#guess which screenshot set I’m working on for Zach now

[jokerislandgirl32]

Pilot Zach Is So Unhinged…

Marry me

[tearlessrain]

so this turned into Scorpion King: Book of Souls Liveblog Part 1, because I got started late. witness a bunch of people trying to make one man’s considerable hotness singlehandedly carry an entire hour and a half long movie with very limited success under the cut.

I do want to state right up front that there’s only one reason I’m watching this and that reason is that for some reason zach mcgowan is the protagonist, so I’m not really up to date on the whole mummy/scorpion king franchise, the last one I saw was the one with all the jackal dudes and that was a while ago. so I have no idea what’s going on.

oh good they’re just going to town with the exposition, very thoughtful

so if the sword was forged in the fires of hell by anubis then who the heck did they fight when they were taking on the jackal headed dudes because I kinda assumed

are these two series actually related or

holy shit this is so Extra already look at this shit

y’all this is my jam I am living right now

also as people following my art blog may note, I am a huge fan of black and gold aesthetics. this movie is really just ticking off all my boxes right off the bat, it’s terrible, but five stars.

they’re REALLY going to town with the exposition

sword forged in the fires of hell that condemns souls to “the neverending darkness” and must be somehow destroyed... are we talking about anubis or sauron here.

this is just lord of the rings, but bad and with a sword. lord of the sword.

okay prologue is over and some dudes have smashed their way into a tomb. if the last however many mummy movies have taught me anything it’s that this might potentially be a bad idea

I love how they’re just not even setting up any of the characters we’re just diving right in I’m getting strong “yeah you all know the drill by now” vibes here

#squadgoals

really though the gal on the left is pretty badass, she hasn’t done or said a single thing but I respect her and her bootleg Xena vibe

and like shoutout for putting at least one actual black guy in egypt I guess

so I guess the one in the middle is... psychic or something? not that “hey if you plunder this blatantly cursed tomb it might be bad” requires psychic powers to know but

I mean that giant black sarcophagus they found recently in real life turned out fine I’m sure this will be great go nuts dude

uh oh it’s the fang of sauron anubis

oh that doesn’t seem good, but it’s actually the better option since for a second there I thought there were pulling a “black guy dies first” in ancient goddamn egypt

wait we’re still doing exposition okay the narrator is back. hi narrator I missed you.

look  I know it’s campy and all but can we take a sec to unironically appreciate how wicked COOL this guy looks with his glowing eyes and crap. this movie is just so satisfying to look at, every single shot has been peak aesthetic

“SEND THE BIRD” and then it’s actually just a regular bird that was anticlimactic

HOLY GREENSCREEN BATMAN

holy FUCK WE’RE ONLY JUST NOW AT THE TITLE SEQUENCE WHAT

okay I guess now we’re going to ACTUALLY start the movie, third time’s a charm

and we’re off to a fantastic start my friends

and judging by the choices of the cameraman in this scene I can tell they’re trying desperately to distract me from the fact that the dialogue sounds like it was generated by a neural network that was fed several dozen mediocre fantasy novels.

it’s working.

I am being personally attacked. god.

oh no some people on horses are coming I assume from the background music that this is a bad thing

OH it’s bootleg Xena and her merry band of deeply mediocre extras okay

I understand the adorable small child’s father must die but must it be at the hands of the worst mediocre extra. seriously he’s been on screen for five seconds and I already hate him.

I guess the protagonist’s name is Matthias, other writers might have let us know that when he was introduced, but these guys know damn well that it literally does not matter what his name is. they could have had her ride up and be like “we’re looking for a man named Jebediah Switchboard McDougal” and anyone who’s voluntarily watching this movie in the first place would just be like “that’s fair”

yeah just in case you weren’t sold after the blacksmithing or the hunting scenes, let’s have him just singlehandedly take down half a dozen ninjas in less than a minute. just fuck me up

oh shit they shot him

oh shit they shot him again

they’re just boromir-ing the hell out of this dude

and yet he’s still going to town on those ninjas

NO NOT THE ADORABLE CHILD WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS

I’ve decided I don’t like bootleg Xena after all

it’s a good thing he’s got three arrows embedded in his torso because that is the worst cage ever. it’s made of like. bamboo and string. have you seen this man’s arms how did they expect that to effectively contain him.

whoa it’s... BOOTLEG XENA 2.0: GOOD GUY EDITION

or not. she didn’t free him or anything she just killed his original captors and then took off with the cage with him in it

no I think she is good she’s... healing him? by... getting scorpions to sting the hell out of him? has the FDA approved this.

I’m sorry I can’t take this scene seriously the background music is way too close to the “ooga chakas” from hooked on a feeling. also the sheer degree to which they’re pulling a reverse male gaze here is kinda overshooting sexy straight into unintentionally funny. I mean I know this is the entire reason I’m watching this insanity but like even I think this is excessive.

“the scorpion king escaped” that is giving him way too much credit he was stolen by the superior bootleg Xena.

and in case NONE of the previous things drew your attention away from the lack of a plot, here’s just straight up nudity because why not.

I thought I had a thing for zach mcgowan but I’ve got nothing on this cameraman.

also there’s some kind of “reluctant chosen one king” thing going on I guess but like they literally couldn’t have put less effort into it

I haven’t heard people this concerned about what the moon is doing since I left evergreen state college

aaand apparently he can see and speak to... ghosts now? ghosts that spit thousands of arrows from the sky? know what why not I’ll accept literally anything at this point.

oh they aren’t ghosts they’re just really sneaky dudes

it’s a shame jebediah switchboard’s one and only weakness is extremely shitty cages because he sure ends up in them a lot

hmmmm we’re getting some uncomfortable racist undertones and misogyny in one go okay. not worse than I would expect from a movie of this.... caliber, but I’m not thrilled, especially since this whole situation has yet to have a single actual point to it.

actually okay it’s veered quickly away from “rudyard kipling-esque Vague Native Tribe Encounter” and into... some kind of weird mad max thing mixed with a D&D campaign that’s gone wildly off the rails. but they’re on thin fucking ice.

I really appreciate that matthias is approaching this situation with exactly the same strategy with which I play skyrim, which is “sneak up on everybody one at a time even though there are a ton of them and that shouldn’t be possible, shoot them all with a bow you looted off one of them”

and now they’re just... suddenly free and back on their horses, then matthias had a vague fake deep exchange with the leader and they rode away. there literally was no reason for that entire interlude. nothing happened, there wasn’t character development or anything. this godforsaken movie could have been ten minutes shorter.

“the plot is down there, just past that greenscreen” is what I heard there.

