#final fantasy 14 demo

[ponyartistbrainiac]

just finished a realm reborn (now I gotta do the ost realm reborn) I mostly draw ponies so I drew this of me and my friends after we won

Im a little lizurd dragoon

[chryza]

my friend is playing the ff7 rebirth demo and i know literally nothing about final fantasy that isnt 14 so I'm like "Cloud Strife occupies the same part of my brain as Leon Kennedy ie 'I want that twink obliterated'" and he goes "the only thing you need to know about Cloud Strife is that he has mental issues." like okay sure who can confirm

[pumpkin-spike18]

✨Weekly Progress 2024 #18-21✨

oh... shit, it's been a month since the last update huh 💦

Well, I hope it's very obvious why that is! In the few weeks before the announcement, I was preparing marketing posts and promo arts so I didn't want to ruin the surprise via a devlog!

Weekly Progress #18

Programmed SYVNH gallery

Made a programming to do list

Updated variables

[Fan project] Planning

Tested SYVNH main game, Side B

Programmed cheat codes

Programmed choice jumping

Made marketing plan and sketches

Updated SYVNH Guide

Drafted Post Mortem

Refined countdown sketches

(SYVNH as a whole project was finished at this point)

Weekly Progress #19

Fin 4 Promo art

Generated 14 SFB BGs

Tested SFB shading methods

Rendered Avia SFB sprite

Play tested for Canvas Menagerie

Scheduled SYVNH announcements and promo posts

Rendered Raven SFB base sprite

Wrote 981 words for KHP

(SYVNH full game release announcement was made at this point)

Weekly Progress #20

Rendered Raven SFB sprite

[Fan Project] flat color (x4)

Worked on [BL RPG] world building & outline

Sketched [BL RPG] chibis

Revised SYVNH Guide/Post Mortem

Sketched [BL RPG] faces

Weekly Progress #21

Drafted SYVNH game page updates

Finished Dove SFB sprite

Evaluated SFB fight scenes

Finished 4/4 [fan project] illustrations

Started P^3 designs

Released SYVNH!! 🎉🎉🎉

I'm sure everyone knows with how often I've been saying it, buuuut!!

The full version of Stuck in a Yandere Visual Novel...HELP!! is now released and available to play for free!!

Itch is currently down for me so I hope that link I copied from previous posts will work once it goes back up.

At 2.5 years of work, this has been my longest creative project yet. I think I've said everything I could in the post-mortem for the project. It has been a huge mountain for me to climb and I'm glad I finally got through it. A lot of things have changed since I started working on this project, some good, some bad, most of which I can't really discuss. But it is over and I am proud of myself for it.

I'm also really relieved that folks have been enjoying the ending! I was definitely very worried that I did not drop enough hints and it would come way too out of left field.

So once again, thank you everyone for giving my project a chance and sticking with me for 2.5 years to reach the ending. Thank you so much!! 🙇‍♂️🙇‍♂️ This is more than I've ever dreamed for and I hope I can continue to bring good stories for folks to enjoy!

A Sky of Falling Birds

Once I was done with SYVNH, I got to work on my next big project because I can't sit still. I haven't a marketing plan for SFB yet. It's a very different story and vibe from SYVNH. I think the only similarity are the length of the main character's bangs.

I'm tentatively aiming to release SFB for BAF VN Jam.

(Ad break!

Do you like shounen manga?? Do you like making VNs?? Consider joining Battle Action Fantasy Visual Novel Jam 2024! We're hosting a game jam focused on action stories with our beloved shounen tropes!! Join today!!)

Oh god that was terrible, don't put me on the spot like that, me.

Anyways, A Sky of Falling Birds is a yuri-ish visual novel about depression, finding a will to live, and the end of the world.

It's yuri-ish because you have two "love interests" who aren't lovey-dovey to you at all. In fact, one of them might murder you before the game ends. The main portion of the script has been finished at about 20k+ words and the sprites are done. It's time I made a proper roadmap for creation of this VN('s demo).

(Oh, what's that? Does one of their silhouette look familiar? I wonder...)

A Variety of Unnamed BL Projects

+ a named not-BL project

Although SFB is closer to being finished, I can't help but be tempted by these new ideas I have... and start designing for them.

Last time I talked about P^3, I finished the outline. There is still no title. But I worked on some potential designs for the MC and the two LIs.

I am both unhappy and un-done with LI2's outfit. They're actually a bit plain compared to my other designs, but this story's a historical (Victorian) fantasy and only LI2 is close to the upper crust of society that would wear flowing dress... shirts with lots of ribbons.

I'm still working on how to best summarize this story. But perhaps it's a little more "what would you do for family" than love story.

The other BL project, which I've named [BL RPG] is a story set in a modern fantasy society. There is turn based gameplay for this project. I had their designs finished a while back, but I finally put colors to the remainder of the cast for Part 1.

(Oh, this will be a long one, my friends...)

The outline isn't done yet.

This is a story about kissing boys, taming punks, and maybe over throwing the government.

The last of my "projects I worked on mindlessly now that SYVNH is done" I worked on this past... month is Killer Hiding Place (KHP). This is the next entry into the Kill Series and something I had outlined since last year. I kept trying to start writing it, but I keep running into trouble on how I want to tell the story. I originally intended to do another manga-esque format like that of Exorcist Killing Lie, but this protagonist tends to monologue a lot, making it difficult to put in manga form.

Other...!

I finished 4 images for a fan project, and I'm still behind on another part of that project 😢 That'll be my focus for this week...

I also did some playtesting for @arimiadev's upcoming BL visual novel Canvas Menagerie!! It's a soft and comfy SoL BL story about the struggles of being an actor.

It also has one of the best lines I've ever read in a visual novel.

You can play the Canvas Menagerie demo for free on itch!

Whew! That was a long one!

But that's all the info I got for this... month. Look forward to... next week...??? Let's go with the positive expectation that I will be able to make weekly devlogs again ahaha...

Bye-bye, Pumpkin out!

