#cuz that has little space that i just wanna use for games

[mayamelodyegg]

fuck i miss drawing

[kyri45]

✨ISAT Sky: Cotl!AU Q&A ✨

Welcome to the Q&A! A space where I can answer related or similar question about the ISAT Sky: Cotl!AU! If you submitted your ask anonimously, then you’ll have to check the whole post if it’s answered here, if it’s not, worry not! Your asks might have been used for a future comic or just in the queue~

Anonimo ha chiesto: sometimes when im bored i just go to your profile to position your pfp to siffrin's hands so it looks like they're holding you

I feel threatened bc if Siffrin would know what I'm making them pass through with the next comic updates he would crush me insteantly with a fist.

Anonimo ha chiesto: Damn Siffrin is dying and no one will ever remember them. 😔 Oh Loo~ooop!

Loop coming to save the day even tough they aren't paid enough for this shit

Anonimo Siffrin isn't aware of the hole in the wall you can go through for those two statues without having to get pelted by rocks smh my head. (said jokingly) ((Love your comic btw!! Thank you for this AU, I love it))

THE

WHAT?

YOU CAN GO THROUGH A WALL TO GET THEM WITHOUT RUNNING FOR YOUR LIFE?????

Anonimo My reaction to this chapter of ISAT COTL CROSSOVER AU (10/9/2024) GO BBG YOU GOT THIS IN THE BAG!! OH YOU DO NOT GOT THIS IN THE BAG.. oh now you're out of the bag oh god ruh roh

Oh yeah he does NOT have this.

Anonimo pst hey hey are you gonna pose the statues, it would be funny i swear totally not more heartbreaking for siffr- WAIT HOW WOULD THEY REACT TO THE FACT YOU CAN BARELY SAVE ALL OF THE STATUES WHEN YOU REACH THE FOREVER STORM PART-

he has enough memories that he should recover a good amount of statues. It's not a matter of wheter or not he can save everyone, but mostly themself....

Anonimo ha chiesto: Hey so I cannot believe I am so late to see your ISAT and Sky AU because I love!! Both of them!! So much!! And I just wanted to thank you for making it and sharing it with us because it’s really cool! And both fandoms need more attention imo <333 @ucorpwhalingyaoi ha chiesto: I know NOTHING about cotl but my god your isat au of it has made me want to play it so bad 💔 (very /pos…) @primrosechronicles ha chiesto: HEYYYY ITS BEEN A WHILE SINCE IVE SENT AN ASK!! Ive been silently reading the isat comic since my last ask and im very very proud of you for making this far!!! mwahh!!! Thank you for inspiring me to play sky again, cuz if not i wouldn't have able to meet my sky friends Anonimo ha chiesto: first of all, I came here from the shadowpeach au but your comics dragged my ass to the ISAT fandom second of all, HOW DARE YOU PLAYED WITH MY HAPPINESS LIKE THAT (love your art and story telling, I wanna eat it like a fancy dinner) @prince0fghosty ha chiesto: It's been hard for me to find Sky: Children of the Light content anywhere! I found you through a friend and not only are you interested in Sky but also Lego Monkie Kid this is truly the best day ever!!! I got back into the game because of you. I like to help moths out in Eden @phoenix-is-here ha chiesto: You are the person who introduced me to the ISAT fandom and I gotta say thank you for that. That's one of the best games I've ever played and I would have never known about it without stumbling onto your account first (because of a strong hyperfixation on a show about monkeys ofc) so.. Accept this virtual cookie and glass of milk as a gift : 🍪 Anonimo ha chiesto: I followed for the shadowpeach, stayed for Sky CotL, keep cookin

HIII!!! AND TYSM!!!!!

@elianaroselight ha chiesto: This feels a little silly, but what is ISAT? I read through your ISAT Sky AU comic and I feel like I am missing half of the story. I love what I'm seeing so far and want more, but I also don't know or completely understand who the characters are and why I should care about them (more than I do already at least). Sorry if this is silly. I just want to understand.

ISAT is short for "In Stars And Time". It's an RPG game made by @insertdisc5. ABsolutely go check it out otherwise you wont understand a thing about the characters of the AU!

when i was reading the most recent page of the In Skies and Time™️ comic I had the most hilarious image in my head of just a bunch of sky kids smacking down on the same area and making this. sky kid pileup????? [since it seems liek theyre all gonna come back like that..] it was super funny to imagine 30 CAR PILEUP 🔥🔥🔥

AWWW SKY KID MOUNTAIN!! Lol probably it would happen? Like when you do Eden just after reset and when you get reborn there's like 7 other players clipped in you rebirth animation in the aviary /home space

Anonimo ha chiesto: Awwwww Bonnie was so excited 😢

poor Bonnie they will get their comfort moment eventually

@sohrleas ha chiesto: YOU YOU'RE THE REASON WHY I got Sky 'cause I saw your isat sky au and got super curious about the game Your art is beautiful and I love it 💚💚💚

LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOO!!!!

Anonimo ha chiesto: HOPEFUL STEWARD WOOOOO-

IT'S MY BOY!!

@o0mochacoffee0o This isn’t related to you Bio dad AU Like my usuals- I just saw in your abut that you like CotL! Now you share two of my interests!! I’m curious to know your favorite parts of the game, if you have any ships, head canons, etc!! I always love listening to people’s opinions on things I love!

About Scotl? I don't have any specific headcanon, but I do ship Moments Guide and Reassuring Ranges. The only thing that I crave for that game is MORE LORE GODDAMN IT

Anonimo ha chiesto: When I said the fun was dying. I did not expected this. I'M SCREAMING AND PUNCHING THE BED NOOOOOOOOOOOO SIFFF

*sips coffee* welcome to hell (literally)

Anonimo ha chiesto: "is that thing a sadness?!" sweet summer child that thing is a menace of death

It absolutely is

Anonimo ha chiesto: Poor Siffrin’s gotta be absolutely TERRIFIED Big scary beast thing spotted them AND suddenly getting bathed in the color they associate with bad stuff? I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t be quaking in their boots.

He is in desperate need of comfort that wont come in like- a irl month I think

Anonimo ha chiesto: I know you won’t be doing the golden wastelands but… Once the party discovers that the groundwater has the same effect as the forest rain, Isabeau decides to bridal carry Siffrin the whole way. Leaving Siffrin a blushy mess. Also, almost if not everyone is scared shitless of the Dark Dragons/Krill (totally not projecting)

ooooohh that is soooo cute i'm dying!!!!!

Anonimo ha chiesto: THE FAKE ACT 4 LOOKING SMILE . THE ACT 5 EDEN MOMENT. THE PARTY BEING SENT BACK . DIES "oh yeah if I still have energy I can loop back" ← me when I'm lying

@starlight-and-clockwork ha chiesto: bawling and kicking and screaming and pulling my hair out THAT PANEL OF SIFFRIN ASKING HIS FAMILY TO REMEMBER HIM WILL HAUNT ME FOREVER YOU ARE SO TALENTED AND CAUSE ME MUCH PAIN THANK U<3

@aro-aces-world ha chiesto: I just caught up with ISAT sky au Fuck you /affectionate

Thank you! Be ready to be even more destroyed by the following updates!

@cherryblossomventi ha chiesto: I’m gonna go feral, Sif did that because he knows he can kinda come back from this with the shooting star thing Im guessing but the others cant/might not because they aren’t from this land,,, oh buddy why didn’t you tell them stop being cryptic idiot

Sif doesn't really remember that he can be reborn like in Sky. He knows only that, if he can reach the light right at the base of the cataclysm, then maybe he can return as well.

[worldsokayestmagicalgirl]

The first batch of pictures for Amoré's character journal are here! Also I have been so super sick that I've literally had nothing to do but to work on this for like almost 2 weeks so...

The cover to cover tour officially starts here. All I can say about the front & back is that I lament my lack of experience with my Cricut when I made these decals. I only had 2 "fun" colors to work with at the time & I was still getting comfortable drawing in Procreate, so my silhouette art leaves a lot to be desired compared to some stuff I've made recently. I also found it's incredibly easy to burn this leather book.

But she's volume one, everything with her is a learning experience, & I realized as much as it helps to have a mini heat press for tight corners & small spaces, the cloth barrier they suggest you use between the vinyl & the iron tends to make things harder to press on this scale. So instead I gotta quickly tap straight on the transfer film & hope I don't burn anything around it :(´◦ω◦｀):ﾟﾟ

So at the risk of thoroughly exposing my inner theater kid, Amoré set the precedent with how I went forward creating campaign characters. I started off collecting 5 songs to make a mini story arc (almost like a show choir set list 🙃) that helps me figure out an outline for the kind of story I wanna give them.

