#dialogue font = personality I guess?

[jelloapocalypse]

Hi! I guess it’s ask time? Just wanted to say I think you’re one of the funniest people on YouTube; I have a playlist called ‘Emergency Funny’ and like half of it is just your videos.

I’m wondering, when you’re cold-reading a line, like in those streams of voice acting a video game while playing it, what are the small details, if any, that you look to to figure out how to read the line? I’m continually amazed how you manage to have near perfect delivery while never having read the line before. Sorry if this is worded confusingly I legit don’t know how to phrase it

This was sent months ago, but it's actually a very good question and talking about this might help people who like to voice games on stream get better at doing that.

For context, this is about our "fully-voiced" game playthroughs where we cold read an entire video game out loud.

One small thing I try to do that helps is pressing the "advance dialogue button" when the person speaking is about 65-70% of the way through their line. That way, if the next line is from the same character the actor has a chance to read it smoothly as though the lines were not separated at all.

If it turns out to be a different actor's line, this gives the new actor more time to skim the words as well as extra time for them to realize they're about to be speaking so they don't get caught off guard.

Doing this is actually kind of hard because every actor we work with reads at a different pace and the person actually playing the game has to keep that in mind. Oz, Vixen, Arim, and I can sight read most lines almost instantly. I've seen Oz and Vixen in particular read entire text boxes that were only onscreen for a couple frames. But, obviously, not everyone is that fast, so everyone gets different "advance the dialogue" speeds.

Ideally, if a game is well-written and the characters you're playing have a strong voice, you'll slowly fade into the character as you read them. You begin to feel the things they're saying rather than just reading words on a page. Once you hit that flow state, it becomes easier to process what they might logically say next. If you notice one of us make 2-3 errors in the span of just a few lines, it means we're probably not in that flow state.

Some games are also much easier to scan than others, usually because of their character poses.

A game like In Stars and Time has such incredible character portraits that you can usually tell the tone of the accompanying line within a few frames of a portrait change.

Loop (above) is an extremely suspicious and weird character, but voicing them was so much fun because I could always rely on the portraits and the font changes in the text to give me direction on how to play them accurately, even though I didn't actually know what their deal was until about halfway through our playthrough.

Coffee Talk also has very strong portraits that react in real time to the lines of dialogue. The framing can push characters smaller or larger in focus depending on how upset or meek they are, so it's very easy to react on sight and adjust accordingly.

Every time a game developer takes the time to painstakingly add portraits that match every single line, every time they add SFX to accentuate certain words, every time a font wiggles to tell you someone is speaking in a sing-songy way, that's all direction that the game's creators are giving you.

Another thing that helps is just media literacy. I think everyone on the channel is pretty good at that because, speaking frankly, I don't like hanging out with people who have bad media literacy, lmao.

The more media you consume, the easier it becomes to know how a story is going to go. Even a really well-written mystery usually has only 3-5 real options for an ending, and while you're reading games aloud it's a good practice to consider all of them equally so your reads make sense no matter what. You'll notice it's pretty rare something takes us entirely by surprise in a read-through.

Also, of note, it's much easier to notice specific foreshadowing and word choice in dialogue when you're reading it aloud as opposed to silently skimming.

A solid example is our fully-voiced playthrough of Trails From Zero, which actually happened on SurpriseRoundRPG a few years back and not my own Twitch or YouTube.

Minor spoilers, but the character above, Ernest, has some antagonistic interactions with your main party over the course of this game. He wants Ellie, the white-haired party member, to quit the police force (that's your group) and go back to working with him in the Mayor's office.

When Arim played this game solo he didn't really think much of this guy. However, when he played the game for us and we read it out loud, having lines like the one pictured above spoken aloud makes it kind of impossible not to notice that this man is a freak. Mo, his VA, ended up playing him as a manosphere incel weirdo because that's the vibe he was putting out, and, lo and behold, that's pretty much exactly the character he turned out to be.

There's a running theme on our channel where commenters are often surprised to see the game "play into our bits" and how we "accidentally predict things".

What's really happening is the reverse.

It's very, very rare that we decide to make up a bit from absolutely nothing. It's not a hard and fast rule, but I find we only make jokes and play up aspects of characters based on things that are already there. Hence that one time in Miles is a Robot when I said something awful and sexual as Ray Shields, Oz groaned, and I said "Hey man, I'll give him a different joke when the game gives me somethin' else to work with!" I didn't choose to make Ray awful and sexual all the time. That's just how he is, so that's the well we pulled bits from.

Because we only extrapolate from existing content and our "silly" versions of the characters onscreen are just exaggerated versions of what's really there, whenever the game gives us more info about them, the new stuff tends to be very in-line with the bits we've already been doing. It's not us being psychic. It's us being consistent!

It also helps that almost all the regulars on my channel have done professional voice work and have been doing some version of this for literally 10+ years. Practice makes perfect!

[choccy-milky]

Status update on the dark relic nsfw comic please ma'am 🙏 my family is dying

ITS DONE!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉...well, the DRAWING part is as of yesterday BAHAHA. now im just adding all the dialogue/speech bubbles/sfx, SO ITS DEFINITELY GONNA BE SOON!! DEFS BY THIS WEEKEND!! ive just been very nitpicky on the font which i cant decide on LMAO and im also nitpicky abt other final touches LOL. i didnt wanna show anymore cuz ive already shown so much but HERES THE FINAL SNEAK PEEK

and speaking of fonts, i normally use handwriting by jeremy paz!

oh man its so random, but i either use the name lumi or clora for everything whenever i play rpgs (baldurs gate 3, dragon age, you name it) and clora originated from rune factory 4 LOL. theres a character named 'clorica' and i really liked that name, it sounds so elegant and fantasy ish, so i eventually just shortened it to clora bahaha. now its my go-to. i like how simple it is but it also sounds unique and works in modern AND fantasy settings, imo

my first and ONLY playthrough was as clora! i originally did try to make myself at the start, but i have short brown hair and straight across bangs, and they didnt have a style that felt 'me', so i went with just making a ravenclaw that i liked, and then gave her my go-to name of clora HAHA. and yea, i built up her and sebs relationship in my head as i was playing, especially with all the running around the castle i did. i just liked to imagine her constantly out of breath and flushed and seb just watching like ....🧍girl chill...