I’m sorry I’m dying for some reason all I’m getting from this visual is “wait are you saying the panel is all the way on the other side of the convention center” like the costumes are just mediocre enough that in bright light they don’t look like they’re actually actors in a movie.

the moon’s rising. but I can’t for the life of me remember why that’s important. she’s got some kinda egyptian steampunk millennium rod though.

okay the lenses must align with the cipher. did anyone mention a cipher before who knows.

good job matthias you solved the moon puzzle and your prize is a metric ton of blue jello.

all right through the jello portal they go. to find the book of souls, probably.

in this case I actually do need more exposition. are we just not gonna explain ancient egyptian jello narnia. no. okay.

stop forcing zach mcgowan to be quippy I know all the cool movies are doing it but this is neither the time nor the place nor the actor for it.

oh my god they’re being attacked by a rock golem thing and I don’t think a screenshot can fully capture how bad the cgi is. not of the rock monster itself, but trying to integrate it with the real actors and set pieces was... oof.

okay a mostly naked woman has risen out of some nearby water and called off the rock golem with no explanation. why not.

neither of them looks into this so much as confused as hell

honestly, same.

oh god no they’re trying to make the rock golem be the comic relief this movie never needed. please don’t. you can barely handle writing the plot relevant dialogue now’s not the time to get fancy. I take it back, trying to make zach mcgowan be quippy was actually somehow not the worst option.

she IS the book of souls!

okay that’s a pretty cool visual I’ll give them that. digging the iridescent moon tattoo.

and that seems like a reasonable stopping point because I started this kind of late and have to get up for class in the morning. tune in tomorrow for, I assume, more of zach mcgowan running around in various states of undress while absolutely nothing coherent happens around him.

[celestialallstars]

Episode #7: “That was what we in the business call a "bruh" moment.” - Stephen

NEVER MIND HE DID IT THE ABSOLUTE MADMAN DID IT HE USED THE VOTE STEAL SUCCESSFULLY AND GOT KORI RIGHT OUT OF THIS GAME. IN YOUR LIFE HAVE YOU EVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THAT?

Oh I am so PUMPED! Kori leaving has all but confirmed most of the things we all thought already- Michael/Drew/Matt/Chloe are together. On top of that, Alyssa and by extension, Jack probably is also with them. Which leaves the remaining 4 of the OG Tuatha group (Rhys/Mitch/Stephen/Bryce) then Mitch. This also leaves Bryce/Loris/me. What does this tell me? I can't have Orfeo lose because it is sudden death for Bryce/Stephen/Loris...so I need to make sure my tribe loses. BUT I also need to make sure one of Jack or Alyssa leaves. Whether they are numbers for the others or not, I need people I'm with to gain upperhand before it is too late and if Orfeo keeps losing, even if we get to merge, I don't think it will matter because they will get numbers. So Operation: Snakegrass is now in effect

That was what we in the business call a "bruh" moment.

KORI WAS SLAIN! Not by an idol like I worried, but by an advantage that was much more powerful in that given situation! My game has effectively changed here on the Orfeo Tribe. I'm no longer trying to form an alliance that controls the outcomes of votes, I can only really look out for myself.

Michael, Matt, Drew, and Chloe are very likely to let go of the majority now that they have it. They aren't my rivals anymore. Not until the merge, anyway. Unfortunately, that means if we lose another challenge, Bryce and Loris will need to be the people who go home, barring any insane changes. I'm going to need to pander like I've never pandered before. I can't be mad with Michael until his time comes. Don't worry though, if I have any say in it, he won't make it past the first merge vote.

But, that's assuming I survive that long! I'm sure Bryce and Loris are just as freaked out as I am, so I need to out-pander them. I wish it didn't have to be this way, but that's just how the cookie crumbles.

Operation: Snakegrass so far got the first half downpack with us losing. Jared talked with Mitch who says he is close to me and Rhys. With Zach in the mix, we might be bale to get something going, but now we gotta be careful...anything can happen at this tribal methinks!

WOOP WOOP WOOP WOOP. Safe again! It’s so good to be back on the immunity train Choo choo. It’s also really good because I really don’t want to vote out anyone on my tribe and all the people I’m not as connected with are on the other tribe so keeping my tribe safe even tho I know Stephen and Bryce may not trust me 100% right now is CRUCIAL for my game going forward.

likeee ok. i have some hot goss i suppose. so i knew kori was leaving pre-tribal. bryce leaked the vote steal (michael - > loris - > bryce) and so it was meh. i was truly fine with either kori or matt leaving though because those two are legit like 2 of the only 3-5 people i dont feel like i got a connection with.

throughout the time between tribal results to challenge, i get asked by a few people to throw [bryce, loris, drew, stephen somewhat, chris]. chris mainly proposes that bryce and loris are with us and they're in danger, which is likely true. i just like.. i didnt throw because im triggered by that but i also like probs didnt try my hardest. who knows ! not me. anyway. AFTER I FLOPPED I LEGIT HAD LIKE 4 OF THEM PM ME SAYING 'THANKS FOR THROWING KING' LIKE FUCK OFF LKSDJGLDKGMLKDSGMLKDSG I DIDNT THROW but tbh i might play that up so they think im a generous queen xx

chris seems to want jack or alyssa out, as does jared. chris/rhys made alliance with me them jared and mitch which is cute. i feel like i should leak bc someones going to but im also too lazy to.

im lowkey really anxious though cuz i dont want my tribe to snap at me for thinkin i threw or blindside me. like NNNN and we're so close to merge.  BUT if things go accordingly, one of alyssa or jack should leave. i like both a lot but i think i'd prefer alyssa out. we have a 'f2' or smth but we dont rlly talk and i feel like because we never were on the same tribe til now, our allegiances just fell elsewhere (which is fine but its just hard to maintain that).

i dont want to get blindsided/voted off yet. 14th isnt cute... and like... im so close to merge. my guess is merge will be at 12/13 so... im so close. (its probs f8 but who cares). i just hope i can be safe enough that i dont go. i feel rlly good with chris/jared... rhys decent too. mitch not so much but im gonna try to forge a stronger bond. i think the girls are gonna choose 2 rid of jack but idk.. i hate this cuz i really like jack and getting to meet him beyond just a VL was great n i truly enjoyed this. so if he ends up leaving, and he reads this, i want u to know u are great n i love u n playing w u was fantastic!! same with anyone. like everyone left is fairly active and deserve to be here so im content.

god. anyone wanna speak up is gonna come out when i get blindsided LOL.