Somehow Amoré ended up with a truly horrendous blend of rock & theatre. Absolutely incredibe. No wonder she's always such a dramatic bitch.

It was a lot easier to go in & add little decals around these lyrics. I'm definitely cursed with the Too Much™ gene, but I enjoy the little pops of color they give ✨ plus it justifies me hoarding all these vinyl scraps printing stuff this small lol.

Stat sheet!

In all honesty, as my first character I had no fucking clue what I was doing when I placed these & if I could go back & change one thing I'd probably swap her Intelligence & her Wisdom. She’s definitely more people smart than book smart.

But everything else is...very accurate. She has all the upper body strength of a chicken nugget. Plus on top of the (already) negative I traded disadvantage on everything DEX for magic crystal shoes that can be periodically harvested. Just a way for her to carry around the family fortune without actually having to return to the vault✨

For something that started so average, her CON became a monster & always comes in clutch for her alcohol tolerance. I've played variations of her across a few different one shots & I always manage to roll well for anything alcohol related. The dice do respect a bit 🤣

Spells on the other hand, I floundered with a lot at first because we’re not a combat heavy game, but then I found Chaos Bolt & that was that. It’s essentially Amoré in spell form & I’ve had a ton of fun with it over the years. Also Mage Armor cuz my girl is SO DISTRESSINGLY SQUISHY.

Cantrips were more or less a bit of a toss up. Message was fun for the sheer idea of her using it to talk shit during social events without being caught. But aside from Light serving fun backstory purposes the other 3 are kinda just what looked fun ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ unless you count the idea that she would absolutely delight in zapping handshakes.

From there, I wanted to extend the world map made by our wonderful DM @cappierong into a full scroll. Ya know, for the aesthetic ✨

Our campaign started in Civania, where Amoré's main Estate is. I just wanted a quick mock up to reference, so I edited a preexisting picture I found that checked all the boxes (large, on a plateau, accessible only by bridge) and then absolutely smothered it in flowers.

But anyways... This is primarily where Diana & Amoré grew up together in their decade of backstory ✨

There was probably waaaay to much back & forth trying to keep the continuity between stuff I've already drawn & this big reference. But I think it turned out pretty ok? Not like if I make a mistake anyone will really know lol.

Scaling was also another big issue I had, & I moments where I thought something was too big I just kinda handwaved it away like "ehhhhh she's from a stupid rich family." But now I have a NEED to draw baby Diana & Amoré around like, the statue gardens or something cuz I feel like certain parts of this place are definitely ominous 👀 especially for children...

And lastly we have the back cover & the High Noble political relationship map! I normally have this closer to the front but for layout purposes it'll be here. I kinda feel like I need to do more for the decoration of it but I can’t think of anything else to add at the moment.

Sam if u read that no you didn't.

But now! Other than a family portrait that I've always wanted to draw, I think I'm ready to move onto the art for Season 1 : Arc 2. It's a pretty hefty amount of art in comparison to others, so I gotta get busy. Especially since I think I'm gonna have to draw a few comics *sobs*

If you made it this far, thanks so much for reading! I'm always excited to talk out our little idiots so thanks for indulging me ❀(*´▽`*)❀

[lanaevyssmoved]

do u have any game recommendations that have character creation? besides bg3 ofc

gonna be real i wouldnt recommend bg3 for a character creation game because you can only use preset faces ...... bro but if you mean it in an oc way......

i would recommend.............

heavily modded skyrim, if you don't wanna do it yourself use wabbajack, some of the modlists on there are designed for graphics or high end systems and have very pretty characters. there's also ones not like that with rougher characters or more vanilla characters. lots of choice! do not get into the community though, this is a warning

following on from that, any elder scrolls game - morrowind is the best and one of my all time favourite games

you can follow on from that with fallout if you like the setting. i recommend fallout 1 and 2 the most as i'm not the hugest fan of bethesdas fallout but that is not a common opinion that be a hot take

heavily modded final fantasy xiv, you can fully mod on the free trial version as far as i know - be warned this is an extremely slippery slope because it has a modding community to rival skyrim and many customisation mods are paid for however there are ways around that. anyway you can get mods from here, here and here as well as the nexus

elden ring, dark souls 3 - the other dark souls but those character creations look like dogshit ass but still fun to make ocs in imo.. demon souls if you own a ps5....... i do not

pillars of eternity, tyranny, while visually quite limiting the character creators are still very neat from a roleplay pov - tyrannys has a lil "post character creation" game you get to play where you make "post game" choices and i uh, used to play that all the time for fun without intent to keep playing.....

a good follow up to that would be dragon age, all three of them but specially origins, i used to play the origins and not continue the rest of the game for fun! now be warned all of these games suck terrible dick in terms of modding because it's awkward and annoying and easily broken! i recently replayed dao and dai and so much of that time was spent troubleshooting...... joyous

have to kind of mention mass effect after? but ur kind of always making the same character..... ive always struggled with mass effect personally. maybe its the setting?

you can also look at starfield since that's got actually a pretty decent cc but i did find it quite limiting. but i've not really played it for more than an hour cuz bg3 exists so i can't say much

back to crpgs, the two pathfinder games! again limiting on the character side but roleplay side very very strong. i've not played wotr but i have mutuals who act like it is gods gift to gaming and i believe them. i really liked the first!

the outer worlds could be a good choice, i really like that games aesthetic but it's another space game and i think we're seeing a pattern that i'm just not that into those. hm. it was bethesda style gaming in space before starfield exists with the personality of fallout, kind of ?

this ones going far out there but crusader kings iii has an insane character creation and my favourite ruler ever was this old witch woman cannibal who slowly but surely turned her whole corner of the globe into a witch worshipping cannibal cult. i miss her

age of wonders 4 has a really cool cc, you can even make dragons with the dlc like Actual dragons.... i have made so many characters in there and gave them their funny little lores.. age of wonders has real cool lore and it is Completely ignored by tumblr afaik and that sucks

encased is a really cool rpg it's another sci-fi-y one.. it isn't as polished as you might expect cuz it's a very ambitious game but a small indie studio but i would say if you enjoy fallout 1 + 2 you will enjoy encased

dragons dogma! you get to make two people in this just like in bg3! i made a lil girl and her big brother and i was so fucking emotional over them that i was crying constantly even when nothing was going on. i played dragons dogma to fucking death on the ps3 and i think its interesting and rich enough to sink ur teeth into

i have to mention greedfall as the owner of the greedfall url.... greedfall is very interesting as its a double A title akin to a dragon age game.. it might make one feel a tad uncomfortable because it comes across as colonialism the rpg but it does get very interesting and it has neat as hell characters and magic and big monsters who fuck hard

wasteland 3! kinda again has the fallout type of vibe it is violent and full of dark themes and twisted themes but its also extremely comical its true black humour at times and you get to make two characters again and you can even make TWO MORE CHARACTERS so i had a bunch of custom characters.. u can get really wild in the cc as well and builds are SUPER fun....... v good game

spellforce 3!!!!! i love this game, the cc is again like another crpg one but spellforce 3 has very deep lore spanning many games .. its not typical crpg in that its also like a strategy war game too but i think it does the mixture very well and i LOVEEEEEEEE the lore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

uh i forgot to mention divinity original sin 1/2 because .. bg3 should lead you right there but uh. play them both! the first is so good in coop i feel cuz of the natural banter between the protagonists. if you don't have friend the second is very good single player just. be warned i don't think it has good endings but the ride is worth it!! and divinity lore fucks hard. i also recommend divinity dragon commander because its so much fun

can i say stardew valley? mayhaps sun haven too? if ur crazy like me you can turn these into prime oc generators. also mods

oh, monster hunter world and by extension wild hearts. monster hunter world lets you make a cat and while ur character themselves doesn't get to do much story wise i did get very obsessed with my character and wanting them fight cool monsters. wild hearts is similar though your character does feel a bit more special- be warned this game is known for running like ass on most systems, its pretty good for me but be warned all the same