[moistmailman]

Final Fantasy 14’s demo is so funny because it’s the entire base game AND first expansion. They are literally just giving the player the entire game for free.

[blackknightax]

Today let's add a final fantasy characters. So first let's discuss something about the ones we already have. They are both form the same video game, Final Fantasy 7. This makes sense, because, fun fact Final Fantasy 7 was actually the first Final Fantasy released to Europe. Because, I'm not sure why. I assume money is the reason because money is always the reason. So, I have a bit of a hot take...

Sephiroth, is the single, worst choice we could have gotten as the second Final Fantasy reprehensive. I would have said this if it were Tifa, Barret or even Cait Sith. In general, if had been another from 7, I would've said this. But Sephiroth especially feels that way to me. Maybe I just don't like Sephiroth...... Anyhow.

The legacy of Final Fantasy is kinda nuts. It's hard to say there isn't a person who hasn't played or watched someone play at least one Final Fantasy game. I've played 3, maybe 4. I've played final fantasy 4 on PS1 and DS, I played Final Fantasy 9, I've played and disliked 10 which I know is also a hot take but I won't expand on that, and I played a demo of Final Fantasy 14. I have only finished the DS version of 4 and I consider it my favorite but I ever finished 9 it would probably be my favorite, I love 9's mechanics. There are now 16 numbered games and countless spinoffs some of which are even still RPG's, and I didn't count the two sequel games and especially the remakes. It is so strange to me to get just, another 7 character, when the legacy of this franchise is bigger, so much bigger than Cloud or Sephiroth ever will be. So I want to acknowledge the franchise's legacy with my choice... Is what I would say if I wasn't instead being a stupid biased idiot man. I've chosesn, to be a fair a fan favorite.

Mr Kain Highwind! From Final Fantasy 4, he's a Dragoon who has always been a bit of a fan fave. He's one of mine too. Kain Highwind is a very important character to Final Fantasy 4 but it's a massive spoiler to say why. But he's also on the box art doing this same pose, it's why I chose this particular artwork. A very cool spear wielding character in armor. So let's move set shall we?

For the Neutral B he performs the spell haste and gains a temporary speed boost.

For the Up B he uses an ability that used to be his signature, Jump. He jumps up into the air, very high, I'm thinking like, all of Kirby's jumps high? i dunno. Either way he then falls dramatically down, doing massive damage upon landing. Maybe one of his main kill moves?

For the Side B he performs a thrust with his spear while lunging forward. It will do a bunch of hits as it makes contact with the enemy. No Special fall when using it in the air

For the Down B he holds up his spear and performs a basic counter attack. Based on the defend command.

Final Fantasy 4 is a fan favorite of the series and Kain is a fan favorite form that game. It's quite possible Kain is the second most popular party member in the series but I might be projecting... I also hold the opinion that I don't really like Cloud.

[darthjader2005]

A Story To Tell ~ A Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Fanfic

By: DarthJader2005

Summery:

Jade Fair is Zack Fair's little sister. They're 6 years apart in age. The tale she tells begins of when she was 8, and Zack was 14. Zack joins SOLDIER at 14, and Jade ends up going to Shin-ra with her parents. She rarely ever sees Zack anymore, which makes her very sad.

Her curiosity gets the best of her, which leads to a disaster that threatens her life. But once she's cleared of that threat, she is moved to Nibelheim, to live with a family friend, without her family.

There, she meets a young boy, who's a year older than her, named Cloud Strife. Cloud is a very shy, distant child who never engages himself with other children. Except Jade. Once he warms up to her, he soon realizes there's more to her story and is interested.

Many years later, Zack stops writing to Jade. Which worries her, once she turns 13, she enlists in SOLDIER. Alongside Cloud.

I, of course, do NOT OWN Final Fantasy VII. Nore do I own any of the characters except Jade. All the credit goes to the brilliant minds of Square Enix. Thank you!

A/N: I had chapter one done before Rebirth was released. I watched the Demo and I got a story idea and, well, you know how that goes heh. I am working on chapter two as we speak, and yes, chapter one is out. I hope you'll check it out!

Available on:

Wattpad:

A3O:

Quotev:

[alicelufenia]

musings on FFXVI story based on the demo (tl;dr not feeling so hype anymore)

So yeah obviously it's going to be a well written and competently made story that will make you feel many things. What I'm unhype about is, much like 14's story, it's looking to be very uncritical with the way it portrays women.

The first inkling of it was that interview where YoshiP answered a question about in-universe diversity by falling back on an appeal to "reality" as many Western fantasy authors do when they want to excuse why their fantasy worlds seem to always be populated by white people. So "mature fantasy" for this team already means borrowing some of the uglier sides of Western fantasy uncritically.

So it's no surprise that apparently the "narrative boundaries" demand a story where the very first female character we see uses sex appeal in a military negotiation, then has what I can only describe as "bad guy sex" in the hallway immediately after. Very empowering, much girlboss.

But okay, she's a villain and villain sexy. What about the other women so far?

Well, one's completely helpless and is MIA at the end of the demo (though apparently survives) and the other is the main villain of the first chapter, who tries to seduce the Extremely Based dad but is rebuked because her feminity exists in the story as a weapon, and at the end has both her (set dressing, non-character) hand maidens executed for shock value and to show how irredeemable she is, but in a Evil Noble Woman way.

I swear it is like the game is looking at you the player and giving you permission to shout "YOU BITCH" at the screen. Literally every stream I've watched you can predict when the chat will be full of that down to the second.

Also, no women in the Shields. Gee I wonder why. Will we see the in-universe sexism confronted at any point? Or is it just part of the western fantasy aesthetic? Who can say, time will tell.

But what it's telling me so far is that the writers see feminity in two shades. Weak and Helpless, or Manipulating [insert gendered slur here]. And I mean it when I say it's horribly gendered. Men are badass in a variety of ways--strength of arms, noble blood, royal authority, dying from Cool Explosions or dying on their feet weapons drawn. Women's options for power are so far, being nobles and wielding political power, or having to flee or get cut down unawares by random soldiers (can you tell I hate that scene?)

