platformer that is skinned like Legend of Zelda but has mechanics of the original 3D Mario games.

Now there are other games in Descendants canon, that I take from the real world, like Legend of Zelda, and Portal, and Mario games. This are also applicable to his present day verses. Portal 2 is one of Carlos’ favorite games, but Co-Op or Co-Op where he is present has been banned because if you ever want to see Carlos get truly frustrated that’s how you do it. Carlos is very good with probability to he is very good at Mario Party and thus has been banned from playing because people have accused him of cheating even though there is no proof. Carlos is also the master of Mario Kart, people also think he’s cheating in this game but since he always plays with people they know he can’t be using a bot. He’s just good at driving the damn little cars.

In present day verses where Carlos knows Evie they play some Mario game that is Co-Op, I imagine something like Yoshi’s Woolly World and he plays it with her.

Carlos’ favorite games are still adventure puzzle games, and platformers. He loves the Zelda franchise. He also has an affinity for the mario games, and particularly the Mega Man games, they take his top spot for being his favorite.

In his present verses despite not knowing he has worked as a beta tester for Roger’s video games that has a hand in making the music for. This is inspired by Roger in the live action 101 Dalmatians movie. In verses were he is not adopted by Roger and Anita, he still acts as a beta tester simply because he is good. He always finds a way to play video games whether that be away from home if he is with his mom, or he pays for it himself. This circumstance in his Youtube verse is hilarious because he pretends like its not his mom in the game, and when he streams it his chat thinks its hilarious. Carlos is well aware that its about his mom but he ignores it.

Finally while at Auradon Prep Carlos does some app development, as stated in some canon material where Carlos is asked what he wants to do. He has programmed three games for phones. One is called “Spots” where your goal is to clear all the spots on a screen before time runs out. Its very simple and does not have many levels because he didn’t know how to continue it. The second is by far his most popular which is a game that is akin to that game where you tap and a box jumps over things, and Temple Run. It is called Isle Run, which is taken from his and Jay routes around the Isle doing parkour and such. The third is a platformer puzzle game called Hellward which has aesthetics similar to that of Little Nightmares, but this game is based on his childhood, on the Isle but no one really clues in on it at first except for Evie.

[genericdragon]

Aperture Tag Liveplay + Analysis (Part 3)

So this sign might seem concerning if you don’t know the context. While it’s true that the original test that was in this sphere is discontinued, Nigel has to recycle the old chambers because he doesn’t have any other options. Since the Paint Gun Testing Initiative is still in its early stages, GLaDOS hasn’t given him permission to use the newer test chambers yet.

The music in Aperture Tag isn’t just background music that isn’t actually a part of the game, Nigel is actually playing music through the speakers to help 18 concentrate. Instead of forcing his test subject to solve puzzles in complete silence, he has chosen to play music for her to make testing a bit more fun. Is that not the cutest thing?

This isn’t actually the first chamber with a ratt den, there was one in the previous chamber but I don’t think there’s a whole lot of meaning to it, so I won’t spend very much time trying to analyze it.

A toilet, some random junk, a few Citranium cans, a lamp, and of course a mural, since no ratt den would be complete without one. Obviously painted with blue and orange gels, which is odd, because we don’t have access to the orange gel yet. I guess the orange could be Citranium? Idk. Also how did this get here if this is Nigel’s first time testing? We know that he isn’t lying about that because the developer said so. Rattmann isn’t a test subject anyway. I don’t think this has a lot of meaning story-wise, it’s just an easter egg. Moving on.

Yes, he is being sort of rude here. Again, he often underestimates the complexity of tests. Although it really doesn’t take very long to get to the exit from here, I just wish he wouldn’t be so pushy about it.

And now we are about to head up into New Aperture. This is after GLaDOS set Chell free, so now she’s busy making new chambers for the co-op bots, and she has no use for the older chambers anymore. So Nigel’s gonna reuse those ones. Again, Nigel doesn’t really know what he’s doing yet.