Sooo the 24 hour puzzle challenge cracked some things out of the water. Alliances got exposed left and right and now im in a 5 man alliance with og orfero and og tuatha against og cyrena. This is all becauase sharky leaked an alliance in one of his screenshots consisting of drew/michael/clohie/alyssa/jack/matt or some varient. In order for their numbers to weaken, we need to get rid of jack or alyssa. It doesn not help their case that they have not been on a tribe with anyone outside of og cyrena except drew and michael (who are on the other tribe). Right now, my alliance is debating on splitting the votes or making it unanimous but we are afraid of idols. We think that regardless of what happens, the one og cyrena left standing won't trust us any longer. I am excited to see where this tribal goes because the game is finally picking up speed!!!!

this game is carzy i hate it im legit. this is a video of me:

Hello I’m typing this compassionate with them with voice to text hello and say do you want to be your day because Drew Carey dick completely but now I’m scared Zach is going and I don’t want him to which is sad and I don’t know at the last round nothing at the boots that I thought he didn’t I kind a got fucked over

ok that was a disaster I give up. hi . drew carried immunity thank god. but now I’m scared Zach goes because I love Zach. umm I’m basically guaranteed merge unless I get super blindsided because I can just legacy if I think I’m going :^). I voted Matt just in case his vote steal was fake because either he lied and went home or he told the truth and lived but like the thing is Michael and drew don’t want me to tell Matt I knew so I can’t justify why I voted him to him MEANWHILE I told Bryce about it. and Bryce tells Matt he knew completely throwing that out the window but oh well. I love chloe... Bryce.. Michael.... Zach... drew..... Jared... Mitch..........I definitely forgot someone there oh RHYS.... love him and idk I think I’m good with a lot of the cast wooo because I like everyone else too 💗💗💗 when I win we won’t be shocked

The other tribe is super boring like I don’t know what’s happening and there’s like an hour and a half left so like I’m just sat here bored as shit like DO SOMETHING!

Audio might be bad, so basically, Chris has taken me under his wing as maybe his most trusted ally, and pitched me on a side vs. side type deal.

Side 1- Chris, Bryce, Loris, Zach, Mitch, Stephen, Rhys Side 2- Alyssa, Michael, Drew, Jack, Matt, Chloe

I am fully feeding into Chris' game at this point because for myself, working to advance his plan puts me in a much more powerful position than I believe he is anticipating.

Having incredibly close relationships with the Chris/Zach duo, a F2 with Bryce, an alliance with Mitch/Stephen, Rhys confiding in me about his game fears (and Rhys' thoughts being fed to me by Bryce), and an idol--- I really just need to work on Loris some more to establish myself with the most powerful position.

So, I've been very busy. But this tribal I have yet again sat back and haven't done much into it as I have been preoccupied. However it allows other people to take the heat, and I'm aware I'm not doing a lot. So I can spin it into a winning case as long as I do enough come the merge.

The vote is set to be a split on Alyssa and Jack, However Alyssa and Jack havent spoken about the vote which scares me. Which t hen puts me in a paranoid states as I've spoken to people less today. But we just made a new 5 person alliance (chris, me , jared, zach an mitch) which seems super extra if theyre planning on blindsiding me.

It is 7:18 PM and I have no idea who is going home. This is the most stressful fucking tribal I've ever been to

omg so alyssa going home wooh? she talks to me more than jack so i wish he left but like one has to leave so w/e. chris is a king i love him so much he threw for me zach is so annoying and didnt throw said he was but like he literally was trying 80% like girl just throw. i love rhys still and jared.. hope he still likes me idk we feel off. wooh yaa um like loris and i hate that michael and drew both told him about the double vote but not me like isnt that so quirky we hate those elara girls (is that the season they played)

JARED AND MITCH ARE SNAKING ME AND ALYSSA WITH THEIR NONCOMMITTAL RESPONSES I CAN FUCKING FEEL IT IM GOING HOME

________________________________________________________________

Alyssa is voted out 3-2-2.

[taebabysbirthday]

Zach Gage Views of iPhones iOS

Computer programmer Zach Gage has released some great iOS apps. We catch up with him and ask about his work, his life and programming in general.

Q: Tell us about yourself.

A: I’m an artist and a video games developer, and I live in NYC! I'm very lucky in that my day job is doing those things independently. I've been working with computers my whole life. I hooked up our first computer (a Mac LC) when I was six they were pretty easy to hook up. In college, I moved away from programming and pursued more traditional arts (painting, photography, drawing, design), and then after finishing up there I got back into programming through art.

I started making conceptual artworks, digital sculptures, websites, one of the first twitter bots and an iOS sound toy called SynthPond which led me to doing iOS development and reignited my interest in game design. I still do art and games, and see them as stemming from the same creative process. In fact, I just released my latest piece, a conceptual game about Twitter. It's called Twitter Teaches Typing.

Q: How did you get started?

A: I got started in games design with a program called HyperCard when I was seven or eight. It didn't have any programming elements, but you could draw scenes and link them to each other with buttons, so I could make rudimentary point-and-click adventure games. Soon after that I moved onto Apple's Cocoa (which is different to what cocoa is now). It was a very cool visual programming language that was eventually spun off as Stagecast Creator, and is now wholly defunct. When I was in middle school, I went to computer camp where I learned BASIC and then C++. I can't recall my first program, but the first thing I sold commercially was a puzzle platforming game called Escape From Pluto. I sold exactly one copy to one of my friends through a website that let you put games up for sale way back before the year 2000.

Q: What do you think the iOS app store has brought to programming and software sales?

A: I don't think the App Store has really made programming much easier, although learning to program is definitely easier these days. Things like www.processing. org are on the forefront of this. The App Store has definitely made software sales quite a bit easier though, especially for one-man shops like mine. Being able to get started selling things without needing to figure out credit card processing and country-specific taxes, especially in foreign countries, is a huge deal also, being able to see your game or app on a professional store is pretty exciting for people just getting started. When I grew up you had to go to computer stores (which basically don't exist anymore) to get software. I think if I'd been able to sell my little games in boxes on shelves at the store and had been able to tell relatives and friends “Check out my new game! It's at the store”, that would have been extremely cool to me.

For a while, the App Store made marketing easier as well, which was a huge boon to me. Apple still helps significantly with PR if you can manage to get featured, but I think getting above the noise to get the attention of Apple (or anyone) has become a lot harder as the number of apps releasing every day has skyrocketed. I still think Apple does a great job finding small new games, but there's just so much out there. At this point, to get above that initial noise, you kind of need to have your PR together right off the bat or you need to be well networked to people who can help promote you.

Q: You have some pretty zany apps in your collection, such as Really Bad Chess, and Ridiculous Fishing. Where do you get your ideas from?

A: I think about games a lot, and ideas come naturally all the time. Often I have more ideas than I know what to do with, but I like to make quick prototypes of anything that seems like it might be good. I probably discard nine out of ten prototypes, but occasionally something will click and I'll build it out further.