AND SPEAKING OF MY DARK RELIC COMIC/SMUT, my biggest advice for writing smut id say is to have a reasoning behind it, i guess? i focus a lot on their headspace/WHY they're fucking at that moment when i write it LOL instead of just the movements/sex for the sake of sex. in your case, the sexual tension leading up to the first time gives you SO much to work with, since you can just be in his head with how much hes looking forward to it, how much hes savouring it, how he's also nervous but enjoying it and trusting the other person, etc. the thoughts are hotter than the actual deed a lot of the times (which is why when clora and seb did it for the first time it ended up being like, 15k words of just foreplay and build up from sebs perspective LMAOO) so yeah id just try to focus on their emotions and desires if you can! and a lot of the times with consent stuff it CAN feel forced, and you dont even really need your characters to talk about that stuff verbally, at least not too much. you can do it in body language, or just something as simple as 'ill stop if you want'. it doesnt have to be a long therapist-like conversation about consent, which CAN tend to sound a little awkward and unrealistic (esp in the heat of the moment), if thats the problem you're having. HOPE I COULD HELP

also i love this for you and for me. YES GO ON AND MAKE A BUNCH OF CLORA CLONES, I COMMAND IT👉👉👉

and last but not least the most important question. honestly i like plain sweets a lot with no icing/filling. im a slut for shortbread cookies and also just plain glazed donuts. and also custard/portugese/egg tarts, which i also forced clora to like in my fic HAHA. IF YOU HAVENT HAD THEM YOU HAVE TO, THEYRE SO GOOD😩😩💖💖

[final-dream-machine]

Notes on In Stars and Time Japanese Translation, from someone totally unqualified

Hi, I've been learning Japanese for like, 1.5 years and know a little bit but have mostly been muddling through the game with a dictionary to figure stuff out. Here's some fun stuff I've noticed in the dialogue in Dormont and a little of the dialogue in the House. (As you might have guessed, I will probably get some stuff wrong, so full disclaimer here)

Personal Pronouns

- Siffrin switches between two different pronouns-- when speaking aloud, he uses 僕 (boku), a casual masculine pronoun. In his internal dialogue he uses 自分 (jibun), which reads as a bit more distanced and reserved and is typically used by young men.

- Mirabelle uses 私 (watashi), the ‘default’ pronoun. Polite, could be read as feminine or a little formal among friends.

- Isabeau uses 俺 (ore), a casual masuline pronoun. Comes across as a little bit ‘tough guy’.

- Odile also uses 私 (watashi).

- Bonnie uses オイラ (oira), a casual masculine pronoun which has a ‘rural’ or ‘country’ vibe.

- I… think Loop uses 僕 (boku) as well? The pixel font is really hard to read for me so I’m like 60% sure.

Other Notes

- Odile doesn’t get a special honorific, they translated ‘Madame Odile’ into katakana :( I get why but I was hoping she would get a fun Academic honorific.

- I'm pretty sure Bonnie refers to Siffrin as ‘オマエ’ (omae) in Dormont, which is kind of a rude pronoun to use with someone older than you, but could also just be very familiar. Knowing Bonnie I think it’s probably a dig, though.

- The Running One refers to Siffrin as キミ, which has potentially an overly assuming energy to it hence the katakana. Most of the Dormont villagers seem to use きみ for Siffrin, which makes Dormont feel very friendly. Most of the party uses きみ for Siffrin too.

- Odile uses masculine grammatical forms, notably だろう(darou) and ending her sentences with ぞ (zo).

- The King is referred to as 王 (ou), which just means ‘king’, but it’s pronouned ‘ohh’, which I think is kind of funny considering…… the King….. ooohhhh….

- Siffrin refers to everyone by name instead of with a pronoun, as far as I've seen.

- Isabeau uses the particle な instead of ね, which feels a bit more tough and informal.

- Isabeau refers to the Favor Tree as ‘かっこい’ (kakkoi, ‘cool, stylish’) which I find kind of funny.

- Bonding is translated as ’人と人’ (hito to hito), literally ‘person and person’ which is really sweet.

[flightyalrighty]

What have been some of your big inspirations/points of education* with your comic work?

*could mean learning resources but also just, good advice you got once or improvements to your workflow you figured out

Thanks for this ask!! :]

I went to the School of Visual Arts, where I majored in Cartooning! A lot of what I learned, I learned from Indie Cartoonist Jason Little and DC/Marvel Editor Joey Cavalieri, both of whom taught multiple classes I've taken (mainly fundamental stuff but there were also some extra classes with them like Jason taught my Digital Comics course and Joey taught my History of Cartooning class). I learned how to draw trees from Jason. And from reading Pogo.

I've drawn a lot of inspiration in my storytelling from both Bone and Hellboy, mostly! Both Jeff Smith and Mike Mignola are masters of pacing in comics, and if you happen to be unfamiliar with their works, I can't recommend them enough. Besides those two, the rich, moody internal monologues of Spider-Man: Blue and Spider-Man: Evolve or Die are things I often think about when it comes to dialogue writing. That and (at least when it comes to writing Rouge's dialogue) my older sister. Just, like, in general. Pay attention to how the people around you speak. It helps a ton when figuring dialogue.

Hellboy is getting mentioned again because Mignola's heavy inks are something I like to look over in order to learn from and improve myself. Hellboy, Carl Barks's Donald Duck comics, Asterix & Obelix, Will Eisner's various works, Calvin and Hobbes ALL have this beauty in their inking that can really inspire. Personally, I'd like to get a bit messier with my inking. Messy inks feel so alive. They're so visually interesting.

For colors, I highly recommend this book. I've read it and re-read it as much as possible. It may be for painters, but cartoonists can and should learn from all kinds of art forms. The works of Moebius were also mega foundational for me in learning how to color my comics. The man knew his palettes and how to not confine himself too much to what's "realistic". Speaking of painters (you may roll your eyes at this one) I'm also a fan of Frank Frazetta.

For panelling, I only have one true inspiration, and that's the work of Tess Stone. I grew up reading Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name. It changed how I viewed the limitations of panelling forever. Of course, it may be harder to find that comic these days, so here's a snippet:

Basic advice: really really take your time taking in art that you like, and try to reverse-engineer how it was made in your head. Heck, even if there's art you DON'T like, overall, but has elements you DO like, you can learn from that, too!

Okay! Sorry for rambling! Now here's the thing you're actually here for:

How To Think When You Draw collection of REALLY GOOD tutorials for whatever you need, these guys helped me out a ton when I was figuring the jungle scenes early in Infested.

This Pinterest Which Has Absolutely Everything You Can Possibly Think Of For References And Inspiration Sources.

An Extremely Good Font Site That Is Used By Professionals In The Comics Industry To Letter Their Comics.