Because of his limited knowledge and inefficiency, Nigel doesn’t know how to connect The Tubes directly to the next chamber, so he has to make 18 take a detour through some of GLaDOS’s older tests. Might as well get some testing done while they’re at it.

Now if you’ve played Portal and Portal 2, then this is a very familiar chamber. It’s a classic. But this time we have to solve it with a Gel Gun and not a Portal Gun. You might notice how Nigel says “we can solve it in our way” instead of “your way.”  He’s done this before, but I think that it’s especially noticeable in this chamber. He sees himself and 18 as a team, they’re getting through this together.

You can see it here too.

Nigel does have some control over the tests, he can fizzle the cubes so that 18 can still solve the test if she accidentally sprays the cube.

Looks pretty broken to me, Nigel. He probably doesn’t understand how elevators are supposed to work since he only knows how to use the vacuum delivery system. And we can see that Nigel is still unused to testing, as he couldn’t prevent the door to the elevator from opening.

And now we are heading back down into Old Aperture, because Nigel doesn’t have new test chamber rights yet. This was just a detour.

That’s the end of this part. Thanks for reading!

(Index) - (First) - (Previous) - (Next)

[airshipvalentine]

i was tagged by @klavierbi AND @yearning-hours! both are treasured mutuals and you should follow them immediately. their posts are here.

rules: answer these 20 questions and then tag 20 blogs you want to get to know better. i dont think i can do 20 people ngl but ill tag a bunch

1) name: emma!

2) nicknames: em, E, bee sometimes

3) zodiac sign: aquarius! feb 14 baby

4) height: 5′6″! technically above average but my friends still call me short

5) languages: english, high school french, a lil bit of korean

6) nationality: american, unfortunately

7) favorite season(s): fall! cool leaves and jacket and boots weather. hell yeah

8) favorite flower(s): peonies and violets :-)

9) favorite scent(s): hmm ive been doing a lot of baking lately. so baking bread is very good

10) favorite color(s): porple... and very specific shades of blue

11) favorite animal(s): owls... love em. also cats

12) favorite fictional character: god idk? maybe mordred from high noon over camelot. 

13) coffee, tea, or hot chocolate: tea! usually iced but hot tea is good too

14) average sleep: it used to be like 6-7 hours but now it’s more like 9-10

15) cats or dogs: cats!! i love dogs too though

16) number of blankets: 1. a thin one during the summer but a comforter pretty much anytime else

17) dream trip: i just wanna go somewhere with my friends :/

18) yeah

19) follower count: 432! not sure how many of those are porn bots. but thats a lotta people

20) random fact about myself: god i can’t think of anything. i’ve played the hit game portal 2 (2011) 2.5 times. does anyone wanna do the co-op with me

tags: @persimnon @somftlesbian @tlking-heads @superlunaryuni @lopezes @firesofthestars

[linuxgamenews]

Volley Pals gives you a taste of the challenge

Volley Pals arcade volleyball game has a Demo for Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. Which is the result of the work from developer NAISU. Available to test and play for free on Steam. Indie game development studio NAISU announces the new free demo of Volley Pals. Which is now available now on Steam. This is also a local multiplayer party game that supports up to 4 people. Due to be played in single-player, shared / split screen PvP, and shared / split screen co-op. It is a modern style arcade volleyball title. While offering different mechanics in each of its levels. Playing options range from 1v1 to 2v2, with any number of AI or real players. Since each level has a unique theme, this makes you eager for what's coming next.

Volley Pals - Announcement Trailer

Simplified arcade volleyball where you hit the ball and pass it to your opponent's field. However, in Volley Pals, you can also do many other interesting things. Some of which may not be welcomed in classic volleyball. Due to including but not limited to: invading your opponent’s area. Also, using your opponent's service before they do and increasing the height of the net. Playing rock / paper / scissors, and various other things that can be seen in the trailer. The main features of the new Volley Pals demo includes playing the Laboratory level. Which also has portals in it, and players can only play one level versus the bot. It's actually kind of a cool test of skill with a simple mechanic. At least to start you off.