TEEHEES.... KENSHI!!!!!!!!!!!! i was holding back on mentioning kenshi but i can't. you can make a whole fucked up lil squad if u want. u got weird alien races. u got a billion fucking mods. u can have ur buddies limps removed and give them robot ones. u can make an army of weirdos. bro i got so invested in my kenshi squad i was writing FANFIC. i was dreaming of them. i was unable to sleep about them. i miss them so fucking much dude!! kenshi doesnt really have a story beyond what u make it. that shit is a SANDBOX.. and i love it so much. everyone should play kenshi. its kinda like rimworld if u want a comparison. i think its Perfect. the best game to exist ever (lie) its so wonderful....... man........its also broken as shit cuz its the most ambitious game to exist ever and it was made by 1 dude so

oh if u like anime games i have to mention code vein (souls like) and god eater (monster hunter like ?) they have very good ccs and i know people super into the lore and stuff. i only played code vein and i liked it a lot honestly

uhhh i mentioned 1 mmo so i should probably mention guild wars 2, the cc is very good, the whole games end game is about fashion and looking amazing. the lore is also super duper neat! i haven't played it for a long time now but i did play it on launch and i had a blast for a few years

if you like d&d i would recommend solasta! it has a very good cc i think honestly and it feels the most like this is d&d in a video game out of every game i've ever played, and it translates the system very and faithfully (as opposed to say bg3 who changed things for game reasons). solasta is also best with friends because its so in that vibe of this is a silly lil d&d party. its much fun

lol i got the block text limit popup

kotor 1 and 2, it might be hard to get into the lore and characters if you're not into star wars but i found it pretty ok to as not a huge star wars fan. i also think they deserve to be played despite that as well because they are fantastic rpgs and some of the best bioware ever made

vampire the masquerade bloodlines!!! i am not a vampire fan really, a small one, but this game captivated me.... very easy to get into making a character i feel and ur given enough to make characters that align different ways easily. the combat did not age well..... but the story and roleplay absolutely did

ok.. im gonna stop here.. but i will say give games like icewind dale and arcanum a chance.. look at old as hell crpgs and try them. this includes bg1+2 which i still need to play myself but will be soon! they are classics because their stories are fantastic, and shouldn't be missed out on!!!!!

[cubezart]

Hi!! You totally don't know me at all, I'm a complete stranger >:) And I'd love to hear about Jim's mental world!!

HI ok so erm this is mostly just gonna be a mess of rambles and vague ideas smushed together barely in order but

(old/outdated concept sketch, but it's a good start)

for starters, the prime issue(s) to help resolve in his mental world (or this version at least) is jim's fear of burdening his friends and family, and his resistance to reaching out for help, as much as he really needs it. it doesn't get too deep into his trauma, it's just giving jim the push he needs to seek out help again

after jim's recent divorce with bettie, he's been trying to give his family "some space to process" ...which didn't take long to sink back into old self isolation habits. he's been putting his all into his job to repress and distract from everything else going on with him, and it doesn't seem like it'll work for very much longer

first area in his mind is a boring + extremely tiny office room, the other cubicles are all empty and open except for jim's, which has a big metal door attached to the entrance. you can try and talk to him or ask him things, but it won't get you much . he insists he's happier in there really !! its so nice and safe hes fine :) its ok :)

when asked why he's locked in, he'll insist it's for his own safety, saying some vague stuff while the clairvoyance hints become even more obvious. when you use clairvoyance on him, his POV shows the cubicle door and everywhere around it surrounded by nightmares clawing and staring at him from the other side. (something something these are all just his own perception of things and he's really not in danger)

afterwards, his dialogue tree gets pretty short and limited, leaving raz to explore !! there's a few doors you can interact with, one being just a simple archetype-required door with a little collectible or somethin. the other is an old n dusty storage closet filled with memory vaults piling up to the ceiling. you can't really interact with any of those individually, (maybe some raz line along the lines of "i can't punch through all those :( ") but there's one or two real ones that just seem to have completely mundane and normal memories inside. weird! cuz with cpstd n trauma memory loss/repression, it can repress a lot more than what's necessary

there's one last door to try, leading out into the next phase ! raz says goodbye to jim, and jim happily waves back as the door shuts n locks behind raz, and the hallway distorts and extends, distancing raz away too :( sorta like the effect in the pn2 office construct !! im taking a lot of inspo from that world tbh heehe except for the obvious yknow. dental stuff

the next phase is kind of a messy stub for now, still sorting n planning out everything in my head lol but it's called Jim's Judgement

it centers more around jim's trauma and Issues TM and a lot of it is more vague concepts than any real gameplay ideas for the more dark story elements bc i don't want raz to have to see that and like to think after raz gets him a head start, he gets into actual professional Psychonauts therapy (and for my own silly oc/canon interaction fun, its sasha and milla assigned to help him. perhaps. maybe. they almost assigned oleander but he yelled too much and scared him away /hj) ANYWAY!!

all that being said i honestly have 0 ideas how to tone shit down for raz and im still trying to plan out the smaller in-game per se variation on it so i will simply. wait to talk about it. there's a lot of cool symbolism and motifs i prommy i swear </3 but the main "boss fight" final moment thing surrounds his whole paranoia of being a horrible person who others only tolerate + he constantly has to "make up for it" by putting everything and everyone Before him. i really wanna end it back in the small office space with jim having the key on his desk this whole time, making it literally In His Hands to get himself out. he just needed the support! he's definitely scared and slow, but he opens the door and steps out of his cubicle. the room grows a little bit. its a start

i was gonna ramble more about the darker version of the second phase but this post is already gettin Long and kinda incoherent i think so ermm. ill split it off into a second post probably if anyones interested in hearing more . i hope this all made sense lol i have too many thoughts about him to keep together honestly

[amaiguri]

When you're a Writer and a Vtuber...

If you like storytelling, Vtubing, or both, this one's for you 🥰

You'd think there'd be more overlap of "People who want to be fantasy characters and hide their face" and "Writers" but there really aren't. I know like me and @moonfeatherblue and that's it for the writing/worldbuilding and Vtuber overlap lololol. I think there should be more of us!

So, let me convince you to become a storytelling/worldbuilding/writing Vtuber like me...

In addition to just loving all the cool things you can do with Live2D as a software (if like art and you don't just stare at rigging showcases on YouTube, you should. It's so cool!), I also love storytelling in a social media space. Like, how do you tell a story over time? How much information should you reveal and when? What colors, images, and sounds evoke the feelings you want? And what feelings will keep people coming back for more? Basically, Vtubers have made me fall in love with marketing because the best marketing is just storytelling with some sort of call-to-action at the end.

Am I GOOD at marketing? No, lol, but maybe YOU would be! KEEP READING to find out XD

On the flipside, so so many Vtubers are like "I'm the embodiment of sin and also a gamer and a singer" or "I'm a cottagecore whale who is also the collector of lost souls and I play video games" and it's like... clearly Vtuber audiences LIKE the fantasy aspects of this. Why is the Vtuber default just gaming? Why is there not waaaaay more whimsy and storytelling? (This isn't to say Gaming Bad TM. I'm literally a game dev. I NEED streamers to play my games. I love them.) There's just so much opportunity for cool storytelling with Vtubers!

If you wanna get into being a fictional character/having a kayfabe-like wrestling persona for your writing, you should 100% get into Vtubing. You don't even need to stream to be a Vtuber -- and honestly I'm not even sure you need to post videos necessarily lol -- GIFs and pictures could probably get you pretty far on the right platforms. You could start out using a PNG --there are so many good, free PNGtuber softwares and you could use Picrew images (with the right permissions!) for your PNGtuber to start. Or if you can draw, you can just DO THAT.

Or if you have like $50 USD, Raindrop Atelier has a FULLY rigged Vtuber "Picrew" with chibi models that are so high quality and cute! Or if you have like $300 USD, you could get one of the Picrew-like Vtubers from Charat Genesis. (Yes, that's a lot BUT most Vtuber models — 2D and 3D alike — run you from $2000 to $8000 sooooo $300 is a steal in comparison.)

And then, over time, you could post and reveal facts about yourself and tidbits of your lore! And you could give writing advice or talking about your worldbuilding in-character! I've had this idea to make a fantasy creature mockumentary for actually years now and I'm just trying to find a good scope for it...

On the downside, as with all "storytelling in real time", it can a little discouraging at the start when you don't have a big audience. And this specific niche is especially underdeveloped so it's definitely hard to find a foothold. BUT I find that, because it's all play -- it's all FANTASY -- I have a lot more energy for this kind of marketing than I would if I were promoting myself as "just a writer, trying to sell my writing." Getting people to like me is exhausting. Getting people to like my writing is part of the writing process!

Cuz like, aside from just "inhabiting a fictional character" and "reducing your face presence online while still giving your personal brand a face", being a Vtuber is also a fun way to tie into your work.

Like, my Vtuber model is Arlasaire and she's the protagonist of my (probably) upcoming RPG, Untitled Yssaia Game, (Not the final name, real name pending lol). She talks about cooking and music and geography over on my YouTube channel and it's all infused with cool fantasy music and sound effects. She speaks in and teaches you about conlangs in the world. And she goes on fantasy dates or fantasy vacations! So now, I'm getting people attached to this character and her world BEFORE I even get into her actual story. And all her merchandising and stuff is really just game merchandising and so on and so forth... and that's just good branding! Hopefully some day, this translates into more people playing the game and seeing more of my work!

