#fake pixel sorting

[protography0]

"Losing Face"

[source/stock image used: x ]

Glitch art/ditherpunk art made in GIMP with a free stock image from pexels.com. Makes use of (fake) pixel sorting. (Open in new tab for best resolution)

I stumbled over 'pixel sorting' and remembered there is a filter in GIMP that gives a similar effect. Played around with it, and looked at glitch art/pixel sorting and the phrase 'losing face' popped into my head, so that was how I got the idea to make this piece.

I then also played around with dithering options and arrived at two versions I really liked, one of which you can see here - the second one will likely be posted in the future.

I think ppl know what it is like to be so embarrased you want to disappear, to mess up in a way that feels like makes you lose a part of your confidence - maybe even your sense of self (in how others perceive us).

Fitting to make this piece in a Glitch Art style then, as this art style (from what I read) is meant to embrace imperfections and mistakes.

[abandonedniche]

[clovermusic]

Gotta make a new version of this one I love this song

[insertdisc5]

📚 A List Of Useful Websites When Making An RPG 📚

My timeloop RPG In Stars and Time is done! Which means I can clear all my ISAT gamedev related bookmarks. But I figured I would show them here, in case they can be useful to someone. These range from "useful to write a story/characters/world" to "these are SUPER rpgmaker focused and will help with the terrible math that comes with making a game".

This is what I used to make my RPG game, but it could be useful for writers, game devs of all genres, DMs, artists, what have you. YIPPEE

Writing (Names)

Behind The Name - Why don't you have this bookmarked already. Search for names and their meanings from all over the world!

Medieval Names Archive - Medieval names. Useful. For ME

City and Town Name Generator - Create "fake" names for cities, generated from datasets from any country you desire! I used those for the couple city names in ISAT. I say "fake" in quotes because some of them do end up being actual city names, especially for french generated ones. Don't forget to double check you're not 1. just taking a real city name or 2. using a word that's like, Very Bad, especially if you don't know the country you're taking inspiration from! Don't want to end up with Poopaville, USA

Writing (Words)

Onym - A website full of websites that are full of words. And by that I mean dictionaries, thesauruses, translators, glossaries, ways to mix up words, and way more. HIGHLY recommend checking this website out!!!

Moby Thesaurus - My thesaurus of choice!

Rhyme Zone - Find words that rhyme with others. Perfect for poets, lyricists, punmasters.

In Different Languages - Search for a word, have it translated in MANY different languages in one page.

ASSETS

In general, I will say: just look up what you want on itch.io. There are SO MANY assets for you to buy on itch.io. You want a font? You want a background? You want a sound effect? You want a plugin? A pixel base? An attack animation? A cool UI?!?!?! JUST GO ON ITCH.IO!!!!!!

Visual Assets (General)

Creative Market - Shop for all kinds of assets, from fonts to mockups to templates to brushes to WHATEVER YOU WANT

Velvetyne - Cool and weird fonts

Chevy Ray's Pixel Fonts - They're good fonts.

Contrast Checker - Stop making your text white when your background is lime green no one can read that shit babe!!!!!!

Visual Assets (Game Focused)

Interface In Game - Screenshots of UI (User Interfaces) from SO MANY GAMES. Shows you everything and you can just look at what every single menu in a game looks like. You can also sort them by game genre! GREAT reference!

Game UI Database - Same as above!

Sound Assets

Zapsplat, Freesound - There are many sound effect websites out there but those are the ones I saved. Royalty free!

Shapeforms - Paid packs for music and sounds and stuff.

Other

CloudConvert - Convert files into other files. MAKE THAT .AVI A .MOV

EZGifs - Make those gifs bigger. Smaller. Optimize them. Take a video and make it a gif. The Sky Is The Limit

Marketing

Press Kitty - Did not end up needing this- this will help with creating a press kit! Useful for ANY indie dev. Yes, even if you're making a tiny game, you should have a press kit. You never know!!!

presskit() - Same as above, but a different one.

Itch.io Page Image Guide and Templates - Make your project pages on itch.io look nice.

MOOMANiBE's IGF post - If you're making indie games, you might wanna try and submit your game to the Independent Game Festival at some point. Here are some tips on how, and why you should.

Game Design (General)

An insightful thread where game developers discuss hidden mechanics designed to make games feel more interesting - Title says it all. Check those comments too.

Game Design (RPGs)

Yanfly "Let's Make a Game" Comics - INCREDIBLY useful tips on how to make RPGs, going from dungeons to towns to enemy stats!!!!

Attack Patterns - A nice post on enemy attack patterns, and what attacks you should give your enemies to make them challenging (but not TOO challenging!) A very good starting point.

How To Balance An RPG - Twitter thread on how to balance player stats VS enemy stats.

Nobody Cares About It But It’s The Only Thing That Matters: Pacing And Level Design In JRPGs - a Good Post.

Game Design (Visual Novels)

Feniks Renpy Tutorials - They're good tutorials.

I played over 100 visual novels in one month and here’s my advice to devs. - General VN advice. Also highly recommend this whole blog for help on marketing your games.

I hope that was useful! If it was. Maybe. You'd like to buy me a coffee. Or maybe you could check out my comics and games. Or just my new critically acclaimed game In Stars and Time. If you want. Ok bye

[xx-j4nu5-c4t5-xx]

"An ideal Sims game would have Sims 2's gameplay mechanics, Sims 3's open world, and Sims 4's graphics!"