Even Beneditka is only a badass because she's a Dominant--y'know one of the singularly most powerful individuals in the setting--and throws the most embarrassing tantrum I've ever seen on screen after being defeated, and she is supposed to be a person in a position of command. Like you look me in the eye and tell me you could see ANY of the male characters acting that way, even if they're characterized as horribly unhinged?

So yeah, after an initial spike of excitement I think I'm gonna pass on XVI until much later, and hearing how the story and characters shake out. But I don't have faith in these writers when THIS was their tone setter.

tl;dr - more fantasy sexism, but a mature rating means they can be so much worse with it now. At least it plays well.

[linuxgamenews]

Discover the Dark Secrets of Whispers of the Eyeless

Whispers of the Eyeless dark fantasy strategy RPG game demo is due to hit Linux and Steam Deck with Windows PC. Thanks to the creativity of Evil Gingerbread Studio. Due to make its way onto Steam soon. Whispers of the Eyeless is an upcoming dark fantasy strategy RPG that’s already getting attention. And it’s certainly easy to see why. Developed by Camlann Games and Evil Gingerbread Studio, this game is led by Venris, who you might know from the massively popular overhaul mod for Total War: Warhammer—SFO. So now, the team is back with a new project, and it's shaping up to be something special.

Yes! Currently playable on Steam Deck. Devs are testing Linux compatibility currently for the demo ahead of Next Fest.

When I reached out to Evil Gingerbread Studio, they confirmed plans for a Whispers of the Eyeless Linux build. For now, the game is playable on Steam Deck through Proton. It’s built on Unity, and it’s great to see the studio committed to a Linux and Steam Deck port, including support for the demo. However, the final decision for the demo will also depend on how testing goes.

Whispers of the Eyeless Announcement Trailer

Here’s some more good news: Evil Gingerbread Studio is going to be at Steam Next Fest this month. The demo will be available from October 14-21, along with a live developer stream to answer any burning questions you’ve got. So, what’s Whispers of the Eyeless all about? Imagine a mix of Darkest Dungeon, Loop Hero, Children of Morta, and a touch of Polish folklore. In this game, you’re leading a dark cult in the medieval city of Aranthor. Your mission? Infiltrate the city, build up your secret sanctum, fight in tough turn-based battles, and ultimately bring the Dead Gods back to life. You’ll have a lot on your plate—upgrading your base, customizing characters, and going on quests that push the story forward.

Here’s why this game stands out from others in the genre:

Art Style: The dark comic art really makes the world of Aranthor come to life.

Deep Character Customization: Tons of ways to level up your characters and adjust your strategy.

Base Building: You’ll improve your sanctum and level up your cult for some long-term rewards.

Unique Quest System: Whispers of the Eyeless offers a quest progression system that keeps things fresh.

Loads to Discover: Hundreds of skills, powers, items, upgrades, and locations to find.

Satisfying Endgame: The final goal? Complete city domination.

Fans are already — so much so that Whispers of the Eyeless finished a 500% funded Kickstarter campaign. Which is helping to bring it to Early Access and beyond. Slava Heretz, CEO of Camlann Games, couldn’t be more excited. He’s been hooked on the demo for a while, saying, "From the art style to the gameplay loop, I’ve been playing non-stop. The nine different character classes each bring something new, and they’re all a blast to play!" Also, for the upcoming build, expect about an hour of gameplay. You’ll get a taste of the tutorial and five quests (including part of the main story). You can try out three of the character classes depending on the path you choose. If this sounds like your kind of thing, keep an eye out for Whispers of the Eyeless to hit Early Access late 2024 or early 2025 on Steam and GOG. Also, don’t miss the chance to check the dark fantasy strategy RPG out at Steam Next Fest this month. Due to be playable on Linux and Steam Deck, and Windows PC

[ponyartistbrainiac]

Part 4 if my final fantasy demo adventures

[jcmarchi]

Everything Announced At Today’s Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/everything-announced-at-todays-nintendo-direct-partner-showcase/

Everything Announced At Today’s Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase

Today’s Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase has come and gone, and the presentation revealed a number of third-party announcements and several release dates for previously known games coming to Switch. If you don’t feel like sitting through the 25-minute presentation, here’s a quick summary of the event’s notable updates.

Grounded And Pentiment Come To Switch

Two of the four mysterious Xbox titles coming to other consoles were revealed, both from Obsidian Entertainment. Grounded comes to Switch on April 16, while Pentiment arrives tomorrow, February 22. 

Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist – Summer 2024

Set within the world of Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knight, the game sees characters defeating and teaming with deadly homunculi to rescue a devastated world.

Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure – Summer 2024

Set in an interconnected puzzle world, you’ll navigate on a grid where everything moves when you move. You’ll take down monsters, help townfolk, and, of course, solve puzzles.

Unicorn Overlord Gets A Demo Today

We’ve seen a lot of VanillaWare’s beautiful turn-based strategy game, but now we can finally play it ahead of its March 8 release. 

Monster Hunter Stories – Summer 2024

The 2017 Nintendo 3DS RPG spin-off of Monster Hunter is heading to Switch (as well as PlayStation 4 and Steam). In addition to HD visuals, this port includes new voiceovers, a museum mode, and additional content previously only available in Japan. 

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed – 2024

2011’s Epic Mickey is getting touched up for a comeback on Switch. The enhanced remake includes updated graphics, new skills for Mickey, and other improvements. You can learn more here. 

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance – June 21

This definitive version of SMT V includes the base adventure along with a new storyline featuring new locations and demons. 

Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection – March 14

The original Battlefront games have been remastered and updated with features such as new playable characters Kit Fisto  and Asajj Ventress and bonus maps Jabba’s Palace, Bespin: Cloud City, and Yavin 4: Arena. 

Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream – 2024

Either alone or with a friend in co-op, you’ll tackle a distorted version of Sword Art Online that includes battling in 20-player raids against powerful enemies. 

