#i have other gifs i want to do but i have to record more gameplay first so this is just kind of IN THE MEANTIME. i luv casey anyway so.

[emmaswanned]

estevez: this is the kind of case my ex hated. the ones that might kill me.

[ruthplaysthesims]

Sims 4 Lovestruck Expansion Pack: Story Prompts.

What's up good people?! With the new Expansion pack coming up, I thought it'd be nice to share with y'all a few gameplay ideas/story prompts for those who want to start writing stories on Tumblr using the sims 4 Lovestruck (This is also for you folks that might need something to get y'all started after reviewing everything about it)

Prompt 1: After many unsuccessful relationships, your sim is about to die from heartbreak. To prevent that from happening, they choose to stay single for a while but what happens when they find out someone has been "secretly admiring" them form afar? Would your sim meet the grim reaper before ever knowing who this secret admirer is?

Prompt 2: After a messy divorce/breakup from their partner/spouse, your sim decides to move to Ciudad Enamorada and start anew. Everything is a culture shock to them from the people, to the food to the music. Your sim befriends one of the townies and the townie decides to set up a blind date. Plot twist: It's their EX SPOUSE who also coincidentally was taking a vacation to said Ciudad Enamorada.

Prompt 3: You have a sim in the matchmaking career. With all the successful matches, you'd think your sim would be lucky to find the perfect match for themselves.. Unlike the matches they have made, your sims's partner is what one would deem a hellish nightmare... what you do with them is completely up to you.

Prompt 4: Your sim is known as the casanova of Ciudad Enamorada. Known for taking on many lovers at the time, then leaving when they see fit. They find out there is a new resident in Cuidad Enamorada; a bachelor(ette) known to be a paragon of virtue, extremely good looking, ridiculously wealthy, and a good party host(ess). This catches your casanova's attention. Your sim gets an invitation to this bachelor's party. But this bachelor has a deep secret. What your sim doesn't know... won't hurt them... right?

Prompt 5: Your sim is a romance consultant; known to set the record straight with their clients. If it's worth working things out they'll tell you, if it's time for the couple to go their separate ways, they will go as far as recommending therapists & divorce attorneys. While working with a seemingly normal couple, your sim can't help but notice one of them is staring. Not just any type of stare either, no. they're giving your sim the seductive stare while the other is venting about how they feel to your sim.. Would your sim take the risk of ruining their career for a seductive tension?

That's all I have for now. If you do choose to use these prompts, I would LOVE to see these stories unfold. I'll be back with more prompts. Here's to the new Expansion Pack. Have fun y'all!

ETA Did not think I'd be back today again but I have more scenarios for y'all and I hope you guys like it!!

Prompt 6: Your sim is happily married to their spouse of 4 years. During your anniversary trip to Ciudad Enamorada, your sim and their partner run into a friend of theirs. This “friend” seems all of a sudden interested in your sim’s partner, which confuses them as well as said friend thought the idea of being with your partner was out of the question… it isn’t until you meet some of your partner’s friends that you discover the shocking truth… that they are into married sims… 

Prompt 7: Your sim works as an intern in Cupid Corp (made up) and before releasing the newest update of Cupid’s corner, your sim  is chosen to ‘date’ one of the workers for commercial purposes. It is all supposed to be for show, and the reward is a promotion and heavy pay for both you and said worker. The one rule they have: NO OFFICE ROMANCE… That sounds all fun… until ‘lover’ confesses they have feelings for your sims… 

Prompt 8: Your sim is home alone, scrolling aimlessly through Cupid’s corner until you see a celebrity they've been crushing on for ages. They decide to swipe right as a joke… until they get the notification “IT’S A MATCH” and the celebrity texts a time and place to meet…

Prompt 9: Love day is quickly approaching and your sim is not a fan of the holiday.. They however decide to put themselves on Cupid’s corner, willing to play the ideal partner for Love Day for a few simoleons… This catches a young widow’s eye and she takes you up on the offer… and what was supposed to be a one day thing turns into digging into this widow’s life and requesting to see her more… 

Prompt 10: Your sim finally got the house of their dreams in Ciudad Enamorada. However, ever since they moved to this house, they couldn't help but notice the countless broken hearts that were drawn on the wall, along with the random puddles of water around the living room. Your sim looks into the house's history and finds out the house is haunted by the ghost of its previous owner; a sim who died of heartbreak.. it roams the house drawing on the walls and crying from heartache, and curses the one responsible for their heartbreak. You decide to help them cross over… the thing is… they don't know where to start…

[intramoon]

Hellooo 🥺 I wanted to know if you have followed a tutorial to make the last gifs? Or would you show how to make them? Than you so much 💕

I didn't follow any specific tutorial, I've just made a quick little process after researching how other people on Tumblr make gifs. I can tell you how I do but I would definitely recommend following a tutorial of someone more qualified! lol

Aj's Guide To Sims Gifs

I am going to show you how I made this gif of Wednesday:

You'll need:

A screen recording program; Streamlabs, OBS Studio

Adobe Photoshop (FYI I am using the newest version).

The full tutorial is below the cut.

I promise it is easy, this tutorial is just long because I want to cover all bases, so if you have no idea what any of what I am saying means you can still follow along easily!

Lets get started!

1. Installing Your Recording Programs

You'll need to be able to record your game. Any streaming or screen recording program with work perfectly! I use Streamlabs because that's what I use for Twitch, but OBS Studio will work too! I've used them all, I recommend Streamlabs because it's more user-friendly.

2. Setting Up Your Recording Programs

You'll need to set up a scene in your streaming program that records your display or your game. In Streamlabs you go to the plus bottom beside sources and add either a Display Capture or a Game Capture, select your display or game. Is there a difference? Using game capture will remove any of your miscellaneous desktop UI and you won't have to crop it out later down the line. Despite that being pretty handy, I do display capture because I am difficult. lol If you have questions about this step feel free to send a ask, but I am going to skip over this to be able to go into more detail about the gif-making process.

3. Recording Your Scenes

Now you'll need to record your scenes in-game! I recommend doing this with ReShade or gshade. I use ReShade. Just make sure your lighting is how you like, the time of day is how you like, and have fun! Tip #1: Save your game before you start recording any scenes. Especially if you are recording gameplay, this will allow you to go back if you miss an animation or interaction. You'll be able to reload your game where you were and you can try to capture the moment again. Tip #2: Only record for 10-20 seconds at a time. Yes, you'll have a bunch of small recordings and that is what you want. You'll have to import those clips to Photoshop and if they are over 30 seconds they are going to strain your computer and be difficult to work with. Record animations just one time through, and re-record from different angles. This will let you pick from a variety of clips to get the gif you want. For 5-7 gifs I have 15-ish recordings that are about 10 seconds each, for reference. Tip #3: If you are alpha like me and are plagued by alpha hair vs. MXAO, just be intentional with the hair choices you make because you cannot edit the MXAO out later (I mean you can but it is a lot of fucking work). I have found updos are better at not having crazy MXAO spots. Or opt for using sims with darker hair.

4. Loading and Shortening Your Clip

Now, pick the first clip you'd like to convert to a gif. Go to File > Import > Import Videos To Frames and then select the video file for the clip. A window will appear that looks like this:

From here you are going to select the exact moment in your clip that you want to use. The two half-sliders underneath the timeline are your start and stop points. You want to move them to just encompass the moment you want to use. Try to cut it down as much as possible to just the moment you need, the longer the clip the more frames, the longer it will take to render and the harder it will be on your computer. You will know if your clip is too long with this pop-up:

Avoid this!

My cut-down clip looks like this:

5. Loading In Your Layers & Workspace

Your workspace should look like this!

You should see 100-200ish layers on the right side and a timeline on the bottom. If you do not see the layers on the right side go to Window > Layers, you should be able to see them after doing this. If you do not see a timeline on the bottom, go to Window > Timeline, you should be able to see it after doing this. If your timeline does not look like mine and rather like this:

Don't worry! That's totally fine! If you do want to change it click the three squares on the bottom left and it will show each individual frame.

6. Cropping and Resizing

You want to work with the smallest file possible so you can use the littlest amount of resources and have the smallest file size. This is, one, to reduce strain on your computer but also because Tumblr only allows gifs that are 10MB. We want to keep the gif as small as possible.

First, we are going to crop our gif! In my example, I need to crop out my computer UI. I think long gifs and square gifs look the best, so I am going to crop my long ways.

We also want to resize our gif to 540px. I know people get on me for resizing my screenshots to 540px but this is a MUST for gifs. If not they will be blurry. They are not like screenshots and portraits. In my crop settings, you'll see I have my set to 540px.

That makes the cropping resizing process quicker by killing two birds with one stone. Alternatively, you can crop as normal, and then resize to 540px afterward. I've done both and both get the same result! If your post will have two gifs side by side you'll want to crop your gifs to 268px.

If it takes Photoshop a little bit of time to crop the image, that is normal! Just requires some patience. The same goes for resizing. I've found sometimes resizing takes the longest.

My resized gif looks like this!

7. Editing Your Gif

Technically your gif is done! If you don't intend on editing it you can export it and you're done! I like to do a little editing on my gifs.

To edit gifs you'll need to use non-destructive editing methods, ie. adjustment layers or smart objects but most likely adjustment layers. If you, for example, edit by going to Image > and then adjusting your image, you'd have to do that to all your layers. That's not viable. Instead, you'll want to make a group at the top of all your layers and place your adjustment layers in the group. You can make a group by clicking the folder icon at the bottom of your layers panel. You can create adjustment layers by clicking the half-shaded circle on the bottom of your layers panel.

BE CAREFUL! Make sure you are doing edits on layer 1, if you edit other random layers the edit will only apply to those layers. I've made this mistake a few too many times.

As for sharpening, this is when you'd use your sharpening action or sharpen it yourself. I am going to be using this sharpening action by insomniacgifs. I've used a handful but this is the one I like the most because it converts my layers into a smart object that lets me do more edits later (which I will show you).

All sharpening actions are different so make sure to read their instructions before you use them. Some sharpening actions have a layer limit so they will not work on longer gifs.

To start using insomniacgifs action I have to convert my layers to frames. They have an action for this. I select "Layer 1" and run their "Frames to Timeline" action.

Now my layers are in a smart object!

Smart objects are a non-destructive way to edit and something I recommend using with gifs and your edits. Smart objects also preserve the quality of your images despite you resizing and editing your image.

In regards to gifs, this allows me to use Camera Raw Filter and more heavily edit my gif! All I am going to do is open Camera Raw Filter and edit away! It will apply my edits to a layer attached to this smart object.

After I've done my edits, I will pick which level of sharpening I want to use from insomniacgifs action. I usually pick soft. I am going to press play on the "Soft" action. This does sometimes take a while to load. You may get a progress bar. Just be patient. This may take a few minutes.

Now that the Soft actions have finished, my gif is sharpened! I am extra and want to tweak my gif a little more. After finishing the Soft action all my layers will be in a "gif" folder. Remember how I mentioned before that to edit gifs you want to place a group above your layers and place your adjustment layers inside? I am going to do that now! It looks something like this:

8. Saving Your Gif

Now, finally, we can save! This is the easiest part! Go to File > Export > Export for The Web (Legacy). I window will open that looks like this:

In the top right, make sure the file type is set to GIF. Here you can play your gif and see it in action! Now, this is what I normally notice if I do not like the speed of the gif. It defaults to 0.06 seconds per frame. Sometimes I like this slow pace to get a dreamier gif but with this gif, it's too slow. I will show you how to fix it. Close this window and go to your timeline. Shift + Left-Click the first and last layers on the timeline. Right-click on the frame duration.

Now click other and change it to your desired duration. For me, that will be 0.03 seconds.

Now let's try to save again! This is the end result!

If you have questions please do not hesitate to ask! I will update this tutorial as people ask questions and clarification is needed! You can always hit me up if you need help!

[missusvixxen]

★ - Deceived Angel | Albert Wesker x OC - ★ Part 1

A/N: The POV is from a girl named Angel Borris, but you may interpret her as you. She is one of Umbrella's successful test subjects. This is my first time writing fanfics and English is not my first language so please excuse the mess😭I also have not played any of their games but I have watched their live-action movies and some gameplays, so I apologize if this isn't lore-accurate🙏 TW: Abandonment, gaslighting, manipulation, violence, drugging.

Main Series: Part 2 Shorts: Family Affair

★★★★★★★★★ ------------ • ------------ ★★★★★★★★★

Amid the chaos, I found myself lost. Trapped in a tangled state of emotions. White-clad figures ran away from me while the sharp wail of alarms pierced through the flood of frantic voices. My heart pumped fast as I stood frozen in the hallway, her words echoing constantly in my mind like a broken record. "Stay."

Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps drew in. Instinctively, I prepared for defense, but before I could make a move, multiple arms seized me, pulling me back with a force I could've resisted. I was surrounded by people with helmets, pointing their guns at me, yelling at me to stay down. Panic surged through me as I struggled against the solid grip, but all was ended when a sharp pain traveled through my neck.

Within the darkness, I made out murmurs circling around me, my limbs sensing restraint. Panic surged as I shot my eyes open. A heartbeat monitor stood to my left, my arms and legs were bound to the chair, wires attached to my head. Two people entered, one in white, the other in black. The one in black had something on his face, covering his eyes, something I haven't seen before.

"Why are you out of your cell? How did you get out?" He asked me. I couldn't tell if he was mad or not, his voice sounded deeper than the I'm used to hearing.

"I-I…" I stuttered, meeting his deadpan gaze with slight aggression, though fear hid beneath the surface. "I wanted to escape," I confessed, my voice trembling slightly as I tried to assert dominance. Who does he think he is? Surely, I hold more power than him. He was just another person trying to belittle me. He's just another scientist, a distraction from an approaching needle.

He huffed and tilted his head. "Is that so? Why would you do that? We've given you a home. Why would you abandon it?” I remained silent. They did give me a home. This is my home.