I absolutely despise this take, and I want to explain why. This is a very long rant and it is full of piss and vinegar directed at everything in the Sims 4. I'm gonna try to keep everything kinda professional as much as I can but I can't guarantee an unbiased opinion.

If you'll let me talk your ears off for a moment, I'd like to explain, from my own experience as an artist and a casual player, my issues with the art style and direction of The Sims 4 compared to The Sims 2. (I'm not really going to comment on 3 because I've never played it.)

I want to start off by explaining the difference between better graphics and higher resolution. The Sims 4 absolutely blows Sims 2 out of the water when it comes to textures and polygon counts on sims, no contest. But I'd argue that the graphics themselves... aren't better. They're worse, even, so much fucking worse. The biggest problems come from the stylization and the animations, in my opinion, so I'll explain what I mean.

Have you ever felt like the Sims in 4 just look... weird? Not quirky, not kinda strange, but off. Distressing. Uncanny. Whatever the fuck the kids call it nowadays. When you strip away the packs and the CC and the shaders, the sims in the base game look bad. They're very close to being human; they walk like us, talk like us, have families like us, but they don't look like us, not exactly. There's always something off about them, no matter how close you try to get. Proportions will be a bit off, or your eyelashes will be like three polygons for some fucking reason, and the jig is up. The illusion is gone.

This is one of the instances where a higher resolution and more detailed models and meshes work against you. You aren't making believe. You are beyond the point of pretending that the pixelated shapes are real clothes and bodies and faces, because at this point, they're close enough that you don't need to. There's no gap to bridge. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they're lifelike, at least, not enough to be completely human. In some ways, they're still tethered to being cartoony and plasticky and fake. Just enough to frighten you. Enough to put you off. They're not using it to their advantage anymore, and instead, it's holding them back.

When the Sims 2 came out in 2004, the developers knew that they weren't going to make a perfectly accurate life simulator. They physically couldn't render every wrinkle in the face or fold in the clothing. In some animations, things clip strangely or the facial expressions are sort of janky or there's just some form of roughness around the edges. But that's okay; your brain doesn't need a perfectly accurate representation this time. That's not what you're here for, anyway.

The Sims 4 is basically Icarus-ing itself into disaster. The entire game sacrifices style for complete realism, a goal that was unachievable ten years ago, and is unachievable now.

The Sims 2 never thought of itself as a completely realistic life sim, though. It has cartoony, low poly meshes and exaggerated proportions and wild, raunchy storylines that would never occur in real life. BECAUSE IT ISN'T REAL LIFE. And it isn't like real life, not because it's failing to be, but because it doesn't want to be!

The Sims 4 is not ever going to completely replicate human looks or interactions or dynamics. And if it's trying to, it's doing a shit job of it. That shouldn't be the goal in the first place. If I wanted to watch a lonely college student talk to himself in the mirror to try and get better at interacting with people, I'd close the computer and go look at myself. It somehow highlights the most mundane parts of life without any of the whimsy and goofiness that the earlier installments had. It takes itself too fucking seriously for its own good, and it's killing both the gameplay and the art style.

The other point I'd like to bring up is the animation. The Sims 4 allows for much more customization of both sim and environments, but at the cost of dynamic animations. How many times is that grab animation reused? How many times is the same set of animations used for sims with wildly different personalities? Your sims barely feel alive with how little they express themselves.

Now, look, I'm a digital artist. I've dabbled in animation, but only briefly, and only in 2D. I've got no clue how 3D animation works, much less how it worked 20 years ago, but I can see the passion in every single animation in the Sims 2. The more niche interactions allowed for more expressive animations than in 4. They could afford to have a distinct animation for mean sims throwing the football extra hard to be assholes, rather than every sim using the same generic football-throwing animation to save time and money. I get where they're coming from. I get the idea. But in one move, you've both made the art style stiffer and less expressive, and you've made the personalities of the sims seem meaningless. Everyone acts the same, regardless of what their moodlets or their traits say. It's hollow. It's stifled. It's a waste of potential.

But for what Sims 2 lacks in polygons, it makes up for in smaller animated details. Quality over quantity. The sims have hair physics, they open the door before they get in the car, they take utensils out of the counters when they cook, they jump on the couch and the cushions smush under their weight. When they dance, the weight is realistic, and when they smile, it tugs at every one of the few dozen shapes that make up their faces. The sims are lively. They dance and sing and love and hate just like humans, and rather than being some strange attempt at mimicry, it's almost a tribute. They were made with love. You can tell that they were drawn up and rigged and animated by a bunch of people working together, studying each other and making faces in the mirror for reference and watching their kids and neighbors and dogs and hands for reference. The sims are not human, and not trying to be, but they're taking the most human parts of us and making them their own.

You could never have a game with the Sims 4's graphics and the Sims 2's gameplay. The gameplay and graphics are inexorably connected, and the Sims 2 just has so much glorious detail baked into it, that you could never really make it work underneath the limitations of the later games. The developers of 2 knew what their limits were, and they worked tirelessly to make the game as full and complex as they could within those limits. The developers for the Sims 4 just did not have those guidelines, and thus, the drive to bend the rules was no longer there. They didn't go wild in rebellion because they were never told they couldn't in the first place. They spent the entire time chasing a goal they couldn't meet, and lost sight of what made the series fun to begin with.