Gundam Breaker 4 – 2024

Build your own Gundam, blow up other mechs, take their parts for your own ,and repeat. For Gunpla fans, the real thrill is assembling your own suits with parts from 250 base kits to take into battle or show off to others. 

Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble – June 25

Sega revealed a brand-new Super Monkey Ball game featuring 200 fresh courses, 16-player multiplayer, and new moves for AiAi and friends. You can learn more here. 

World of Goo 2 – May 23 console exclusive

The long-awaited sequel comes to Switch first as a console exclusive this May

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time – October 10

The Fantasy Life series gets a new chapter in which you can assume 14 different roles called Lives to build a town in the present and explore an island in the past to solve mysteries. You can also play in four-player co-op. 

Another Crab’s Treasure – April 25

As a hermit crab who’s lost its shell, you’re on an adventure to reclaim it. This involves using any piece of trash in a polluted ocean as a temporary shell, each with different abilities, to defend or attack underwater threats.

Penny’s Big Breakaway – Out today!

This throwback 3D platformer from the makers of Sonic Mania is out now! You can learn more here. 

Suika Game Multiplayer Mode Expansion

The adorable (and hard to put down) fruit-matching game gets paid DLC that adds a local 2-player battle mode, and the eventual addition of online multiplayer. Time Limit and Attack modes join the base game’s offerings. 

Pepper Grinder – March 28, Demo Out Today

The drill-centric platformer looks great and, if you checked out its recent Steam Next Fest demo, plays just as good. It’s got a release date and a free demo for Switch players to enjoy. 

Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On! – Out On Switch Today

The formerly iOS-exclusive sequel to Pocket Card Jockey is coming back home to a Nintendo console

Contra: Operation Galuga – March 12, Demo Out Now

This modern reimagining of the original NES Contra, which features six playable characters, now has a release date. 

Rare games on Switch Online

A bundle of classic Rare games come to Nintendo Switch Online: Snake Rattle ‘N’ Roll, R.C. Pro-Am, Battletoads in Battlemaniacs, Killer Instinct, and Blast Corps. Learn more here.

Endless Ocean Luminous – May 2

This new Endless Ocean title plunges players into an everchanging open ocean. You can dive alone or alongside up to 30 players online, where you’ll encounter 500 species of marine life, including extinct creatures. 

Additionally, here are some quick hits:

Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley – March 7

Demon Slayer – Kimestsu no Yaiba – Sweep the Board! – April 26

Kingdom Come: Deliverance – Royal Edition – March 15

[almostjollyprince]

100ish Days of Productivity: I fell behind

I uh... fell behind on this. Not because I wanted to, but I'm being pulled in a number of directions and just not finding the time for this like I would have liked.

Day 12 - Jan 15 2024 This was a holiday. I studied a bit for my certification and then spent the rest of the day jumping between other games (Final Fantasy 14 was down for a day-long maintenance for the upcoming patch and infrastructure expansions) and planning out my D&D campaigns. I got an update from the artist I'm commissioning regarding the token I need for my Saturday campaign, and the work so far looks great. I'm excited to see the end result. There's a lot I want to talk about regarding games. Like how one of my friends reminded me that Palworld was finally entering early access later this week (he's super excited for it because he's one of the many people who are disappointed with the direction Game Freak has been going with Pokemon) or how Enshrouded was coming out next week. I'm hesitant on Palworld if only because PocketPair has a habit of making games but not finishing the polish on them. Like, excluding Palworld, they have 3 other games that have been in early access since 2020 (one game per year or something) and they still haven't fulfilled their promises for any of those games. For a game with a lot of promises and expectations, it'd be a real shame if Palworld fell to the wayside. Enshrouded on the other hand I'm neutral on what I'm hoping to expect from it. I dabbled a bit in their playtest but I didn't put in the full 8 hours available for the demo. Sure there's plenty to see, but... it felt empty? Not on the same scope as Pokemon Scarlet/Violet or Breath of the Wild. All their scenic environments are gorgeous, but I was hoping to find something interesting for going in some direction. Enshrouded has a lot of what I call "mountains and valleys". Your mountains are your safe points because the valley is where the shroud is and that's full of danger. But if you wanted to go to the mountain that's across the way from your current location in the hopes of finding something (didn't have to be lore-related), when you did finally make the journey to get there, there was nothing of interest. There's a healthy balance game devs need to find between oversaturating the overworld with points of interest (and handholding the players to get there) and just... not having anything of interest in that general direction. I guess I'm hoping Enshrouded will be closer to that ideal balance than say, Horizon: Zero Dawn and Breath of the Wild.

Day 13 - Jan 16 2024 I was reminded today at work that we have a new employee starting next week and that one of the other people we were hiring wasn't going to be able to start anytime soon for reasons I'm not allowed to discuss. Updated the work schedule to adjust for that information and just worked with the junior devs to get the project going. After work was... Final Fantasy 14's latest patch. The wife and I were talking about running the last bit of the Main Story Quest together, and we very much enjoyed the new character they introduced that'll be integral to the next expansion. I also wrapped up the new quests that dropped, collected the rewards, and... hm. I guess aside from gathering the currency for various things all that's left is achievement hunting. Not really looking forward to that. There's raiding, I suppose, but I don't have the time to commit several hours a night for multiple days of the week trying to face Savage or Ultimate content (both of which are among the hardest tiers of difficulty for various raids). The D&D campaign that I play in on Tuesdays was supposed to start today, but the DM pushed it back another two weeks. The DM that runs that campaign happens to be a player in my other campaigns and she looks up to me for DMing D&D games, so I'll have to do my best to meet and exceed her (and the other players) expectations.