The man in white placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered to him, “Let’s just return her to her cell, Albert.”

"Where's my sister...?" As his silence stained the atmosphere, a sense of threat crept over me, his slow, advancing steps adding to my anxiety. The flickering lights cast erratic shadows, panic growing among the people in white. Their unhinged movements mirrored the fear I felt, their shadows betraying their inner turmoil.

"What did you do to her?!" I screamed, my jaw slightly ajar, revealing the inside of my mouth. Suddenly, a dark, massive figure emerged from the ground, steadily growing in size. With a deafening roar, it rampaged through the room, claiming three lives in its wake. I struggled to break free, desperately attempting to fend off the remaining threat with my one free arm.

"BORRIS!" The man in black snapped, halting our tantrums, and drawing our attention to him. "Enough. Your sister escaped," he huffed, tone heavy with resignation. "Our efforts to bring her back were unsuccessful. There's no doubt that she won't get caught by locals. She's very good at hiding."

"It's actually a shame, you know. Her gift was very high in potential. Similar to yours, her skills were very promising." The man in white remarked.

As we both recovered from the outburst, the figure eased back into place, returning to its usual form. For a moment, we locked eyes, a silent understanding passing between us. A tear of frustration slipped down my cheek, betraying the emotions swirling within. Gently, he drew closer, his touch tender as he wiped away the tear, wordlessly offering solace in the face of uncertainty.

Suddenly, his grip slightly tightened on my jaw, gently guiding my eyes to his. His expression was unreadable, even for his shadow. He waited for a response, for another fit of rage, until he spoke.

"How does it feel to realize you've been held captive by the company since childhood?" he murmured, his voice gruff with unsettling tranquility, "And now, abandoned by your own blood to become our new 'perfect' subject?"

My eyes sparked a light, twinkling with hope. "Perfect? What makes me greater than her?" I tensed, disbelief creeping into my voice. "Why do you think she managed to escape this place? They've been feeding her, giving her more." I protested, my words laced with doubt and confusion.

In the intense moment, he leaned in close, his warm breath brushing against my face. Time stopped as we locked into each other's gaze, an uncertain sensation sending shivers down my spine. "Indeed she was." he acknowledged, "She was an excellent girl, but her disobedience grew. She became aware of her immense power and worth, leading to her escape. She bit the apple of the garden and fled. She became a liability. You, on the other hand, are the perfect candidate to replace her. Gifted and cooperative. In that regard... you are perfect." He concluded and tucked a hair behind my ear. 

"You are a gift to our program," he declared, his words carrying both promise and ominous intent. "A gem to be polished and treasured. Even now, your potential shines brightly, and we intend to nurture it to the fullest." I knew his words tinged with venom, yet I was tempted to be poisoned with his deceit.

Left in a daze, he turned on his heel, leaving me with the people in white. They were now attaching tubes to my arm, I'm not sure why, but a great sense of power coursed through my veins. "Put her back in her cell and get them to look for the other one. We can't risk that bitch to breach the facility." I sighed, heat rushing through my face. Closing my eyes, I let the praise wash over my mind, like a comforting embrace from my prince charming. "I'm perfect..."

[biggrump]

Video Games I played in 2023 (and maybe even enjoyed)

A completely unorganized list of games I played this year that I wanted to talk about because they were great.

1. Ultrakill - My biggest time sink of the year. Found out about this game about a year ago due to FUNKe talking about it a lot. Was hooked from the first level, and after beating it I replayed several levels until I mastered the mechanics, then looked for all the secret levels, then P-ranked all of Act 1 and then the P-1 boss fight several times over (Act 2 is hard to P-rank). However enjoyment did kinda dry up for a bit after I actually got good at the game but then Hakita dropped the first part of act 3 a while ago and it started all over again. Here's hoping the last 2 chapters stick the landing and keep scratching that itch (which they probably will let's be honest)

2. Metal Gear Solid series - Played all of the games aside from 4 which couldn't run on my PC (had to watch a long play for it) and Peace Walker just cause I got distracted by other stuff. The first game didn't really resonate with me on a deeper level but its storytelling, gameplay mechanics, and 4th wall breaks are amazing, especially for the time. 2 and 3 hit far harder and are some of the best games I've ever played. I could talk for hours about every facet of 2's creativity with its meta narrative and constant questioning of reality but then I wouldn't have time to talk about other games here. Just know that it is now my favorite game ever made. 3, while not quite as crazy and predictive with its plot, is just a really good story about a small group of characters that is incredibly written and told. I also really enjoyed 5's gameplay and a lot of the more subtle storytelling, and while 4 has an utterly incomprehensible plot with tons of holes, the character writing, voice acting, and graphics are phenomenal. I want whatever Kojima smokes when he comes up with these.

3. Red Dead Online - I played this with my brother and encountered a modder on my first day. Think that really informed my take on this game because he gave me a shit ton of money and I was able to use it to get a bounty license which took up most of my time in that game. We'd just queue up a bounty mission and play some Oingo Boingo and Talking Heads while we ride, do the bounty, then watch random videos while we waited till the last minute to drop off the bounty bc of how Rockstar decided to set up the system. We also met a couple people online and overall just had a great experience bein a rootin tootin shootin cowboy. Also my guy looks doofy as fuck.

4. The Artful Escape - Impulse bought this game after I watched a vid by Jexonite where he played every game published by Annapurna because the premise seemed fun and I thought it looked cool. Turns out the game does look cool, incredible even. But the art style is kind of all this game has going for it, aside from some solid voice actors (Jason Schwartzman and Lena Headey were cool and Mark Strong was completely unrecognizable). Gameplay is basically just a walking sim that occasionally tells you to press buttons to play notes on your guitar and the story took a pretty generic turn. Has absolutely zero replay value but I did enjoy playing it.

5. BPM - The first roguelike I've ever gotten into, probably because it has a guns in it. I got all the way up to the last level then died to a low level enemy and have not gotten that far in the game since. The OST goes insanely hard though and is part of the reason why I keep coming back to it. It's also insanely addicting so be warned.

6. Hotline Miami - Probably holds the record for the game that pissed me off the most this year. An insanely fun and fast paced shooter game where your reaction timing is everything and that every nerd with a YouTube channel has already picked apart. Even though some of the AI is complete jank it is so satisfying clearing rooms in this game. The art style is also quite good and the soundtrack introduced me to a ton of new artists. Also is a strong case for environmental storytelling needing to be more prevalent in games. I can figure out what's going on I'm a smart guy.

7. Katana Zero - A very Hotline Miami inspired game aka a game with a pixelated art style and a synthwave soundtrack where the goal is to clear rooms and you die in one hit. I feel a bit more mixed about this game compared to Hotline honestly. I really liked the time slowing mechanic, the mobility, and the way you can reflect bullets with your sword. I also like how the enemy AI actually stays consistent through each run of the level, whereas with Hotline there were some enemies who could move erratically and fuck everything up even if you plan a solid route. However, I think because of how the story was told I don't think it had as much of an impact on me. I can't really remember a lot of the important details but I can remember that a lot of plot threads were left unresolved. Also, while I do like the combat a lot, I feel like it's missing the sandbox approach that Hotline had. Honestly not a game I would necessarily come back to, but if the dev made a sequel I would buy it (especially if we get to play as Dragon more he was cool as fuck). I'll also give the game props for actually having an OST unlike Hotline.

8. Undertale - What could I say about this game that hasn't already been said by the entire population of South Dakota? It is very fun and I am glad I finally took the plunge and played it. Now I just have to finish the other routes at some point lol

9. Lethal Company - I played this game with multiple friend groups and it was incredibly fun but also terrifying. If you haven't played yet, the best advice I can give is to just go in completely blind and figure shit out on your own. Also, try to actually go into the buildings instead of staying in the ship like a goo goo ga ga dingus.

Other stuff I played worth mentioning (Smaller stuff or games I revisited/haven't finished a full playthrough of):

1. A Hat in Time DLC - Played the original game late last year and loved it, but didn't get the DLC so I didn't play it for some time. Played it this year and had a blast. The Nyakuza Metro level is so detailed, you can really tell the devs poured their heart and soul into making this game look as great as it does. Made me rediscover my love for the base game.

2. Titanfall 2 - Not my first time playing it but replayed the single player on PC for the first time (played on Xbox before) and realized the characters and level design were way better than I remembered. I then started pestering everyone I knew to play it and the ones who did seem to like it too. I also popped off multiple times in the multiplayer so it was nice to have a multiplayer game that I'm good at.

3. The Magic Circle - Played for a few hours and then stopped, but the premise is quite fun and I am eager to revisit at some point in the future.

4. The Looker - This one was just funny idrk what else to say. (I have not played The Witness)

[egg-emperor]

Reposters, read this to understand me

What's crazy about the reposters that disrespect my wishes to give me an ounce of credit, practically run their accounts on my stuff, and continue to do so maliciously even after I ask them (before one specific person gets mad, this has happened multiple times) -

is that my videos on my YouTube channel like my cutscene compilations and stuff are free to use. I don't watermark my videos like that and never plan to. You're allowed to use the footage for your own stuff as much as you want (credit is appreciated but not required, as I've said to those who asked first to use it in their videos)

And you can screenshot it to high heaven, make edits out of it, whatever you want. So long as you don't just straight up reupload the entire video for the same purpose I already uploaded it of course. I recorded the footage and played through the games again to get it when theatre mode isn't available,

but it's an effort I don't mind being used transformatively after I've uploaded it, I'm happy to know it's useful. That's the point of my channel being a collection and archive. I never liked people slapping watermarks just on top of recorded cutscenes when there's not even personal gameplay in it because they didn't animate them themself (unlike how gif making and edits and such is a lot more personalized and wouldn't exist at all without that creative effort)

Even though a lot of effort goes into the compiling and editing, if you want to take screenshots and clips from my YouTube videos for any reason, you can. It's an archive and that's the point. The end product is identical to the official product, compiling aside, therefore I don't feel protective ownership, unless someone reuploaded my entire video as a copy with no changes or other purpose

But my blog isn't an archive. It's a personalized expression of my passion that my YouTube account isn't (aside from the long ass gushing descriptions on there lol), my gifs, screenshots, upscales, edits, compilations, collages, etc are not for people to just steal and practically run their account on with no credit. It makes me feel used and taken for granted

But here's the thing, I actually don't mind the odd screenshot or gif being used by people every now and then- especially if they don't know it's mine. Official Sega accs have used my gifs. Popular meme accounts have used them. I've just recently seen an artist you all love that hates my guts and blocked me use my Lost World Eggman CG "if you insist" gif on Twitter and I bet she didn't know it was me that made it.

(It was this one, just before I added this watermark)

And does it make me angry? No

I can always tell when people use images and gifs that have been on my blog from the frames and duration of the gif to the exact dimensions of a crop in an image. Then some people even take edits where I've made the arrangement myself from erasing backgrounds, upscaling, and compiling or have even drawn on it and so it's not even subtle and literally did not exist before I made it

But I know it's not always malicious and sometimes it might just be useful and a one off- or it's at least being used transformatively, for the sake of evidence or analysis of their own, or has interesting commentary, or something like that. I don't mind this. But if you're practically just remaking my exact posts or reposting my images without any transformative efforts and commentary at all, it becomes a problem

Especially when you run an account where it's practically just all my stuff back to back, with no commentary, or commentary where you're repeating things I've said or trying to talk like me because that's creepily happened before on Instagram while they were reposting my stuff. I know that if you do that then you're just visiting my blog and grabbing every image I post. I don't want to run your account for you

A lot of effort goes into what I make. people act like it doesn't matter if it isn't art but it does to me. I put a lot of effort into recording my own footage and compiling it, then turning them into gifs, making edits, taking screenshots etc. I have constant chronic pain and fatigue too to the point I've had fainting attacks when it becomes too overwhelming. And still I give what I make my all for my blog

It feels like a slap in the face when people download and repost knowingly and spitefully when I politely ask them to stop. I put my heart and soul into what I create and it hurts to see it taken for granted, especially when I don't get an ounce of credit and they get more traction and praise for the things I myself created. You think making it yourself is too much effort compared to stealing? Well try having chronic pain and fatigue and still making it yourself

If you're wondering what makes taking stuff from my blog different to my videos, it's because the final product of the stuff on my blog is more personalized and very different to the official product. The gifs, edits, upscales, compiling, and transformative efforts in my work is vastly different to me just recording cutscenes and slapping my watermark on the whole video

And that's the reason why I don't want the stuff on my blog to be taken and mass reposted, compared to my videos where you can screenshot and clip as much as you want because that's why they're there. Choosing to steal everything I personalized like that on my blog when you could literally just go to my videos and screenshot them as much as you want bothers me

Because then it seems like total laziness to me. Because they already take a lot of work to record and compile, yet I'll allow you to screenshot and clip them without watermarks and credit, but you'd rather just take them from my blog because you can't even be bothered to take screenshots or make gifs- when I do all of the above myself- and with chronic pain and fatigue making it extra effort

I deeply regret that I didn't watermark the contents of my blog from the start but I'm going out of my way to change that since people don't respect when I ask them not to repost

And to those who have just happened to use my images or gifs unintentionally a couple of times or you just had them on hand, I don't mind because I know you didn't do it maliciously. They're also free to save for personal use off the internet, I just don't want everything I ever make being reposted like some people do on purpose so they can practically run their whole account on me

But here malicious reposters, if you need content so bad, screenshot/gif/make edits/whatever you want out of these videos yourself. Because at least then you actually did part of it yourself and have something to be proud of instead of using my blog to run your account-

even when even at that it's using some of my efforts in my game recording and video editing/compiling :P

[yukihime242]

It is that time of the year where I start to do my annual review of the games I have played for the year. I made it sound like I have tons of annual reviews but in truth, I only did one which was last year...