It wasn't the realism you came for; you had realism already surrounding you. It was the caricature of it that made it interesting.

[noelhelena]

Where did the cows go on a date? To the mooovies.

A small drubbles under the cut, as usual

🎞🎥🚘

A little later, their car pulled up at the abandoned Silver Pixel Cloud drive-in movie theater. V glanced out the window, noticing the familiar sight. "Johnny, seriously," she said sarcastically, "d'you bring all your exes to this place?"

She remembered how she'd come here with Rogue a long time ago, at Johnny's insistence, during his engram phase. They'd had "date" there, with him controlling her body. And now, here they were again, separately and the movie theater's gates were still hacked open when she tried to enter.

Johnny laughed at her comment, still enjoying the sight of her reaction when she saw the open entrance. "If s'workin', why fix it?" he said, still grinning. He always took his dates here, like it was part of the "Silverhand Dating" experience. He knew V had been here before, but hoped she wouldn't mention it.

🎞🎥🚘

"So, V... are you jacked into any love trials with any chromed-up companion lately?" Johnny asked, his eyes a bit intense as he looked at her, his face showed no emotionas he directed his attention towards her, still trying to keep his tone of voice even and it was clear that V had guessed his question correct.

"Well, I've been chillin' in the Great White North for a couple of years 'cause of work, so... nah, ain't feelin' for a date," merc tilted her head slightly, still looking at Johnny. "If there was someone, I wouldn't be hangin' out here at night, right?"

Johnny's facial expression relaxed a little bit when he heard this. He tried to control himself and not to let his emotions out but it was obvious that this news had made him relieved, even though he would likely never admit it out loud to her.

"That's preem… 'cause I don't wanna have to beat anyone else's ass for your attention," said Johnny, trying to sound cool and laid-back, but it was obvious he meant what he said.

"There's always a chance to fight me… For me, ya?," she said, playfully punching his shoulder. Johnny winced and swung to the side. "I'm jus' kiddin'," she added, laughing. Johnny chuckled too, but still didn't let his guard down completely. He wanted to be sure there was no competition for her.

"You're not funny," he replied, his voice still neutral, he was actually worried about anyone else trying to snatch his merc away from him.

"N' you're a bore.", she turned her head away in a fake pout, but then looked back at him with a slight tilt of her head.

🎞🎥🚘

"Are you goin' to spend the whole night on those clichéd, melodramatic script shit?" she asked tiredly, remembering the previous conversation they had at the Afterlife Bar. She let out a soft laugh, her warm breath against his lips, as she closed her eyes and leaned in closer.

"Yeah, I'm goin' to take this cliché to the extreme n' make your fantasy come true, whether you like it or not," Johnny was not going to miss this opportunity to be as cheesy as possible and to keep teasing her even during one of the most romantic moments of the evening. He was still waiting for V to agree to the final step before he could finally kiss her though.

"Ewww," in a fake disgusted face, she laughed lightly after, then gently bit his lower lip. "In movies, usually there's some sort of intimate reunion at this point, or s'only rated PG-13?" whispered softly into his lips, completely losing the seriousness of the conversation.

"Yeah, well… I'm not goin' for the PG-13 ratin'," Johnny said, leaning in closer to you and letting you bite his lip teasingly. "I've gone all the way to the X ratin' n' I'm good. So, you want to make this movie or what? I don't usually do re-shoots, y'know?" Johnny smiled at you as he held you close, his dark eyes studying your reaction.

[desvinyl]

STICK N’ POKE

“ Dude- What the fuck? Are you insane? “

brim implied! | Tim pov | 3rd person | 8589 words.. | fluff | drunk brian | by yours truly | brim mh | first post whoo!

Inspired by : @limeartichoke ‘s comic

The sun was settled and the moon had risen, awakening the crickets and their constant chirping. Though, this noise had kept Tim content whilst trying to sleep — white noise, if you will — it kept the freight train of thoughts from storming his mind. More specifically, the dreamy fantasies of his roommate and best friend, Brian. Brian was someone he had known for a few years now, and they were total opposites. Brian was talkative and popular, whilst Tim had huddled away from the public and avoided crowds, always being known as “Brian’s friend.” It was seriously a mystery how these two had become friends of any sort. Or even met, to begin with. However, it was safe to say that they were practically attached at the hip nowadays. The best of friends. Some could even call them.. brothers.

Tonight was one of those rare nights where these two had been separate. To Tim’s knowledge, Brian was at the bar probably getting drunk and partying with some of his friends that Tim didn’t know the names of. This was usually fine, because Tim was always down the street, ready to pick him up — sometimes he was even in the bar with him! However, tonight he was alone, in bed, with the TV volume on low; letting whatever was playing gently murmur in the background. And in Tim's solitude, he couldn’t help but feel worried. What if Brian needed him? What if he couldn’t get a ride? The many “What ifs” of the situation were racing through his mind. Making his heart beat a little faster with a piercing anxiety. Tim knew he was overreacting, and that he should be able to trust Brian... I mean he was the strongest man he knew, and Tim was sure he could knock down anyone who tried to harm him. But there was still that inkling of worry that haunted him, making his eyes squeeze a little tighter, and his body roll to either side of the bed; unable to find comfort.