Features:

Modern arcade style action.

Play against up to 4-player local multiplayer or AI in Volley Pals.

Various crazy levels with different themes and mechanics.

A special level dedicated to customizing your own rules and preferences with a wide range of options.

Original and cute characters to choose from.

Stylish 2D cartoon graphics.

Volley Pals arcade volleyball game coming in Q2 2023. Due to arrive on Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. So be sure to Wishlist the game on Steam.

[maskedriderbiocore]

Figma Atlas and P-Body The co-op buddy bots from the game Portal 2! These figures are sold separately, but obviously they work best together.

With the previous two attempts at toys of these characters having articulation issues (and one set being large and expensive), it feels like it’s been way too long since these adorable robots got a nice 1/12 scale figure. But now they’re here, and they’re fantastic! I just love everything about these two. They look great, they feel great, they bend in almost all the ways I want them to, and they can STAND! A combination of lightweight construction and sturdy joints allow them to work pretty well without the included Figma stand as long as both feet are on the ground. 

I’m very happy that the team went through the trouble of making their eyes expressive. Atlas has moveable eyelids (this is why there are little tabs on them) while P-Body has three “face” options. Atlas’s eye is on a ball joint so it can look around. Also, the cores can be removed to replicate the gestures in the game. I was not expecting either of these features so it’s really nice that GS went 100% on these. My only nitpicks are that for some reason P-Body’s forearms come off easily, (as if I was meant to put something else on the end, but I wouldn’t know what) and I wish P-Body came with a waving hand. The relaxed hand still has the thumb in the middle.

Honestly it’s been so much fun owning these two, I wish I could shout from the rooftops that everyone needs to buy them! But for some reason they’re really expensive. They were about $120 Canadian each before shipping from Navito World. As much as I love them to bits, I’m not quite seeing where that budget went. They’re not much larger than a standard figma, and I would say they use roughly the same amount of paint and plastic as maybe a Kancolle figure, which tend to be in the $75 range.  Some of it may be for the license from Valve. I still highly recommend them, even with the high cost. They just feel so good. I’m hoping if these and the Nendoroids do well, Goodsmile would consider doing more Valve properties.

[aperturescience]

Say you were put in charge of Portal 3. What would you add, subtract, change, or otherwise do with the third installment?

In all seriousness, I do have quite a few ideas. And it’s long. So I’m putting it under the cut.

I think one thing I would like to see is a story where GLaDOS is not the antagonist for any part of the game. I would try to incorporate what we got in the second half of the second game, of GLaDOS and Chell working together as a team. And yes, that does mean I’d want Chell in a third game. I think it wouldn’t be Portal without her. But I’d want her to come back on her own accord, and not by any means of force.

I’d want to expand a little (lot) more on GLaDOS’s back story and character arc. I think for Chell to want to work with her on her own accord, she’d need to see a little more work in reparations and apologies on GLaDOS’s part. I think saving her life and letting her go was a good start, but it’s not the whole idea. Given that Chell has spent some time away from Aperture to clear her head, I think she would have had enough time to come to understand GLaDOS’s point of view and would be more receptive of an apology and effort to fix things. And maybe Chell would want to make reparations for hurting GLaDOS too.

I don’t want a game where Chell comes back and GLaDOS is immediately forgiven and GLaDOS immediately forgives Chell. That’s just unrealistic for both of them given their stubborn natures, and it’s also not healthy given what the two did to each other.

I do want a game where GLaDOS is a little more emotionally vulnerable around Chell like what we got towards the end of Portal 2. I think that was healthy for her and helped Chell understand her a little more and resent her a little less. That’s the only way I could see them working as a team.