(GIF Source: Imgur thru' Google Image Search)

Ahem, anyway, unlike last year where I categorised my games according to the platform which I played them on, I am going to categorise them as Completed, Currently Playing, and Anticipating. It makes more sense this way, doesn't it?

Obviously, I won't be putting all into one post because that would make it too long. I have also linked the two other posts to the respective titles above so you can just hop over to the other posts if you don't wish to read this one.

Now that's settled, on to the Completed list of games for 2023!

1️⃣ A Little to the Left

(Picture Source: Nintendo thru' Google Image Search)

A Little to the Left is one of the top cozy and organising games during the Covid period and it has excellent reviews on Steam. The only complain many players had with the game is the "unjustified" price tag for the game.

The game revolves around a couple attempting to organise and keep their house tidy but their cat, being a cat, would mess things up. Each level in the game will give you some form of satisfaction after re-organising or solving the puzzles. Of course, you will have their cat coming to mess things up occasionally.

The levels are doable but there are some that are really tricky. Many of you who may wish to play it would definitely want to solve the levels yourselves, but trust me, there are some that are so tricky that I had to google the answer.

But if you are insistent on trying to solve it yourself without any help, then here are a couple of tips. First, you can skip the level you are stuck at and go back to it at the end. I am not sure what is the control function on Switch, but if you are playing on PC, you can open the menu by pressing the ESC key and select the "Let It Be" option to move on to the next level. There is no time limit, so you can take your time to try and solve those puzzles at your own time.

Second, observe every single feature in the level, especially for those which has multiple solutions. Some are easy to solve, such as arranging it into ascending or descending order, or by colours and the like. But it is usually starting from the second solution that is tricky. The tip here is to observe every single feature in the level. Take for example, the leaves at the bottom picture below.

(Picture Source: A Little to the Left Wiki Fandom thru' Google Image Search)

At first glance, you would have guessed that the solution is by the colours. Congrats, you got your first solution, but there are more solutions to discover in this level. You will need to observe every thing in this level. Since the first solution is by colour, what else can you do to solve it? Is it by the leaf shape? Or by the length of the stems?

This is just one of the many levels that is designed as such. It may be liberating for some but there are those who may rage at not being able to figure out solution. My suggestion is to not be afraid to google the answer.

If you like to watch the gameplay of A Little to the Left, I have uploaded some videos onto my YouTube channel. The link will direct you to the playlist of the gameplay I have recorded and uploaded.

2️⃣ Death's Door

(Picture Source: Nintendo thru' Google Image Search)

Death's Door took me almost half a year to complete though the game system said that I only spent slightly over 20 hours to complete...

Anyway, this game talks about this crow that just got a job at the Reaper's Commission, and was assigned his first job. He successfully completed it but got his assigned soul stolen by another crow who has been trapped for years. Our crow chased after the older crow only to witness him sending our assigned soul to a long and large black door, to which the older crow explained that he had to do it in order for him to get his own assigned soul back. Unfortunately, the door did not budge and the older crow asked our crow for help to reap three other large souls to be used to open the door. Our crow reluctantly agreed to help.

The story of Death's Door is simple to follow as long as you pay attention to the dialogue. If not, you can just go google the story. Otherwise, the game mechanics, the UI and controls are all very simple. The only thing that may have you pulling your hair roots out is the battle.

Now, I am more of a casual player but am willing to try such games. I thought it was probably because my dodging skills was horrible but the online guide which I follow has a disclaimer at the homepage of the game guide that said you will die in battle a few times before achieving victory. Alas, it wasn't because of my dodging skills (it still sucks) but that the game was created in such a way.

Of course, it is not impossible to win the battle on the first try, but that the chances of it is quite low; I guess you could say it is a once in a blue moon effort.

If you are interested in trying the game, here are a few advice, not exactly tips, that if you allow me to give.

Firstly, don't be afraid to experiment. The thing about this game is that although the game mechanics and controls are the same for all, there are different playstyles that each player is accustomed to. Some probably swing their weapon like a maniac while some do it with a strategic calculation. Apart from that, there are also weapons you can collect throughout the gameplay, each with varying degrees of damage output. I have seen a player on YouTube use an umbrella to battle. That umbrella's damage output is only 0.5 (the sword assigned to you at the start of the game is 1). However, it seems to work for him, which kinda emphasizes my point here.

Secondly, and those most important advice here, is that surviving is more important than attacking. The boss battles, be it mini bosses or final bosses, including the Avarice, can be frustrating. It is at those points in the game where you will die countless times. Often times you may see an opportunity to attack but it could also be your demise. My suggestion is to dodge more and attack less. Sure, the battle will be dragged longer but it will increase your chances of survival better.

(Picture Source: EIP Gaming thru' Google Image Search)

Thirdly, you don't need necessarily need to achieve 100% completion rate to complete the game. The 100% completion rate is by levelling up your spells, visiting every shrine, and making sure that all pots are planted with a life seed.

While power ups and having a handy potted life seed is good, it is not necessarily needed to complete the game experience. It is possible to complete the game without any of those. Even so, I would still suggest trying to go for it because it will make your battle a tad bit easier to deal with, especially the fire spell (levelling up your fire spell will make your enemies experience continued burning damage after you throw a fire ball at them).

Final advice is to explore every nook and cranny of the map. There aren't any treasure chest with loads of goodies for you to collect, but because there may be some mass souls that you can pick up and exchange it at the vault in the Reaper's Commission for levelled up attack power.

While Death's Door was fun, I don't think I would go back to play it again because of the battle mechanics. It is really very frustrating which could prompt you to lose your interest in the game. However, it is also quite worth losing a few hairs.

3️⃣ Pokemon Scarlet

(Picture Source: Nintendo thru' Google Image Search)

I'd be honest here. At the time of writing, I have yet to complete the game. I am very confident that I could get past the Area Zero with ease but it is the Pokemon League that has me worried. My sister who completed the Violet version a long time ago advised me to level up as many different types of Pokemon as possible before I tackle the Pokemon League.

I have a feeling that this game would very well run over into 2024, but I am not willing to put this game under the 2024 annual review since I am currently near to the end of the story. Moreover, I won't be able to play DLC because my country strangely does not support the e-shop.

Anyway, just like any other Pokemon game (to my knowledge because this is the first of such for me), you are an aspiring trainer ready to take your first big step into the world of Pokemon like Ash Ketchum, except in the Scarlet and Violet version, you got to attend the Pokemon Academy. But, of course, the whole purpose of a Pokemon game is to go out, explore, and catch Pokemon, which will be given to you after a few semesters in the Academy (time skip).

There are three quests for you to take (not optional). The first is the usual Pokemon League quest where you need to tackle the gyms located throughout Paldea. The second quest is helping Arven with his Mabosstiff by battling Titan Pokemon and acquiring some mystical herb. The third quest is to help Cassiopeia take down Team Star. All three are important quests to take on because they are located all over the Paldea region. If you are unsure of the order to go with, you can refer to this guide.

However, if you don't wish to tackle all at once, that my suggestion is to go for the Titan Pokemon quest first. The reason being is because after defeating each Titan Pokemon, your Koraidon, or Miraidon in Violet version, will acquire important skills beneficial to exploring Paldea. Afterwords, you can tackle both the Gym and Team Star together if you wish.

One thing I did to make my game experience smoother is to level up my Pokemon as high as I could. That's because I needed stronger Pokemon to battle the tougher Titan Pokemon. In order to do so, I went Tera Raiding, but that can also prove to get boring very easily.

(Picture Source: IGN thru' Google Image Search)

The big headache for this game is trying to find which Pokemon is best to keep and which is best to release. Of course, the usual strong Pokemon like Garchomp, Dragonite, Tyranitar and the like, are the top choices. But you will still need a wide selection of different types of Pokemon. The easiest way is to get hybrid types, such as Dragonite being a Dragon and Flying type.

Another way is to get the tera types. So, for example, you may encounter a Vaporeon (water type) with an electric tera version. However, the disadvantage of it is that in order to utilise the tera version, you will need to terastalize your Pokemon which has a long cool down between battles.

Overall, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet can be quite addicting, but it can also get boring soon. I'd say that it's a double-edge sword. Still, being my very first RPG Pokemon game, it is quite an experience to behold. I do look forward to other similar games like this.

[evnsparks]

Racing Game - Development Post

Hello and welcome back. This post I focus on my learnings from developing the prototype which aimed to explore and implement custom art and sound assets into Gdevelop. To begin I first began by looking at ways to find assets.

Finding Assets Online

There are two ways to go about getting assets for the prototype, either to find one or create one. Taking in the principles of rapid prototyping, learnings from previous prototypes and acknowledgement of my lower skill level in creating assets in pixel art and recording sound files I decided to find them online. The most common way of finding assets online is to use google images and youtube. Whilst these did the job a common issue to encounter comes around in copyright being unclear or many desired assets being copyrighted or paid. A way to get around this is to try look for assets via sites that specialize in providing copyright free assets particularly for game development. To ensure I did not get caught up trying to find perfect assets for a prototype I aimed to get assets that looked close or mostly captured the feel I was after.

For game assets Itch.io was a great site to find many game assets that are designed to be implemented for game development very easily as well as provided copyright information for each asset type.

(Site 1: Itch.io)

In terms of sound effects sites such as freesound.org followed similar principles to what made itch.io a great site. It also had a large library to choose from.

(Site 2: Freesound.org)

In other cases, I was able to find assets via google images and youtube but having these dedicated copyright free sites to look through made the process much easier and quicker.

Implementing Effects and Sound in GDevelop

Implementing sound in Gdevelop is a rather easy affair simply by playing a sound file when a condition occurs in this case, I wanted to play a sound effect when the car exploded. An interesting thing to note with sound files in Gdevelop is that they play from the starting point of the sound file, as such it is important to ensure there is no dead space or to ensure the sound file fits the timing desired. This is easily solved by using editing tools and was not too much of a problem. It does provide future knowledge especially if recording sound to edit it to the desired timing.

(Implementation of explosion and sound effect)

The process for adding the explosion effect was similar and just as easy, for effects though it is important to delete it once it has been completed as interestingly Gdevelop does not do this automatically and keeps the empty sprite on screen.

(Explosion Effect)

Implementing Dash and Difficulties

Implementing the game loop overall was quite difficult with much of the development time focused on getting a main component of the dash to work. Using some help from a Gdevelop platformer example I did manage to get the dash working and the main loop of avoiding the cars and smashing into them for points. This unfortunately meant little time to develop the main draw of the timed racing element. However, this should be enough to test the impact the dynamic elements implemented may have on the game experience and highlights the need for a balance in development on gameplay mechanics and dynamic elements that I should continue to develop.

Commenting On the Overall Effectiveness Contextually

Overall, the goals for this development largely focused on the dynamic element implementation which upon playtesting on my own was satisfying. It made the game easier to understand and helped encourage certain player behaviors desired. It also helped with the implementation of music to set the mood and tone of the game and made it feel more complete. It will be interesting to see how play testers react and what learnings can be drawn from this prototype cycle. References

Freesound - sound search. (2023). https://freesound.org/search/?q=explosions Top game assets tagged Cyberpunk. (2023). itch.io. https://itch.io/game-assets/tag-cyberpunk

[rachaelpyofren]

Waiting for people to ask me makes my little brain die of death so I’m making one big post answering each question.

1. What WarioWare games have you played? (And do you have favorites?)

A: They call me the WarioWare of Ed Sheeran so I’ve played all of them, my ranking from worst to best is Snapped < Game & Wario < Mega Party Game$ < DIY Showcase < Twisted < Mega Microgame$ < Touched < Smooth Moves < DIY < Move It < Get It Together < Gold

2. Any favorite characters from the series?

A: My top five characters are Ana, Red, Penny, Ashley & Pyoro. Pretend to be surprised that Rachael Pyofren’s favorite is Pyoro.

3. Do you make any fanworks for WarioWare or its characters? (Or how else do you generally show that you like the series?)

A: It’s on hiatus but dailypyoro is proof that WarioWare has altered my brain forever.

4. Do you have any personal headcanons or interpretations of the characters? (In relation to design, hobbies, connections to other characters, etc)

A: Every main cast member is LGBT, DUH. Dribble & Spitz KISS, Ashley & Penny KISS, Mike & Orubulon KISS, Pyoro is genderfluid, etc. I’m also a believer in heterochromia Penny.

5. Do you have favorite or least favorite microgames?

A: I made an entire document of me rating every microgame that you can check if you want https://docs.google.com/document/d/12_xYdxcUHNklvyu11WhPEX1wsxXWZZzcpIXKYcatBwk/edit#heading=h.ochzz6qk4150

But some noteworthy microgames I love are Fresh Off The Grill, Super Mario 64 DS, Super Mario World, Muscle Road & Star Fox

My noteworthy worstie microgames are Rock Climber, Sheriff, Accountant Assault, The Gold version of Write On, Dude & Safari Tour

6. Are there any songs from WarioWare you listen to often?

A: Tomorrow Hill is in my top 100 songs ever made and sometimes I pop on Ashley’s Theme. OOOOO and also Four Seasons! LOVE THAT SONG

7. Would you be open to WarioWare characters showing up in other Mario spinoff content? (Ex: as playable characters in Mario Kart)

A: I have no idea why they haven’t done it yet, LET ASHLEY DRIVE A CAR!!!

8. Have you played any other games that are similar to WarioWare's gameplay design? (Or are there ones you've wanted to look into?)

A: Spongebob Squigglepants 3D, surprisingly good game.

9. Do you have favorite minigames? (Not microgame, this is in reference to unlockable side games such as the Pyoro games)

A: PYORO S BAYBEEEEEE

10. You can choose 1 from the series character to get an official plush or figurine, who will it be?

A: Pyoro if we had it my way, but I would accept the Ashley plush.