Day 14 - Jan 17 2024 It is Wednesday my dudes. Work ended up being a lot planning, and the bossman who was supposed to come out this week to talk to the team in person couldn't make it, so there'll be a different meeting later in the week in regards to that. There's also talks of my project getting started up again, but we'll see where that goes. I honestly don't think I'll hear anything regarding it until later next month. After work, I played Monster Hunter World to get caught up to the wife who's already in Iceborne content. I'm... not particularly thrilled about rerunning this unskippable content again, and my thoughts on it can be found in a previous post. The big thing I'm concerned about regarding Monster Hunter has been Capcom's attitude towards their player base ever since a certain event happened involving a Street Fighter tournament a while back. I'll skip the details of what happened, but essentially their view is 'any modification to our games is a bad modification' and they've been installing anti-cheat software in all their games that have been released in the past couple of years or are still available on various platforms. This particular anti-cheat software is apparently causing significant performance issues, and when the issue was brought up, the response from the people who owned that particular anti-cheat software was... not that great. I didn't like the direction most AAA game companies have been going in for a while, but we've pretty much reached the point where those companies are now like "you don't own the games you buy" as a means of trying to stop people from developing mods for those games. I don't use mods for most games (at best I have a couple of mods for Lethal Company), but I get why mods exist as well as why companies are turning against the modding community. If you honestly need a hot take from me in regards to my opinion on modding, it's "don't change the rating of the game with your mods. *cough cough NSFW mods cough cough*."

Day 15 - Jan 18 2024 The team had a meeting with the bossman. He has high hopes for the team and is trying to get us more work. It'd be cool if we had more stuff to work on, but he also put a hiring freeze on the team. It was a weird choice and I'm wondering if there's corporate politics going on, but that's above my paygrade and not really my problem at the moment. Aside from the meeting, it was mostly working on setting up validation checks on our input boxes. There were some issues which I think I've managed to narrow down to it being that one of our component libraries isn't playing nice with the others. I have brought this up to the senior devs but I don't know if it'll get addressed or if we'll get direction on what to do regarding it. It would be nice if we had some sort of document that kept track of known issues (not necessarily bugs, but like... technical difficulties), but I guess the only way one will exist is if I make it. After work I played Among Us with some friends. For the uninitiated, you and a bunch of other players have to complete a bunch of objectives while also trying to identify who the killer is. There's a bunch of games out there with similar concepts (Town of Salem comes to mind), but this one is probably the best known one. I didn't have a particularly good time playing this last time (public servers are rampant with cheating that just leaves you in a bad mood at the end of the game), but I figured a private server with friends would be better. And to be honest, it was. It's not the usual friends I game with, but I've acknowledged that if I wanna play games that my usual friends won't play I'll have to seek out those friends that do want to play it. I had a blast playing with them, and I'm hoping we'll get to play again soon. If they're not going to be playing Palworld non-stop, that is...

Day 16 - Jan 19 2024 We got some unfortunate news regarding one of our juniors. The team's already pretty small but with their upcoming departure it'll be even smaller. It didn't seem like they had much of a plan about what they'd do or what living arrangements they had made since they were going out of state, however. I'm sure they'll be fine. The senior devs aren't particularly thrilled about it, but they have my blessing to go seek out what will make them happy. And hey, they can always come back if things don't work out for them. Our Hardware guy is also going overseas for some company work starting sometime next week, so the team had a breakfast together to get together one more time for the hardware guy. It snowed the night before so the roads were particularly tough to navigate getting to the diner. But everyone made it despite the challenges. The rest of the day was pretty slow and the team ended up playing Jackbox.tv games the rest of the afternoon. We're ahead of schedule and we haven't received any sort of direction for the project yet (they pushed the demo day back a few weeks), so this is mostly to break up the drudgery of not having much to do. Palworld entered early access today, and unsurprisingly it's the only thing being talked about in a lot of a lot of my usual hangout places. The game was surprisingly well-put together for a game in early access (minus the clipping and out-of-bounds issues that they're going to address. Definitely a better Day 1 than what Pokemon Scarlet/Violet had with the multiplayer bugs and glitches) based on some of the gameplay I've seen, but there's... a lot of drama for it as well. People are going after it for "ripping off Nintendo's IP" in regards to how some of the Pals look, but the reality of the matter was how game journalists spun the game. Since its announcement a couple of years ago, game journalists have been calling it "Pokemon with Guns" (they do this with a lot of games - Enshrouded is "Valheim with Dark Souls combat", for instance, as a means of trying to market what a game is to people who aren't following it), but the game itself is more than just violating the Geneva Convention against fantasy creatures. PocketPair never described their game as "Pokemon with Guns". The two big issues people had with the game was 1) 'Was it made using AI assets based off of a couple of messages on X that the CEO made some time back?' and 2) 'Did they rip off Pokemon?' Jury's still out on those answers. My take, however, is 'no' to the first, and 'undecided' on the second. For the 'no' to the first question, it looked like someone twisted the words of the CEO. I don't have the messages in front of me at the moment, but when I saw those messages circulating around, it sounded more like the CEO was interested in the direction games could go with AI (I'll talk more about AI later, but let's not forget that AI is more than just asking a computer to generate art using whatever teaching materials you give it). As for the second question... Original ideas don't really exist anymore. Just because some concepts look similar to another game's concepts doesn't mean they're stealing them. Some of Gen 1's Pokemon look similar to some of the monsters from Dragon Quest (and some ideas from later Pokemon generations seemed to be taking ideas from Digimon, but that's neither here nor there). Is using Elves and Dwarves as your fantasy races ripping off Lord of the Rings? Is using dragons and dungeons ripping off Dungeons & Dragons? All of these examples fall under the "Medieval Fantasy" category. Most of the content you consume in media has existed in some form or another for centuries or millennia. Everything draws on inspiration from somewhere.