Why would Chell come back after everything that happened there? Like I said before, I’d want her to come back on her own accord, whether it’s for her own reasons or for GLaDOS’s (i.e if she somehow communicates that she and/or the facility is in trouble and she needs help from a certain dangerous, mute lunatic). I honestly think what is on her mind in her trek back should be up to the player’s interpretation, whether that’s missing GLaDOS, needing a place to stay, feeling lonely, seeking revenge, etc, given that a lot of Chell’s thoughts are up to fan interpretation. Wolpaw does state in a Q&A that the Combine is still out there, so I think that would probably have a lot to do with her returning. Maybe the world is still in an apocalyptic state and she needs refuge. Things between her and GLaDOS ended on a (mostly) positive note, and she may feel at least slightly safer in returning. Since GLaDOS expressed feeling guilty and that she saw her as dear to her heart and felt incapable of killing her, I’d guess Chell wouldn’t feel all that unsafe in returning if she needed to. Chell is also a whole lot more privy to all of GLaDOS’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities than she was in Portal and the beginning of Portal 2, meaning that if GLaDOS tried anything, she’d have no problem getting revenge three times over if needed.

On that note, why would GLaDOS even want her back after everything that happened? Like commentary states, she does have romantic feelings for her. And she’s shown to have a really hard time letting go. She admits she was wrong towards the end of the game, as well as in the co-op, and she’s shown quite a bit of growth on her part. Towards the end of Portal 2 I really think she realized she was in the wrong. In the co-op she mentions Chell in a sentimental and positive note on several occasions. The only time it’s not positive is when she expresses that Chell and Wheatley hurt her, and she goes on to say “And I don’t think I want to go through that again.” So she’s obviously a little hurt and reserved. But the things she says about Chell to Orange and Blue that are positive outweigh her hesitations and bitterness (after all, in the co-op she does call Chell wonderful and say she hurt Chell despite her own desires). She also states in the co-op that she’s always out watching the deer, just like she promised she’d do with Chell. Not only that, but she makes a big deal out of how Orange and Blue are not humans, and sounds pretty miserable when she talks about that. She also talks about how her biggest weakness is her empathy for human suffering, which is another clue out of many that she feels remorse. I think she wants a second chance, and while she may not admit it, she probably wouldn’t hesitate to let Chell come back despite her saying she wanted her gone for good.

If the Combine is still out there, that could be an antagonist for the game (and if the Combine is included, we could include other Half-Life enemies like zombies). We could incorporate the search for the Borealis in there too. In the co-op we see GLaDOS destroying blueprints to the Borealis, and so it’s obvious she knows something we don’t. The Combine trying to infiltrate Aperture and GLaDOS and Chell fighting back as a team would be an interesting plot, and we could even include the cores and ATLAS and P-body. GLaDOS can’t move around (unless she’s removed from her chassis like in the second game) so she could help guide Chell around the facility while Orange, Blue, or even (don’t kill me) Wheatley help her out. (If Wheatley was to be included, we’d need some kind of redemption arc and he’d have to fix what he did. That’s a topic for another day, because I have a lot to say on that). But I think what I’d like most is GLaDOS being removed from the chassis again, perhaps into a mobile body like Orange and Blue, or a core. I’d think she’d do this on her own accord in order to keep the Combine from taking control of her mainframe and learning information she doesn’t want them to. She was panicking even in the co-op when a bird took over the prototype chassis, in the beginning thinking it was a human trying to gain control of the facility. If she transferred her data to a core or mobile bot and destroyed her mainframe, she could keep the Combine from gaining control. If this were to happen, I think it’d be a good way to include flashbacks/expansion on her past and what happened with Cave and the scientists.