(Some more questions that are completely game specific)

11. If you've played multiplayer Mega Party Game$!, do you have a 'main' character you go for while playing?

A: I either play Spitz or Ana, usually Spitz tho because he’s funny.

12. If you've played Get It Together!, do you have a favorite character (or set of characters) to use?

A: My 5 character team is Pyoro, Ashley, Penny, Red & 5-Volt

13. If you've played Smooth Moves or Move It!, do you have a favorite Form in those games?

A: I like The Discard, mostly because it has the most creative games in Smooth Moves. More specifically Fresh Off The Grill (Ashley’s boss stage). Here’s an idea you can steal for free, when my friend Fyro came down to visit me, we played that specific Microgame and played a fun game where we battled to see who could pick up the controller first. If one person grabs it too early, the other player wins.

14. If you've played D.I.Y., do you have any microgames, records or comics you're proud to have made?

A: I MADE AN ENTIRE ALBUM IN WARIOWARE DIY!!! CHECK IT OUT!!!

15. If you've played Gold, which microgame type is your favorite? (Mash, Twist, Touch)

A: Generally speaking, I’m more of a Mash fan, followed by Touch and my least fav being Twist.

16. If you've played Game & Wario, what is your favorite minigame? (Either singleplayer or multiplayer)

A: Either Gamer or Fruit depending on my mood.

17. If you've played Nintendo Badge Arcade, do you own any WarioWare related badges?

A: I own zero of them.

WarioWare Fan Ask Game

(i thought making this would be worth a shot at least. a good amount of these are about gameplay itself because i like hearing about gameplay specifics)

1. What WarioWare games have you played? (And do you have favorites?)

2. Any favorite characters from the series?

3. Do you make any fanworks for WarioWare or its characters? (Or how else do you generally show that you like the series?)

4. Do you have any personal headcanons or interpretations of the characters? (In relation to design, hobbies, connections to other characters, etc)

5. Do you have favorite or least favorite microgames?

6. Are there any songs from WarioWare you listen to often?

7. Would you be open to WarioWare characters showing up in other Mario spinoff content? (Ex: as playable characters in Mario Kart)

8. Have you played any other games that are similar to WarioWare's gameplay design? (Or are there ones you've wanted to look into?)

9. Do you have favorite minigames? (Not microgame, this is in reference to unlockable side games such as the Pyoro games)

10. You can choose 1 from the series character to get an official plush or figurine, who will it be?

(Some more questions that are completely game specific)

11. If you've played multiplayer Mega Party Game$!, do you have a 'main' character you go for while playing?

12. If you've played Get It Together!, do you have a favorite character (or set of characters) to use?

13. If you've played Smooth Moves or Move It!, do you have a favorite Form in those games?

14. If you've played D.I.Y., do you have any microgames, records or comics you're proud to have made?

15. If you've played Gold, which microgame type is your favorite? (Mash, Twist, Touch)

16. If you've played Game & Wario, what is your favorite minigame? (Either singleplayer or multiplayer)

17. If you've played Nintendo Badge Arcade, do you own any WarioWare related badges?

[b3balancedsims]

Life by You announcement response

Alright, I was as excited as a schoolgirl, I watched it once and had my initial reactions.

Then I watched it again to record, and again to edit. I will watch it one more time just to see if there is anything else I missed. I am waiting for it to upload before I go watch anyone else's reactions. I want to document my own point of view on the matter without any other input.

First, their body language and tone conveys nervousness. They are not presenters it was funny to watch how uncomfortable and unrehearsed they were while filming. That doesn't put me at ease and makes me want to watch the video more critically to see what they are hiding. They do mention there will be more videos on different features to come prior to the actual release 9/12/23. I laughed I wish it could have been 9/11 because EA is going to need emergency services as far as I am concerned. SHOTS FIRED OVER THE BOW!!!!

I get why they didn't choose that date. I am happy with this iteration of a life simulator for all the creator tools. I just want to know about game-play not just editors. That appears to be the focus right now. The COO said it best "life is a really big topic, and it is only limited by your imagination" and the community can do whatever they desire to include adding your own gameplay.

Second, the game will ship with modding tools, but no talk of world building. I think all of the features they touched upon are great, BUT how will they work? In my video commentary I asked the question about a feature of time skipping. If I can speed through time 10 years, is there story progression? Will I get married, have children, and advance in my job? What about the other avatar's lives, how will the rest of the world change in those 10 years? What job can I have? What about schools? What about hospitals, disease, and childbirth? How does the economy work (divorce, child support, orphans, childcare, taxes)? What is the customer interaction dynamic? I can control anyone and all of their relationships are stored in the avatars metadata so there must be some sort of story progression.

I didn't see a cash register or other point of sale in the shop. The avatar has a cellphone. They didn't cover relationship dynamics except for the ability to be flirty, friendly, or mean. The avatar can get engaged and married. There are no rabbit holes, so I have to watch as my avatar does paperwork? Oh wait, NO!! I can become anyone in the world and take over their life. THAT IS A PLUS! I can build until my heart desires. I can create conversations and lore on my own, but how do I go about building a world from scratch? Is there lore and a story line I can jump into to get acquainted with the existing lives of the pre-made avatars? Are there going to be starting scenarios to get us acquainted with the game play mechanics or am I left to fin for myself and wander around aimlessly at first, build an avatar and live among the natives?

Are there going to be seasons with weather? There are months, will there be a toggle for northern and southern hemispheres for the seasons to occur at the right time in this game? How does time work? is it real world time or an accelerated version? how will the avatars age? again what are the life stages? How can they die? What are the failed states? are there animations or cinematic associated with those failed states. I saw a woman crying at her computer at work, but did she get fired? no talk of wants or fears, wishes or aspirations. they didn't talk in depth about how you can create an avatar. They glossed over skills and personalities. There was an animated gift box on a porch, what was in it?

Third, the animations are not the best for the cars as the avatar didn't open the door to get out, BUT the cars don't appear to drive through each other. FINALLY!!!! I fell in love with the idea of connecting my steering wheel and driving around the world. I imagined how fun it would be to fully immerse myself in that world via virtual reality headsets to play sports or collect items, LOL even go fishing. Of course from a developers mindset having a game go seamlessly from one platform to another is a tad difficult, but I have neglected learning about virtual reality, since I read ready player one in middle school. In the realm of VR I am jaded, but it would still be fun to do some things while fully immersed instead of point and click. I just realized i should be able to connect a VR headset to a computer or console just like a steering wheel but does the game have the ability to use that peripheral or will it in the future or can I add the driver myself to make it work? I bought a Wii for my children so that they could be active and not just be sitting on their behinds to play games. We enjoyed family game nights in the winter, mostly bowling and table tennis. If they use a text to voice modulator that would be awesome.

The animations for the avatars seem a bit stiff but they appeared fleshed out. cooking, tinker, and gardening seem choppy, but steps for execution are well thought out. the object interactions seem pretty good, but it was hard to see the menu options. they showed personal relationship interactions but not work or shopping interactions. I want to own my own business, and am curious about how i would interact with my employees. How would i start the business, buy rental property? There were no animal interactions. not sure if there were any animals at all. I am a city dweller but enjoy running a farm from time to time.

Lastly, What can i add? I love supernaturals, especially fairies, vampires, and witches. A Zombie apocalypse and alien abduction are always fun. The teaser doesn't talk about life states (species of humanoid) or stages at all. I was thinking about adding a garbage truck and having a waste management career. They don't mention what careers you can have. They ended with quests!!!! I can create quests!!!! That got me. What about building a world in cities skylines and dealing with the waste management and such and having the avatars play through them as i am the mayor of the world. lol or the president or king/queen or overlord! My Shangrala would be the convergence of the two things. I would be overjoyed to have my avatars voices in cities skylines. If the game data of the avatars lives is connected to a cities skylines world would be the best thing to ever happen to my life. go to life by you and live in the city I created. Seeing the avatars interact with the city services and my city plan and petition for changes. Tell my story from start to finish. The most epic tomogochi on the planet.

[bluebudgie]

Hello peeps!

Thought some of you might be interested in some tips and tricks for making gifs of your GW2 characters. Don't get me wrong here please, I'm by no means the be-and-end-all of gif-making, but maybe a handful of you might enjoy this? I do at least have experience with throwing myself in front of chak for hours. You decide if that's good or bad.

This is how I personally proceed and maybe some of you have better ways to do it! Feel free to share your own advice here :D

Let's get started! ･°˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°.

Choosing a location

So you chose a victim and have a neat little idea of what you wanna show. Now all you have to do is find a fitting location. Here's some things to consider:

How's the ambient lighting? Rotate your newly found top model at your location of choice to make sure the light hits from the best angle. Keep day and night cycles in mind. Some places also simply have bad light for your character; in that case try to think of a similar location that might look more flattering.

How busy is the background? You probably want your character to pop out, so the choice of scene is important especially if you don't have access to 3rd party depth-of-field filters. Keep in mind that moving background elements might look distracting.

If there are enemies around, can you get rid of them reliably or will they keep interrupting you? Are there safe spots to stand in outside of enemy range? Most enemies really don't hate you as much as you think. Unless you're in the Crystal Desert.

Strike a pose!

The basics:

Play around with the camera sliders in your options. Having your character big in the frame goes a long way! The vertical, horizontal and zoom sliders are your best friends.

Remember the UI doesn't have to be visible for you to type emotes in chat. Just to be safe from (public chat) typos though, I like to type the command with the UI turned on, then hide the UI, and then once I've adjusted the camera hit enter to play the emote. This is especially useful if you're trying to pose around enemies and don't have the time to frantically type things in chat.

Some tips for posing:

Rotating the camera while in first person mode rotates your entire character. This way you can turn around without having to redo your /emote all the time. This is especially useful if you use persistent emotes that last an infinite amount of time (as opposed to emotes that play an animation once and then return your character back to the default idle).

Similarly, zooming into first person mode and zooming back out will (client-side only) display your weapons and back piece. Those usually get hidden during emote animations.

If you swap weapons via keybind mid weapon idle animation, the animation will usually keep playing despite not fitting your newly swapped in weapon. This will often look silly, but can sometimes get you some cool poses too. Try out some combinations!

The technical side

So you're a master at staging the perfect shot, how do you get all of this into a neat little moving image?

To capture your gameplay, any recording software of your choice works. Windows 10 should by default come with the ability to record your game (press the Windows key + G to bring up the overlay; you can change keybinds for active and retroactive video recording & other things in the settings).

Once you've made your video file, the tricky part begins. It's kind of difficult to write a definite guide for this since programs and methods for making gifs vary so much. Different programs might compress your file differently, giving you different results in terms of file size and quality. Personally I've been using an ancient student version of Photoshop CS6 since the dawn of time, and it took some trial and error to figure out a good balance between quality and size.

About posting on tumblr:

tumblr currently allows a file size of 10MB max per gif (you can have several <10MB files per post).

The tumblr dashboard displays images at a width of 540px, so make this your gif's absolute minimum width if you want to ensure a crisp image.

Now for some subjective observations based on my experiences with how I create gifs. ! Important ! This is how my particular version of Photoshop handles sizes. You might get completely different results using any other software that compresses files differently.

Getting a good balance between image dimensions, quality and length of animation is hard if you're limited to a maximum file size of 10MB.

Your file size will depend on: The amount of frames your animation is using, the amount of colours, how much movement there is, and of course the dimensions of your image. Editing your image in terms of colours, saturation, contrast etc. can also impact the file size (it can go both ways).

Using a video recorded at 60 fps I can usually squeeze about (give or take) 3 seconds of animation into the gif before it gets too large (given a – by my standards – decent image quality). Take this into consideration when you pick your poses.

Things you can do to reduce file size, other than the two obvious solutions of simply making your animation shorter or image dimensions smaller:

Lower the amount of dither. This has a huge impact on file size in my experience. If you have many transparent effects (e.g. smoke, fog) or use strong depth-of-field filters in your image it will look bad if you go too low.

Limit the colour palette when you export your gif. Highly dependent on the scene, sometimes you can get away with reducing your colours by half, sometimes it will look atrocious.

In the end I don't think there's one formula that works for every situation. It really depends on what you're showing, so mix and match different methods to try and get the best compromise between quality and size!

And that's all I can think of right now! I hope that maybe one of these points could help someone :D

[planetsano]

everyone finds out you two are dating.

SYNOPSIS: Class 1A find out you're in a relationship with some of your favorite MHA boys.

TAGS: established relationships, secretly dating, social media, making out, date night, sitting on kirishima's lap, fluff, slice of life.

CHARACTERS: bakugou katsuki, eijirou kirishima, todoroki shoto, kaminari denki, izuku midoriya

— bakugou

Everyone finds out you two are dating when he accidentally posts a video of you captioned, "this idiot 🧡", on his snapchat story.

It was a Saturday night and you both decided that it would be nice to spend the night in enjoying each other's company. Obviously you told your friends that you would be busy studying but in reality you were actually with each other.

You were on his bed wearing one of his ridiculously oversized hoodies. Admittedly, he thought you looked cute. You had sweater paws like c'mon. He wanted to save the memory.

(Contrast to popular belief, Bakugou is capable of being a cute boyfriend sometimes. He's just rough around the edges, ya'know?)

When you looked up from your switch you saw your boyfriend recording you with a smirk on his face.

"Stop, I look ugly." You whined and hid your face behind your handheld game.

"No, you don't. Shut up." He scoffed.

"Make me." You stuck your tongue out and flipped him off.

"What do you want anyway, stinky?" You asked resuming your animal crossing gameplay.

"Show me your shitty island." He said.

"Really?!" You looked up at him again with your face lit up in excitement.

"Sike, no." He deadpanned behind the camera.

"I hate you!" You whined & jumped on him starting a play fight. The video was cut with a shaky camera & couple of your giggles.

After about maybe a minute of roughhousing, Bakugou's phone started to blow up with texts, snaps, and facetime calls.