With the worrisome war that raged through Tim’s mind, it was assumed that he couldn’t hear the sound of a car’s door opening and closing, the gentle hint of Brian’s voice catching on the wind as he waved off his friend and the gentle creaking of Tim’s bedroom door opening. “Tim..” A disembodied voice had murmured, causing Tim’s heart to drop from where he lay. *hic* “..Timmy.” Believing Brian was still at the bar, Tim couldn’t tell whose voice it was — as it was laced up in a drunken tone — and the unknowing fear of it made Tim unable to open his eyes in fear of a ghost from one of Alex’s cheesy horror movies to pop up out of nowhere and scare the daylights out of him. “..You *hic* asleep, Timmy?” The voice was a little clearer now, despite the hiccup, that rasp, and light-heartedness .. it had to be Brian. But how?

With that, Tim’s eyes fluttered open and he turned over on his side, faking a tired yet irritated expression. “..What is it Brian?” Tim murmured back, hiding the surprise in his voice with a quiet hint of rasp. His eyes flickered over to the alarm clock on the bedside table, reading the bright red numbers on the pixelated screen.. 2:30 AM. *Crap he did fall asleep, was he having anxiety in his sleep?* Tim’s eyelashes fluttered in disbelief at the time, before scrunching up his nose to squint up at Brian. Who had the most deliriously dumbfounded expression on his face, and a loose smile resting on his lips. Brian wordlessly pulled up his sleeve and ushered his arm forward, urging Tim to look at it. “ Look at what I gooott... “ Brian blabbered, a gentle drunken giggle leaving his lips. As he laughed, Tim struggled to keep his smile from poking through, only watching as Brian’s eyes squeezed shut and his dimples came out of hiding, revealing the small gap between Brian’s pearly white teeth. It was hard to ignore, and Tim caught himself staring at it every time. Secretly, despite his usual teasing, he loved Brian’s tooth gap. It was cute on him.

Unfortunately, Tim couldn’t gaze upon it forever and finally peeled his eyes away from the beauty to instead squint and try to understand what the hell he was being shown. At first, it was too dark to see a difference, but as a car streamed by and its headlights shone through the window — casting light upon Brian’s exposed skin for just a second — Tim was able to decipher it.

A hand clasped against his mouth to catch the gasp that left his lips. Tim was now scrambling up to turn on the lamp and throw on his glasses to get a better look. Taking ahold of Brian's arm, Tim pulled his drunk friend closer, now reading what was *tattooed* into his best friend’s skin. ' TIM ' - with an upside down ‘i’. It was a poorly done stick n’ poke that Brian probably did himself. Tim could feel the shock only grow on his face, his eyes flickering between the tattoo and Brian who was grinning like a fool. “Dude- What the fuck?” Tim muttered in a slightly aghast tone, his words coming off a little harsher than he meant them to. Though, Brian was too drunk to take it to heart, and a loud laugh erupted from his lips making Tim’s expression scrunch up more with a mix of confusion and disbelief.

As Tim pulled the drunken man closer again, making a double-take at the tattoo, Brian could only lean his head back in uncontrolled giggles. If they weren’t in this predicament, Tim would have died on the spot from how perfect he sounded, but at this moment he was too busy examining the tattoo. After a second passed, Tim brought his free hand to his mouth and licked his thumb before pressing it to the tattoo and rubbing firmly, praying it was temporary.. but to his dismay, it was permanent. “Oh my god..” He muttered under his breath, “Brian, you’re insane.” Instead of getting anything audible from Brian in response, Tim had only gotten a mix of gibberish, hiccups, and more drunken giggling. Tim sighed, “..This is going to cost so much to cover up.” Now letting Brian’s arm go and glancing back up at him.

But before Tim or Brian could say another word, Brian had decided to collapse on top of the man before him. His head barreled into the brunette’s chest, causing the two of them to flop back against the mattress. Brian’s tall and muscular body was ten centimeters away from crushing Tim, but did Tim honestly care? No. If anything he’d rather Brian crush him than torture him like this. As Brian’s arms had propped him up to face the other, Tim felt his heart jump to his throat, the blood rushing to his ears in an instant. “..Brian..?” Tim whispered with a little nervous smile playing at his lips, waiting for a response from the other. Instead, the two of them are blanketed in silence, and Brian’s smile softens — looking less foolish and more loving — his eyes soften too, before closing entirely as the lighter-haired man plowed his forehead into the dip of Tim’s shoulder.

While Brian had grown comfortable — clearly weary from the night of partying — Tim had laid stiff below him, feeling an odd heat fill his cheeks, and a nervous jittery feeling flutter throughout his chest. God- whatever could he do? Tim didn’t even know where to rest his hands that wouldn’t make Brian feel trapped, or worse disgusted. But why would *he* of all people be disgusted? He’s been with men before. What would it matter? Maybe it was the fact that they were only friends and that this wasn’t something friends normally did.. but friends didn’t normally tattoo their best bud's name into their forearms either, so he guessed it was only fair.

Tim’s hands snaked up Brian’s sides and rested on his gently heaving back, letting his palms gently rub circles into the fabric of his hoodie. He was careful, and delicate, just testing the waters in hopes that Brian wouldn’t lift his head and protest. Ironically, Brian had done the opposite, and at the contact Tim could feel Brian’s nose dig into the crook between his neck and his shoulder, causing Tim’s movements to stutter. Tim persisted in massaging Brian’s back, however, with each warm breath whispering across the brunette's neck, Tim felt that it was getting harder to sit still. It got to a point where Tim was about to ask Brian if he needed help getting to his bed, but in that moment he realized that Brian was fast asleep. A sigh left Tims lips, “What am I going to do with you..” He whispered before gently chuckling to himself. Tim himself was starting to feel tired, guess this meant that Brian got off lucky. Psh, as if. An earful was waiting for him when he decided to wake up tomorrow morning, but for now, Tim allowed the two of them to sleep.. drifting off to the silent murmur of the TV and the restless chirping of crickets in the lawn.