I feel like ideas are important, but ultimately pretty cheap. Most of the difference between something great and something awful is how you put it together. I’ve had so many ideas that sat on a shelf for years because I lacked the core component that would make them amazing. Usually it’s something right under my nose! Ideas are like weird magical universes, and games are just one tiny corner of that universe that's interesting. The real work is in finding those corners, and then figuring out how to share them with people.

Q: What’s your favourite app you’ve written, and why?

A: I don't play favourites with my work. I love them all equally while I'm building them, and find them all utterly exhausting afterwards. I guess if I was forced to choose, Really Bad Chess might be my favourite. It's not often that you get to turn a 1,500-year-old game upside down with such a simple change. I think my games surprise me in terms of how deep and interesting they are when I'm prototyping them (that surprise is the key thing I look for), but Really Bad Chess went much deeper than that. I didn't expect it to transform the experience of learning chess the way it did.

Q: What advice would you give to someone who wants to start app programming?

A: I don't think our ideas should be led by technology. We live in an amazing future time where we're surrounded by these incredible devices all the time and they inspire us and awe us with their power, but ideas built around "what if I had an app that did..." or "imagine a VR game where..." are almost never fruitful. They rely too much on their relationship to technology to be deep. What makes great ideas great is how they build deep connections into our lives.

Someone with very little experience should first think only about the best way to get into programming, because learning programming (any kind of programming) is the gateway to turning your ideas into actual things, and until you've done that, you can't even understand what it means to really even have an idea for a program. I think www.processing.org or https://p5js.org are great places to learn to program. If you're interested in making games, YoYo Games' Gamemaker (www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker) is great, and so is Twine (http://twinery.org). Another pretty good option is to use a html5/javascript library like Phaser (https://phaser.io). The common thread amongst these tools is not only are they designed to be easy to use and accessible but they all have strong communities where you can get help and share your creations. Gamemaker games can compile for iOS, and Twine runs as a website or can be wrapped with something like PhoneGap to run as an app, and Phaser has a whole suite of methods for using touch controls and running as a website (or as an app through something like PhoneGap). None of these programs require having a Mac or an iOS device to start, although you'll need both later (along with an Apple Developer Account) to compile and submit games to the App Store. If you’re dead set on starting with iOS programming proper, I'd recommend having a modern iPhone and a Mac of some kind. Most people use phones instead of iPads and I think you should set your sights as small as possible and only design a game or app for one type of device. iPads and iPhones have pretty drastically different use-cases and you don't want to fall into a trap of having to support a bunch of extra features just to include all devices or the trap of not putting your best foot forward by just releasing something that’s universal but isn't really a great experience. Swift is a fine starting language, but having to learn a professional IDE (Xcode) can be a real struggle for a beginner.

Q: What pitfalls are there when getting an app on the App Store?

A: There’s about a million pitfalls and a billion things it takes to make something successful. If you're looking for a career in this space, the most important thing you can do is have patience. It took me three years and six games and each game I built did worse than the previous one. Years ago I asked around with other successful indies and three years seemed to be the minimum amount of time it took people and that was when getting attention was much easier, so the biggest pitfall is quitting your day job before you have a successful app.

Don't quit your day job. I don't say this as a discouragement, but as advice. You need a revenue stream to maintain your sanity and be relaxed enough to learn the things you need to learn and to make sure you continue to enjoy undertaking this long and arduous process. You need to be able to take risks without the failures destroying you. While I was getting started, I did freelance ad work.

There's so much to learn and everything is constantly changing and shifting under your feet. How do I turn this idea into a real thing? How do provisioning profiles work? How do I understand crash reports? How can I navigate all the strange idiosyncrasies of the app submission process? How do I reach out to journalists and bloggers? How do I network without coming off like a jerk? How do I promote myself without coming off like a jerk? How do I promote myself in a way that feels comfortable to me? How do I amass a fan-base? How much should I charge? How do I build in-app purchases that feel fair? How do I design good screenshots or write a great description? What makes a good name and icon? How do I pitch an idea or story? Who is my audience? What makes my work meaningful? How do I work with ad networks? How do I support the GDPR? What analytics should I use? How do I use analytics? How do I support my work over the long-term? How do I stay sane reading reviews and responding to bug reports? This is just a tiny selection of the kinds of things you'll have to figure out to get a foothold in this industry and the answers to all of these questions are ever-changing, personally variable and bring up many more questions. It sounds scary, but it's not so bad if you take it one thing at a time, but that means giving yourself the kind of environment where you have the space to screw up and the stressfree time to learn slowly. This means releasing many things and not relying on your apps for survival. Successes never come out of the blue, and even the ones that got really lucky are never the first things someone tried. Make sure you give yourself space to try and fail and learn over and over again and make sure that kind of process is the sort of thing that will energise you and give you joy. I hope that wasn't too depressing, but I think pragmatism is important in this line of work. I honestly love this hectic and ridiculous environment, as someone doing risky things; it really benefits me to work in a space where risk is required to find success.

Q: How has the App Store changed over the years?

A: The App Store is ever-changing, so it's hard to pinpoint one thing. I'm not sure anything at all is the same as it was at the outset. The main language people code in has changed. Most of the APIs have shifted. Device screen sizes, resolutions and aspect ratios are different. The design of the App Store and the way games and apps are promoted has changed several times. There are significantly more apps coming out every day than there were at the start. The ecosystem around the App Store has seen the birth and death of many sites and communities. Working with Apple has changed significantly as Apple's priorities have shifted, allocating more resources to the App Store and developers. Communicating with users and managing reviews has changed a lot too. I don't do much differently due to the crowded market. My goal has always been to promote gaming literacy and critical thought to the new communities of players that have shown up since the advent of mobile gaming, and that means that I don't just make games that are approachable to these players, it also means pitching stories to non-gaming or non-tech focused websites and publications. Surprisingly, these markets haven't actually gotten a lot more crowded even though public interest in video games has gone up significantly, so actually the PR part of my work hasn't changed as much as you would expect.

Q: What Apps from other developers are currently taking up your spare time?

A: About a month ago I finished DR. MEEP, which I really loved. I've recently got back into Pokemon GO. The app they made for the Apple Watch is amazing! I've also been playing some Holedown. On the App side of things I use Dark Sky, Fantastical and Reeder, amongst all the standard stuff (Kindle, Audible, Twitch, etc.

A: My wife and I still play Ascension all the time. I also love 868-Hack, Mario Run, A Dark Room, Eliss Infinity, Canabalt, Hook Champ, Threes, Sword & Sworcery, 7 Little Words, King Cashing, Windosill, Super Hexagon, Lost Cities, Blackbar, Boson X, Kero Blaster, VVVVVV, Desert Golfing, Crossy Road, Stellar Smooch, Reigns, and Florence.