The Most Important Book Any Cartoonist Can Read

A Different Book By The Same Man About Making Comics (for free, thanks Internet Archive)

Perspective For Comic Book Artists, thanks again Internet Archive

As for workflow... Man, I wish I could give you any kinda advice on that. I'm struggling with it, myself. I guess I've got two things?

If you have multiple deadlines for, say, multiple commissions or something, or you're trying to put out a weekly comic, but you're also doing something else, break the day up into time slots for each project, and switch the moment it's time to. Keep yourself on that schedule. I'm not very good at this.

I draw pretty detailed thumbnails, so sometimes I'll skip the penciling step in comics and blow up the thumbnail to ink over that. It's faster for sure! It's not always the right solution, however.

Thanks for reading! I hope any of what I've said helps at all!

[softpine]

Wait! I too have played life is strange and I was just wondering what elements of the game are in your story? I guess obviously the time travel and being in love with a dead person thing

tbh i think it would be easier to describe the ways i DIDN'T take inspiration from life is strange lmao!! but it's less about the plot and more about the general vibe, the sleepy small town by the coast, vast forests full of wild animals, deer as symbolism, max's journal is a huge one

i even use the life is strange font for my dialogue (i switched it up in the last post but i still don't know how i feel about it lol i miss helvetihand)

while it's impossible to not be influenced by other media, i do try to keep my story unique enough that you shouldn't be able to look a specific character or plot line and think "brandi definitely got that idea from [insert thing here]", but you might see shared elements of course!!

[abundantchewtoys]

Beyond Canon re: p695-707

Oooh, I had seen people theorize the letter was from Rose, glad to see it is indeed by Tavros.

Wow, he seems a lot more articulate in writing, or maybe it's just a long time since I've read his logs/dialogues.

It's intriguing that Yiffy might like Tavros best out of the four kids, given his relation to Jane. Or well, it's that she tolerates him best. His introvert personality might help most, I think.

Gotta love Harry indeed helping himself to the trail mix. And wouldn't you know it, of course Vrissy & Harry go outside again. It's like the nature of the danger is still not sunken in with Vrissy. That might be changing soon now.

Because eesh, Jade realizes that Yiffy's gone, and gets distracted. Did she use her vision omnifold? You know, what she needed glasses for to do during the session, but which might come naturally now that she's a Space god & dog tier?

I can only hope her current efforts (trying to protect an empty spaceship as she thought it housed all the kids) aren't counted as Heroic. But I'm not hopeful.

And that Jane actually decides to press the button on her orbital laser... Ughh.

Gotta wonder how the Point comes out of this. The old meteor is probably done for, but that piece of equipment might be made of hardier stuff.

In any case, I presume John getting blasted wouldn't count as Heroic. But we didn't see if Roxy (and Calliope) were near - though from Rose's predicition I presume Calliope at least is elsewhere.

Wow, the blast not only can be seen from the tower I presume was where Dirk went to die, it's also causing the earth to shake all the way over there.

The laser looks similar to Ahab's Crosshairs, come to think of it.

I'll admit, I thought this was really it for Act 1, it felt like a similar note to end on like Homestuck Act 1. I appreciate the flash is still gonna be a part of this Act, presumably.

Felt weird to see the story using orange curtains, but now I realize it's also the font color of the Beyond Canon site. It's also presumably the colour of the session that Dirk's people will initiate.

Speaking of:

My god, of course my first thoughts when seeing grey hands were trolls. But then I noticed the claws, and thus...

Of freaking course. I hadn't considered it, but of course some of the people's are already in contact with the Candy timeline. Event horizons be damned. ;) Guess the timeline isn't so isolated, after all.

Specifically, note, they've contacted Vrissy. Apart from her status as the child of two of the rebellion leaders, I wonder what might have motivated this person to contact them.

I mean, now we can really start to theorize about the four Candy kids to enter a session of their own and gaining classpects! (I guess we'll just assume for now their dreamselves are all still asleep.)

But first.

gavageCunctation's quirk appears to be about a bomb with a lit wick. And at the end of the conversation their computer exploded. It didn't look that good in the picture either, with those cracks and leaks. Like an unholy combination of human and trolltech.

Is that indicative of the species? Are Dirk and Rose's attempts at sentient life actually incredibly genetically unstable and at risk of dying out in a few generations (at this point in Deltritus' timeline, I mean)?

So, the new GC is contacting Vrissy. It's a parallel to Calliope talking with Jane, and Karkat talking with Jade. Not much else we can conclude from that, I think, beyond that it might very well be Vrissy that instigates them starting a session. Which, given her current obsession with doing something relevant, is not a surprise. I figure that on the side of Deltritus it might be 2 or 4 players from both Dirk's and Rose's species, for a total of 8 or 12 players. I'm assuming it's gonna be one giant shared session, but this is S***b and we know how convoluted it can get.

"GC: i'm going to play TC's game with some of my friends today..."

I know this might seem as if GC and TC will have more friends in the same species, but yeah, not sure. Dirk might have claimed it's a race to see which species will "win", but S***b has shown that dividing into two teams can be a futile effort. It would also be good if GC & TC's friend circle already included both species, as a way to further spit in the face of that idea of rivalry.

"AA (that's oomf)---*"

Not sure what to make of this part though. I mean, AA is another player, but what about the bracketed part? Is the quirk just such that they light a wick to brackets as well? Is "oomf" a name, a nickname, an adverb?

The way GC rambles in their log, at least, reminds of Dave, but I'm interested to see more of them, it's been an intriguing sneak peak!

I suppose the rest of the roster will also use taghandles whose acronyms are not yet covered by the Candy kids, but boy, it’s gonna be a bit messy in the future to ever again refer to someone by their chum handle, any way. I assume the number of total players will be less than 13 though, so that four combinations won’t be reused. But since Harry uses thespiansGlamor [TG] and Tavvy glutinousGymnast [GG] (I had to look it up), we do have overlap. I think odds are high Yiffy uses TT and GT, John’s old handle, continues not being in use by any of the main cast.

Oooh, but now I see that on p472, GC had already been teased in Vrissy’s chumroll! ... If recidiviousGainsayer is also one of the Deltritus crew, there might in fact be a lot more of them. The R would then be in reference to RNA, where the GCAT letters were solely for DNA... Now, if I wikipedia it, I see that RNA contains the U base instead of the T, and not an R base, but I can see how the Beyond Canon crew might want to reserve the u/U handle for cherubs (even if no more get introduced than we already have) and substitute it with an R! ... But then why would there also be a TC though. ... Yeah this won’t end with the 64 Squiddle player session, but I feel like I should still at least imply it. <.< >.>

As for the news post, welp, guess we're in a for a wait for the next update! Second big pause in Beyond Canon, I think?