I am open to fic requests for anything marble hornets, and any ship. Some of my favs: jam/jasky, brim/hoodsky, jaylex, timlex, brilex, bray, poly hornets, bramothy, jamlex, etc.

[lvciddreqms]

pairing: Daisuke x reader

warnings: n/a

genre: angst/comfort

a/n: first post hopefully this isn't terrible..

midnight talks

★

we're making it out... right..?

I've already lost track of how long we've been here. After the crash there was a drastic change in the atmosphere. I think at first everyone just wanted to stay positive for the sake of our sanity. It just gets to a certain point though. Everyone gave up after a while, they knew we weren't getting saved. And at the back of our minds.. I think everyone knew that.

During nights like these.. where it's just too cold for comfort and too silent to sleep I always found myself staring at that fake display of the sky, lost in thought. It was the only thing that provided some sort of comfort for me. Sometimes I don't want to think about anything though. It always ends up with me thinking about our current situation. So when that happens.

I think about that time where I had seen Anya and Curly talking to one another in front of the screen, before the crash. "If you look really, really close, you can see there's a dead pixel in the upper right corner." I always look for it, but I can never seem to find it. Sometimes I wondered if it was even there.

"Hey, cant sleep?" I had heard a voice speak up. I glanced over to be met with Daisuke's familiar gaze. I looked back at the screen before replying. "Yeah.. It's just hard to now.." I replied quietly. He replied with a soft hum, sitting on the couch too. It stayed silent for a short while, the room filled with thought.

"Do you think we're gonna actually get saved..?" He had asked suddenly. I looked over at him. "... I don't know..." I had replied. "... my brain knows that it's impossible, that it isn't going to happen.... but in my heart I wanna believe that there's at least some sorta chance that we'll be okay..." I pulled my knees to my chest with a light sigh.

"I know we're stuck here." He said, a solemn expression plastered onto his normally cheerful face. I couldn't help but frown, looking at his side profile. I had never heard him talk so negatively about something. "I just wish this could've ended on a better note. I wish I could've done something to make myself proud of me..I haven't even thought of what I actually wanted to do for the rest of my life.. there's no point now." He spoke. He was bitter about it and I could tell.

Seeing him so upset made me upset. I wasn't quite sure what I could even say to make him feel at least a little better. I just stared at the screen in front of me with a saddened expression. "... If it makes you feel any better.. I think I was in the same situation you were in..." I finally spoke. "After high school I had absolutely no idea what I had wanted to do...i always used to overthink about the future. I wondered how I was even gonna make it..."

I went quiet for a second, looking down. "I guess what makes me upset now is that being here is what made me find out who I wanted to be.. what I wanted to do..and now that none of it matters anymore.. I just spent so much time worrying for absolutely nothing." I said quietly. I looked over at him to see what he could possibly be thinking. Only to be met with his smile. It wasn't like his normal sort of obnoxious ones either.. It was somehow more genuine and gentle.

"you just somehow always know how to make me feel better about something..." He spoke softly, his gaze lingering on me for maybe a little longer than what was considered normal. I lightly smiled, glancing away from him as I felt my heart beat faster than usual. ".. well.. I'm glad you feel better.." I said quietly. It fell into a comfortable silence, the night ending the exact same, in front of the nighttime screen.

[tofupixel]

Hey! I have recently started doing pixel art and I was wondering, how do you use dithering in your art?

hello, good luck in your pixel journey!

personally i don't use dithering that much, but i will tell you what i know. i think of dithering as having purpose, either to create an in-between of two colours, or to create some texture.

generally i prefer to add another colour in my palette instead of using dithering. but for this piece below i consciously made an effort to dither, i also had some guidance from a friend of mine.

this is just my personal way of doing it, some people are better than me and can dither multiple colours within the same area. i personally try to only do a 2 pixel wide dither to blur the edge between colours, creating sort of a fake gradient

there are more possible dither patterns than these, but these are just what i used. like i said i really don't use it that often because i don't really enjoy the texture that it adds. so i'm not an expert

some other artists who use dither better than me you could check out: @kawaiikimu that artisan

@zaebucca

[maryellencarter]

ACNH creator showcase #8, Mia from Reverie! Creator code is MA-0190-3505-4239. Mia has a solidly incredible eye for fashion and design. The Moon Magic series up there clearly has every single piece designed separately, none of the copypasting to different shapes without adjusting waistlines that you see from some prolific designers. Fortunes Foretold is one of the most accurate Victorian pieces of its type I've ever seen -- I can practically hear the fringe of jet beads jingling when it moves, and feel the texture of the sheer lace apron on Sunset Maiden. The hints of pintucked yoke texture on the bodice of Garden Walk... seriously, I can't. The kind of precision it takes to do this sort of art with joycons.