"Someone's popular." You said while looking up at him. He pinned you down easily since he had a physical strength advantage over you.

You were curious as to why his phone was blowing up so suddenly but you were too entertained by squeezing his surprisingly squishy cheeks.

While you did that, Bakugou grabbed his phone. The facial recognition automatically unlocking it for him.

"The fuck?" Was all he said scrolling through all the notifications. He was confused.

One text in particular out of 64 unread stood out to him. It was from "Mina 👽", and it said:

"No but really, did you mean to post (Name) on your story? 💀🤚🏾 I knew you guys were going to date at some point!!"

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

— midoriya

This man Midoriya is terrible at secrets. So it didn't surprise you when he accidentally spilled the tea about your relationship.

It all started when Uraraka, Momo, Iida and Todoroki asked him if he wanted to join them for dinner that night. Apparently they were treating themselves to something fancy.

"I'm sorry guys. I can't. I have a date with (Name) tonight." Midoriya doesn't even give what he said a second thought.

Everyone literally stops. "Date? 🤨"

"Yeah. I have a date... with...." Realization hits. "You know what? I've really gotta go guys! See ya!" This boy tries to run but they stop him so fast.

They have so many questions. The main being when exactly did you guys become an official thing and why didn't they know about it.

Midoriya tells them that he's not sure if he feels comfortable without you being there to answer all the questions they have since they weren't even supposed to know to begin with.

They're all understanding and don't push him any further. He's already embarrassed enough. The most important thing is that they're happy for the both of you.

Now the only thing on Midoriya's mind was how to tell you he told half the friend group you two are dating over dinner.

— todoroki

You both really thought no one would catch you guys sharing a "quick" makeout session in the kitchen area.

It was risky to begin with because it was like 9pm on a weekend and more than half the class was still awake roaming around the building.

But honestly, neither of you could help it. You were at that point in the relationship where you just couldn't keep your hands off of each other.

Plus that little adrenaline and dopamine you got from pulling little stunts like this made it all the more fun. It was you guys' little secret. It was fun.

You were sat on the kitchen counter with Todoroki standing between your legs. His hands were placed on your thighs mindlessly kneading at them while your arms were lazily draped around his neck.

"Sho, I really wanna kiss.." You said softly.

"The others might come in soon, love." His voice was so smooth. He really didn't want to tell you no but you guys were already pushing it in this position.

"Just one tiny little kiss?" You gestured the words tiny and little with your thumb and pointer finger. "Pretty please?" You pouted playfully and batted your eyelashes at him.

Todoroki mentally sighed in defeat. He just couldn't say no to you.

With that you two shared a simple kiss, then another just a little longer... and the last kiss turned into a full blown makeout. You didn't know how much time passed before you both heard a forced cough.

You guys pulled away and looked at this kitchen area's entrance to see Denki, Kirishima, Tokoyami and Asui.

Denki: "Care to tell us when UA became Love Island?"

Kirishima: "Aw, come on guys. The counter?"

— kirishima

Honestly, this pairing is bold because you two fully outted yourselves out willingly.

1A decided to have a movie night in the common area one Friday night. It would be some fun considering training and classes were particularly hard that week. It would be nice to blow off some steam and goof off.

You were a little late coming down from your room because you had to finish up some important papers your work study requested.

When you finally got down to the common room, everyone had already claimed their seats.

Kirishima sat at the end of one couch and the spot next to him was already taken :(

Through 1A's chaos and chatter, you locked eyes with him and pouted subtly.

Just when you were about to sit on one of the empty pillows on the floor, Kirishima beckoned you over with his head and patted his thighs.

He gives you a wide toothy grin when he sees you walk your cute self right over to him to plop yourself right on his lap.

"Hey." He looks up at you with a goofy smile while he wraps one of his arms around your waist.

"Hi." You smiled at him and ran your fingers through his hair. He had it down which was your absolute favorite. You guys didn't even notice the chatter die down until

"Um.. are you guys dating?" Midoriya asked carefully. The whole room silently thanking him for being the one to ask.

"Huh? Oh yeah, totally! I'm her/his/their man!" Kirishima smiled widely and gave a triumphant fist in the air.

*cue Denki, Mina, Sero, & Bakugou angry (but supportive ❤️) at you guys for not telling them*

— denki

Okay, this one is pretty funny.

Behind closed doors, Denki made it a habit to quickly kiss your lips before you two part ways. For example, when he leaves your dorm to sneak back to his, he gives you a quick peck before he leaves.

Everyone engaged in their own separate conversations waiting for class to begin.

Denki was sitting on your desk while you sat normally in your chair. Mina, Sero, Kirishima and Bakugou were gathered around holding a conversation about the homework that was due today and how it was harder than usual.

"Alright, everyone to your seats." Aizawa said as he walked into the classroom. Everyone audibly sighed and sulked back to their seats.

"I'll see you after class, babe." Denki as he leaned down to give you a quick kiss on the lips.

Now...

It only registered until after he pulled away from you that he kissed you in front of everyone.

You guys just stared at each other like "😀"

1A: 🤨🧐🤭

Aizawa: 🧍🏻🗿

"I don't care what you guys do outside of class.. but PDA isn't allowed in the classroom."

Yes, Aizawa put y'all on blast and if you weren't already embrassed, you are now.

© all content belongs to rekiri 2021. do not modify or repost.

[chemicalbrew]

2021 game list

aka 'I finally got tired of having to scroll really far to edit the 2022 list because I wanted originally to fuse two years in one, like a fool'

I'm pretty sure the bulk of this was made in... spring\summer 2021, but there were a bunch of games I didn't write anything for until this year, as will be evident later. This is long as hell, as you would expect.

'Veronica, why didn't you have a 2021 list ready in time???'

A question that nobody asked, but one that really needs answering, because in 2021, I gamed too much, in addition to other things. I'll make additions to the behemoth of a document that never saw the light of day in time in italics.

A lot of things have happened this year. I learned how to swim, for one! I graduated high school, too, and got into my dream university (though, honestly, it's just about as messy as any other uni in the end). I got a reasonably powerful and fully functional PC all to myself (it doesn’t even compare to the old husk I had to use in my school days!) (this year, I finally got a good phone as well, which influenced the current year's list a fuckton). And I could finally fulfill the one dream I held on to for the past two and a half years and get a Switch for myself (insert bittersweet laughing here)!! As a result, when it came to gaming, the possibilities became nigh endless. Instead of praying that a game I kinda like even manages to launch, I could dive headfirst into anything that catches my eye with confidence and no hesitation! I had so many options, in fact, that I ended up making a Backloggd account to assist myself. (yup, still helpful, though I'm much more loose about keeping track of shit now) Almost anything I played that isn’t on this list can be found there, if you’re curious! This, however, turned out to be a double-edged sword. More options means more garbage to wade through, and yet the best games tend to draw you in quicker than you think. (so true bestie)

After this, a list of games that did nothing but disappoint me that year followed. I don't want to dwell on it too much now, but I'll still mention their names:

Night in the Woods (PC, 2017) - I was way too old to be their target audience and came out thoroughly disappointed, especially in the character cast and soundtrack.

Children of Morta (PC, 2019) - the progression is too slow, the cast isn't appealing enough, there's a lot of redundancy to the point where I dropped the game. However, it was fairly pretty and I liked the narrator enough to listen to his extra works.

Spiritfarer (PC, 2020) - best described not as ‘a cozy management game about dying’, but’ as ‘much ado about nothing’. These two reviews give voice to some of my frustrations better than I can. PS. Love lighthearted ableism!

Aria's Story (PC, 2018-2019) - A very little game that has nothing of value to tell you (that hasn't been done to death already) and has cheap jumpscares every five minutes.

Hyper Light Drifter (PC, 2016) - I don’t get this one. The idea of telling a story without words seemed appealing at first, until I realized that I actually need words in my stories!

Moonlighter (PC, 2018) (confusing gameplay, boring music and plot)

OMORI (PC, 2020) (I think I have an allergy to this game)

Yume Nikki (PC, 2004) (sorry, but nah, I don’t get it)

Long Live the Queen (PC, 2012) (more like Long Live the Guide)

Owlboy (PC, 2016) (why would you do my boy Otis like that? Also, my apologies to Rads)

UnderMine (PC, 2019) (should have been called UnderGrind)

Baba is You (PC, 2019)  (actually not bad, but brain is fry)

Hand of Fate (PC, 2015) (the font hurt me, there’s nothing really good here other than narration)

Minute of Islands (PC, 2021) (should have been a picture book, otherwise it’s a neat interpretation of ‘no man is an island’)

...'okay, but surely not everything you played was garbage?'

Right you are, hypothetical reader! And this is how I would like to introduce what once was the 'honorable mention' section of my record. These notes have actual substance to them and are formatted similarly to my 2020 list! There is a game that is of particular importance (because I ended up playing its sequels in 2022) at the end of this section.

Hades (PC, 2020) [♪ House of Hades]

Yes, I get to put the game of the previous year here again, because it is my list. All things considered, I love Hades too much not to use the opportunity to mention it again! I played it till March to wrap up some of the tasks that are more… out there (learning to play without god mode, chasing extra dialogue, and climbing up in ranks), and it was fun pretty much the whole time. Streaming it was a grand time while it lasted, as well (not very long at all). All the mediocre roguelikes I touched this year fail to measure up to Hades in any capacity. 💖 Still true - my interest in roguelikes\-lites has naturally dropped since then, but Hades' excellency was a major factor in this.

Sayonara Wild Hearts (PC, 2019) [♪ Doki Doki Rush]

Kiss Your Ex And Lie About Your Genre On Steam: the game. The only thing preventing this from being a game that is barely worth mentioning is its really good soundtrack. (I played it about a quarter of the way through before realizing that a far better option than standing still and letting the music play out would be to just watch the whole thing.)

I also like the general style of it and find it pretty unique (even though Katana ZERO did something similar in a much more cohesive and enjoyable fashion), but playing it was an exercise of frustration that prevented me from appreciating the awesome landscapes. Parallel Universes is a pretty incredible level concept, yeah, but I did NOT handle it well.

I didn’t jive with any of the symbolism either (I guess it’s gay though. Good for them), however, I am still glad something as creative as this exists, even if it is clearly not cut out for me. Can’t believe I let this game gather dust for months, when I could have just given up. lol

A Hero and a Garden (PC, 2019) [♪ Shop Bell]

A clever little mix of visual novel and clicker game that manages to have an interesting story, despite starting out with the oldest of cliches (hell yeah, there's a princess!). Music is really sweet too, and even in a runtime as short as ~2 hours, you end up feeling for the protagonist. If you don't have much free time, spend it on this for a complete experience.

Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! (PC, 2021) [♪ Dreams of Love and Literature]

PM died for this.

Ohhh… A horror VN classic… Yeah, sure. It’s actually not that great, but some of the music is downright incredible (i.e. the linked song and about half of the songs added in the new edition), and it was a game that undeniably helped and inspired many people. I can’t say I regret spending time with it, but it didn’t impress me, either. The scares got ever so slightly more predictable over time, and it became clear that all they were aiming for is shock value. This game reminds me of Night in the Woods in the way that it had been severely overhyped by contemporary teenagers.

At least Yuri was pretty, I guess?.. But really, all the girls did was represent some overdone anime -dere cliche. It was very likely done on purpose, which is something to be respected for sure, but the fandom ran with it anyway, cause fandoms be fandoming. Shame! (Monika is the obvious exception, but the way they built her up was through the simplest of text dumps, oh, and they also gave her a Twitter account or something. Come on, get creative!)

Rhythm Doctor (PC, 2021) [♪ Rollerdisco Rumble]

Healing hearts and minds with the power of rhythm, hell yeah! Absolutely incredible concept! Combine that with amazing pixel art and animation that makes the small world come alive, the incredibly flashy aesthetic that draws attention from the outside and utterly fucks with your performance on the inside, and an overall message that both promotes peace and showcases humane struggles of a medical profession… the way it ends up going places you wouldn’t quite expect is just so good. And through all that, the game retains its charm and positive vibe! I want a bigger scope, though – it was over far too quickly. Oh, and a little more accessibility options wouldn’t hurt. 

The flashiness of this game reminds me of Rhythm Heaven trying to mess with the player, but pushed to an extreme, which is delightful. I had to clear most of the later levels with my eyes closed, and rewatching them later was quite an unusual and fun experience!

Coffee Talk (PC, 2020) [♪ Come Closer]

Pretty (the pixel art reminded me a lot of the PC-98, which is never a bad thing. Oh, dithering, my beloved!) and has an atmosphere, but not nearly as impactful as a game from later on this list with the exact same premise.

Can be good for a getaway\escape kinda game, and the decision to focus the soundtrack on the lo-fi genre is wonderful, but the story has no staying power, and not even the ‘make your own latte art’ gimmick ended up working out, because the process would always feel… either too realistic or too finicky, I wouldn't be able to tell. I’m no barista! Oh, and I guess there was some message about overworking employees?.. I literally forgot.

Ys: Memories of Celceta (PC, 2012-2018) [♪ Wise Man]

So, this was my… *checks notes* fifth Ys? I started with Oath (okay… I guess…), then I played I&II (and wrote about that in 2020) and dabbled in Origin (it was… exhausting to play, but well-written), and I played VIII this year before this (more on that later). So I thought I had enough experience (and understanding of the fandom’s general opinion on Celceta) to know what to expect when I began my journey in this game. Boy, was I wrong! But still, it's obvious that the earliest iteration of the party system would be worse than VIII's, and playing the games in the order that I did may have screwed my impression.