Q: What is your development process?

A: I make about forty prototypes a year. Around four to eight of those are good. What I'm looking for with a prototype is for it to be more interesting than I initially thought it would be. Then I try to make some quick design decisions to build upon whatever aspect of them was surprising and interesting. If I'm successful, I usually get a little game that can hold my attention for ten to twenty hours. Maybe two or three of those initial prototypes makes it this far a year. At that point, I need to figure out how to build upon the game again, turning it from something that's fun for ten to twenty hours into something that is fun ideally, forever. Usually only one game makes it that far each year, but also one of the twenty or so prototypes I have kicking around from previous years rears its ugly head and I get an idea that works for it. This tends to result in about two new games a year. I'm basically constantly bailing water out of my boat, but the water is games and every time I get halfway through emptying the boat, I get some other idea that I have to work on right at that moment. It's pretty exhausting, but I feel like if I don't get these games out it's a disservice to the work and the ideas that went into them.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Right now I have a number of promising prototypes going that I don't want to talk about publicly yet and I'm taking some time to revisit my older games that are still on the App Store to update them and add some significant new features.

Heres his iphone buying guide 2019

[survivorelara]

Episode #8: “These horny ass giraffes” - Drew H.

Well, I'm a big flopping mess, I fell asleep and failed to vote. ADDITIONALLY, Dani was the one sent home, which nobody even told me was gonna be a thing. Like Loris mildly mentioned it to me, but I didn't take that to mean that 3/4 of the merge was gonna vote Dani out.

I realize that John and Dani didn't even vote Ci'ere which was supposedly the plan, so it's good to know that John is someone I can really rely on... NOT.

I'm more frustrated with myself though because I should be capable of more than I was. I'm feeling on the outs though, because I don't even know where the Roxy votes came from.

This game is a fucking mess for me.

https://youtu.be/0k5pTCBa_1M

"heuse1acToday at 10:42 PM No idea! The fact that john was put in the mix is really interesting though bc he easily could've just jumped the alliance i accidentally screenshotted a million years ago So that makes me think loris might be a part of that conversation bc he's the only one who would like have that mindset of including john bc he saw the flip firsthand And we all definitely used that joint tribal and the lie as a talking point so it'd be easy enough to say we still have emotions about it, even without proof That's just my read on it tho, i have no proof. But if it was him, that would explain why you were targeted of the 4 of us bc he really does seem to have something against you asdfghjkl"

why does this sound so fishy to me like he is hard core tunneling Loris. Makes me super sus nnn

"DrachusToday at 12:05 AM god If we go f2 somehow We'll be the most hated f2 I can't wait "

ok i love you drachus but fuck he totally plans to drag me as a gaot doesnt he lol

Okay, operation get Roxy to blame Loris for the target last night is in full effect. Do I think he's the one who actually put Roxy's name out there by spreading stories that she was targeting Ci'ere? Eh maybe, leaning probably not. But Roxy has it in her mind that Loris has a vendetta against her, and there is JUST BARELY enough loose strings to thread together into a convincing enough forgery. Loris being targeted eventually is needed because of how close he is with Andrea and how much I'm sure he will never give up resenting the fact that he prob would've been next on swapped Auva. And end of the day, if we fail, Roxy is the one who leaves and that opens a lot of doors for me that a "leaked alliance" is holding firmly closed.

I took a goodnight's rest before really pursuing making this confessional. Not getting rid of Sam earlier in this game was the biggest mistake of every player in this merge. I love Samuel to death, probably my favorite straight male ever (sorry Jack and Seamus), but the boy really woke up during the last 24 hours of this game.

Not only he successfully convinced everyone to vote his way, he temporarily bridged the feud between Ci'ere and Dani for a brief moment to get the numbers and all of the votes turned for Dani. He claims that he didn't know that Ci'ere will call myself, Drew H., Roxy and John out- but after that joint tribal- anyone who had any part with the old Zosma tribe is treacherous.

Where does this confessional lead? Well I tell you, Sam perfected the under-the-radar strategy during the premerge portion of this game AND got everyone to vote his way just so that he can get revenge for her bitchy attitude. I literally have to give any and all credit to that boy for that last round because that was pure genius because it got my Auvas and John to be EXTREMELY more pissed off at Ciere while he is controlling that emotional mess by the strings. Amazing. But it is time to plot his demise.

Everyone in this game is damned fake and transparent it makes me sick. I'm tired of people trying to pass off not being aligned with others when it's painfully obvious.

Drew H. tried to pass off him and Roxy being a 1 time thing... despite voting together the entire game so far.

Loris was briefly entertaining the idea of voting Ci'ere though he was obvious about reservations... 1 tribal later, Ci'ere is using an idol. (Though he didn't get any votes so it's whatever.) Now Loris is saying we need Ci'ere to stay. Which is whatever I guess, but to me it's like ok you two are clearly a F2 or something, there is more to this than I'm being told.

John, didn't even vote Ci'ere when it was his idea, but he hasn't told me anything about the past tribal which is beyond infuriating.

I feel like I'm floating, in the middle of the ocean without a raft, and I can swim and float for a little while, but it feels like the sharks are coming from somewhere no matter how I disguise myself in the water.

Noah fence but I wanted to get kori out since they’re so good at comps but now we might never get the chance :shrugs:

I don’t think anyone hates me so I think I should be good this vote ?? Watch me catch this blindside

i'm actually so mad right now, I knew one of those two had the idol... and ci'ere said he found it on his very first guess with 39. BITCH 39 WAS LITERALLY MY 2ND GUESS, HOW DOES HE GET THAT LUCKY IM SO SAD I WANTED THAT IDOL :(

Aye, Won a challenge, let's gooooo! Lol, thankfully there was a score reasonably close to mine, so I didn't look like I utterly destroyed the challenge.

I also got that idol clue, which I mean eliminated a ton of possibilities. Though it'll be hard to sus out which Non-American astronaut it is. (I'm hoping a future idol clue is that the astronaut isn't Russian so as to eliminate a ton more options.)

I think I'm gonna try for a Dylan boot, because the guy and I almost never talk, he won the last challenge so he's clearly capable in some regards, and he's on OG Auva, and if original tribe lines come up, that'd put us at 5v3v2, though I'm not banking on those lines given the way Loris, and John both act.

Ok so before the last tribal, I thought people would be wanting to vote for Ci'ere. Then later Ci'ere starts going off in the tribe chat saying to vote for Roxy because she has an alliance with the Drews and myself. And in his tribal question he basically calls me out saying tribal lines have already been crossed because of the fact that I voted against Revati the round before. BOI you weren't even there so stfu?? Yes there is an alliance but there has legit been no game talk in it, Roxy just made it to ensure I would vote with them, which I was going to in order to get Zach out anyway. I went to a few people to reiterate that fact. I wanted Ci'ere to leave before but now it'd be in his best interest to not speak to me.