Do you see the hem stripes on Autumn Cheer? The way they follow the wiggles of the skirt edge? That doesn't happen. The game cuts a curve into the lowest pixel line of your skirt on that design. Mia had to draw those stripes *curved*, following the lines of the curve the game was going to cut, in order to make them look like they were appliqued parallel to the hem. I don't think I can possibly express how much I haven't seen that done anywhere else.

October Dreams is on a kimono pattern, but when you walk, the way the skirt moves around your legs gives the illusion that it's a jumpsuit, with the costume bones placed exactly where your legs are under the fabric. Custom jumpsuits don't exist in this game. Mia faked a jumpsuit with the power of design.

People who know Breath of the Wild have probably already gotten the utter genius that's the Revali's Gale design, but for the rest of y'all -- Revali is an anthropomorphic bird. Mia's using the flappy sleeves of the kimono design to create his wings, and the same visual trick as on October Dreams for his fluffy gray-feathered legs. The colors and textures are a perfect match. Just, the sheer artistry on display here!

(Seriously. Using the kimono sleeves for his wings. I'm not gonna be over that one for A While. It's one of those strokes of genius that seems like it should have been perfectly obvious, and yet there it is and you didn't think of it first. They're the right shape and everything!)

[ralfmaximus]

Do you know anything about Glaze and Nightshade, tools to help artists protect their art from AI scraping? I just heard about these

Sure!

The idea behind these tools is to 'poison' the art you publish by embedding pixels within the picture that humans don't notice but AI generators do. They then hoover those extra pixels up as part of the artist 'style'.

Then, when that poisoned data is used to generate new artworks, the output is skewed/distorted/bad. The human who prompted the AI becomes disillusioned, and moves on.

That artist's style has been protected!

And yes, that sort of works. But there are caveats:

it is naïve to assume AI models are only just now discovering your art, after it's been poisoned. these things have been grinding thru the internet for years and years. chances are, the art has already been stolen

same for writing, chats, memes, etc

for example: tumblr put a nice "opt out" switch in your privacy settings, but honestly? AI generators have been consuming tumblr content for years. that particular horse has already left the barn

while Glaze/Nightshade/etc do what they say NOW, the nature of AI generator technology is that it is always evolving. the next gen will be smarter, and see through this kind of protection

it is a war of escalation: AI gets better, Glaze gets better, the AI generation after that breaks the new protection, Glaze gets better again

lather, rinse, repeat

So we're totally fucked, right?

Maybe not.

As more and more AI generated bullshit makes it into the wild, that stuff goes right back into the training data for other/newer AIs. Eventually enough of that training data is mediocre/bad/meh generated bullshit that the output starts looking like that bullshit too.

In 2024 requesting "Bart Simpson as a real human" yields acceptable results. But by 2026? You'll get the hyperattenuated super-duper bad uncanny valley version that screams fake AI. Not what the user wanted at all.

And of course, the guys building these AI systems might figure out a workaround for that but maybe by then people will have figured out that our current fixation on AI is really just a stupid technology bubble, like NFT apes.

Here's hoping.

[nibblemon]

Tell us about your idea!!

AWAAAGHHG ok so. This is a Somewhat Rough Concept and the characters have no name atm but it goes something like (this ended up way longer than i meant for it to be oops):

The protagonist is a witch, from a famous family known for their very powerful sea magic. In this world, witches come of age around age 14 with a very important ceremony where they get to summon a familiar, with which they will form a very strong bond that helps them focus their magic and control it more easily. This ceremony is also the first step of the Big Important Journey all witches must go on to learn new magic and find their place in the world.

Our witch (whom ill just call Witch for now) is unfortunately a very anxious type and struggles a lot with harnessing her magic. She's unfortunately already failed her summoning ceremony a few times, which means that shes Very Late!! to her magic journey. And coming from such a prestigious family only puts more pressure on her, which messes with the already very weak control she has over her magic.

A few days before the newest attempt at her familiar ceremony, she meets a seagull who claims to be a human who was turned into a bird by a vengeful sea spirit and, having realized that she's a witch, begs for her help in breaking the curse. Witch, tender hearted as she is, wants to help! But, as she explains, curse breaking is advanced magic she can't study yet, as she doesn't have a familiar and is thus not allowed access to the parts of her family's library that would contain information about it.

After Witch finishes explaining her struggles with the ceremony as well, Seagull (placeholder name too)offers a solution: to simply fake a successful summoning, giving the witch access to the information needed to help Seagull, who would in turn help her find a real familiar later on. Witch accepts despite her worries because she's desperate to get this ceremony thing over with and also is kind of a doormat and easily convinced.

Alas, the day of the ceremony Something goes wrong and leads to them being well and truly bonded as master and familiar, with magic so strong and ancient it's generally believed to be impossible to break! And, to Witch's surprise, it turns out that Seagull is not, in fact, a human who was cursed, but rather a sea wind spirit who pissed off a much much stronger spirit and got herself stuck in bird form with no magic.

Seagull is incredibly pissed to be stuck with this doormat of a witch, because her plan was to get into the library, find information on how to break the curse and then ditch the idiot. And instead, here they are, stuck together. But! there is a silver lining: they figure out that through the link, Seagull can use Witch as a sort of battery pack and get access to a fraction of her powers.

They scour the massive library Witch's family owns, and find little to no information about how to break either the curse or the familiar bond, with just a few hints about some Myserious witch who was banished for figuring out how to break their own bond. With that being their only clue, our duo decides to embark on the previously mentioned Big Journey and look for more information.