First, the good things. I actually grew unreasonably attached to the artstyle of this game. I loved the fresh take on a younger Adol just starting to give in to his lust for adventure, and the other party members had quite good designs too (especially Duran. I dunno, I can’t help but love that husk of a dude). Some of the locations were endlessly charming (I loved running laps around Casnan with its upbeat music and fun NPCs, and was awed by how pretty Danan ended up looking for a Falcom game). The world was decently fun to explore overall, but I think most of that fun came from seeing what is an early draft of what would later become Lacrimosa of Dana.

The music is absolutely lovely! Everyone loves Ys for constantly offering hardcore rock guitar bangers or whatever, and while Celceta isn’t without a couple of these, I ended up appreciating far more how much calmer it sounds as a whole. There are plenty of tracks that offer you much needed downtime, and the sound of the game feels more mellow than your usual Ys soundtrack.

The gameplay\battle system was overall serviceable, with a few nags in its way - movement felt more restricted than before, and breaking enemies’ guard felt more tedious than necessary. But hey, there’s no raids in this game! hahahahaha-

That ending single-handedly ruined a decent game and is as bad as everyone said it was. I broke down in hysterics when it actually happened. Also, I am still mad about getting only 99.3% map completion! That part of the game is crazy!!

Ib (PC, 2012) [♪ Uneasiness]

My memories of this are quite scattered, but I really enjoyed it, so have this heap of thoughts!

Aria’s Story, but good enough to leave an impression on you, since Gary is an actual character. He serves as a great mentor figure – even without coming across as stiff or all-knowing, he has a lot to give and teach Ib, which makes for a good dynamic that contrasts his disheveled looks well. It’s clear he cares about the girl, but is reluctant to show it clearly enough for her to understand fully, but she clings on to him as her last hope anyway. It’s pretty damn beautiful, actually. also the handkerchief in the true ending omg

The other girl with the yellow rose… Mary… good contrasting character, but her betrayal could be seen from a mile away, which, I guess, is the point, but still not satisfying.

Music is somewhat good too, and the game nailed the aesthetic of an art gallery (including successfully subverting expectations).

The jumpscares rely more on the physical suddenness of it all rather than psychological pressure, and it works out really well – even if you’re cringing, your body is affected. Plus, they fit well thematically, given the protagonists’ age. Speaking of which, the ??? thing (if Ib doesn’t know a word, you won’t know it either, basically) is clever, but gets old a little too quickly.

The idea of linking their life energy to fragile but sharp roses is somewhat creative and executed very well, especially regarding Gary’s blue rose.

The chase sequences were kinda annoying, but not nearly as awful as Aria, thank god.

Basically, this was the game that, alongside OFF, convinced me I might be into RPG Maker games, but, unfortunately, I've yet to find anything else that matches Ib and OFF's energy in this niche\'subgenre'. (And of course, this is talking about the version available as freeware, and not this year's rerelease, which I am curious about, but have no plans of playing.)

Butterfly Soup (PC, 2017) [♪ Thought Projection]

The most wholesome VN I have ever seen. The art is very pretty and expressive without being overwhelming (and of course, the focus on purple\pink is extremely satisfying to me personally). Music is cute and never gets annoying; it may be royalty-free, but it was chosen with clear care. 

This game, in my opinion, is genuinely funny without coming across as insincere, and I don’t feel inclined to agree with those who tend to say its ‘uwu humor’ did not age well, because I personally laughed at most of it (the Zero Escape reference got me, man)! And even if I hadn’t, it would still, ironically, fit well with the overall message (which is that growing up and learning new things about yourself is good, and it’s fine not to know what you’re doing for a while, as long as you stay true to yourself and your friends)!

Some of the impact was lost on me due to the focus on America as a setting/baseball, but it's fine, since this focus was chosen with intent. Ultimately, the game carries the same message and does similar things to Night in the Woods, except successfully, without having to rely on random gameplay changes or ‘hip’ artstyle.

Evan’s Remains (PC, 2020) [♪ Whales]

The best thing about this game is its pixel art – just detailed enough for you to appreciate it, but not excessively so. The backgrounds in particular are nothing short of stunning.

Unfortunately, nothing else in Evan’s Remains manages to match that standard. The music, for the most part, is just there, the puzzles, while creative, can be somewhat irritating and repetitive, and the story, while starting out decently, has an ending that might be worse than Celceta’s and ends up making about as much sense. I would recommend you to watch footage of this game, but only if you like pixel art. It won’t take long, I promise.

Platform fighters I tried to give the light of day to

Super Smash Bros. Brawl - fun for just messing around in classic modes like the SSE and Multi-Man Brawl. Really, you can't ask much more of it.

Rivals of Aether - the most polished one that isn't Smash by far, really pretty and fun in general, but a little small in scope. I owe its soundtrack my life (or more accurately, one track. It's legit amazing to study to...)

Brawlhalla - as usual, don't trust a free game to be good. That's all.

In general, the copycats simply fail to capture the charm and spirit of Smash Bros, and Brawl is as much of a casual's game as one would expect. :)

All the idle\incremental games that ate up my time this year (yes, I like these too much, I know)

Namely, these, ordered from best to worst:

Kittens Game (actually amazing for killing boredom. the flavor text is extremely cute and the resource management is quite advanced)

Cookie Clicker (the classic. I lost my garden due to mods, and so shall never speak of this wretched curse again)

Tap Wizard (ironically, the only one on the list I'm still playing - now side by side with the sequel. Though the praise I gave to Kittens is still deserved.)

Trimps

Grimoire

Liquids

Exponential Idle

Shoutout to r/incremental_games for enabling me to dive deeper into this toxic, awful, beautiful genre of timewasters :)

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (DS, 2007) [♪ Trial]

AKA ‘the one where Phoenix done fucked up’. First AA I played the Android version of, and it held up pretty well (certainly better than emulating DS via RetroArch)! The remastered graphics annoyed me less than expected, and the gorgeous OST (best in the series so far, unless you count Investigations, and overall a glow-up and joy to my ears [< Still true. I might be ready to shill AA6 music any day, but nothing can top the excellency of AJ music even now.]) has remained intact.

I don't think this game ever reaches the highs that AA3 did, but it is certainly not for a lack of trying. I can understand the sentiment behind 'being done with Phoenix', for sure, and him still being here proves to be a sign for the beginning turmoil of the series and the struggles that Takumi is only now beginning to see the end of with GAA.

I didn’t find myself exactly attached to any of the main characters (okay, maybe Klavier awakened something or other in me, who can say [so valid, but girl... your personal prosecution turmoil is far from over]), but that has been the case for basically the entire main series as well, so that’s not surprising to me personally.

4-1 was more fun than I expected it to be based on popular opinion, and I got a good chuckle out of the ‘’’Russian’’’ waitress and the mental image of hobo!Phoenix eating borsch, but it’s still no 3-1. 4-2 and 4-3 especially were less than impressive, and overall the game got steadily worse over time.

I still appreciated it for trying to pave a new road for the series, for, again, having a fantastic soundtrack, and for making Phoenix into a lovable utter failure (should have stayed that way, his days were indeed over), but… AJ is not the best Ace Attorney by a long shot. 4-4 was pretty damn good though, and I loved how the jurist system was integrated in both story and gameplay, even if the threat it tried to present fell way short. Also, Vera Misham is the cutest girl we’ve ever had to defend.

PS. Klapollo have bigger gay energy than Wrightworth do, fight me. 2022 me here to report that I no longer want to fight anyone, because in the end it turned out I'm the loser who got somewhat into Blackmadhi. And also I now think the two ships in question are about equally good.

Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS, 2012) [♪ Chaos]

I actually had barely played the game throughout either year, but it still deserves this spot.

A game that aged better than expected. Really fun to play on an actual big screen (and with savestates – the Mila's Turnwheel of yore). Music is still godlike after all these years. Still haven't gotten far enough to marry Chrom, but I was almost there, I swear!! (If you think I care a lot about much else after so many years, you're a fool.)

I don’t have much more to say because a passion for this game has burned within me for years now, and playing it now just matches every expectation of it I used to have. It’s very dear to me, and it’s very good, and that’s good enough.

The actual 2021 list

Rhythm Tengoku (GBA, 2006) [♪ Iai Slash] + Rhythm Heaven Fever (Wii, 2011) [♪ See-Saw]

Rhythm Heaven is a very special, fun and wonderful little series, and I'm happy to say that spending more time with it was the first thing I thought of when I got my new PC.

I played through both Tengoku and Fever this year, but I believe the former is more remarkable because... It's my first time! And the game is honestly a little brutal compared to Fever (thank god for savestates), but it looks somewhat impressive for the GBA, and the music is fabulous, and it's just so exciting to properly see the origins of the best rhythm game series ever. If the ranking system was just a tad less strict, I would have loved to get to know it fully.

However, keep in mind this is the game that has Quiz and an endless game as original as Mr. Upbeat. You can’t have your cake and eat it?..

Anyway, Fever I actually managed to complete without much issues (Working Dough 2 aside. My god, that game can go fuck itself.), which was another longtime dream of mine! Yay!! In my opinion, Fever hits the perfect sweetspot between being so strict you can’t pass a remix and being so forgiving that you don’t feel accomplished unless you get a Perfect (looking at you, Megamix). The games are well-varied as well, although overall they rely too much on holding A+B together… I suppose that is better than motion controls, though!

More about the games themselves: most of them are solid. If you haven’t gleaned this from the first paragraph already, I think See-Saw is actually a classic. My favorite remix has always been the fourth one (kinda obvious if you bother scrolling through the wall of shitposts on my ‘about’ page), and I have a soft spot for all games on that set, too. Love Rap, while not outstanding, actually gave me a lot less trouble than anticipated (following cues out loud helps), and you just can’t have Karate Man beat!

Even some of the more obscure games, like the two-player Pirate Crew (which I played on my own, while emulating two controllers. It’s fun that way, but quite tough!), are well-made and fun! I’m so glad that even… roughly four years later for me, the game managed to deliver.

Trials of Mana / Seiken Densetsu 3 (PC, 2020 / SNES, 1995) [♪ Meridian Child]

Ah yes, the second-to-last good Mana game with a soundtrack that at times outshines Chrono Trigger! (only at times, though.)

Disclaimer: I have only played the remake, and I only did it once (Riesz\Kevin\Angela was my party). However, I watched two playthroughs that covered the other routes, and one of them was of the SNES version of Trials. Yeah, that took a lot of time!..

(Surprisingly enough, that was all past me had left me with. This is where the list in general shows how it ended up unfinished in time! Time to wrestle with my own memories!)

Here's the thing: for the mid-90s, this game is impressive as all hell. And as someone who has considered herself a casual fan of the series for a few years now (Secret being one of the few games I had a good time with on the SNES Classic, and Legend leaving me with a warmth of fondness in my heart), I was unusually, but unsurprisingly, excited to see this allegedly wonderful work come to us in its full splendor. The favorable reviews of the remake when compared against the sheer mediocrity that was their first attempt with Secret didn't help when it came to quelling my hype either.

And then I booted the game and was greeted eagerly with the wonder of a song that is Meridian Child. You bet I looked forward to it!

In the end, though... even the best Mana games just aren't enough to compete with most RPGs of the modern day, or even some contemporary ones. That's not to say I didn't have fun, but you can't deny how basic this game's story, structure and gameplay feel in the 2020s.

I wasn't disappointed with my choice of characters (they made a very cohesive and satisfying team together, based on almost all-out offense), but I did feel like there wasn't much of anything done to make them feel like a well-thought out party narratively. I mean, the team in Secret didn't have that much reason to get together either, but considering how much the game and its fans tout how 'interconnected' the stories are... I think I have a right to feel let down. The gameplay system itself is pretty bare-bones, too - it doesn't feel all that different from the predecessor (I mean, yes, you no longer have to wait to strike at full power, but does that count as an actual change?), and playing it in 3D made me realize how much the charm of the excellent 2D sprites had carried the series all along.

The character designs are... very 90s, for all the good and bad that entails. Angela in particular deserves the small degrees of infamy she got upon the game's release. However, in a complete vacuum, they're quite pleasant (Riesz especially - doubly so in the Star Lancer class she ended up with on my playthrough.), and the way they change together with the classes (the whole idea of a class change in a game that's not strictly about classes like Fire Emblem is great!) is spectacular.

The music is absolutely wonderful, and unlike Secret, the remade versions don't ruin the SFC sound's charm either. Trials was one of the few remakes where I actively made use of the soundtrack version switch! It's still hard to pick a single favorite, even when my excitement about this game has long since quietened. Walls and Steels, Powell, the cheekily-named Secret of Mana (ignore the video title, lol - SE seems to have gotten greedy with copyright strikes in the years since I started this list) and Damn Damn Drum are just a few pieces I have enjoyed for years - both the original and the remade versions.

The logical conclusion here is that in this day and age, this game is nothing more than eye candy, accompanied with Kikuta's finest work. But hey, sometimes that's just what you need, and I enjoyed what it had to offer!

Wandersong (PC, 2018) [♪ Sailing with the Coffee Pirates]

The one thing Wandersong became particularly well-known for is its… energy, in my opinion. On their own, the colorful visuals, charming writing and welcoming music wouldn't amount to nearly as much as they do when they all come together. Fitting for a game whose message is all about the whole world coming together to accomplish what no one could on their own, huh?

This, believe it or not, is the solution to basically every problem - big or small - that plagues the world of Wandersong. Good thing singing is basically all our adorable protagonist* can do! You'll never guess what they end up doing for the world they live in, either!! (save it. they save it.) ...but what matters is that they don't do it alone. (and that they're not the eternally cheerful bundle of energy they always seem to be.)

*I lovingly named them Bong as soon as I saw the opportunity to do so, but I know their actual name is supposed to be Kiwi. I doubt I'll address the character themselves much while writing, but if I do, I'll probably end up calling them the Bard anyway, for simplicity. 'Bong' was funny while it lasted, though!