Who's betting they'd like to bring it out on 01/08 (January 8th) for the funny number factor?

[rainbowbarnacle]

So I finished playing Pentiment

and I am lying here face down weeping into a pillow. It broke my heart and then it mended it again. Definitely up there as one of the best stories I've ever wandered through in a videogame.

You start out as an artist in the 1500s trying to finish your masterpiece while doing illustration work for the local abbey to make money, and when a sudden murder occurs you're left to try and solve it, but this is just Act 1. There is so much to see and do and read about in this game, it stretches onto this unspeakably detailed journey centered around this town and its people and its history.

I went in without knowing a thing about it other than what I saw in the trailer, and I. had. a. blast. Along with getting to explore various settings in this town, there are a sprinkling of fun mini games that shake things up just enough to keep you from feeling like you're doing nothing but roaming from place to place and reading all the dialogue and flavor text.

The plot goes places you would never guess in a million years, and every new twist and turn just reveals EVEN MORE INCREDIBLE THINGS. There are dialogue lines that will stick in your brain and parts that will make you laugh and parts that will make you cry and parts that will just wrap you up in everything it is to live in this town--its people, its culture, its holidays, its food, its art, its landmarks, how things change, how things stay the same, you will love it all so much as the game goes on. All that aside, the entire concept of a game being a story in a manuscript and all the gameplay occurring inside the little illustrations? That was such a visual stroke of genius, just seeing that drew me in right away. The art style is lovely and the music is lovely and the background noises are wonderful and immersive and I feel like you could spend hours just looking and listening to all of it.

And there's enough of the "book" in there that you don't forget it's a book. When you enter different areas, it interprets this through page turnings. Instead of the usual "bidibidibidibi" sounds you get with videogame dialogue, it's scribbly pen noises or print machine clunking. Characters have different fonts and sometimes the font changes in mid-sentence, and sometimes for violent emphasis there's a SCRAWLING sound like the writer is carving the words into the page with the pen. Sometimes in even worse situations there's even ink splattered among the words.

There is an option to see the text instantly, (as well as a nice accessibility option where the fonts are easier to read if it's too detailed to make out) but I found myself liking seeing the words written out for me with an invisible pen, especially since there are little moments where stuff gets crossed out and rewritten or the writer corrects little spelling mistakes. There's also a ton of replay value--you decide things like what topics your character studied in school, what personality they have, what languages they know, what types of books your character reads, and what skills they have--and throughout the game you can make choices and have special skills depending on what you pick. (Alas, this is not a game that lets you create your own character entirely like you would in, say, FFXIV or Baldur's Gate 3; I'm being a little vague for spoilery purposes, but you'll have fun figuring out what you want to do. I'm already looking forward to seeing what happens in Playthrough 2 when I do things way differently. :D)

It's been an hour since I wrapped up my first playthrough and I'm still reeling at everything. What an incredible, incredible game.

So in short: thank you so, so much @mercurialmalcontent for getting me this for Christmas. <3<3<3

[randomnameless]

What do you think about the take that there's no freedom of religion in Fodlan because there's a woman who worships a foreign deity in the abyss?

More or less the same thing than the take about Colonel Sanders being jailed in Garreg Mach because Rhea wants all those chicken tenders for herself.

More seriously,

Bar Claude speaking with his ass, and apparently Leonie being worried that the Church might be crossed with Claude mentionning he's not religious - even if in Leicester it's pretty much known far and wide that the nobles adopt a pious font for PR - I prefer believing the words of, you know, the CoS officials aka Rhea and Seteth on that matter, the CoS's doctrine - at least for the Central Church - doesn't forbid practice of other religions or faiths.

The Western Church being xenophobic most likely would be pissed at, say, random duscurian person worshiping Duscurian gods, but as for the central church? They, just, dgaf.

Now, in the Abyss, there's a pagan statue - from a Dagda deity per Shamir in Nopes! - and a woman praying there, who was apparently harassed for not following the Seiros faith.

But... if freedom of religion was banned :

1/how the fuck this 20 meters tall statue managed to be placed in Fodlan's Vatican's basement without anyone noticing

2/why Seteth and Rhea, when asked, said they don't impose the Seiros faith on people

3/why Leicesterians are allowed to be "pious for show" if religion was so important?

As always with Fodlan, we have some things told by several characters who are playable/talkable in the base game (tfw Seteth mentions how they don't force people to worship first in FEH, and then in Nopes, but nothing in FE16 + Cyril's supports that no one bothers to read because fig him I guess and ultimately they don't matter because Claude can't look like a clown in VW) and they are contradicted by either, flavor text, screening through various lines of hidden dialogue or, flat out, lines said in the gacha or the musou spin off.

Now, about that Dagdan woman, why was she in the Abyss, aka, a CoS shelter ?

Because she worships a different god and that's frowned upon by, uh, the very same church that shelters her? And this church gives her a place to worship her deity?

Or, if we take clues and connect dots from two astral planes, could it make more sense that this person ended up in the Abyss because she was Dagdan, and from Shamir's backstory we know Dagdans aren't that beloved by Fodlan people, after their multiple attempted invasions of Adrestia? Dagdan Woman must have looked for some shelter and found one - as for where or who put that statue here, I can't guess, but given how the Abyss is a place for people who cannot live at the surface without being picked on/harassed/threatened, I suppose the purpose of that statue being there was more in the lines of "as long as you're here if you want to worship your god you can do so" and less in the lines of "I'm so not tolerant at all that I will create a space in my holiest place where you can worship your god, because i hate other religions than my own".

If there is a general point to be made about "freedom of religion" in Fodlan, it's more about the lack of reliable (so, no Claude and his "I'll smash open the land and get rid of its backwards values unless I go to school") info about how tolerant the various countries that compose Fodlan are, and how some people from the CoS aren't on the same wavelength as Rhea and Seteth are.

Do they have some sort of responsability in this matter? Maybe in their hands-off approach to let the regional branches preach what they want or not adopt a stricter control on what is being taught but the game - and most likely that take - isn't bothered by all intricacies of how to conduct a faith/religion, otherwise I'd call a double standard over the CoS being BaD because they don't tell Father McRandom from Leicester to stop making randoms believe they can't have faith in other religion than the Seiros faith, but not calling out Ionius on not acting against Hanneman's brother in law when he fucked his wife so much that she died, or Lambert for Matthias keeping a kid as a hostage, or Claude's Uncle not frowning at Gloucester killing Raph's parents (the nopes retcon notwithstanding).