Day 17 - Jan 20 2024 It's the weekend, but not just any weekend. It's D&D weekend. I had to finish some prepwork for the session (getting my notes up regarding the temple they raided last session, writing out some concepts that have been introduced previously but finally giving the players the necessary information they need for it now that they're encountering it, finalizing some ideas, etc), but I woke up too early and ended up with some free time between when I finished the prepwork and before the session started. So I picked up Palworld. The game plays more like Ark: Survival Evolved than Pokemon. Instead of dinosaurs that you capture and use for various purposes in the game, you capture these creatures called "Pals" and use them for various purposes in the game. You're less of a Pal Trainer and more of a Monster Tamer or Beastmaster since the only time you'll properly encounter humans in the game using Pals against you is in the various towers. Otherwise, you just have various factions wielding firearms and other weapons to combat the people and Pals in the game that you yourself can fight against or sic your creatures of mass destruction upon them. And I suppose the various Pals you can fight either by yourself or with your monster buddy in the overworld and in caves. I didn't get too far in the game since I only had an hour, but I had fun with the hour I did have. D&D went pretty well. Since the players had taken care of all the major events I had planned for them in that region in the previous session, today's session was mostly figuring out where to go next. It wasn't a particularly long session, but I set up enough to leave them with a cliffhanger for the next arc. I am... intentionally leaving my individual players with bits and pieces of relevant information based on where their characters came from. It's fun to see them come together and discuss between sessions what the hell they think I have planned for them. The artist I commissioned finished the piece I requested, and I paid them for their services with an extra bonus. I think I definitely made the right call sending them information about the character for the piece to look this amazing. I'll be sure to request them again when they have an opening and commission another piece. If you take care of your artists, they will take care of you in return. I won't get the same level of care from an AI model that generates art, and that's part of the reason why I'm against the current training materials that are being used to train AI. There's a reason why Public Domain exists. You don't need to steal other people's work to generate something just because you're not creative enough or don't put in the time to make something of your own. Use the Public Domain to train your models. Don't rob someone of their hard work.

Rest Day - Jan 21 2024 Played some more Palworld. Hung out with some friends and ran some content in Final Fantasy 14. Watched a couple episodes of wrestling with some buddies as a distraction (I think it was the qualifiers for the mens and womens' Royal Rumble from last year?). The Wednesday crew plays this week so I'll need to start finalizing some things for the session coming up.

Day 18 - Jan 22 2024 The new guy started today, but he was going to be coming in a little late. The team sat in on a demo at the recommendation of the bossman. We got the new guy up to speed pretty quickly to the point where he was like "Man I didn't think I'd be able to put my hands on code on the same day I start". Normally you'd be in processing hell for a couple of weeks in this industry, but our team's pretty good about getting new employees access to what they need if not the same day they start then the day after. I had plans for him to work with one of the senior developers all week so that he could understand all the processes but unsurprisingly the senior devs got dragged into doing other stuff. It's fine. He can sit with me and my buddy for the day. After work I did some work on finalizing some details for the Wednesday D&D session. I'm not sure what it is regarding some people and their original characters but I'm always reminded of the meme with the used car salesman. "This OC can hold so much trauma and emotional baggage". I don't usually talk about my plans for either of my campaigns, but the Saturday campaign was always a story of redemption. The Wednesday campaign was something I threw together in some of my spare time so while it doesn't have the level of polish that my Saturday game has, I do try to find something that appeals to each of the players and that's a character arc for each of them. Each of the characters has some sort of emotional trauma they carry with them that the players came up with when they made their characters. One character lost the love of her life, her crew and her ship to a rival pirate. She had since gotten revenge against the pirate and reclaimed her ship, but she had once again lost the love of her life. Another character had a bitter dispute with their father about their career choices and left to become a clergyman before entering piracy. They ran into their father again by chance and had to put aside their differences to work with him to save their family and their village from being sacrificed to a great leviathan. A character currently going through their arc was neglected by their family as the runt of the litter and was picked up by their mentor to commit criminal activities before being betrayed by him. Now, an opportunity has presented itself for them to get their revenge. Will they be able to do so? We shall see~

Day 19 - Jan 23 2024 I ended up having to write up more stories for the project to give to the other developers so they could have something to work on because the senior developer who is the project lead for it was working on other stuff. The other one is stuck writing up an article for a magazine as a means of advertising the company and the team. We're short-staffed, but man, I sure wish we had some more hands to free our senior developers. Work-wise we had to figure out some issues with input validation, so we wrote some tests first to figure out how to design the code. The team doesn't usually work with Test Driven Development (everything we do is dependent on the project), but at least we can say we have some experience with it. There's still a couple of issues we need to work out, but that's a problem for another day and another pair. After work, I realized I hadn't actually created a character sheet for the mentor that the players would be fighting against, so I spent my evening working on that. It was my first time building a Sorcerer, so I can only hope that it doesn't end up being too unbalanced of a fight. After that I did some cert studying and replaced some lights that had burned out over the weekend.

Day 20 - Jan 24 2024 I can't believe we're already a fifth of the way through this challenge that I'm having regrets about. The new guy was with me again today but he had to deal with some project-related stuff so he was out for the morning. I ended up creating the front end of a couple of pages on my own (having my buddy for the day the senior developer in charge of the project look over the visuals to see if everything lines up with how the original project looked and if the modernization matched our prototype Figmas even though he had to work on something else). When the new guy got back in the afternoon I worked with him to finish the design and layout of the other page I was working on. We realized pretty quick that the library component we were having issues with last week was causing problems displaying the data we want to display in our tables, so we'll work out something for that another day. After work, I did some final prepwork for the D&D session. Some people forgot we played today despite my reminders (I now have a general idea of who mutes the server and who doesn't) but everyone showed up on time. The session itself went pretty well. Granted, I had to improvise some ideas because the characters all split off to do their own thing in different groups, but I was told I did a good job balancing the seriousness nature of some scenes and the lightheartedness of other scenes. Next session, the character this arc is for will face the source of his trauma, his mentor. I also did a reveal regarding the NPC companion that was with the party for this arc that caught everyone off guard, but once they started putting the pieces together, everything was making sense for them. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, and it sounded like some of the players are ready for the emotional damage to hit them next time.