And so start the adventures of the world's most cringefail sea witch and her mean bossy seagull familiar!

I picture this as like. a cute little adventure game where you have a boat and go from island to island, learning new magic, helping people, and looking for clues about both this banished witch and how to break Seagull's curse. ^_^ Possibly w some bonus uncovering a bigger quest surrounding the myserious witch, who knows. Im not great at coming up w this kind of stuff hsnfnfj

Like i said IDK that it'll ever get anywhere because, as previously mentioned, i'm awful at keeping to projects and also have Absolutely No Knowledge of how video games get made. But it's fun to think about! Daydreaming about cute little pixel sprites for my sillies....

Also here's my current drafts for the sea witch design (still subject to change):

i have a few design notes on her but i need to go to bed rn HDBFNFH

[writingnotes520]

Happy April, here's a happy April :)

this is the Rivalry Recast/Shakespeare Karma AU (Theater Kid Hell Edition) version of April because she's a separate person from Anne in that AU, being Will and Anne's daughter who just takes a lot after her mother.

Here's just some more information on that April because I love her:

She and Romeo are mutuals on tumblr. She knows who he is but he doesn't know that she's his director's daughter. April keeps hinting to him about his school's next show or what the cast list will be, since she knows from her dad, but Romeo isn't aware of this and thinks she's some sort of psychic.

She loves funky makeup

It's very pixelated because the screenshot wasn't cooperating but the bracelets on her right arm are bead friendship bracelets, closer to the hand is a purple one that says "MAY" and the other is a dark pink/magenta one that says "JULIET"

She goes to the school that Anne teaches at, but doesn't have her for any classes. Mostly due to this, most people have never seen both in the same room together.

The fact that they look similar and are supposedly never seen together leads those who know April to have the theory that Anne is a shapeshifter who's just pretending to have a daughter and it's actually her in a younger form

May and Juliet are the main investigators of this theory. They know Anne has a secret but want to gather enough evidence first

April knows about the shapeshifter theory, and makes up fake evidence. Sometimes she goes to school wearing a really similar outfit to Anne, and she always brings her makeup bag to school and keeps it in or on Anne's desk.

April's main color is green, but more foresty/naturey green than Anne

She's a techie, so it's easier for her to avoid being in the same vicinity of her blocking director mother during rehearsals and keep the students guessing. It's not decided what she exactly does though

She's silly and I love her :)

[mar64ds]

What's some random fun facts you can drop about the characters? They don't have to be plot-relevant, just little tidbits that give some insight into who they are in general

Ooh sure :)

-FUN used to be very happy and positive and never allowed itself to show any negative emotion. It was awful. Thankfully, GAMES made it mad enough one day that they finally let it all out -GAMES had another asigned friend before FUN. Things did not end very well for them. -Aside from tests, FUN likes to draw, GAMES likes crafting. Their original names were going to be ART and CRAFT.

-Hammer and Wrench’s heads look like that cause in THAT day they kind of got in a small fight when Wrench tried to stop Hammer. Nothing too bad and they both look awesome, but yeah that’s why they look so different. -Hammer is aro but not ace, she is a demigirl too. Wrench is bi and trans. -They both opened a business together even if they have two completely different jobs

-Keys is ace but not aro, as well as gay. -Keys likes trains, he would like to build one some day but it might be a bit difficult now -Keys gets along well with everyone but struggled forming deep connections cause of the fake niceness and happiness that is a core part of these labs. The one program he was very closed with was Ray, and that didn’t end very well.

-Pixels is quite literally made out of pixels. They are an emulation. -Pixels is very self-centered, selfish and rude. Not much of what a good friend is supposed to be. -Pixels can be a little forgetful.

-BadFriend is extremely self-aware. Not in the ‘they know they are on a videogame’ sort of way but in the very self-conscious way where they constantly hear themself talk and they do NOT like it. They do break the fourth wall at times, but as a joke only. They lack friendship skills but have way too much self-aware skills. -BadFriend was borned (awaken) without a left arm. -BadFriend didn’t choose that name.

-Enemy started the whole ‘friendship hating’ thing. She has her reasons. She met Knight before Knife, they worked together for a while before Knife joined them. -Enemy’s sword is a flashlight whose electricity is modified to be like a lightsaber -Enemy is a very unique sort of program, she is not a testprogram, hugprogram, etc

-Knight is a very kind friend, they have no problem with the friendship tests, but for very personal struggles decided to join Enemy’s rebellion against B.F.P. -Knight’s clothing style is directly based on the protagonist of one of her favorite books, who they feel very connected to -Knight uses a cane, but sometimes switches to using a wheelchair, from act 5 to the ending of the game you’ll see him in their wheelchair.

-Knife was considered to be terrible at xer old job as a hugprogram. Xe prefers xer new job as a friendship hater, where xe is actually treated with care and respect by Knight and Enemy -Knife wears sunglasses cause it makes xem look cool but also for… something else -Knife can be seen as a bit of an airhead but xe is smarter than programs give xem credit for. Xe is for example pretty good at hacking computers (regular computers, NOT programs). Simple hacking but that’s better than nothing.

-Nick is considered to be one of the smartest techprograms in the labs. -Nick and Keys were coworkers once. -Nick remembers the old organisms pretty well.