[shroomishthecuck]

Devlog #2

So... You come here often?

Hey! Welcome back I this is totally a week after the last devlog I definitely didn't get simultaneously busy and lazy hahahahahahahahahhahaha anyway

hi

how's it going

how are the kids

...

um

(I never know how to start these lmao)

I haven't really done much since we last talked, considering I had to prepare for finals and all.

Now that it's finals week tho, I actually have way less work to do at home and way more time to work on the game.

Plus, after this week, I have Christmas break until January 7th, so I can get way more work done :)

So I said I was gonna do the battle system, right? That means I did it, right? I made the battle system? The battle system that I literally said I'd make?

NOPE!

I started working on the dialogue system tho

Here's the script! :)

And yes, I am making the dialogue system by myself with no plugins. You can bow down to me later.

This is a video of the dialogue system in action

As you can hear, I also have dialogue sounds (it was really easy to implement)

The Dialogue sounds were courtesy of Alan Dalcastagne! These sounds are actually really good and there's a huge variety of them and this guy's just giving it out for free so please check him out :)

The font I used is Cute Dino, courtesy of Khurasan on Dafont. Don't know if I'll use it in the final game but we'll see :/

Partway through making the dialogue system, I did have a problem where Godot would crash when I tried to use the dialogue system more than once. And not like the game crashed, Godot itself crashed

Thankfully, I took this issue to the Godot Forum and was thankfully able to get a solution really quickly (turns out I was just being a big dumbass lmao)

So yeah, lesson of the day, use the Godot Forum. The people on there are really nice and helpful and it's really easy to use and I will be using it a lot more from now on

Plans for the future

Since I'll have so much more time on my hands, I'll probably try to finish up the dialogue system. I plan on using arrays to make pages of text, making an actual textbox instead of the placeholder graphic, having a tail that points to the person talking, the works. I also want to try making a function so that if a piece of dialogue is longer than would fit in the textbox, it automatically gets broken up and turned into an array. I just really want to make this system as automatic as possible to make my life easier in the future. If I finish that quickly, I'll probably start working on NPCs and interactable objects, maybe make more than one type of textbox, try and get text effects like making it shake or move in a wave or change color. Anything necessary to make sure you know how these goofy ass mfs are talking. I also intend to put more comments in my code so that I know what stuff is and don't get lost, especially as this game gets bigger. I'm kinda in the boring programming part right now, but pretty soon we'll get to the fun part where I can make cutscenes and design battles and write dumb jokes and playtest and all that fun shit

Anyway, that's about it. Hopefully I'll have more to talk about next week. Speaking of, next week is Christmas Eve! Guess I chose a good time to start doing these. Bye :)

[whiskeyswifty]

would you work for Taylor given the chance?

what a good question...... i've never considered it before because i feel like i'm just messing around most of the time as a designer or whatever else she would want me for lol. let me think through this.

I think i'd be crazy to say no, because that would be an amazing opportunity and i'd be so excited to work with someone i love that i'd say yes immediately and probably cry lol. but..... i don't know if ultimately it would be a good fit and not taylor as a person/employer but in terms of our design sensibilities and objectives. my main job as a designer is to provide a product based on a brief, which is a fancy process word for what the client wants in terms of the literal product (album cover, tshirt graphic, poster, etc) and also the art or design style they're looking for, however detailed or vague they might describe it, including any branding, images, or other elements already created. however a client's main job when hiring a designer is choosing someone who's style they like as it is, whether its previous work they saw that they feel fits their own style or an illustration style that conveys artistically what they want their product to convey, etc. any good designer can contort their own style into whatever any client wants in the end, but the further the client strays from the designer's personal style, the more unpleasant and teeth-pulling it is for the designer. so it's imperative that the designer feels they match with the brief and the client feels the style of the designer matches with their own artistic sensibilities.

i don't..... think that taylor and i.... align when it comes to artistic sensibilities. i'd guess that taylor is not designing her own visuals of course (other than the occasional MV), but she is still part of the concept design and look and feel of an album at most, and signs off on merch designs that cross her desk, if she has time, at least. so everything does have to align with how she wants her Taylor Swift branding, both album to album and overall, to look and feel. given all the products she's output over the past, idk 12 years of her being this dominant in the design process, she's had a very simplistic design strategy compared to my personal style. much of her artwork for albums and marketing serves the purpose of appealing to as large of an audience as possible and having a direct and approachable dialogue with that audience. so that means materials must not be too stylized artistically in one direction or the other and for active engagement, they must be simple enough that the general public understands it clearly at first glance and can personalize or replicate it. full screen photos that consume your whole screen usually of her as she is the main product that are simple in composition and styling, creating simplistic color buckets for albums that are usually one single color, easily legible and familiar fonts for the most part (lover era lol you were such a mess bbgirl), and album/era concepts that are intentionally vague and without a sense of place which makes them open to interpretation for as many people as possible. this is the general brief for any static taylor swift visual material as her brand stands right now.

in contrast, my personal style is in the complete opposite direction. i love creating visuals that instantly ping a time and place and evoke a strong, single personality or voice. i love kitsch and the specificity of ephemera and illustration and incorporating small intricate details, and i prefer bold graphic styles over homogeny. so you can see how we are not aligned at all, for the most part. i of course could work with her to water down my style until it suited her general branding, but it would strip most of my work of what I enjoy designing and i'd feel a bit stifled and it would feel like just a for-hire gig. that's fine of course, but for her, she's above just getting someone to do a for-hire gig. at this point, she wants someone who really speaks her artistic language, as simplistic as it may be, and can bring it to life visually. simple also isn't always easier, any designer will tell you. especially with big corporate, multimillion dollar pressure behind it. you can spend days swapping out seemingly identical fonts because the descenders aren't quite right. and that's also not to say that simplistic is lesser than in terms of design. folklore is one of my favorite album covers of recent memory, and it's just a photo, framed and colored in such a specific and evocative way. it's perfect for that album, emotionally impactful with taylor this big star being minimized so small on her own album cover next to the trees that were born decades before her and will outlive her. but that's just not my artistic strength or style, being so photo-forward, that's all i mean. or the tour poster, which was simple and compact in it's design most likely so that it could be iterated endlessly for tour stop specific posters, merch, and be easily identifiable even if it's being parodied. it satisfies it's objective, but it is not a final product i would enjoy making. i like the font though, i gotta say.