Day 21 - Jan 25 2024 The bossman is asking us for logos for the team so that they can get some corporate swag made, so guess who had to go help with that? That's right, not me and my buddy for the day because we lost the rock-paper-scissors game to decide who worked on what. Which, granted, was mostly because we only have 7 people on the team and our senior devs are doing things outside of their job scope due to a lack of personnel and we still needed someone to work on the projects we currently have. We rewired some pathing on some of the pages and reworked the placeholder visuals. We had a team lunch so it was nice to get away and enjoy a good burger. I was also asked to give some feedback regarding some of the designs that the other pair was generating for the logo (using Midjourney as a baseline to generate concepts that they would rework later) and after I gave some input it seemed like we would have something by tomorrow to give to the bossman. The 24th happened to be the day Enshrouded released into early access on some platforms, so I picked that up to play with friends. We got a server going for the usual crew and got into shenanigans for a couple of hours. Overall a good time.

Day 22 - Jan 26 2024 It snowed a good couple of inches in my area so myself and another person on the team weren't able to go into the office today, so we worked from home. My buddy for the day requested the day off so I mostly focused on certification study. I took a practice test to see where I was at, but the questions were... really vague. Somehow only got one question wrong, but I'm not going to complain. The logo designs were posted so we placed our votes on our top choices, and I think whichever ones everyone agreed on were gonna be sent to the bossman for swag. The evening was a mix of Final Fantasy 14 and Enshrouded. I think my biggest complaint regarding Enshrouded is that for a survival game, your only real danger is in the shroud. The game has a food buff system much like Valheim, but there's no worry of death if you run out of food/water like with other survival games that have a food and thirst meter. If the camp had to deal with random enemy raids I could see more of the survival genre aspect the game's being marketed for, but again, your only real danger is the shroud. We have removed the doors to our camp because everyone's struggling with the doors, but there's no serious danger in the mountains outside of the shrouded areas. At least tomorrow is the weekend.

[monriatitans]

Ta-Da! List: Monday, January 15th

I have decided to make a “Ta-Da! List” every day! There won’t be TMI.

Don’t know what a “Ta-Da! List” is? To learn more, check out @adhdjesse‘s book Extra Focus here.

Abbreviations

– TW = Trigger Warning – O&T = Opinions & Truth Blog – WGS = The Weekend Game Show – TMA = TitansMonriArt – ASO = Artist Shout-Out – FFXIV = Final Fantasy 14 – BMAC = Buy Me a Coffee – LPDS = Let’s Play Some Demos – LDSS = Let’s Discuss Some $#!7 – LRSS = Let’s Read Some $#!7 – NRL = The Neverending Reading List

Ta-Da! List

✧ throughout the day: – moved between the bedroom and office setups – kept emails manageable by deleting some and unsubscribing from newsletters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ on the bedroom setup: – alternated between watching "Coraline", "Wallace & Gromit", "Olympus Has Fallen", and reading books – Goodreads: reorganized the bookshelves and books; scanned books using the app – O&T: replaced the LPSD video in the top YouTube widget with yesterday’s LDSS video; managed the Tags; adjusted the dates of Featured Posts so they would appear higher up on the Home Page – discovered a second Goodreads account – prepared the “Video Game” and “Literacy” Quotes for tomorrow, Jan. 16th – shared the addition to the NRL to the MonriaTitans’ Bookshop, the O&T IG & FB Page, created a Feature Image for it, then shared it to O&T, Tumblr, Pinterest, the NRL Page, the O&T Threads, Hive, and BMAC – picked the the books for tomorrow’s, Jan 16th, LRSS YouTube video: The Psychology Workbook for Writers by Darian Smith and Write Great Beginnings by Sandra Gerth – O&T: added a NRL section to the “January 2024” and “2024” wrap-up posts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ on the office setup: – gave a human artist, Long Pham, a shout-out by sharing it on the WGS/O&T IGs, O&T, and other social media; where the shout-out spread was listed in the BMAC January 2024 Artist Shout-Outs Album – updated the Minds bio – updated past ASO O&T posts with the link to the O&T IG post – TW – prepared the 3 Poverty Awareness Quotes for Wednesday, Jan. 17th ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ chores: – continued taking inventory of all the books – loaded and started the dishwasher, then unloaded it – washed the sheets and pillowcases – checked the mail – cooked dinner

—

Well, these are all the updates I had for today! Thank you for reading!

May every decision you make be *in the spirit of fairness* and may the rest of your day *NOT go to $#!7*!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please consider supporting through the tip page or Buy Me a Coffee! Like what you see? Click here to subscribe for updates! Watch MonriaTitans on Twitch and YouTube! For more about MonriaTitans, click here! The images were made in Canva!

[gameforestdach]