Kori won immunity and I fell asleep early because I was tired afff. I wake up, seeing that Kori has apparently gone to all of Revati targeting Dylan. He knows that I really want to target Ci'ere, especially now that he doesn't have immunity, and that I want to work with Dylan. The problem I have with my Revati tribe is that I don't feel too much trust with them as of now. Emma doesn't talk to me, Loris doesn't as much anymore, Kori can be very controlling, and I don't know fully where I stand with Andrea. I will most likely not be voting Dylan out tonight, and if Kori really wants to go to final 2 with me he should respect that. Ci'ere would be my ideal vote tonight but if nobody is going to vote him out, I may end up voting for Emma because if anything I know I've got Drew H. Either way, I think at this point my messiness meter is through the roof so hopefully nothing comes back to bite me in the ass woooo

Andrea telling me that she’s not voting for Emma and that she also doesn’t know who to vote for. I love people indirectly telling me that they’re voting me out

I’m confessing so much but that’s only because I feel like I’m going home today and I need to make a lasting impression so I can win fan favorite 💅🏻💅🏻

Anyway I think I have the votes to stay but if an idol gets played then I’m going home for sure

The original revati idol was never played so I don’t trust this vote at all tbh

Hopefully this isn’t my last confession but if it is then goodbye xoxo

Emma has the idol and loris has the advantage. I am LIVIN I decided to just be honest to everyone and ya we shall see how it goes I still don’t think I can win and Emma told lORIS about to he alliance which is concerning but um idk ok we shall see

Well, it seems likely that John and I will be separating in the near future, he just isn't open to me like he was at the beginning of the game, and I just don't know if I can work with him.

None of my thoughts or ideas seem to gel with him, and it just doesn't seem to be working out.

If people are telling the truth than it should be Dylan going, from there ideally we vote out Drew H, who is a reasonable threat and it ideally throws that whole alliance into chaos.

From there I think I'd want Ci'ere gone, and after that maybe Loris? But we'll see how things go, immunity wins and other events are likely to shakeup the game, to which I'll have to be flexible, so I don't wanna start overplanning just for everything to be thrown out of wack.

yeah so this vote is clearly a Dylan or emma going home scenario. personally im voting Dylan mainly because we have no relationship at all game wise, and emma seems dead loyal to loris and me kinda, which is way more valuable to me than a guy the auva's wanna try and use as a "number." plus, people seem to think emma is kori's free number, which may be true but he was the one pushing for the Dylan vote, which will only turn him into a more visible character which I need in my life right now. yeah after last vote I definitely need to sit back and let other people drive, but I'm all for someone I know im not gonna work with going home this round. I know the drew's wanted emma gone, but I told them straight up I was probably voting Dylan since we have no relationship, but that next vote a green has to go and they seem all for it. so hopefully this is setting me up for a nice ride the next few votes? let's hope oh god inb4 I die next round before single digits ima kms

ALSO SUCK IT DANI MAN YOU THOOOOOOOUGHT I WAS LEAVING THIS ROUND HA BIHHHHH YOU CLUELESS SEE YOU AT FTC!!

man oh man ciere, you really trying it huh. over here threatening my man drew T that he'll be next to go if he doesn't vote emma? that also means ill be in the crosshairs too? nah bruh, we aint having any of it. Dylan is leaving this vote then guess what, you're gonna be blindsided, and oh my god I cant wait to see that happen. should've stuck with me, smh

ciere is REEEEEEEEAAAAAALLLLLLYYYYY trying to take control of this vote and get emma out, bruh if that aint obvious idk what is, esp when he hasn't included me in it. why is he here and not toby.... :(

https://youtu.be/H3vuhKG9APE

ok so I swear I wrote this already but woooo Emma has idol I have legacy Andrea is a queen iconic trio I also have a deal to go to the end with Sam ??? Oops. At this point I just feel valued but it’s probably because they realise I’m useless and will not be able to write a speech at FTC and also I’ll just get fucked over because it’s live.... oh well. 5 more tribals to go!! well four but I’m writing this in the future

All my ladies pop your kitty like this, Shake ya body don’t stop don’t miss all mah ladies pop ya kitty like this justto it do it do it do it now do it good luck that kitty just like you should

Dylan is voted out 8-3. 

[celestialallstars]

Episode #4: “Everyone hates a puzzle god.” - Drew

This swap was PERFECTO, well, had I been on Nu Orfeo, it would have been but, Nu Tuatha was my next best choice and already it is great! I have Kori/Bryce and then Loris for sure. I talked with Mitch and Sharky a bit, so I'm optimistic on that. But I go and talk to Stephen. Lo & behold, he tells me there's a rumor that Kori and Bryce are working together. He says he heard it from Jared, but I figure hey, why am I not living a little? I say wow if we lose they go but...I immediately told Zach haha what he wishes to do with it is up to him, but if the rumor happens to spread, then I guess we'll see. If Mitch happened to feel this way, then I can at least use it to avoid being a target for a little while, even if I am sticking with KB.. this is gonna be one heck of an intriguing dynamic!

Oh my goodness, what a great swap! I got Chris, I got Bryce, and I got Mitch all of whom I doubt will be voting me. If I play my cards right I'll also be able to use this opportunity to get closer to Sharky or Loris in the event we never go to tribal. Ideally I wanna make sure me and Loris are especially good since Sharky seems the more likely first boot from our tribe.

I'm not sure what to make of this 24 hour challenge, wanna be optimistic but who knows.

I fucking love Alyssa, literally as soon as we swapped she looked at my teammates, messaged two of them to talk to me and gave me info on Zach and Stephen having history in the season. The equivalent of like "Okay go to the backdoor, meet the guard and tell them you like to fly with the eagles, he'll let you in, tell them you're with me and I'll leave the rest to you." So while yes I am the odd duckling out being the only one from Cyrena I'm going to do my best to work with what I have.

So not very much has changed on Tuatha as far as I can tell. My tribe winning the immunity challenge has helped me delay any confrontation between my 2 alliances which is great, as it should theoretically allow me to maintain relationships with all 6 members of the tribe. Still, it's going to keep being important to win immunity or pray for a swap in order to keep these groups from clashing.

Jared and Rhys are still a ? for me. I don't know why/how Rhys was able to convince Kori to invite Jared to the alliance of 5 instead of Mitch, and it worries me that those 2 may have a stronger bond than I immediately suspected. Hopefully I'll have an opportunity to deal with that when the time comes.