I don’t know if this is the plot I’d go with, though. It seems a little cliche, but it’s also something fans have wanted for a long time. If given some time, I could probably come up with a few more plot ideas. No matter what, I do still want it to be a puzzle game. And I still want that central theme of GLaDOS and Chell working together as a team, along with an expansion on GLaDOS’s back story (and even Chell’s). I want them both to be able to find healing, and preferably with each other. I want a little more than just subtext and commentary when it comes to GLaDOS’s relationship with Chell. I’d like to see that implemented a little more obviously in game, maybe through some sort of confession (that isn’t in Italian).

As for an ending, it’s got to be happy and there’s got to be cake.

[thehalfworld]

Fanfic MST: ITS MY LIFE!, a Portal fanfic [part 13]

For something that makes absolutely no sense and conveys nothing of substance, this fic does go on for quite a while. I honestly don’t even remember how many chapters are left, but we’re at least a few more from the end.

There’s a bit of gore in this one.

Recap: Marissa tried to take down the Chell/GLaDOS fusion, accompanied by Wheatley, who was predictably useless, and Rattman, who was also pretty useless (and also died, but whether or not that’s permanent remains to be seen). It was revealed that Chell is actually Rattman’s daughter due to some sort of DNA mix-up. The co-op bots showed up to ostensibly help Marissa, but, after she defeated the Chell/GLaDOS fusion (killing Chell in the process), the bots turned on her and shot her in the head. 

Chapter 1

Previous chapter

AN OMG I GOT 102 REVIEWS EVEN IF THERE MOSTLY DUM FLAMERZ THATS STILL PRETTY GOOOD FOR A FIRS STORY!

Man, I love her optimism. Raging at your “flamers” is common for badfic writers, so seeing an author be positive about all the reviews she’s getting, even though they’re almost entirely negative, is kind of refreshing.

Unfortunately, MarissaTheWriter dropped this attitude later on, but let’s cherish it while it lasts.

ALSO THANK RAI AN APE SOME THING BECOS THEY GAVED ME SOME REALY COOL IDEAS FOR THE NEW CHAPTERS!

I don’t know who these two are. I’m guessing people who reviewed her story.

PS MARRISSA DIED THAT PROOVES SHES NOT A MARRY SUE OK!

Well, no, actually, dying is really common for Mary Sue characters. In fact, the original Mary Sue, the character from whom we got the term Mary Sue, died at the end of the fanfiction she starred in. It’s a good way to make your OC look tragic.

PPS THIS HCAPTER IS FROM WHEATLY POV

Oh geez. Oh no. I don’t know how much more weird British slang I can take.

ITS MY LIFE!

CHAPTER THIRTEN: MARRISSAS RESSUREKSHUN

Yeah, that’s the other thing. Having a character return from the dead has the effect of making them look super special and important, and overdoing that is how we get Mary Sues, so…

This was the most bloody terribel thing ever.

I agree.

Oh, you mean Marissa’s death, not the fanfic itself. I take it back.

Marrisser was died with a gun shoot to her soddin head an blood an branes were all over ever were.

Gross! Thanks for the mental image!

I gared at Atlas an P-Body hoo killed the one thing I loafed an shouted "YOU BLOODY BUGGERS IM GONNA WANK YOU!"

That’s going to be difficult. He has no arms and they have no genitals. It’s Aperture Science, though, so I’m sure he can find a way.

But I didnt have arms so i cold not hurt them but I sooooooo mad they ranned off any way.

Yeah, nothing scarier than Wheatley threatening to “wank” you.

Bloody sods. "Marrissa why didnt I was able to safe you! IM SOOOOO SORRY!" An I cried bloody bukets of robottears.

Not sure how that would work, but I don’t need it elaborated on.

It was the end an I thot a bout commitin sewiside like GLaDOS did when a turrent came up to me.

"GO HEAD AN BLOW ME SODDING BLOODY BRANES OUT SO I CAN BE AT PIECE!" I yelled loud at the turrent. "No im diffrent! I am Oracle Turrent an I no how to make Marrissa alife!"