Zusammenfassung: Das Steam Next Fest im Oktober ging mit einer Präsentation fesselnder Game-Demos zu Ende, die die Spieler nach mehr dürsten ließen! Von Überlebensherausforderungen bis hin zu rhythmischen Showdowns bot die Veranstaltung eine bunte Mischung verschiedener Genres. Hier ein Blick auf die am meisten gespielten Demos, die dominierenden Spiele und einige verborgene Perlen unter den Top 50. Enshrouded beeindruckte mit seinen Überlebensherausforderungen und intensiven Bosskämpfen. Japanese Drift Master raste an die zweite Stelle und begeisterte Rennspiel-Fans. Sky: Children of the Light bot ein beschauliches MMO-Erlebnis und rundete die Top drei ab. Viele dieser Demos sind weiterhin auf Steam verfügbar für alle, die sie während des Festes verpasst haben. Die Stars des Steam Festivals Das einwöchige Next Fest von Steam endete mit einer Liste der 50 am meisten gespielten Spiele während des Events, basierend auf der reinen Anzahl einzigartiger Spieler. Die Krönung des Festes Enshrouded, beschrieben als Fusion der Überlebenselemente von Valheim mit Dark Souls-ähnlichen Bossen, wurde schnell zum Fan-Favoriten, kurz nachdem das Fest begann. Dicht gefolgt kam Japanese Drift Master, ein Open-World-Rennspiel, inspiriert von der Manga-Serie 'Initial D', das den zweiten Platz eroberte. Für diejenigen, die ein entspannteres MMO-Erlebnis suchten, sicherte sich Sky: Children of the Light gegenüber dem geschäftigen Universum von Final Fantasy 14 den dritten Platz. Mehr aus den Top 50 Obwohl die Top drei Demos zweifellos breite Aufmerksamkeit erregten, gab es andere Titel, die bei der Gaming-Community Anklang fanden: Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor - Ein packendes Action-Roguelike-Abenteuer. Robocop: Rogue City - Ein Ego-Shooter, der den ikonischen Robocop zum Leben erweckt. GhostRunner 2 - Ein Spiel im Cyberpunk-Stil, voller Action. Headbangers - Ein einzigartiger rhythmusbasierter Battle Royale. Verborgene Schätze des Festes Weitere Demos stachen heraus und fesselten die Spieler mit ihrem einzigartigen Gameplay und ihren Erzählungen. Einige dieser bemerkenswerten Titel sind: Astra: Knights of Veda - Ein JRPG mit einer tiefgründigen Geschichte. Stronghold Definitive Edition - Ein Strategiespiel, das die taktischen Fähigkeiten der Spieler herausfordert. Cursorblade - Ein Roguelike-Spiel mit einem fesselnden Spielmechanismus. Echoes of the Living - Ein Überlebenshorror-Spiel für diejenigen, die nach nervenzerreißenden Abenteuern suchen. ... und viele mehr! Das Fest verpasst? Kein Problem! Für alle, die nicht am Steam Next Fest teilnehmen konnten, gibt es keinen Grund zur Sorge! Viele dieser fesselnden Demos sind weiterhin auf ihren jeweiligen Steam-Seiten verfügbar und warten darauf, erkundet zu werden. Also taucht ein, probiert sie aus und vielleicht findet ihr eure nächste Spielsucht. Hat euch diese Zusammenfassung gefallen? Taucht ein in die Liste der besten Demos des Steam Next Fests für mehr erstklassige Spiel-Empfehlungen und teilt eure Lieblingsauswahl mit anderen Spielbegeisterten!

[the-wild-card-hand]

//I know a good portion of my followers aren't in the CoD hole as I have been for years now, but I watched CoD Next and I have thoughts.

They are heavily banking on the Nostalgia Factor for MP and I recognize it, dear god do I see it. ~~I've already had it preordered though for Campaign so matters very little about that~~

No sugar coating it though, its definitely an additional expansion to what was originally MWII now shifted into a sort of Launcher where you have the additional content for MWII and now MWIII where Warzone is the primary thing kinda like how Fortnite has their stuff where BR became their bread and butter and Save the World is now its a premium content, or like how Final Fantasy 14 works with their expansions and content. I've seen many people complain about how we're paying for the same maps from the old MW2 in MW3 and its not worth the full price for those alone and their view points are valid if they're only looking solely on MP, but looking at a full package with Campaign, Zombies, MP with the unlockable Weapons, Maps, Challenges and Cosmetics and the fact that all the stuff from MWII can be used in the MWIII content, I'm alright with that. I honestly say its about damn time CoD works like that with the time people put into it. I'm excited that the War game mode from CoD WWII is coming back though. Not to be confused with War from CoD World at War.

The Neil Breen levels of energy to hype up MWIII made me laugh a bit cause with Rebirth Island and Fortune's Keep coming back they kinda made it this big redacted hoopla and tried to make it tantalizing but once they announced Fortune's Keep coming back and the other one teased before saying it was Rebirth you could already kinda tell where it was going. I'm eager to see what they do with Rebirth Island though and see if these are getting brought into DMZ in the future or Modern Warfare Zombies.

I'm excited for Zombies though, definitely looks awesome especially if its gonna be on a massive scale in Urzikstan, though apparently this is taking place before the events of MWII, so the fact that Soap MacTavish and potentially Ghost meeting back up at the start of MWII knowing these two potentially were killing zombies it all comes back to Ghost going 'Well this shit is gonna hit the fan'. Cold War Zombies when it started the Dark Aether Storyline during the start of the Pandemic really kept me afloat and connected me closer with a friend of mine so I'm excited to see where this goes. Vanguard Zombies brought in some new things to the story but I felt it could of been fleshed out better, especially when the Chaos Storyline of Black Ops 4 was folded into the Dark Aether storyline by one little name drop of a Chaos Character.

Operator characters, we learned a little bit about Makarov's Warden and apparently Warden in Female. PlayStation gets a new exclusive operator with Lockpick, an Art Thief who found her way into a Warzone, my guess is she gets hired to steal or get art out of conflict zones, your guess is as good as mine. Beta for it or...lets be bluntly honest the demo for Multiplayer starts tomorrow, I'm gonna play it and get a feel for these 'smoother' and 'faster' mechanics and show off some of the new MP/Zombies Operators

[indighost77]

...he says, as if he hasn't already put in a ton of hours into Final Fantasy 14 since almost a year ago now lmao

alright so i've been wanting to get into Final Fantasy for YEARS now. i played a few of the NES ones on the homebrew channel on Wii years back, never really got far into them and got my ass whooped SUPER early into the first game lmao!

i read about Final Fantasy 7 on tv tropes later on and i got a bit interested, though not necessarily enough to make an effort to play the original game somewhere. but when the demo for FF7 Remake came out some years back, i tried it out and quite liked it, and then i tried again when i got playstation plus a few years ago. but then i just kinda stopped for a while.

and THEN i watched a couple of FF14 streams back in 2021 or thereabouts, and while i didn't have a decent computer that could run ff14 competently at the time, and wouldn't get one with good enough specs until early last year, it was here that, in the back of my mind, i began to get really interested in Final Fantasy and all these various worlds, creatures, characters. around this time last year, i finally bit the bullet and got the free trial for ff14 on pc, getting the standard edition on there soon after, and then getting the complete edition on PS5 not long after that. so it's been a slow burn, but i'm finally here, trying out all these other FF games as well!

...i think i'm becoming a final fantasy fan lol

[anpansblog]

Hehehehe~