But obviously, I'm very new to marketing or else this blog post would convince more writers to become Vtubers and more Vtubers to write lol.

Anyway, here's some Arlasaire art (art: LexiKoumori on IG, rig: Kanijam) AS WELL AS some of her earlier model sketches before I asked for her hair to be silkier and less feathery! And lastly, a short unedited video of me being cringe so you KNOW you could do better :DDDD

[rathayibacter]

as a TTRPG designer, how would you approach blackjack / a risk reward type mechanic (I am going to steal)

oh hell yea i genuinely love folks doin stuff like this, ideas are meant to be taken and ran with

and youre in luck cuz ive talked about this before w friends! i think push your luck mechanics fuckin rule in ttrpgs. something i think about a lot is how most dice-based ttrpgs have an actually pretty shallow skill ceiling. like, there's skill involved in making your build, and using your resources at the right time, but once you have your build and know how to spend resources a lot of the actual mechanical fabric of play is just rolling a die with as many modifiers on it as possible and hoping it passes the GM's threshold. there's not a lot of ownership over winning, and not a lot of regret in losing. so yea i think Blackjack's a real promising approach!

so lets talk about the actual meat and potatoes. what's Blackjack bringing to your game, what're the costs, and what's the design space?

Blackjack's letting you turn every roll into a meaningful gamble, where the players can decide how far they want to go and how much they want to risk to accomplish their goals. already that sets a kind of tone for the game, where PCs aren't really noble heroes (or, at the very least, they're noble heroes in a world that makes no effort to coddle them). failure is always a possibility, and disaster is always your fault.

in terms of costs, there's one real big one right off the bat: playing a minigame takes time and mental effort. this is the primary advantage of dice, you barely have to stop to roll a die and see if it was good or not. if you're playing Blackjack every time you do something, you're gonna get very little done. so you're gonna wanna make every game really count! the Blackjack only comes out when the stakes are big. Viditya Voleti describes a fun dice mechanic here where multiple actions from different players can be resolved with one check, and that's another way you could handle something like this.

so okay here's the fun part: design space. here's a first pass at a Blackjack ttrpg mechanic.

whenever you're in a tense situation with everything on the line, play a game of Blackjack. players may bet any amount of Strength, Stakes, and Survival, though some games may have minimum bets established by the dealer. the dealer chooses their face-up card from a hand of three, then deals their face-down card from the deck. when the round is over, the dealer pays out all bets, then describes how the gamestate has changed. if a player went bust, they fail catastrophically. their hubris comes crashing down on them. if a player lost to the dealer, they fail, but they're not out. they can push their luck and try again. if a player tied or beat the dealer, things go well for them. they pushed ahead, got what they wanted, and can try again for double or nothing. if a player got a Blackjack, they succeeded beyond their wildest expectations, double their winnings, and get full narrative control. Strength can be spent to buy new skills and abilities, to gain an edge in future games. Stakes can be spent to buy narrative beats, and many obstacles require payment before a certain number of games elapse. Survival is spent to mitigate the costs of failure and ensure your character doesn't meet an untimely end.

something i really like here is how the dealer gets some control over the difficulty of the check. once the game starts, they're still essentially automated, but they can choose to make a particular game easier or harder on the players. the three currencies also give some texture to each bet, and the GM can play this up by requiring certain minumum bets. a game against a brutal killer might cost 3 Survival upfront, so if you lose you're in a precarious place but if you win you'll be (temporarily) untouchable. it could also allow for a game world where multiple Blackjack games are present at a single time, offering different buyins and payouts to the players. they might be investigating a murder in a small town, and each suspect is represented by a potential Blackjack match. the antagonist of a long campaign might be available from the very start, sitting smugly behind an impossible game of incredible stakes, waiting for the players to build up the courage to take them down.

anyway, those are just a few thoughts on this! lmao

[unagidevi]

WHIMSICAL DREAMSWAP FACTS REVISED (whs ds for short) + long post

-Nightmare goes by Nightmare, Man of the Moon, Man IN the moon and Akli. He doesn’t care what you call him as long as it’s something along the stars and moon.

-Nightmare helps people, or well, better should say- monsters like Blue to escape the JR and to have safety.

-Nightmare is based on a crow, despite looking like an elf he has wings that hide under his cloak for the most part so usually he can get away with being in villages if the wanted posters aren’t plastered around.

-Nightmare and Error work together to help others and their emotions to be a little better after the JR attack, like now they are working with Blue.

-Nightmare loves spicy foods, but he also likes savory food. He also tends to test the limits of his cooking and has Cross eat it for him as the test subject.

 (Cross does not mind, and actually enjoys it even if it’s really bad)

-Nightmare can play the ukulele and the violin, he tried to learn bass but he wasn’t very good at it and he didn’t have any space to keep the one he rented for a little while.

-Nightmares' pet raven, Kevin, has many different names that are all joking. Kevin doesn’t mind, besides, at least he’s being called michael myers for stalking them outside the house.

-Sometimes Kevin escapes the house, not like Nightmare minds, but Kevin ALWAYS comes back in the end.

-His cloak is usually draped over his shoulders but sometimes he uses it to catch his balance or mock one of his friends in a joking manner. (He also has a spare cloak that has slits for his wings to be free so he can fly around, which isn’t often.)

-Nightmare is NOT a careful person physically, he is emotionally but he is always getting hurt here, there, everywhere.

-If you asked Nightmares favorite food he’d probably say Salad mostly because of the tomatoes and how much dressing he puts on it.

-Nightmare doesn’t really exercise his wings much because if he’s in the sky he can easily be found by the JR, instead he walks like a normal person.

-Nightmare and Cross are best friends, they helped each other through the littlest stuff and are easy to talk to.

-Nightmare does his best to keep the monsters alive he’s met past and present, he doesn’t wish a horrible fate upon the JR either. He just wishes they could fix what they have done to the creatures.

-The apple incident was more of a, ‘i don’t wanna be friends with you anymore so i’m gonna be petty and turn everyone against you’ type thing. Kinda like elementary playground dramas, but thats like how unhinged i’d put it cuz it’s really childish (lmao)

-Nightmare likes playing chess and card games, the video gamer is Cross. Nightmare has a small limited edition glass chess board that he hides and puts up so it doesn’t break

—-

-not keeping the stupid harpich idea where they were harpies sooo… Dream is now an Horned Barn Owl! I thought it worked better since the old idea was some shitty harpy concept that didn’t go very well.

-Dream is very formal, but there are times when the act breaks and he just talks out-of-character.

-Dream is usually very warm, he doesn’t need many layers but he wears it anyways in the JR. He does have some casual, normal outfits but he just wears the checkered one in the JR.

-Dream has a really poor sense of fashion, so sometimes Ink chooses outfits for him (even if Dream doesn’t like it very much.)

-Dreams Justice Reigns is actually called Valor Affiliation, so it’s VA instead but for this I’ll refer to it as both.

-Dream is aware of Ani here, but Ani is just a traveling trader with a giant turtle friend. (in the works still!)

-Dream still adores kids, monsters or elves, doesn’t matter- he thinks they are all equal.

-Dream doesn’t mean to harm the monsters around him as he is a monster himself, but he does it anyway by accident.

-Dream plays a little bit of the harp, but he did it in the past and isn’t very good at it now.

-Dream does his best to treat VA like human beings instead of co-workers or servants because oh my god the amount of DS Dream ‘i’m a bad guy’ i see is going to make me go feral- excuse me.

-Dream has a ton of trust in Ink even if Ink is a little bit suspicious and mischievous. (ink does not care, he likes the power.)

-Dreams favorite foods vary every other week, so he just decided what he likes that week.

—-

-Cross is an albino raccoon, and genuinely a sweetheart.

-Cross cannot draw for shit, so when asked to draw his feelings out it’s mindless scribbles or things/stories he’s heard from others to put on paper.

-Finders keepers man, fuck off.

-The fridge is always stocked because of him (error buys groceries from monster shops), he’s always getting into food but he always asks permission beforehand.

-His nails can come out sharp, or dull, it’s a personal thing that comes with his species and a sign of protection.

-Cross is always washing the food so Error and him can cook together. They do the best work together, but if one is cooking (cross is not allowed to cook alone because where’s all the ingredients going to go?) It's probably just Error.

-Cross has minor anger issues, sometimes they get in the way of his friendship with the trio but other than that he’s able to manage it!