We're going to lose. I hate for it to sound so defeated/pessimistic, but the fact of the matter is unless we have a turn around in the AM, then I only see this setting the pace for the remainder. I know Bryce and Kori must be sleep. Mitch is trying, Loris possibly went back to sleep? And I guess Sharky is shooting for a late night swim or something. Regardless, I'm just already going over who the best person to leave would be for me. Unfortunately, with Kori/Bryce and then Loris, that only leaves me with Mitch or Sharky. Personally...I'd be open to Sharky, just cause, yea it would've been cool for Orfeo Seven to be a thing, but like I only feel secure with Zach/Loris and that's to a certain degree. All in all, this might be the tribal for Sharky to go and if the others are very sad over it, well, I guess they will have to come to terms with it.  I know Mitch is with Stephen and now that I know Steph is gonna probs wanna target Kori/Bryce, I'll need him and Mitch around for them to battle it out against each other...hmm decisions.

So we swapped. Yay. I have Jared. Yay. Stephen, eh kinda doesn’t speak to me a lot, well he speaks to me the least in my tribe. But we’re in an alliance. So I’m gonna have to figure how to navigate that.

Chloe Mo and a Zach all talk to me more than Stephen. So If I can figure out a way to maintain numbers and sack off Stephen, bye bye Stephen.

Also Mo is amazing. Staying up to try to prove worth in challenges 😍 no one deserves mo.

Y'all know me, one wrong social interaction which ends in humiliation or making me look like a dingus will ruin my entire day. Like oh no one laughed at my joke? Time to disappear into nothing and mope for a couple hours.

I’m lowkey scared about this challenge. I’m on my phone which sucks cause I can’t really do much in terms of puzzles. I can do them just always not the first one to finish. So looks like I’m not doing much yikes.

hi! we swapped! um. the last 2 hours. what a mess. so. like. kori posted a screenshot that showed the names of all his alliances and like. i told everyone maybe... ?? i told zach and then.. mitch.. and then.. i confronted bryce bc one was called 'three kings' so it was obv him chris and kori.. and bryce confirmed it. then sharky does the same thing but oh well thats insignificant hes only in 1. also. me and mitch r like. close now!! all because of this mess. but kori hates me. hehee

So the tribe swap has hit, and I'm back with my old pal Zach! You know, the person from my season who I tried to vote out like a million times before finally succeeding due to finding the idol at F5. Woohoo.

In all seriousness, though, I'm kinda happy to be on a tribe with him because he's a challenge beast and I don't think our relationship is totally unworkable. I made it clear to Zach as soon as the swap happened that I wanted to work with him, not against him, so hopefully that'll work out.

Chloe and Mo are 2 people I've also been working to get to know since the game began so I'm not too worried about them targeting me right away. I think this is a strong group overall.

And then there's Jared and Rhys. Probably not the first 2 people I would've chose to swap with but at the very least they both have incentive to keep me around. We are in an alliance together after all!

I made the decision to tell Chris about my situation with Mitch and the alliances on OG Tuatha because I really want them both to survive and unite with them at merge, and if Chris knows that Mitch was on the bottom of the totem pole on Tuatha, then maybe he'll take it into consideration.

So I had a glimmer of hope but we lost it and that's okay. I already prepared myself to vote for Sharky and it seems that is where we're headed...and yet craziness ensued in the time I was away! Kori accidentally reveals three kings and I try and do what I can to talk to others but nobody has said anything so they're either good at hiding things or they legit dropped it after questioning Bryce and Kori. ON TOP of it all, I learn from Loris that Sharkys alliance chat could be from an org..with Drew, Chloe and maybe Matt. It would definitely explain why Chloe didnt except the alliance offer..so that is fun. And now Stephen has told me he/Bryce/Kori/Rhys had majority alliance. So now I have a lot of info. It's just mattering how to use it

Shoutout to Drew for carrying everyone’s ass while drunk for half the challenge

I wanna explain my plan. It might sound ridiculous but... shut up. So I have this chart I made to show who’s doing the best and worst in challenges. I made four charts, three for each tribe, and one for everyone overall. The overall chart comes in handy if I make it to merge. So my dumb strategy is using said charts to kind of vaguely suggest who should be voted out each round. For example Tuatha is going to tribal and Mitch is doing the worst statistically so I can see him being eliminated (Mitch ily I’m sorry if you’re reading this). The bumpy part happens when and if I get to merge. Because then I’m going to be playing with a bunch of incredible comp players. My goal is to kind of use them as a way of getting to the end, by pinning them against one another until eventually it’s just me. Several problems in this plan, the first one is if my tribe goes to tribal which isn’t super severe because like I said I do feel comfy socially but I am doing the worst statistically so there’s a chance I could be eliminated. Second problem this is a very fragile plan and one crack could leave me looking like a goat trying to make something out of nothing and I’m not tryna get biggest goat in touchy subjects again. Will this all fail? Most likely. Am I gonna try to be a cool strategic genius? Yeah. But it’s worth a shot. Ok rereading this whole thing I’m kinda thinking this plan is garbo but I took so much time to write it so I’m gonna send it anyway.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I’ve been like bouncing in between moods of. “I’m gonna be an early out” and “I’m gonna go far/win.” Right now I’m feeling like an early out again.

appreciation the thumbnail + title please.

God, the last 24 hours  could not have gone worst. We lost the challenge, AND I was such a dumb idiot that I posted a screenshot in the tribe chat where you could see my alliances.

So naturally I had to basically inform anyone I was aligned with that it happened. I feel like such a flop right now. I've missed the window 3 times for searching for an idol, and it's just like how can I be so absent minded. I need to get myself together if I want to even make the merge let alone win the game.

So far the only people I know for sure saw the Screenshot are Loris and Zach. Chances are other people know and just haven't told me. I'm just trying to keep a level head after having a mental breakdown over what an idiot I've been. We're at tribal and I'm hoping the votes on Sharky are there because we do talk the least. (I'd rather Loris goes but we're actually in a chat together because apparently Jared and him talk a ton.) I have 0 desire to keep working with Loris though, so if I can push it I wanna send Loris home next if we lose again, he literally went up to Bryce asking if he was in Three Kings and tried to draw attention to my screenshot without flat out saying it in tribe chat, asking Mitch if he saw it etc etc.

It's obvious he's trying to basically draw attention to me because I did win our season. His fake-nice apologeticism isn't fazing me. If it's genuine, well he's bad at seeming sincere then since the actions I've seen don't reflect it.

Boy I hope I wake up and get my shit together because I really need to. Granted I could also be seeing myself going right now, so who knows. I haven't been the most useful in the challenges even though I've never not been trying. So hopefully I stick around for awhile longer. I've still got so much more I've set out to do and I don't want to get sent home without accomplishing any of it.