-Exe binge-watches TV a lot. She can stay on a room for days watching really bad shows. -The experiment that gets along with Exe the most is Spike. -Her and FriendProgram are the same! :)

-Waterbottle used to be the best weaponprogram of them all. Very strong and destructive. -Waterbottle has never had a real friend. -Waterbottle’s name is meaningful, is more than just a little joke

-FriendProgram is the first case of a program being able to hide their corruption. -FriendProgram’s favorite color is not red. -FriendProgram had a lot of fun using that drill. Breaking things is fun.

-BestFriendProgram just wants everyone to be a good friend.

[tanukitsuneko-suki]

build episode 11 thoughts:

- banjo’s right. where the fuck is he keeping all these. does he have an extra-dimensional pocket like doraemon

- girl we’re just asking politely 😭 do you have it up your ass or ? 😭😭

- aww they got a little basketball ring for banjo to play with… good enrichment for fugitive cats ❤️

- THEIR SILLY LITTLE HEIGHT DIFFERENCE (sento’s just stepping on a platform probably)

- I WAITED SO LONG FOR THIS. BANJO-KUN!!!!!! what’s his kamen rider name i need to know….. is it dragonkey(??) keydragon(???) still

- did bloodstalk just NUKE a guy out of existence in pixels. TWO GUYS????

- i do think it’s a bit intimate that banjo’s driver is from sento and made by sento. in the other kr series i’m watching it’s usually from a 3rd party mad scientist of some sort

- THEY MADE A NEST FOR THE DRAGON 🥺

- ….it’s beginning. the gradual disappearance of the silly main rider’s smiles as the series progresses. this happened to *** and *** before. it’s happening again 😭

- I HAVE TO SAY. SENTO LOOKS REALLY GOOD WHEN HE’S SOLEMN. WHAT A HANDSOME GUY

- oh my god this guy in fishing attire is banjo?? ENOUGHH😭

- MY BAD HE’S A BIRDWATCHER

- oh. Ah. “here’s my chance to transform ~ :D” “no it isn’t. you can’t handle it right now” god. okay. sure man. overprotective wife. god

- did nightrouge even try

- BANJO HUGGING THE PLUSHY. THAT WAS FOR HIM?? 😭 girlfriend-shaped

- YEAH MIITAN SNIFF OUT THAT FAKE B😭😭

- it’s the way banjo’s slowly becoming a cosplay master that sends me

- username “no mi-tan no life” oh i miss you sora and shiro

- if i have a penny every time a blue-themed secondary rider with brown-toned hair that lowkey dislikes the silly main rider has a dead girlfriend, i would have two pennies. which isn’t a lot but it’s weird it happened twice. welcome back kagami hiiro

- WAKE UP BURNING GET CROSS-Z DRAGON LMFAOOOOO EVEN HIS RIDER NAME IS SUCH A HATER 😭😂😭😭😭

- AND A SWORD TOO. HELLO KAMEN RIDER BRAVE

- banjo as a d&d character is a warrior who has a legendary sword as a weapon but instead of slash dmg it’s just 1000 punches

- sento..

[architeuthis3]

all the same to me. absent. see the 8-bit pixelated Mario spit fire through time one up for part 3 grab the p wing and fly hiatus for the super Nintendo series i thought genesis games were superior and started researching the 3do. game technology from pixels to polygons to texture mapped mythology. to digital lives catalogued methodically in massive secure memory banks owned by the NSA renting ass in mass via TikTok scam pretty titty click bait. … relations replaced. but wait, they were never there in the first place. they were fake and absent. Zelda 64 stumped me. for months after my first heart break i sat on the floor of the apartment i had rented working minimum wage and coping with severe alcoholism while mitigating bus stop rage in between managers at a paint store i simply knew and referred to as the latest iteration of a sentence in hell. the pissy runt assistant manager encouraged the good-hearted nice guy manager to do a deal for a contractor before getting the pissy bastard district manager's permission. then after he made the deal called the higher ups and squealed. plotting to take his job like the runt rat piece of shit he was. is, probably - unless he was killed or crushed by a falling anvil like a loony toon or eaten by a large Venus fly trap from a pixilated shop of horrors way back that sprouted from the cracks spreading under his feet. live on lies and don't be surprised when they come back to beat your worthless skin head bitch ass like you deserve. was once a friend i heard - i thought but that's sort of like thinking the stripper you bought is in love with you. what cash will do. digital scores on a screen defining dreams and allotting a limit on what you can see touch and feel… huh. so - if i go to my bank account sub screen tonight - hit up up down down left right left right b a start might i have as many points as Muskrat's stooges rolling joints of embalming fluid dipped pig shit and handing it out to a populace made ignorant from the destruction of public education and lifetimes spent on Sony's PlayStations and love is nothing but masturbation and life is nothing but misinformation and hatred of a your own misery and enforced slavery requires medication and abortions aren't effective birth control you insist to her after the last visitation and cervical cancer sprouted after we returned from vacation and nothing adds up in this equation and I'm still sitting on the floor of an unfurnished apartment off of Wadsworth stuck on this level of Zelda 64 and my Ocarina of Time is out of tune and soon I'll have to go back out into the zoom zoom highways filled with twisted metal wreckage fantasies, mounted machineguns on jalopies driven by death and laughing clowns is how the final chapter is looking to be going down and all reason and rationale is absent. the confusion is paranormal. tragic. hold on a minute and mumble to god with me. maybe some magic will happen. reconnect to what's absent.

the blue one