-Cross (sometimes) digs in the trash if he’s looking for something he lost, mostly because he has a tendency to throw stuff away that shouldn’t be thrown away.

-Cross used to ‘collect’ (he stole it) jewelry and set them on a stand in his bedroom, however Night found out and he had to return most of it. He kept a few cherry picked.

 (he doesn’t even wear jewelry…)

-Cross uses make-up to put the circles in his design on his face, as most of his markings are under his outfit instead of somewhere on his face.

-He plays an alto flute, and usually it attracts raccoons in the area who sit and watch. Sometimes he has leftovers to give to them to share!

-Instead of multiplayer games (he’s really bad at that), he plays singleplayer games. His favorites are something like stardew valley and the sims 3.

—-

-Error is in the insect category with Blue, he’s based on a yellow garden spider.

-Errors very insecure of his fangs, which aren’t poisonous but can do major damage. He has problems with them, and worries people will hate him.

 (Cross and Nightmare always stick around to cheer him up!)

-Spiders are more afraid of you than you are of them.

-Error cannot stand smoke, it makes him cough really bad. He’s extremely sensitive to it and it tends to make it hard to breathe for quite awhile.

-Error still has haphephobia.

-Error likes coffee still, but he’s very particular about it and what it’s in it. (two sugar, one cream)

-Error can hypnotize other people, but he really doesn’t use that power because he doesn’t want to harm anyone or anything.

-Error loves the little spiders that appear in the winter in the Meme Squads base, it makes him feel welcome.

-Error can speak to other spiders through chittering (he doesn’t do this often, he usually just speaks normally to them)

-Error can play a little bit of the ukulele and a little bit of the kazoo, he has more experience with the ukulele though thanks to Nightmare.

-Error has a problem with overthinking, but his friends always reassure him that everything will be okay.

-Error is usually really helpful when it comes to helping monsters attacked by the JR as he was attacked by the JR previously, and saved by Nightmare (not blue).

—--

-Blue is a moth creature, again, insect category. He’s genuinely skittish after what happened with Ink.

-Blue is extremely flexible, the only problem he has is his wings when doing such things because they help him balance.

-Blue still does yoga, instead he does private classes so that he can help them. That and it’s mostly monsters he helps, but sometimes elves come in.

  (He doesn’t want any conflict.)

-Upon first meeting Cross and Error, they were like ‘wtf why’d you bring this person home they don’t seem very injured’ but they soon realized what happened, and where he was damaged at so they welcomed him into their home (they would’ve anyway, but, yknow)

-Blue doesn’t really do weapons, or fighting. After what happened with Ink he kinda gave up fighting and meeting people, kind of shutting himself off from the world. The meme squad is helping him open up though!

-By what happened with Ink is that Ink ‘befriended’ Blue, and when Blue got most comfortable and vulnerable he pulled out a small dagger he carries around and sliced part of his wings and damaged his eye. Now he is unable to fly and his eye is blinded with a nasty scar in the place.

-Blue is a very skittish being, he is very afraid and is always trying to listen in to whats going on around him so he knows what is going on and not to fear.

-Most of Blues trust is in Nightmare, but luckily there is some in Error and Cross

 (Error is a little more than Cross, but that doesn’t really matter.)

-Blue is a very non-picky eater, there's just specific stuff he doesn’t like: doesn’t mean he won’t eat it.

 “He asked for no pickles”

 “It’s okay-”

-As mentioned before, Blue never saved Error: it was Nightmare who had done so: they don’t have any previous bonds before said meeting present-time.

-Sometimes he wears cloaks, but most of the time he just wears his citizen design because he now lives in a monster-only town ran by Nightmare.

—-

-Inks nickname is Swindler, or The Man with a Sharp Tongue

-Inks not a stupid hybrid elf thingy. He’s a Western Rat Snake, I did my best to incorporate that into his design but we’ll see how you guys like it instead.

-His civilian design is usually used outside of the JR that way he isn’t painted as a citizen inside his workplace.

-Ink is not a good guy in Whimsical Dreamswap, he has alternative motives that Dream does. He actually means to harm.

-Ink genuinely does not care what you think of him, just what your actions are.

-Ink likes to nitpick workers every now and again just to irritate them and get on their nerves. Finch is so used to this it isn’t so surprising to him so he jokes around about it.

-Ink likes to do leatherworking and crafting as a hobby, nothing much more than that but he genuinely likes creating things out of work.

 (work kinda bums him out)

-His weapon is usually a tiny dagger that he keeps in a boot or on his belt, used to hurt or collect: either or.

-Ink has little trust in Dream and just wants the power place, he’s power hungry but he doesn’t make it obvious.

-He considers Dream a friend though, so he won’t force his way to the top.

-Inks not very sensitive to hearing, but it is enhanced. Same thing with smell.

-Probably the only OTHER creature besides Dream in the JR.

—-

-Finches name is different in this AU, it’s Lorcan Ruth or just Ruth works (Lori works as well, he doesn’t care.)

-Finch is a forest elf, and is very loyal to his job.

-Finch was previously saved by Ink, but instead Dream took the role of taking care of him as Ink didn’t do a very good job.

-Finch is the same age as Ink, there’s no doubt about that.

-Finch likes the quiet, he does his best work when it’s quiet and no one else is focused on what he’s doing.

-He’s not very close with Dream, but more close with Ink in a playful/teasing manner. Sometimes they throw joking insults at each other, but they do appreciate both of their presences in the same room.

-Captain uniform is different from Officer, Chef and Janitor.

-Finch made the coat, which isn’t part of the VA uniform, with Ink because they needed a bonding lesson and Dream offered to give them an idea.

-Finch is loyal no matter what, even if he knows what the JR is doing is very wrong, he just does his best to do things differently than everyone else would.

-Finch sometimes smokes a pipe, mostly because it’s stressful to do the job he’s doing but Ink knows and sometimes smokes with him so he’s not alone.

 (sometimes other guards join in.)

-Finch is very respectful and respects boundaries, he doesn’t see the monsters as threats.

-He’s very good at communication, sometimes he uses that speciality to get the guards to lay off attacking the Monsters for a little bit. It works most of the time.

—-

-Randy is a female, and a mom in this instead! I will be referring to Randy as Rana, this way it’s easier to understand.

-Rana is a coyote, for the most part she's very helpful and adoring.

-Her oldest designs she was created by a stupid wheel challenge because I didn’t know what to do, now she is fully developed.

-She usually wears rags, that way she can’t be pointed out very easily.

-Rana has a southern accent, sometimes it influences Bobby and Hacker.

-Rana cares more about the people around her than herself, hence the outfits Bobby and Hacker have and then you have hers.

-Rana has two outfits I draw her in! A Dress and one more cloak like.

-Ranas cooking is one of the best, she works as a cook in a monster restaurant in a separate town.

-Rana has very bad paranoia, but she doesn’t let it control her.

-Rana once had a lover, that lover is unknown and long gone. By long gone, I mean dead.

—-

-Hacker is both male, female, and non-binary. She’s all of it.

-Hacker is a night elf, they were taken in by Rana for safety, and because her parents abandoned her in a forest near Ranas old home.

-Hacker has a very close relationship with their mom and is happy to say has a good relationship with Rana.

-Hackers relationship is very healthy with Bobby too, her little brother might be a pain in the ass sometimes but they don’t mind very much.

-Hacker will buy any game for Bobby as long as it’s okay with Rana. Hacker also sometimes plays with Bobby if he’s okay with it.

-Hacker and Cross don’t exactly get along, in fact, they aren’t really friends either when Hacker and Bobby went to a meet up. They have trouble getting along– probably due to Cross's hate for elves.

-Hacker is really good at make-up and prosthetics for make-up. They wish to be a make-up artist but for now they just do it in her freetime.

—-

-Bobbys literally a squirrel in this. I have no other words, he’s a squirrel and that’s final.

-Bobbys natural hair color is Brown instead of Black, give it a different pop.

-Bobbys a streamer and has a pretty good audience doing so, his audience wides from humans, elves and monsters. (humans are in like, another world. They just think it’s a vtuber or something)

-Bobby is on very good terms with Cross, they sometimes stream together that way they grow both of eachothers audiences.

-Sometimes he uses Hacker as a junglegym, and other times he uses trees.

-He loves piggyback rides, no questions asked.

-Bobbys very affectionate, it just depends on the person.

-The type of person to be quiet when you first meet them, then loud and happily talkative the more you know them.

[spotsupstuff]

I saw the Ask regarding your Ancients and

Yeah I agree with everything they said. Ancients being sea anemones is just... So right. Can't see them any other way (They are funky freaky sea anemones that grew legs!) /pos

I love your own spin on things, too! (even if they aren't meant to stick close to cannon, it's fun to think about!)