i will say, though, that recently she has dabbled a bit with ephemera in a way that i really love and would gel really well with my design preferences. the ttpd album itself is simplistic in nature yeah, but the package of materials you get when you order one is really cool. the patches and magnets specifically, and the envelope designs as if you got a folder full of evidence and artifacts is really tactile and interactive. i love the black dog one a lot with the white ink on the charcoal black envelope. the albatross one as well. that's right up my alley and so fun and gives the album a slight sense of tone/time and place. (although still the messaging is a bit muddled even still but whatever). also, i've seen a bunch of the VIP package eras tour posters that people got with their VIP package and there are some really cool designs there! if she wants to continue to do specific designed elements like that, i would be a great fit i think. or if she wants to go in a more design-forward high-concept direction in the future, i would also be a good fit for that. but as it stands right now, while i wouldn't ever turn it down because it would be a dream to work with her, i don't know if she wants something in my style and i don't think either of us would find each other a perfect fit. maybe for a one off, but in the long run i'm not sure she's interested in adopting my design approach or style. but i'd be thrilled if she proved me wrong!! come on taylor lets design some stylized ephemera together!!!

[thewebcomicsreview]

See, this is a good submission, because the comic's only five pages and I can read and review it quickly.

So, two things immediately jump out at me

I'm not at all a fan of a giant "The Rusty Owl" logo in the middle of a tense execution scene. Not only is it distracting, it's not even useful as a watermark. Just put the URL at the bottom of the page, or even the gutter between panels. Or, if it's meant to be a title drop, have the dad's blood spell it out or something.

I'm also not a big fan of these Ninja Info Cards on every page. This stuff should be on the cast page (also, you should have a cast page). These profile panels seem to be a bit of a trend now in some comics, but they're just an extremely weak way of doing exposition. "Show, don't tell", as they say. This is especially true of your first few pages, which are so critical for hooking the reader. It's like I'm reading about your comic instead of reading your comic.

Compare and contrast the first page of Saffron and Sage. We know Saffron's the one with the axe, and Sage is the Fox. We know what Saffron' is trying to do, we know how she plans to achieve that goal, we know her personality, we know this other girl's personality and role, and we have a joke. Bing-bang-boom, no need for a card explaining anything. This is an in media res opening, but there are other ways of showing personality even in quieter waking up scenes.

Also, hiatus announcements should be under the comic, not in it. You can add a second image if you have to (I think? I don't know ComicFury), and then remove it later so archive readers don't see the 4th-wall breaking hiatus announcement months or years after it's needed. It just makes the comic look unprofessional. I guess in this case the "Crash" panel is just a sound effect on a black border so you just edit the page to extend black border, but...bluh.

Anyway, let's look at the comic proper, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to stop nitpicking!

First off, "Neb Honey" should probably be "Neb, honey?", and "Well, I mean, my plan was to find the bad guy, and shoot" doesn't need that comma after "bad guy". Secondly, the serif font looks kind of MS Word-y, which is even more notable because the text is left-justified instead of centered. Thirdly, you've shaded the tail of the word balloon in the first panel, as if it's a physical object. Fourthly, the tail is separated from the balloon itself by a line. Fifthly, the tail is ginormous wide compared to the balloon itself.

It's a little hard to explain what I mean by that in text, but google "Shouting word balloon" and look at the tails and you'll see what I'm trying to say.

Finally, the actual words are generic enough that it requires a another panel on the next page to explain it.

Like, this lettering is still not great, I did it in literally three minutes on MS paint using the free Anime Ace font, but the slight dialogue change goes a long way here at increasing the information density of the page. You don't need that extra panel in the next page, and can find a better use for that precious space. Also, this page is now more specific and thus more likely to grab the audience's attention. It's not "an excursion" with no plan, they're trying to stop a Portian who can teleport and they intend to shoot him. That's more exciting! Lead with that!

The good news here is that most of these things I'm picking on are relatively easy to fix (which is why I'm picking on them!). My recommendations are

Find a nicer font. I linked Anime Ace above, which is the font Saffron and Sage uses, but there's a ton out there better suited for comics.

Center your text when adding it to the comic

Add the text, then draw the balloon around it

Try and get a bit more information into those text boxes (while still keeping it natural). Getting a personality off and then expositing is fine and good, but can you do both in one panel? In one line? Could Neb have gone "Hey, Doc" in panel 1 there, greeting Stella while letting us know she was the Doctor? Or, could she have gone "Hello, Doctor Luna" while rolling her eyes, which would establish a relationship between them (probably not the one they're meant to have, but as as example). Asking yourself "Can I do more with this line" a lot will make you a better writer, and also save you a lot of unnecessary drawing.

[oodlyenough]

I finished Oxenfree II after, I dunno, maybe four or five short sessions of play. I had intended to replay the first game beforehand, but ran out of time before release, lol.

Thoughts (spoilers for all of both games):

I enjoyed 2, but I can't say I enjoyed it nearly as much - if I had, it wouldn't have taken me a week and change to play through, I think.

The art was gorgeous as always, perhaps moreso. They made small QOL improvements that I appreciated hugely, like the map getting marked up, the task list, and ESPECIALLY the little icon telling me if the dialogue would continue when I walked to a new part of the map. The climbing was simple, but fun enough. I deeply appreciated the ability to change the font and text size of the speech bubbles, because I found the default hard to read on.

Some parts were spooky - loved the community centre turning sideways, etc, some good jump scares, the dreamscape stuff was cool. Loved the idea of the time bubbles you got to walk into, and how that was used in puzzles (albeit quite sparingly).

Some less positive stuff:

I liked Riley fine, and Jacob was ok, but that's about... all I felt. They both felt a bit like placeholder characters. I think there is just not as much immediate pathos generated by "two coworkers" as there was between Alex and Jonas, stepsiblings meeting for the first time who both have a lot of baggage.

I also think having a majority of the support NPCs be voices on the radio was a mistake. I enjoyed those conversations, but I had to be reminding myself to check in, and it all felt a bit remote. As Alex, I felt responsible for the whole group, even when I wanted to throw Ren or Jonas or Clarissa off a tower because they were infuriating me. There were different personalities, and also that meant there were different character dynamics to explore and combos you could play with in replays. The NPCs interacted with each other as well as Alex and the player had to manage all of it. Riley felt like she was the centre of a lot of single spoke relationships.