So we SWAPPED and I wanna give a little bit of insight as to my thoughts. New tuatha consists of me loris chris sharky kori and bryce. The first challenge was this 24 hour puzzle crap where Zach and Drew H from the other respective tribes CARRIED their teams to victory. It is about 5 hours before tribal and I already feel like I am on the bottom again. IDK WHAT IM DOING WRONG. I always seem to be on the bottom premerge,  but thankfully this is how I flourish. I am SO good at getting out of situations like these and finding myself in a power position at merge because nobody wants to get rid of me. RN I created a chat with Loris and myself just so he can keep me updated on what is HAPPENING with chris and sharky, and i also have my old alliance with Jared and Stephen who i hope are doing ok. The targets for this round are me and sharky for being perceived as inactive. The vote should be 5-1 with Sharky going, but it HAS crossed my mind to throw a vote on like Bryce to shake the cage a little bit. I dont trust Bryce one bit and I feel like he'd throw me to the curb the first chance he gets unless loris keeps him in check.

Everyone hates a puzzle god mwah!!

Lol so we swapped, I get Michael and Alyssa but the former blue tribe has 4/6 majority here, I like them enough as people but like...we're just gonna go ahead and not go to tribal here, if I have to drag them to the immunity statue kicking and fucking screaming. Which is what I did. F17 ladies

Fourth tribal safe. It’s a weird feeling to be safe so many times in a row but I’m glad my all stars game is getting off to a strong start by making connections here there and everywhere. I’m praying for Sharky tonight because I know that he’s close to me and Chloe so if he goes it’s definitely worse case scenario.

So it seems sides are forming so that's cool. Mitch is possibly going to end up with me [and Loris] and then there would be Bryce and Kori. However, after chatting with Stephen and Jared yesterday, I've concluded that I am in a pickle! Let's say Kori/Bryce are legit about this Three Kings thing. Well, I know I'm a possible third wheel for it. On top of that, I'm assuming Mitch might get boned if we lose again, however, Stephen trusts Mitch a lot and so wants us to use him to take shots at Bryce/Kori if we lose again. Mind you, according to Jared, Stephen is a sneaky dude (Sneaky Pete), and him and Rhys don't trust him longterm. SO what does this all mean? All of my allies are hot messes. And on top of it all, I am beginning to feel for Sharky. Yes! I get that its been optimal for me to get him out, but it still sort of sucks now that I've talked with him more. Unfortunately, it is for the best he goes for my game right this instant and hopefully the wrath of him and his allies shant be too horrible.

So we swapped!!! And by some fucking miracle, we have a majority of me, jack, Alyssa and Bodhi. Was very unexpected tbh but we'll take it! Michael and Drew joined us which is good cause they r both v.good at challenges which I would hope means we can immunity run. Cause no thank u hate tribal not dealing with that. Drew also like carried us in the challenge which was a yeet, I swear I tried tho hehe. Mo and rhys I want to try and get to work together, would be very fun n flirty. Sharky messaged me like "lol I'm leaving" and if he does, I'm fucking fighting people, cause that is NOT ON. HE is my one true love and if he leaves I will be annoyed so much and will be quite fucked tbh.love that for me!!

at orientation last year we were told about a “rule of 7” to not overcommit ourselves. I’ve just about doubled that threshold and depending how the next few days go it might go even higher. Pray for me.

I wish I had more energy to dedicate to this game but i need to fucking relax in my free time. So I’ll talk to people at my current rate and hopefully that’ll get me to merge. Then I’ll drop all other responsibilities and fucking dominate.

I really think the game is starting to slow down for me. Now what I mean by that is I am continuing to get more woke and more misty, and the aura of this being all stars and the spectacle of the other players being so great is starting to dissapear.

I feel very much as though I have perfected my craft in terms of how I like to play, and I'm doing it very well here. It's cool to think about on a meta level like from AnnaJane's perspective: "oh my god Jared did really well for himself in Wakea and had major influence to where some people couldn't even notice, I wonder how he'll stack up against these all stars." I can feel myself back in that zone and coming into my own even in this field. To the point where these legends like Chris and Bryce and Sharky, I know deep down that I can play ball with them. Now, they may beat me at the end of the day and I may go home at some point, but I can understand even at this moment that I am probably top 3 if not the #1 best player here. Or at least I CAN be.

I want to zoom in on this and really get my shit together and take advantage of what is in front of me because with the game dynamics as they are, I can very clearly see myself as the winner. I need to keep doing what I'm doing, but at the same time make myself dissapear and be able to do this undetected.

My new strategy is called "fast and loose" because I'm going to get into these conversations, knock it out of the park and get out. Leave people feeling good about me every time I leave the room. I don't need to spend a ton of time working on anyone to the point they can tell what I'm doing. Calls? After tonight they are done. Not calling with anybody unless they ask. I want to be gaining social capital and influencing people's decisions without being detected so it has to be a hit and run.

I will reevaluate my position soon and probably recalculate my alliances, maybe I was wrong about Stephen and I need to get closer with him while no one else is. But at this moment I need targets going into the merge. That's how I'm gonna set it up. I want everyone to be shooting at each other and then at the key moment boom challenge advantage, boom idol, boom you gotta vote out Bryce can't vote for me, oh look I'm at the end.

Having the One World twist is so interesting because in a usual game when you don’t know everyone until you get to merge usually. You don’t know what’s going on, on the enemy tribe, you don’t know who’s inactive, who is starting drama or who is messy in challenges. Because you’re focusing all your social energy into your tribe alone so when someone you haven’t made contact with on the enemy tribe gets eliminated you think nothing of it. But here there are no walls, you can see and communicate with everyone and it’s in your best interest to focus your social energy into the one world chat because that’s what everyone else is doing. So my point in saying this is it’s now incredibly difficult to imagine having to lose 8 people before we get to the final 10. Because literally everyone is social, there are like two quiet people but everyone else you talk to on the daily and everyone is kicking ass in these challenges (except like two people). I think that’s why I keep thinking myself as an early out is because it’s so hard to imagine anyone else getting voted out. But fuck that I got shit to prove.

I can’t even begin to explain how it feels to have been immune for 10 days in a row. My glow up front wakea is real.

Bodhi wants to get the 4 of us OG Cyrena's in a majority alliance, which is super convenient bc we can just combine our alliances into one. Problem is? I would HATE to vote either Drew or Michael out, especially given Drew singlehandedly got us immunity this time. So if there was ever time for an immunity streak...

Also I keep forgetting to search for idols this is why I never find one

________________________________________________________________

Sharky is voted out 5-1.