It still feels all plausible to me in the Rain World Universe, which just opens so many Avenues to expand on things! Words are escaping me but I just

Love yer stuff so much

the ancients are fucking seafood n i think that explains why they are Like That to a degree ngl GJKLSDCMLSK The Seafood Vibes of a Whole Species....

i do find it interesting though how ya two stand behind the sea anemone thing with "it feels right". cuz like yes, i obviously agree! when u look at the hair bullshit they have goin on in the graffiti/murals, it makes a lot of sense. but i do think most fandom still thinks n stands behind the idea of the ancients being some sort of a land creature, like lizards, scav-related, birds, dogs... which is Very valid n in a way i do perceive those as the basis for ancients as well. i think of myself as an outlier. so the fact ya two go "it feels right" is very "👁👁 o wowie... lookit dat.. look..... (*꒪ヮ꒪*)" to me /in a v pos way

-snaps fingers n points atcha- but YES!!! *YES* THAT'S A BIG THING FOR ME- i can go off wherever i wanna n where the feelings will lead me but it Has to still fit into the universe! if the universe is a little changed because of the way i go about drawing the iterators, then okay, but there is still a certain Rain World vibe that needs to be respected no matter what cuz otherwise i stop writing about RW. which i don't wanna do cuz i love this lil shitlet of a game. and IDEALLY by straying away from the largely canon stuff but staying with the Vibes, i will- exactly, yes!!!!- open up new Avenues for world-building!!!!!

world-building is genuinely one of my favorite things to do. with RW it is especially fascinating because all of the information that we are really offered is all from a singular source that is Moon's/Pebbles' facilities (when it comes to visually/gameplay relaid information) Or what we can mostly safely assume is a singular continent wide network of iterators (since Suns is kinda weird to place cleanly)

RW is fascinating and engaging because while it offers only a small piece of the world for us to learn from, it uses the passage of time to expand upon itself n i fuckin Love it. also the main reason why i'm trynna respect the general timeline as much as possible. thanks to this expansion through time, not space, RW manages to never really feel stifling and claustrophobic when reviewing the lore

i do like to pose the question or my tactic of going 180°- which means that i take what is given, turn exactly the other way n start Marching in order to widen the horizont of understanding of the universe (n i also do that with characters pretty often ngl... i love my 180° rule a lot). if RW is focusing on expansion within time, i'll do my best to focus on expansion within space and then detail That

and thank you!!! i'm glad you enjoy my stuff!!!!

[marismoments39]

:-0 no problem if you're not an avid yuri gal! I'd say not a lot has been animated anyway lol. Dragon maid is. Uh. -_-. And I would say adachi n shimamura suffers from "adapted from a light novel so its kinda weird" so I'm not surprised you didnt hook onto those.

If you ever want suggestions you might like slow start or demon girl next door, both pretty fun slice of life comedy affairs. For more action akuma no riddle is still solid.

Enough about that though, we can see you like genshin, but do you play a lot of other games?

Ah, I see! Thanks for the recommendations! It'll probably take me a long while to get around to them (as you can see with my.. very slow ask-answering....) but I'll bear them in mind for whenever I wanna start something new!

anyways, as for games? I'm in a bit of a situation here!! my computer.. SUCKS. it has like NO SPACE!! I only have FOUR GAMES on it!!!!

those being (in order of when I first played them:)

-Minecraft (bedrock) (this computer can't run java and honestly I blame minecraft itself) -Terraria -Genshin Impact -Honkai: Star Rail

I LOVE all of these games SO VERY MUCH!! well, maybe star rail still needs to grow on me, but ALL THE OTHERS I LOVE THEM! this list probably doesn't give you a good idea of what I am as a gamer lol, these are all extremely popular games, I do have a NINTENDO SWITCH!! THOUGH!!! ISN'T THAT COOL??? I still don't believe I have it

here are the games I have on there (in order of hours played)

-Hollow Knight -Hatsune Miku: Project Diva: Mega Mix -Sonic Frontiers -Sonic Mania (plus) -Pokemon Scarlet -Deltarune -Hatsune Miku Logic Paint S -Hatsune Miku Jigsaw Puzzle -PuyoPuyo Tetris 2 -Rain world (mainly got it cuz of pow but GOD is it hard) -Everhood -Ace Attourney

-I also tried out games like A Hat in Time and Stardew Valley, though they were fun to watch, I didn't have much fun playing them. which is sad. I don't know how to refund on switch lol

some of these games only have low hours because I just got them. like ace attourney? under an hour of gametime lol

I'll tell you a little anecdote about each game!!

Hollow Knight: I first played hollow knight at my cousin's house in 2018(or 2019?) I sorta sucked at it. I remember saying "this is just swordigo but, like, better" and I guess I was right? swordigo's a mobile metroidvania I used to play btw lol~ anyways in 2020(??? or 2021?????) one of my favourite youtubers (merg) started playing hollow knight and I was like huh..! this is actually sorta fun?? I didn't have an income nor allowance at the time so I couldn't BUY the game for myself.. so I watched his ENTIRE series before I bought the game for myself!! still, it was fun!

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva: You may not know this game, but there are two modes! arcade mode, and mix mode! arcade mode is like the mode where you hold the joy-cons vertically and use like motion controls and uh it's complicated but basically I LOVE THAT!! I LOVE THE MOTION CONTROLS SO MUCH!! LITERALLY THE ONLY GAME WHERE I LIKE THEM LOL!!! Also! Project Diva is what got me into vocaloid! not the other way round! isn't that cool!!!

Sonic fron... wait. I'm gonna. I'm gonna be typing this post forever

obviously this isn't every game I've played ever, I mean how can any list of moon's favourite games be complete without min hero?? uh, but, I don't wanna be typing this list forever! how about this, if any of those games sounded interesting, say so! I'll give you stories! I have a TON!!

Thanks for the ask!

[the1975attheirverybest]

https://www.pride.com/comingout/2019/12/07/1975s-matt-healy-sets-record-straight-coming-out

could you please explain this to us. i’m a little confused… sorry

If you go back and read the article that they’re referencing (it’s linked on there), you’ll see Matty make a distinction between what he’s referring to as “objective beauty” and desire. He says that he’s attracted to men “in an aesthetic sense.” Like he NOTICES beautiful men. But what he notices about them is that they look beautiful. Like, it’s about the beauty for him, not desire. He likes pretty things, basically. If a guy is pretty, he’ll acknowledge that as much as he acknowledges pretty women, or pretty soundtracks or nature or paintings etc.

He’s citing Elaine Scarry in the original interview that this Pride particle refers to. Specifically her idea that beauty kind of moves something within you. You wanna “follow it” and “adjust your perspective to remain in view of it.” (I’ll explain more about that after the “read more” cuz it’s a philosophical theory that has a long history but some of you might find it boring lol. Matty is saying that’s how he feels about beautiful men. He’s moved by them. Wants to enjoy how pretty they are.

He also says that he has kissed “beautiful men” before. But that it stops at sex for him. He doesn’t want to have sex with them (which, again, says it’s about beauty not desire).

However, he reiterates

“I’m not playing a game and trying to take up queer spaces I’m simply trying to be an ally and this headline makes me uncomfortable”

So, he doesn’t consider his appreciation of “objective beauty” a sexual desire and therefore doesn’t think that he’s queer/ identify as a member of the queer community. He’s just an ally.

Now for the note on beauty. Elaine Scarry is borrowing from a long philosophical tradition that goes back to Ancient Greek philosophy. Plato started it and then it got incorporated into some religious ideas of beauty etc.

Plato thought that when we are attracted to people, our body might have sexual urges, but our “soul” is attracted to what it thinks is beautiful. The reason we wanna sleep with someone that we find hot, is because our soul wants to get closer to beauty, to study it and understand it and be able to enjoy it. So we gravitate towards it people that we find pretty. In other words, it’s not really about the person: you could swap one beautiful human for another.

Plato also thought that beauty always comes with morality. So, a beautiful person can’t be a shit person. If they were, you’d look at them and not be attracted to them.

That’s what Elaine Scarry means when she says in the thing that Matty cites that you have to “shift your perspective” to remain in view of beauty. Like, if you have shitty hatred in your heart, encountering beauty will make you get rid of that hatred. Otherwise beauty will not be clear to you. You won’t be able to enjoy it. In other words, there is a moral dimension to beauty that makes you a better person. People with good aesthetics tend to be good people, Plato thinks. And horrible people aren’t beautiful.

I hope this makes sense?? If not, but you’re genuinely interested, let me know and I’ll link you to some more eloquent and better explanations hahah.