Call it cheesy, call it overdone - it doesn't change the excellent execution of the ideas brought to the table. Playing this game is like looking back at your younger self who believed in fairytales, and telling them 'no, it's not always like those stories, even if sometimes it seems that it will be. But what you can do is be yourself, and like-minded people will flock to you. And others will have something to learn from your example!'.

Also, you can dab and play Megalovania (if you know how to) in this game. 10/10 meme potential. ...I'm honestly struggling to put my impressions in words - it really is just a warm cup of coffee brewed the right way. It can barely be described any better than a warm way of sunshine. My rambling doesn't do justice to how adorable it was.

Va-11 Hall-A + KIDS! (PC, 2016 + 2018) [♪ Base of the Titans + Her Noise]

Screw it, I don't care what this inclusion says about me. I recognize this has similar pitfalls to the previously shat on Night in the Woods (Jill is barely any better of a protagonist than Mae, only more grounded; the amount of stupid and/or immature jokes is similar, if not worse; the Julianne minigame is super dumb), but listen! I just heard of a visual novel that was inspired by PC-98 graphics and immediately drooled and had to find out more.

The pixel art is indeed immaculate, if not too varied. The music is really good. Might not be something to listen to much outside of the game, but while you play, it ENHANCES the experience ♥ [this is so funny to read to me, considering I Still consider this to be a phenomenal score and have come to enjoy it a ton in 2022, even finding it genuinely inspiring at times. Don't listen to past me, this game is full of bangers.] Not to mention how diverse it can be sometimes — i.e. the track above vs. Snowfall vs. Showtime! [my personal current favorite] That, combined with how you're in charge of what you're hearing most of the time, makes for a very chill experience that manages to reflect what you're feeling impressively well.

The idea of the story changing depending on the drinks you mix is interesting in theory, but the way it plays out in practice is just a lot of basic win/fail branching that doesn't ever seem to change more than a few lines most of the time. The script is actually quite robust when you look deep into it, but it's hard to witness while you actually play. This game could benefit from a flowchart to encourage players to explore. (However, Alma acknowledging you're trying to cheer her up with her favorite drink despite her ordering something entirely different – that's good! I want more of that!)

Other things ruining the drink system are:

the fact that the recipes are easily accessible, so unless Jill gets distracted and/or the order is obscure, it's impossible to screw it up or experiment;

it's all revealed at once, which makes gameplay more repetitive than it had to be;

you need a LOT of money, especially if you're buying as much furniture as I did, which further discourages you from experimenting on your first playthrough

A lot of the jokes are (im)mature, hit or miss, and reliant on recent internet culture. There's too many dogs and they're not even funny, either. This is not going to age well, but the game still made me chuckle reliably, dang it!

The world gets a surprising amount of development thanks to Jill's phone apps and exposure to all manner of clients. It's really a shame you don't get to see any of it aside from her bar and room! And despite what I said earlier, it's hard not to get invested in Jill's struggles to live and make peace with herself.

This is far from a masterpiece, but to me it's clear that it's not what it wanted to be – you can feel the developers striving for more, which is a good thing. It makes for a great time with a chilled beverage of your choice and it looks great, I couldn't ask for more!

KIDS! is a fabulous spinoff that is way too good for an April Fool's joke! The art is inspired and cute, the music is just as good as the original and even better at times, and the decrease in mature jokes is honestly refreshing.

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (PC, 2018) [♪ Royal Capital Aigius]

I'm soooo conflicted on this one.

The character/flashbacks artwork is really amazing and I loved it all immediately... but I really can't say the same about the game's actual graphics. They're serviceable, but I wish there were more chances to show off the gorgeous artwork!

Dana might be the best character in the whole series and I fucking love her, but the way she exists in the same game as Sahad is a travesty. Dogi needed to switch places with him and be playable.

Exploring the island is pretty fun for the most part. The way everything's marked on the map makes it rot a little, for sure, but I won't refuse a nice distracting checklist! After all, I play Trails! Unfortunately, the locations don't vary, like, at all (aside from Eternia, which was great), so if you binge this game, you're guaranteed to get sick of greenery and dinosaurs :(

Some of the music is as good as you would expect from an early 10s Falcom game (everything to do with Dana/Eternia, Alone on the Deserted Island, Gens d'Armes, etc). Key word is 'some'. Despite what I just said, I think Iclucian Dance is uh... Flawed. And all music for raids/hunts can die in a fire. In addition, aside from these clearly bad tracks, I have bias against the kind of music Ys uses in general, so in total my OST impression is one big fat 'meh!'.

I like the general idea of abandoned island/castaways, getting them back together and having to figure out what's going on before stumbling onto Dana... Why did this get diluted with thematic clashes ghost pirate ships and silly assassins?

Getting the castaways might be fun, but their actual personalities are unimpressive. I don't want to blow this flaw out of proportion - this is Ys, after all, and it's about as good as I would expect for Ys, but still. The feeling of the whole village bonding is greater than the impressions from its individual residents. Not to mention, it devolved into yet another save the world plot near the end, when I would've preferred something that focused on Dana more than it already did.

Moving on to gameplay... wow, an Ys game that has a party instead of a single playable character works? Kinda. The bare minimum is done to distinguish between characters, and the Flash system trivializes most differences anyway. In the end, only Adol and Dana are actually fun to use. Unless you count spamming the same skill over and over.

Sanctuary Crypt was a very fun optional dungeon with the best boss to boot. Block puzzles soured my impression, though. Meanwhile, most of the other levels are nothing to write home about, if not outright terrible.

And since I have nowhere else to put this: raids/hunts as a whole are unnecessary, grind the slow pace of the game to a halt and are not fun. Also, giving Adol binary and meaningless dialogue options won't make him a nicer character, the outside narrator explaining his thoughts in the older games was better.

Cosmic Star Heroine (PC, 2017) [♪ A Conspiracy]

What do we have here? A very unique battle system that is greatly enjoyable, but really, only in short bursts (a huge part of why I almost burnt out on the game was playing it on Hard / Heroine – made it drag). What makes it stand out is how it elegantly limits your abilities - you can only use each of your equipped moves once, before you have to recharge them by defending. It's a refreshing take, to be sure, but when you play the game for hours on end, it turns into something that feels more like padding than actual mechanic.

There's also a unique soundtrack, which should not really be a surprise, given the composer, but still, you just don't hear stuff like A Firebrand, An Agitator in your everyday RPG! It can feel a little off and cringe-inducing sometimes, but it's honestly just very awesome overall.

The pixel art in this game can be hit or miss, but luckily, it never missed in its most important moments, and character portraits did not fail to please.

That's about where CSH's strengths come to an end, however. When it comes to personalities, everyone is pretty dry and feels like cardboard, but it felt fair to me, since I knew what I was jumping into. And the gorgeous presentation, battle system and decent jokes all outweighed the forgettable plot!!! It was a good time ♥

Pyre (PC, 2017) [♪ Surviving Exile]

Near flawless given what it sets out to do, discounting the slower pacing near the second half. For a pitch as uniquely strange as 'visual novel where you have to play a game of sports-lite about a dozen times', Pyre manages to be incredibly compelling and welcoming to nigh everyone that approaches it, thanks to having what can be graciously called an open-ended story that is, in a way, completely independent from the 'sports'-like parts of the game (you can lose every match and still reach the end), and yet, in a lot of other ways, bound together (hehe) with it so intricately that it might as well count as a gameplay\story integration masterclass. The fates of characters you love riding on your shoulders and the performance you're willing to deliver is a simple, but elegant way to set up the narrative.

And the gameplay itself is... well... it's everything you could want it to be within reason, I guess. On the surface, it's not particularly complicated - you control three characters one at a time to score goals while preventing the AI from doing the same - but the amount of choices given (and supported by the narrative) when it comes to composing your team and letting it grow is surprisingly high. In addition, one of the defining features of Supergiant's games is the freedom they give you when it comes to difficulty, and Pyre is no stranger to this. There's the previously mentioned freely available option to lose, but if that's not enough, Pyre has an always accessible difficulty toggle and the (by this point expected) extra difficulty modifiers.

Of course, one of the biggest reasons Pyre saw success in the first place was its ingenious presentation - it's pretty without being overwhelming with details or feeling pretentious, the character designs stand out on their own while also conveying a much needed feeling of unity... and the soundtrack is one of the best I've heard in a game, period, managing to tie plenty of rather diverse styles, from the gentle vocals used in something like Mourning Song to the appropriately abrupt metal track that is Thrash Pack, together neatly, without clashing or betraying the game's intentions.

And that's without going into how dynamic everything sounds - there's the obvious changes, like the theme song of the Liberation Rites and the (wonderful) ending song changing lyrics depending on who you faced and\or what the outcome was, and the more subtle ones, like Surviving Exile (and most other tracks) having different layers to them that show themselves appropriately, with that track in particular doing a splendid job of both setting the game's overall mood and, well, setting, as well as providing a thematic foundation for three of the game's more important characters.

That's not to say they're given more time than the rest or anything like that - all characters, at least the ones that band together for your cause, are well-written given the short runtime (I always looked forward to talking with the kind and resolute Hedwyn in particular :) ), and even those that face off against you carry just enough intrigue to be interesting and have their own place in this strange little world. Therefore, Pyre excels at selling you the found family narrative, if you're willing to stick to it, not in the least because your role as the Reader in particular is handled so well.

You're basically half of the reason these beings of different walks and ways of life could have banded together instead of resigning themselves to their fate in the first place, they owe a lot to you in that sense, and yet, they make it a point to make sure you stand as an equal among them. They're willing to stand up for you just as much as you are for them, though some might need a little convincing first. It all makes for lovely interactions that enhance the cast and the world around them, while still making your place in it feel unique. Never have I felt so good about being literate, which is a plot point that ends up enhancing the worldbuilding in rather impressive ways - helping you feel closer ties with everything that's happening, since obviously you can read, and making the world around you take shape and feel more real thanks to the Book of Rites. (And of course, the small detail of being able to choose the Reader's pronouns and that change being reflected everywhere, including the music, is just about the cherry on top - I like it because you can use it both to increase immersion and to distance yourself from the narrative as much as you want.)

So yeah! A refreshing experience that never quite falters from start to finish, with a powerful and positive message to deliver... it would have been the game of the year... were I not a Trails fan...

Katana ZERO (PC, 2019) [♪ Katana ZERO]

Yes, I did pick that track to do the 'Fullmetal Alchemist. Fullmetal Alchemist.' thing. But it's also genuinely really good! Although my big faves are Sneaky Driver, Full Confession and Overdose. The soundtrack in general, while hit or miss sometimes, overall has an incredible sound that would resonate very well with younger me, methinks. The heavy reliance on bass and repetition is exactly what I'm here for, and it's a flawless fit for a game that has you spend a lot of time perfecting the execution of each of its challenges – it draws you into the setting and the mood without having an overwhelming presence. I also love the little detail of Zero actually turning it on every level – I admit, it got me pretty pumped across the whole game.

The aesthetic/presentation is top notch, I enjoyed every second of it. Zero's movement looks and feels very fluid, the overall color scheme is just my absolute favorite, and the way it all reminded me somewhat of the glory days of vaporwave was great too. Not to mention that in general, 2D art in games is my jam... I was SOLD!

The gameplay is far from my comfort zone, but I ended up enjoying it more than expected (it almost gave me the worst case of hand cramps I've ever had, that's how addictive it is, lmao). It's a huge shame that I can't think of any other similar games off the top of my head that I would truly get interested in, without having to wrestle with heavy-themed plots or anything similar (because let's face it, this was one of the few games where I didn't bother with engaging with the story. I was here for the spectacle, and boy, on that level it delivered.).

I loved the general cycle of 'start the level, die immediately, start actually plotting a strategy, die as soon as that strat fails you, develop a fully functional plan, spend some more time executing it... wait, I did it! And didn't realize I was holding my breath the whole time! PHEW, time to watch the tape!'. The last level in particular had me feeling like I was pulling off pure miracles just with my guts and reaction, and it's a fantastic feeling! ...and then I watched the speedruns of the game, which show perfectly how tight the execution in this game has to be, and lost my mind, it's crazy.

The dialogue system in KZ, while undercooked, is intriguing nonetheless, and some of the optional dialogue can be pretty funny. (Pinkachu, anyone?) In addition, I found it ridiculously hilarious to see СУКАБЛЯТЬ multiple times across this otherwise clearly-not-supposed-to-be-russian-at-all game.

And, despite just saying that I did not care for the overarching story, I have to admit, I was drawn in by the sheer mysterious, yet human-like, presence of Zero as the protagonist. This is a game that's not afraid to be itself, and, for better or worse, it had all the right elements to undeniably suck me in. Playing it even a year later is a feeling so specific and good that I'm stuck yearning for more of it. Maybe one day it'll come in the form of DLC?

OneShot (PC, 2016) [♪ On Little Cat Feet]

This game genuinely was a touching little experience (and you know me, I love me some toying with the fourth wall), complete with adorable pixel art and one of the sweetest protagonists known to RPGs. I know usually people tend to rave about this game (and rightfully so, most of the hubbub is deserved), but personally I'm like 'yeah! I played it! It was fantastic!', and I don't really want to preach to the choir beyond that. I do want to point out that this will probably remain one of my favorite 'meta' gaming experiences, though - this game does not try too hard to appeal to the player (and therefore, it never feels like the narrative is falling flat on its face), and the simple story hook of a lost child like Niko trying to find their way with your help is lovely and effective at keeping you invested. It's just... nice, okay? Sometimes it's enough for a game to be nice.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure (PC, 2011, tr. 2021) [♪ Heavenly Chariot]

There are a couple of points to make about this game:

1. The music in Azure is beyond incredible, and showing off but a single track would be an unforgivable crime. At the same time, it's very easy to just point to the entire damn OST as an example of RPG music excellency. I guess they were not kidding when they said Falcom peaked music-wise right around the time this game came out!! When I talked about Zero, I mentioned that, despite how much I liked that soundtrack, I felt like it lacked consistency to a certain degree, which had hurt it, in my opinion. Azure, looking back, managed to strike the balance between having distinct memorable tracks and staying cohesive as a game soundtrack, which is what, deep down, I was looking for in Zero the year before. I remember laughing to myself about how different my opinions on Trails music tend to be from what seems to be the norm established in the fandom, but playing through Azure was the first time I found myself agreeing with 'the masses'. It's impossible not to adore this soundtrack.