Wow, okay, that’s a character I wasn’t expecting to make an appearance. The turrets can’t walk, though (except the frankenturrets Wheatley created, but the oracle turret wasn’t one of those), so I’m not sure how this one managed to approach him.

No bloody way I o-mouthed in all the shock. "How can she life wen her hed sodding exploded?" I britished at him for tryin a get my hopes up.

“Stop making up pointless new words!” I Irish-Americaned at the author.

"Rember that she has the speshal powers, one of them is that wen she eats the zombee taters instead of become a zombee wen she dies she just becomes alife a gain!" It all made sense, the turrent was a bloody geinus!

Well, they can’t very well feed her potatoes when she’s a headless corpse, so swing and a miss.

"Common lets wankin go!"

Does anyone know what MarissaTheWriter thinks “wanking” means?

The Oracle Turrent ranned fast an I rolled on my rale right to the zombee taters quikly we grabbed up all of them an got back to Marrissa body.

How are they grabbing things when neither of them have arms?

I coldnt help but cry at the site of my troo love with head all open an messy.

Yeah, sounds pretty gross.

"Its ok Wheatly soon she will life!" The turrent made me more happy an we started stuffin the buggerin taters in Marrissas mouth.

So she’ll come back to life, promptly choke on potatoes, and die again. Excellent plan.

Then she started coffin an all the blood was got healed.

I hope “coffin” was a pun. On second thought, no I don’t.

"W Wheetly?" She asked in the most butiful voice in the hole portal worled.

Marissa, give GLaDOS her vocal processor back right now and no one gets hurt.

"Oh Marrissa I thot you were bloody gone for wankin ever!" We hugged an kissed an things was gettin hot an heavy so the Oracle Turrent left becos he didant want to see that kinna stuff.

I don’t either. I’m going with the turret.

MEANWHILE IN THE PAST

…thinking about whether or not that phrase makes sense is hurting my head. Moving on.

Teen Fortress 2 was MAD an PEEVED at Gabe Jonson an his dotter Marrissa Roberts for killin there leader Cave Jonson.

Hey, hang on a second. Whose point of view are we from now?

They wanted ervange speshally on Marrissa sinse with out her Gabe wold not have been a hard fight.

I’m going to assume for now that we’re just in third person.

"We shold right a mean things on her facebook page!" The evil Heavy dummed. "No you idot this is the past facebook isnt invented yet!" The evil Medik extricated.

Interesting how they know about Facebook although it’s not been invented yet.

All of em was angry but coldnt thing of a way to revenge Marrissa when the evil Ingineer got a idea. "I no! We will create an evil clone of Marrissa an send it to the futur an kill her!" It was a good plan.

Evil clones are always a good plan!

After school the teen fortress all gotted together at evil Ingineers hose an builded the clone mashine.

Ah, yes, the clone machine.

How are they going to clone her? She left. She’s in the future. Doing something I’d rather not think about with Wheatley.

"But we dont have dna evidance?" Evil Sniper said in sexay british aksent.

I doubt that, seeing as he’s Australian.

But the evil spy lolled an pulled out some thing. "I stolled some of her hare just in case we needed it for some thing."

Outside of making evil clones, is there really much use for hair samples?

He frenched an gave evil Ingine the hare an they started to clone Marrissa.

You cannot use “he frenched” like that. You just can’t.

A few mins later the clonin was done an a gurl stepped out hoo looked kinna like Marrissa but more evil an mean with angry face.

So she looks like Chell, but meaner and hotter. Alright. I’m into it.

"I am Assiram Strebor an I will kill Marrissa Roberts!"

Nice backwards name. Oh, sorry. Ecin sdrawkcab eman.

TO BE CONTINUED!

OH NO! CAN MARRISSA STOPS HER EVIL CLOWN?

I recommend getting a group of kids to fight it in a sewer somewhere in Maine.

FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON ITS MY LIFE|!

She’s right! Tune in next time for some evil clone and/or evil clown fighting action!

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