[cookieblobber]

I cannot stress enough

This addition in Update 2 single-handedly gave Sonic Frontiers new life

For those not known, Sonic Frontiers features all these floating platforms and rails, constructing these little mini obstacle courses to blaze through, usually holding a Memory Token at the end of doing one (they’re required to progress the story).

While fun to go through, once you do one, there’s kinda no reason to use them again. Unless maybe you wanna do sick jumps in the air of some kind, they can be a bit of a distraction and nuisance if you accidentally run into a bounce or dash pad that sends you into one.

When I first played this game, trying to collect all the Memory Tokens on the map cuz, my dumbass thought I would be rewarded for doing so (this was before Update 2 made it where it is part of getting 100%), I started to sorta get a vision around Ares Island of how these were properly supposed to be utilized. In some random part of the map, I did 3-4 of the courses in a row without ever touching the ground, it felt kinda cool. Almost like part of the fun was trying to chain these courses together in some way.

——————

What you see in the image is the newly added signpost for a new minigame scattered throughout the islands called Action Chain Challenges. When you activate one, suddenly orbs of light appear everywhere and a countdown starts.

A countdown starts and you’re required to start ranking up points by doing, well, anything! Rail grind, hit bounce/dash pads, go through hoops, fight enemies, boost if you have the Power Boost on and rack up points to get S Ranks. The orbs help start a multiplier (capping at x256) and they usually create circles and paths, some leading into the aforementioned mini obstacle courses. And in the middle of doing these, it hit me

I was fucking right

This challenge encourages you to start finding these courses again, since that’s what you’re going to be relying on a whole lot to rack up points. So you gotta start basically chaining these courses together. One done, quickly find the next one to do, make sure it’s a good one, keep the flow going, DO NOT STOP UNTIL THAT LETTER HITS S!!!

And these challenges can be a bit tough at times too, especially in the beginning when you’re still getting accustomed to your strategy and what path to take to get the most points. And that’s when I also realized

These challenges, kind of call back to an old well known gameplay aspect of Sonic the Hedgehog: memorize the layout.

From Sonic 1 to Forces, no matter how many times the formula changes, this aspect has always remained. You’re supposed to play the games again and again, remembering the best paths and moves to use to get the best time and score, to feel like a total champion already knowing what’s ahead and using your reflexes to go through anything.

What does the Action Chain Challenges in Sonic Frontiers make you do? Play the challenge again and again, remembering the best paths and moves to use to get the best score. And sure, the Cyberspace levels also do that as well but it’s still nice to see this aspect brought to the open zone part of the game in a more unique way that compliments what’s been put in all of that open space.

——————

After you get all S ranks in all of the Action Chain Challenges in all of the islands, you’re granted the Spindash ability, which becomes the most overpowered ability ever. It’s basically like the boost from the past boost games where you go insanely fast and blow through everything in your path.

Do you remember when a lot of people pointed out how kind of disappointing it is that you can’t really take advantage of just launching off cliffs and hills and flying through the air ala Sonic CD opening or how when you jump while boosting, you kinda just lose all speed? The Spindash is essentially what fixes those issues, as upon taking off on even a small hill, you just go FLYING across the island.

And it becomes the best ability in the whole game. While it is sadly only available by the time you’re about to finish the game, you can’t really start a brand new game with that ability unless you’re doing New Game+, even then there’s still fun to be had with it, especially if you beat the game but decided to leave 100%ing it until you finish the main game. Think of the Spindash like Super Sonic in the old classic titles: you don’t get to do much with it in the end, but part of the fun is just revisiting old locations and trying out the new ability.

And even then, there’s the newly added Jump Deceleration in the settings where if you turn it all the way down, you practically get exactly what many expected Sonic to mostly feel like in the game. Now you’re able to jump while boosting and carry all of that speed you had.

——————

Updates 1 and especially 2 has brought stuff to the game that help give it more replayability. It has shown how much Kishimoto and Sonic Team really care about this game and want it to be the best they can make it. If just simple additions like the one i mentioned in this whole essay has been able to do so much for this game, I am extremely excited for what Update 3 will have to offer, especially with the amazing story we had in the game already

I’m still shocked all of this is free

[two-calicos-in-a-trenchcoat]

Im really enjoying tears of the kingdom so far. I'm at the first temple now and holy fuck was it a pain in the ass to get to.

I keep forgetting what abilities I have available to me tho which was not a problem I ever had with botw lol. Fully forgot I could make my own weapons for most of the day. I keep wishing I could use revalis gale for things when I could be using ascend (tho getting to the current temple helped a lot)

My biggest complaint is the UI for switching abilities. The UI in botw was much easier to navigate on the fly for me. I keep choosing the completely wrong thing cuz im trying to just quickly scroll through them which I can't do lol.

I appreciate that the landscape of hyrule itself is a bit different but still the same enough that I can figure out where I am without the map. I do miss all the dead guardians tho. They were a pretty big landmark that I paid a lot of attention to cuz....I had to make sure they weren't going to wake up and start shooting at me. And I get a little turned around without them and the sheikah shrines. I get why they DIDNT just stick the new shrines in the same places as the sheikah ones but the spaces where they used to be look so weird and empty now. Especially the one in Rito village.

Also!!! So many new puzzles!!! That was one of my favorite things in botw and I was worried they either wouldn't include them or would just have more of the same but theres so many good ones. I like the ones where you help put up the Hudson construction signs a lot. I like that they kept some of the korok puzzles the same. The helping traveling koroks find their friends is kind of annoying tho lol. Most of them have been going the way I need to go anyway but one was super far out so I marked it for later.

They keep mentioning the chief of the sheikah tribe but not saying who it is and im pretty sure its paya. Like I dont know that for a fact but if its not impa and its not purah or robbie then its gotta be paya right?

Also also also another thing I'm enjoying is seeing all the kids again. All of these children have almost surpassed link in height and its hitting close to home lmao. I'm excited to go to kakoriko and see Koko and her sister again.

The game feels a little more fast paced than botw. Which in some ways is good cuz I wanna figure out what's going on with zelda but botw just felt very chill. Far less plotty stuff going on in botw. Like im glad it's not the same cuz it would be very boring otherwise and also kinda pointless but since I was literally just playing botw the night before I got totk all the changes to hyrule feel SO sudden and its weird and a little jarring. Also its weird talking to npcs who I remember from botw cuz none of them remember link at all if they werent significant to the plot in anyway.

Also its super weird that no one in hateno besides symin knows who link is. Like. Excuse me I have a house right on the other side of that bridge behind the cube houses I am NOT a tourist, thank you. I need more backstory there. Like zeldas been here and link has supposedly been with her a lot. Everyone in the village knows zelda. But none of them recognize link. "Our village used to be known for its vegetables" I KNOW. I used to purchase them from you ALL THE TIME.

*goes into the dye shop* "ohhh a new customer" SAYGE IVE BEEN HERE SO MANY TIMES. YOU HAVE DYED SO MANY ITEMS OF CLOTHING FOR ME.

"I've never seen you around here before" I WAS HERE LAST WEEK

[nights-like-this17]

Tagged by the one the only @thatbluelight

Writing questions tag game

What is your absolute all-time favorite idea you’ve ever had?

Probably “Can I Break Down Your Walls?” as a whole story arc, all the crazy shit that happens and how each chapter added more to their relationship. It was the first time I felt really connected to an idea. Most of the beginning stages actually came to me in a dream so I could always go back to that.

What is your favorite part of being a writer? Which parts could you take or leave?

I love connecting with people and making them feel/process their emotions. I’ve definitely met ppl through it or at least communicated with them enough to know I’ve had a positive effect which is all I’ve ever wanted to do with my writing. I feel like it’s a roller coaster of a process to write, I’d probably leave behind the bouts of writer’s block or spells of no motivation, but still they’re a part of the journey.

What is your greatest motivation to write/create?

I first started writing to create the stories that I wanted to hear, to fill in the blanks of what wasn’t said or shown in the media I loved. Now I feel like write to further extend a safe space or give people the opportunity to escape reality.

What do you wish you knew when you first started out writing?

I wish I knew how therapeutic it would be. I’ve been writing since I was very young because I had nowhere else to express my emotions safely, but writing fanfiction now allows me to establish my own worlds around characters I connect with, get things off my chest through the scenarios I’ve built.

What is your favorite story you’ve written to completion? Link it if you like and can!

Probably “Purple hurts, but Blue stings worse”. I’m a sucker for a soul mate fic. This was probably the most thought out story I’ve written.

What is your favorite out-of-the-box quote?