Also, while the parenting as a theme is fine, it's just... inherently going to be kind of remote to me, I guess, as a childless woman with no interest in being a mother. VS I felt the first game dealt with grief in a way I found more accessible, despite never having lost a sibling (or indeed having any siblings to lose, lol).

After the buildup with Parentage (and stories of burning people?!?!), I felt disappointed they were just a hippie uwu cult.

The Alex reveal was my fave, and my interest piqued once we knew she was involved. I see people are a bit mixed on her involvement but honestly I loved it, lol. The downside was introducing her meant I was like "ok, will there be a choice between saving Alex or saving Riley/Camena/etc?" and I knew I would choose Alex no question.

Not quite what happened! I was fairly satisfied with my ending, which was:

-befriend Jacob, but leave him behind (I was worried about Athena! lol)... it was a little unfortunate that Jacob and Riley felt a bit distant as a result, but I loved Riley and Alex getting alone time, so whatever. -leave Olivia to the ghosts

The problem with the sacrifice decision was I did not feel the game gave me any compelling reasons to save Olivia, outside of "Olivia is a teenager so you have a duty of care". Sure, in real life I think letting a depressed teenager go into the void with her ghost parents is a bad call -- but this is a story, and in this story, they have done nothing concrete to make me the player feel attached to Olivia, as compared to how I feel about Riley and Alex, two characters I've now spent hours with. Perhaps I'd have sacrificed Jacob if he was around, but... he wasn't, lol. And maybe not! Because I the player have reason to like Jacob, and no reason to like Olivia.

In the first couple scenes with Rex, I thought perhaps he was Riley's child who had died, and that the death was part of why Riley in present day was a mess and an alcoholic with minimal relationships etc. In retrospect, I think that could have been a very interesting device. The downside I suppose would be that there would then be no reason for Riley not to stay in the void with Rex, making the end dilemma moot.

Still, it was rewarding to see Alex and co leave the island. The game prompts you-as-Riley to be mad at her, but lmao, it's Alex, it's my girl, I don't care. I also thought it was sweet that they had Clarissa as the one who lingers for her. Aw.

Overall, I would give this maybe a 7/10... I don't regret buying or playing it, but I don't feel compelled to replay and try other routes. Oxenfree 1 on the other hand I've played probably 6-8 times and will continue to play again every year or so when it gets dark and cold and spooky outside.

[bestbonnist]

Chapter 168.1

Now that we know that the people who picked the doll and Kanitarou up are friendly and just happened to see them, that means that the person who was chasing them in the last chapter was someone else. Probably the guy from Chapter 167.1. And probably gonna track the doll to where she's currently hiding out.

Two things. One: we can see a bit of a scar on the mechanic's nose that matches the one on Kai's. The mechanic being amiable with the doll while maintaining a wariness towards her is also a very Kai thing to do. He's very observant. I think at this point he's older than he usually appears once resurrected, and judging from the apparent ages that we saw on their wanted signs, I'm guessing they were freshly resurrected a few years ago.

Second thing: Kai's probably referring to the Beholder/Satoru when he talks about someone who wanted to become human, and not Fushi. Because Fushi's never described themselves as human or discussed their desire to be human after the Takunaha arc. Satoru, on the other hand, was very upfront about wanting to be human, and Kai was there when Messar insinuated that the Beholder wished he was mortal.

I really like that Kai and Eko have both become mechanics. Or Eko has become a mechanic and Kai is her assistant, it's a bit unclear. It's so nice seeing Eko having something that she's passionate about, and that her dream of being able to communicate her thoughts to others has been fulfilled without her having to sacrifice an important part of her identity. And Kai is a blacksmith, so he knows a bit about working with metal and maybe that translates over to engineering somehow? I don't know.

A few notes about this part of the chapter: first, the script that hasn't been translated (because Ooima made it up) says the same thing that appeared in Chapter 166.2 before the doll's flashback.

The only difference is that the percentage that's been restored is marginally higher.

In the original Japanese, the text for the dialogue is in a specific font that's only been used for the person with the blindfold. I've included the raws for comparison.

And finally, the pill is the same one that was around their neck.

Based on the evidence, we can conclude that the doll's "self-identification system" is for her memories, we'll get a flashback every time a bit more of that system is restored, and the pill was an essential part of the process of making her human. We'll probably get the full story when the system reaches one hundred percent, but at the rate we're going it's gonna be a while.

Kai says earlier in the chapter that the mud only responds to human brainwaves specifically and on the final page we see the doll controlling it. df;dfa;dafslkadfs;dasflkj NICE.

How the doll has brain waves and no brain is a bit of a mystery, but the point is that they're implying that it's human already and just stuck in a different form. Which :\ is part of the mystery I guess, clearly the doll has a past involving efforts to become human that it can't remember. I don't love the idea of its backstory being "well, it's not a normal doll, it's a special doll that was secretly human all along." I'm hoping we get something else, because I think the doll being a piece of technology who's human anyways is more in line with what the manga's had to say about humanity so far. Like, maybe experimenting to make it human failed, or the experiment was just to make a program that thinks it's human, because thinking you're human = actually being human. I would imagine that learning that would really fuck the doll up, because in that case everything it's been trying to do in the name of proving that it's human was just more proof that it's not. And that's what I would do if I were Ooima because she loves to think of the worst possible thing that would happen to a character and then do that (compliment).

Still, no matter what the doll's backstory turns out to be, I'll be into it as long as it adds more layers to her character and to the story. Which it will because this is Ooima we're talking about :)

[willel]

Ofc, I assume that the events of the play will be briefly mentioned in S5, either by quick flashbacks (like the Creels’ in S4) or dialogues like between Nancy and Eddie’s uncle or Victor. Trefry said that’s the plan but didn’t specify which events of the play will be presented in S5. I see your point but it’d look equally absurd if S5 plainly contradicts the play and ignores the interactions it added between the characters. I think people don’t realize that the play isnt just some non canon novel or comics, the whole team has been massively invested in it, and netflix too.

I know exactly what the play is and who was involved. Before the play even released, I said if there were contradictions between the play and the show, then I would have no choice but to throw out the contradicting parts of the play in favor of what the show has shown us so far.

There are direct indisputable contradictions between the show and the play so again, unless they're going to do something to make the play widely available to the public outside of London, then it's absurd to expect the general audience to know about it or expect it to show up in the show itself. Maybe you've seen the play yourself but I sure haven't. The only reason we know about it for the most part is because people ignored the "Don't post spoilers online!" request from the people running the play.

I have no problem believing most of the stuff in the play will be just as irrelevant as the novels or comics because the contradictions in it are just as clear cut.

From everything I've heard about the play, Joyce's role in Henry's story isn't even a major point of the play. Like yeah it happens, they vaguely know each other, she tells him she doesn't think it's his fault, etc.

But I don't feel that connection is necessary nor do I think it is required to make Joyce relevant in the plot. She's already extremely relevant just by being who she is in relation to two of the titular characters of the cast and as a good mother, which Henry clearly hates.

As much as I love theory crafting, I guess I'm just not super font of prequels trying to make two characters know each other somehow when they don't gotta which is probably why I'm just personally not on board with that being Joyce's connection to this particular plot when I feel like she's already deeply connected.

Vecna/Henry knows her face. They've met face to face. He's screamed at her and choked her using Will's body. He's probably seen every single memory Will has of her. Like, the concept of "mom" is so intertwined in Henry's story. In El's story. In Will's story. It's all already there.

[frozen-fountain]

Weird Questions for Writers

…All.

Alright, everyone else go home, I guess. I'll be doing this in stages over the next couple of days because, as much as I enjoy talking about myself, I do still have to write this afternoon. Thank you!

What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?

Basic Times New Roman, more out of familiarity than anything. I keep meaning to try the Comic Sans trick that supposedly makes it easier to focus, but I don't know if I can bear to look at that all day.

2. If you had to give up your keyboard and write your stories exclusively by hand, could you do it? If you already write everything by hand, a) are you a wizard and b) pen or pencil?

I don't relish the thought of those wrist cramps, but yes, I think I would. I can't stand the thought of just keeping it all in my own head.

3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed?

I usually end up doing it early afternoon, after lunch and a few minutes of pacing or stretching to clear my head. I'll also play with my cat for a while beforehand, as if he's tired from being a fearsome hunter he's less likely to get up on the clackboard to help me (results may vary). Then I procure something to drink, pick out something to listen to, and freewrite some word association for a bit if I'm not in the right headspace.

While I have a vague goal in mind for where I'd like to write up to, these days, I only make myself do a single sentence per day. It's usually much more than that, but just that sentence absolutely has to happen every single day if it's really all I can manage. When I'm done, I try to leave at a point I'm actively excited to get back to and have a clear picture, so it's easier to pick up the next day. Usually I jot down a few notes to help.

It's cursed because a lot of the music I enjoy probably is, and because the aforementioned notes have sometimes been things like "toilet paper" or "[character] on her Caravaggio bullshit" and I'm left just sitting there trying to work out what any of this was in reference to, or why Past Froze thought it was going to be helpful.

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

Susurrus. I try to limit it to one use per story, and maybe one per chapter if I'm feeling extra indulgent.

5. Do you have any writing superstitions? What are they and why are they 100% true?

Not a superstition I actively believe, but every time I think a fic might do well it's met with silence, whereas the ones I assume are for me and an audience of three end up performing way better than expected. I don't judge success on external factors and will write what I want to say regardless, but it's a nice reminder that whatever niche oddness you're cooking up might have more of an audience than you realise.

6. What is your darkest fear about writing?

It's more a fear about myself, which is that my ability or lack thereof to execute an idea doesn't matter, because what I have to say in the first place is of no interest or value whatsoever and no amount of minutely crafted phrasing can change that. (Needless to say, I would never think this of another person, no matter what they were trying to tell me.)

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

That I do it anyway. That, regardless of how it does or doesn't impact on the world outside of me, I experienced something that made me feel strongly enough to take the time to attempt to recreate it in words. And when, after minutes that feel like hours of agonising over which words to use, I find some that hit the exact resonance and well of allusion I was hoping for? It's about the most accomplished I've ever felt.

8. If you had to write an entire story without either action or dialogue, which would you choose and how would it go?

I'd choose the all-dialogue option because that would be a bigger challenge for me, and also because I have a great model for how to do it in The Fall by Camus. So I'd reread that and pick apart how it was done in a way that worked; I can picture the setting of the novel so clearly even though it's only described in ways that feel naturalistic for characters who are walking through it. I'm guessing this would remain a shorter piece, and I'd have a specific reason for zooming in so completely on what's being said to the exclusion of all else, and I think this would be a great medium for an unreliable narrator. The negative space around what isn't said would have to be as intrinsic a part of the story as anything that makes it onto the page. I think it'd be a really interesting experiment, some time.

9. Do you believe in ghosts? This isn’t about writing I just wanna know

I believe many, many people have experienced things we currently (and most certainly always will) lack the scientific method to understand and quantify. I'm about ninety percent sure I had a premonition once. I also believe what we say and do resonates, in ways that are hard to track and trace, beyond the moment where they occur. I'm not sure whether this means I believe there's a non-corporeal part of us all that lingers after the physical body reaches its planned obsolescence, and that sometimes this remnant is able to reach out and touch the living from time to time, but it's something.

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

At least a fragment of everything I've ever read or written lives under my skin. Even if I hated it or even if I can't remember anything about it besides that splinter that stood out the most. All I've lived - and not lived, especially when I might have had the chance to - is waiting over my shoulder and following me along the corridor, whether as a warning or a tormentor or a guide.

[aegidiusrex]

Based on one of your reblogs- how can you tell the difference between a character that is one-dimensional and you doing the footwork to make them interesting vs a character that is well written but a lot of them is left up to interpretation? (Genuine question)

I guess imo, there’s definitely a difference between a character that just feels like a blank slate or that could be “improved” with headcanon or whatever, vs a character that feels like they have a larger inner life outside the confines of the plot. Like a character that feels like there’s more to know about them vs a character who just didn’t get the development/depth they could have. For example I never feel like I’m “fleshing out” Gil & Luis to make them “more interesting”, I just speculate about what could be true about them if they had more time & were more focal characters. And I’m not married to any interpretation or hc I have about them because I would literally rather just find out what’s actually true through more canon material lol. Vs like, the two main characters of bbrts, who imo are pretty archetypal without much canonical nuance, we spend a lottt of time with them and their inner lives never seem to extend beyond the margins of the story. I definitely understand the appeal of playing with more of a blank slate character and making them your own. But I personally prefer when a character just feels like. I don’t know everything about them.

Maybe another way to describe this would be like, a character who I’m DYING to know more about all the time vs a character who is a font of inane little personal facts (either through their own dialogue or through the narration) because they’re just not that deep lol. Like his favorite color and favorite food and two things that happened to him as a kid do not make an interesting character. I want to SEE what he’s LIKE and be drip fed little bits of his psyche and speculate until I go insane