I had to did deep for this but

“This,” Becky starts dramatic as usual before Sasha can even ask, “is your pretty lesbian who’s gonna help you with your little problem” she offers like this is the end, the only choice, the standard for making Sasha’s experience one to remember.”

Really any time characters are being extra. I also really love in Purple Hurts when Becky and Seth are in a bet to see who can go longer eating specific colored foods…but I’m not searching through 20 chapters for that.

which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? why do you say so and how do you personally feel about their ideals?

The first thing that came to mind was Finn in “Can I break down your walls?” Cuz he’s literally abusive and ends up in prison for aggravated assault…

But also Trina’s mom in the power ranger soulmate fics when she tries to rub her soulmate mark off with windex cuz she’s a homophobe.

if you, when you first started writing, met you now, what would younger you think?

Half of me thinks she’d be proud of how much I’ve actually written and that people actually read it and enjoy it. The other half thinks she’d be stunned that I’m still using writing as a coping mechanism, that I’m still living through a lot of my trauma and that I’m not over this shit yet. She’d also be concerned that I have run from fandom to fandom over the years, where is my loyalty?

This was fun, and deeper than I thought it would be, but two(2) people tops are gonna read it. But imma keep it here just for me that’s fine too.

If you have made it this far, go read my FreenBecky fic…it’s very angsty and very gay.

Retagging @theworldisrough because I don’t know anyone else. did you do this yet sis? I just wanna bother you lowkey. HELLO. If u have not been tagged and wanna be my writer friend, the applications are open.

[totaldramafan-lauri]

OK.....so, I THOUGHT this would be miserable, and that I’d reach Ruler after switching back to normal Turf Wars. It took me a while to....not be disoriented with everything, and I actually start winning games. I told myself that I wouldn’t ragequit, and actually give it a chance...and I did.

And, I’m happy to say, that I DID have good games, and had just enough motivation to play the entire session in Tricolors.

I still don’t like the stage. It’s easily my least-favorite map in the game so far (I consider it separate from regular Gorge, which I like). Sure, it’s cute, it’s unique, and I like how they tried to even the playing field by giving the defenders an actual base, and the attackers and defenders equal space, but......I’m sorry, I just don’t enjoy it! First off, I had to use my Splatana the whole way though cuz there are no - ZERO - safe sniping perches there. THEN, there’s the fact that it’s disgustingly easy to get pinned to a base you only have ONE (1) PATH out of, and THEN, there’s how its encourages everyone to group together on this tiny point......Sure, it’s fun to unleash Ultra Stamps when multiple people are there, but....it’s also SUPER king-of-the-hill chaos, cuz if you get up there, you can practically see the entire stage!? And THAT’S not even a good sniping perch cuz that’s where the flipping signals spawn? And overall, it’s just SO SMALL-

I- it’s just REALLY chaotic....and if you like chaotic matches, sure, you might like it there. But me, being a stealth-focused player, found it hard to do much on my bad games.

But....well....I adapted. I got used to it.

For a while, I had a bad time playing there in both positions (due to, again, how easy it is to get stuck in base, so if I sucked even just once, I’d never recover). Then, as I kept playing, I started winning more.

At first (like, over half the session), my only real wins were on the defending team. For a good long while, I kept losing as an attacker. The only wins I got on the attacking team were second-place wins after willingly letting the other team get at least one signal and backing them up. That strategy was all I could count on cuz I had such little confidence in myself to play well. I knew Ultra Stamp was good there, so I leaned on that a lot and focused on just bullying.

But, in the last hour or so, I WAS able to get a few real attacking wins. Not many, but more than one. And each one was pretty hype! Keep in mind, that as an attacker, unless literally no one is nearby, I NEVER go for the signals. I’m not aggro enough of a player for that. So, in each of those matches, it was my teammate who got the signal (usually just one, but I think in ONE game we got them both) while I was....either splatting or getting splatted, and usually I wasn’t even nearby, so I’d FLIP OUT when the notice would pop up. XD So, I’m not taking credit for those lucky wins, but I still pulled my weight in my own way.

But yeah, MOST of my wins were defending. I’m not sure if that means that the defending team has an advantage on that map, or if it just has to do with my personal strengths. I’ve always had a preference for defending. Maybe a player who likes attacking more will have a different experience. The map seems to be trying to be as fair and balanced as possible, so I won’t say anything.

In the end, I was able to have some good games....but that’s despite the map, not because of it. I just adjusted. XD

Oh! And, one big upside to this - NO mirror matches at all! Wooooo!! Every single win mattered! SUCH a relief after last month....XD

So, yeah, that was my experience with my Tricolor binge. I MIGHT get on one final time to play some Pro, cuz I really do wanna try to win at least one 10x battle to make up for my losses yesterday, but I dunno if I will.

Also, PLEASE don’t get mad at me if you like this Tricolor map. If you do, then I’m really happy for you. I’m happy you got enjoyment out of something I didn’t. I WISH I could say that I loved having a unique layout like this. Trust me. I do acknowledge that my charger bias probably doesn’t help at all, but my experience itself just....wasn’t the best. It’s not the kinda map I like. That’s all. Feel free to disagree with me!

[syxnewt]

Do you wanna hear about my off x undertale au of course you do come here (spoilers for both games)

It's called DETERMINATION and the plot is that you're (frisk) kidnapped by space monkeys and you teleport yourself the hell out of there and into a space that looks like undertale and off mashed together (havent thought that part through yet) anddd you gotta get out but the only way out is by going to the queen's palace and then leaving thorugh there ALso you can only leave if you have a determined enough soul which is why no one else has left yet btw they're trapped for a reason i will get to later

so the batter takes the place of flowey which means he is a little ooc in this au but so is literally everyone else and he is chill about you since you're not a specter and he gives a full tutorial besides sparing and then he leaves and the judge finds you (he takes the role of toriel mostly) and offers another tutorial then it's basically just the ruins you can fight ghosts and i think there could be options to spare them but haven't thought that far yet and at the end the judge tests you but even if you lose (get to one hp) he lets you go by cuz you tried unless you did really awful or something you can kill him here but if you do he just ends the game the same way he does in off

the next place is where japhet and valerie are cuz in this au valerie never tried to eat japhet and they're friends and since you're new in town the elsen who live there are scared of you so japhet and valerie are trying to stop you from living (they take the role of papyrus) and there's that battle at the end of the area and they fight together and it's nice

then the next place is where dedan is (he takes the role of undyne) i haven't thought it through very much yet

after that is enoch, who takes the role of mettaton and alphys, he's like this huge celebrity and until the room at the end of the area he just communicates to you through television screens that pop up around the area and if you meet certain conditions you can find out that he made sugar, an addictive substance, to supplement the diet of the elsen that live there cuz there's a meat shortage and he's still using dead bodies to do that

then there's the judgement room where zacharie is. he takes the role of sans and all other shopkeepers and he judges you but really chill-like like he is just "wow you did that cool"

then there's the queen who takes the role of asgore i haven't thought through this yet either but i do know she attacks you since she thinks you're making everyone scared and when she's dying she mistakes you for hugo out of nowhere

then finally you reach the barrier room or whatever and there's also a switch but before you can do anything gadzooks there's the batter and he judges you based on how many specters you killed. i forgot to mention but there are also elsen encounters and unless you calm them down they turn into burnt and you gotta kill them so the batter also judges you on that since they were impure. then no matter what you have to fight him and he probably looks like the bad batter during this

then he dies and you can either leave or flip the switch which turns the world off or something idk

if you calm down all the elsen (and possibly spare the specters or maybe not who cares) and also spare all the bosses you get the cool ending where they all tell the queen how neat and awesome you are and how you're helping make everyone determined enough to escape and then the batter comes in to beat them all up and says you suck since you are so impure and then he beats you up but you're so determined you jsut don't die and he keeps fighting you over and over again but you don't die and you have to help all the bosses be determined enough to keep living and convince the batter he is the one that sucks actually and then everyone leaves idk

you can also kill all the elsen which makes different things happen

japhet and valerie have a different battle where valerie seemingly confronts you alone and if you kill him surprise there was a bird in there and it's more like the off battle

i havent thought through anyone else before judgement hall

the judge is there and he fights you for killing his brother and also those innocent people i guess

then the queen and you kill her and the batter comes in and is like "wow you're even more pure than me that's great kill me and end this world" so you do and then you can pull the switch in the barrier room which definitely ends the world this time and then when you reopen the game you can go back to the beginning and the batter has a worse opinion of you

i didn't explain all the thoughts in my head very well but that's the basics if you read this far make sure to like comment and subscribe and hit that notification bell so you never miss an upload okay peace out

**outro music**