2. The main reason this will never be the greatest of Trails to me is that I believe Azure marks the point in the series where the time put into the game (as a completionist who fishes for everything each Kiseki has to offer) starts to become disproportionate to what you actually get out of it.

To explain: while the main storyline is as well-written and exciting (though in a different way from Sky or even Zero - this game is famous for pulling out all the stops, and starting with a bang while finishing with a series of even bigger bangs) as always, this very likely came at the cost of the usually outstanding dialogue of the NPCs. Each time you go on your routine laps around the region, in any way you can, 90% of the time you will only see characters say one-liners about the current situation. That you just witnessed during the main quest from the perfect viewpoint. With your own eyes. It gets, uh... annoying?

And in addition to that, Azure is crazy about locking DP behind random things. Some of them are easy to figure out, naturally, but you will not be reaching first (or even second) rank without guides. And the biggest reason for this is the combination of ridiculously well-hidden quests and unwinnable battles that give you 5 DP in exchange for burning out on your item stash!! >:( You can be smug about this point, given that this is part of what the whole series is known for, but attaining max DP rank here is definitely more of a challenge than even in its prequel.

If that wasn't enough, there are eleven characters Lloyd can get bonding events with, drastically up from Zero's three for like no reason? Which is clearly designed to entice you into doing multiple playthroughs of a 100+ hours long game! I am not against getting more of beloved protagonists, but this is a very bad way to go about it. [laughs in CS1]

The gameplay here is also something I came to appreciate more a year later, after getting to know CS1. As the saying goes, you don't know what you have till it's gone, and this applies perfectly to the changes made to the battle system, particularly Orbments, over the years. When I played Azure, I didn't think too favorably of the addition of Master Quartz, but it ultimately made for an excellent fit, further emphasizing the combat roles the characters are made to fill while giving you an improved sense of progression with the MQ being able to level up.

All this, combined with the fact that I had been stubborn enough to use Hard instead of Normal (lose-lose deal – on Normal regular encounters wouldn't be as fun, on Hard I get my ass kicked by ultra-strong bosses harder. Retry Offset, I miss you...)... Yeah, that is why I almost broke the game with debug mode during the finale (that boss fight was over-reliant on Burst, I swear), and I have no regrets :p

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch, 2018) [♪ Main Theme ~ Piano]

This GIF is actually an accurate summary of how my time with this game went.

I feel like, despite past me claiming that Azure was rightfully the spotlight of her year, the true game of 2021 was this all along. Partially because '21 was the only year when I could enjoy it to the fullest. I don't really want to talk about it much, which is funny when I try to look back at the huge rant I had half-prepared about my love-hate relationship with this game (bring back shielddropping! and good singleplayer! and give us good online!), rife with comparisons to Smash 4 and small things only true nerds semi-competitive players care about, but now it all just reminds me of the Smash Ball-shaped hole I have in my soul.

Maybe in another world, I'll be able to enjoy Smash again. For now, I have to thank Ultimate for making 2021 feel like something I earned. For the greatest soundtrack a game ever could have. And of course, for the Palutena buffs. I still remember when I thought she would never appear again, much less be empowered like she was. 💚

In conclusion, this is a game that can be painful to love, but love persists nonetheless, because there is nothing like Smash Ultimate in the world. ❤ - 2021 me, who was right

[askagamedev]

Follow up question but different anon. I like that idea of a game dev Black Ops tactical insertion team to help projects. How do you get to that kind of badass elite status? Obviously time put into the industry but what other stipulations or accolades are needed generally?

Rescue operations are a lot like any other specialization in the industry - if you do it enough times, you get better at it. If you're good at it, you'll likely get recognized as being good at it and get more opportunities to do it. If it is something you want to keep doing, take the opportunities to do more of it as they present themselves. It then becomes a cycle - recognition of skills in a particular field, doing more of it, improving skills, repeat.

I would say that becoming a rescue operator like this does require a specific mindset that the developer must be good with maintaining. One of the reasons I became a game dev is because I wanted to make cool new stuff - new games, new gameplay, bring new ideas to life, and so on. I find it really fun to start with a blank slate and come up with a whole new system or idea. I'm sure a lot of people who want to get into game dev want to do similar things - they have these great ideas that they want to make real. Rescue operators don’t get to do this and it is probably the biggest drawback of being a rescue operator.

Rescue operators don't really get much opportunity to do new things because they only get the call when the situation is dire and things need rescuing. This means that they often have to enter a bad situation - bad code, bad assets, bad designs, etc. - and fix it under time pressure. The time pressure generally means that they don't have the time to fix things the right way - they have to cobble something together that is shippable out of mostly-bad basically-reused parts. There's no time to rebuild things from the ground up properly. There's no time to re-record VO or record new cinematics. There's no time to refactor huge parts of the code. As such, these rescue operators are constantly seeing the worst parts of project after project and unable to fix them well. That's a particular flavor of misery that can really wear on your soul.

One of the hardest parts of being a rescue operator is the compartmentalization aspect - it's really difficult to get engaged with projects because you don't spend that much time on them and you tend to see them at their worst. Once you've completed your mission, you leave to do it again on another project. The projects you rescue usually don't do all that well anyway because most troubled projects rarely have only one major problem. The only way I’ve found around this is compartmentalization - you just can’t get emotionally involved because you’re probably doomed to heartache otherwise.

As you may have surmised, I've done some time as a rescue operator. I've actually had a good amount of experience rescuing parts of projects in the past, and I've been recruited specifically for that expertise. I've also seen (and fixed) things that no designer or engineer should have to see. A rescue operator almost never gets a chance to create something new. It’s interesting work, but it’s not without its own set of drawbacks. Getting to do that kind of work isn’t actually that difficult - there’s no shortage of projects with problems; willingness to jump on grenades and successfully pulling off the fix is often a job few are willing to do. It’s just important to understand the kind of tradeoffs involved with the work.

[Join us on Discord] and/or [Support us on Patreon]

The FANTa Project is being rebooted. [What is the FANTa project?]

Got a burning question you want answered?

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter

Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr

Frequent Questions: The FAQ

[cyazurai]

I posted 2,900 times in 2021

2214 posts created (76%)

686 posts reblogged (24%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 0.3 posts.

I added 10,127 tags in 2021

#ts4 - 1897 posts

#the sims 4 - 1822 posts

#sims 4 legacy - 1713 posts

#rask legacy - 829 posts

#random legacy challenge - 827 posts

#nsb - 634 posts

#not so berry - 630 posts

#ts4 gameplay - 620 posts

#aeipathy legacy - 617 posts

#nsb gen 1 - 538 posts

Longest Tag: 112 characters

#i was an angel that year because i was in las vegas visiting my aunt and uncle and didn't have a cat costume lol

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Witchtober Day 7 - Moon

I didn’t want to be literal with this one. So she’s more of a moon goddess that was forced to stay on earth. I tried to make eyes that looked like the moon, though they don’t look as good as I hoped, so I also gave her a moon tiara, shirt, and necklace. 

89 notes • Posted 2021-10-07 22:30:45 GMT

#4

Hellooooo, everyone. I’m really nervous to post this, haha.

This was supposed to be a 400 follower gift, but... well. I’ve been suuuuuper focused on something else recently, and it’s been really difficult to pull myself away from it. And I mean, it’s something I’ve been thinking about doing for months, it was beginning to become a problem. I think I was even thinking about it back when I created Wren for the Live For Something challenge.

I decided to start making Let’s Play videos over on YouTube. I don’t have a plan to be a big Sims YouTuber or anything (definitely not good enough for that!), but I just REEEEALLY wanted to do it. To be honest, that’s why I have been having a real hard time working on editing and writing my legacies on here. Real life stuff, mixed with a desire to record a Let’s Play? Yeah.

Anyway, so I now have a Let’s Play series of an NSB challenge. Yeah, another NSB. But this one is the official lilsimsie NSB, instead of the version I’m playing with the Aeipathies. Right now I have three episodes published, and one more episode recorded that I just need to edit.

I was too shy to share it until I thought I was going to get pretty far in the challenge. I didn’t want to say “please go watch my Let’s Play!” and then quit right away.

If you want to watch it, give it a like or even subscribe, here’s the first episode:

I hope you like it. 😊

89 notes • Posted 2021-08-16 23:14:00 GMT

#3

Witchtober Day 3 - Mushroom

92 notes • Posted 2021-10-04 02:14:46 GMT

#2

Just a PSA

If you get inspired to do something new with the sims, but feel like you shouldn’t because you’re already doing something else, or don’t think it will be good enough, or any other host of reasons?

Don’t listen to that little nagging voice telling you not to do it, unless you literally cannot do it right now.

Even if all you do is get it started and never go any farther than that, go for it! If you’re excited for it and you really, really love it, just do it, because like my original positivity message says, we’re literally just here to have fun and share our love of our silly little pixel people. 

This is something I’ve had a lot of trouble with myself. I always feel like I need to focus only on what I’m already doing, and ignore the random, extreme urges I’ve gotten to start new challenges/legacies, no matter how excited I get about those new ideas. Well, not anymore! I’m not scrapping any of my legacies, but I’m going to allow myself to set those aside when the passion for those dies down, and focus on the things make me the happiest. 

If you try to force yourself to only focus on the things you’re already doing you will lose interest in the game. I guarantee it. Chasing your ideas can sometimes keep the game interesting when it starts to seem bland.

So you heard it here! Go for your dreams! Chase those ideas! Saying “I’m not feeling this legacy right now, but that one seems really fun” and going for it is perfectly A-okay!

We’re just here for fun, not for profit, after all.

124 notes • Posted 2021-11-16 04:24:43 GMT

#1

Hi guys!

If you’re seeing this, I love you. You’re awesome, and your sims are awesome. Even if you don’t have reshade or don’t edit or don’t have the energy to post anything sims right now, you’re great! If you’re a simblr that hasn’t posted/played sims in months, you’re still great! If you play every day and post every day, reshaded or edited, you’re also great! 

Do you make cc? Recolor cc? Convert cc? Wish you could do any of that? You are also awesome!

Do you play Sim 1? 2? 3? 4? All of you! You’re all awesome.

OH, and don’t forget you Sims Medieval and MySims players, you’re also awesome. 

Basically, if you read this and are currently comparing yourself to someone else, thinking “my blog isn’t as good as it should be,” stop it right now! Your blog is fantastic just the way it is. If you decide you want to change it? Do that for yourself. Not for anyone else, or because you think it’s not good enough. 💖

And if you need to take a break for mental or physical health? Don’t worry about us. Take the break. And if you need to just quit simblr, that’s okay too. Just remember the most important thing:

Simblr is a hobby, you don’t need to feel obligated to do anything.

(And yes, I am writing this for myself as much as anyone else.)

549 notes • Posted 2021-04-16 04:29:12 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[yukihime242]

In my previous post, I talked about the games I’m currently playing. In this post, I’m gonna talk about the games I want to play.

If only I could just play all of them without caring, but reality is never kinder. I will have to ponder long and hard on which games should take precedence for me to try.

1️⃣ Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds

(Picture Source: Ni no Kuni official webpage thru Google Image Search)

Ni no Kuni is an MMORPG which uses inspired characters from Studio Ghibli in the game. The game looks absolutely beautiful and it makes me wanna try it.

(Picture Credit: Nintendo Everything)

In order to save the storage space on my phone, I decided to download the PC version which they have. The bonus part is that you don’t have to download some emulator to play. 

But, when I got to the download page...

I was quite put off by the word “Beta” being there because it seems to be saying that it’s not fully functional on PC. At least, that’s the message I’m getting. Hence, I decided to wait a while and my assignments came in. Coincidentally a good timing for me to wait it out. But when I went back again today, it was still written there “Beta”.

I know a lot of other players download the PC version and seemingly does not have any issues with it. But I don’t want to take my chances because I still need my laptop for school work. 

Welp, I guess I have to download it onto my phone if I ever want to try it out.

2️⃣ Tower of Fantasty

This game was finally released globally and it is currently the only game anyone is ever talking about. There’s bound to be some slander to the game about the developers copying everything from Genshin Impact. 

(Picture Credit: Polygon)

I usually don’t mind characters’ movements in the game because there’s a limit to how much you can create movements from scratch. There’s definitely bound to be some similarity in movements as long as you don’t nit-pick and scrutinize frame by frame. 

Seeing the screenshot above, I’d say it’s Genshin-inspired since the game is still one of the most popular games to date. I have also seen on my TikTok feed of people quitting Tower of Fantasy but reasons are unknown to me.

Although I do take into account of the reviews, I’m not one to look at one side of the story. Perhaps it’s just their preferences and may be I will like it. It was the same with Honkai Impact where everybody said that they love it but it was kinda boring to me (personal preferences, people, personal preferences).

I will probably take a look at Tower of Fantasy but I’m not feeling optimistic since most of the gameplay is cyber-ish. Hopefully it will be a good game to play when I’m bored of Genshin.

3️⃣ Neir Reincarnation

(Picture Source: Neir wiki fandom)

I DID download the game and I DID play it for a while. But right now, I’m having second thoughts about it.

First of all, the Nier series is super long. Second, THERE WAS NO FREAKING TUTORIAL ON HOW TO DO THE BATTLE! I almost died in the first story.

I’m quite inclined to just uninstall it and watch it on YouTube instead like how I have always done with the Drakengard and Nier series. So, yep, I would probably do that (please don’t hate me).

4️⃣ Arknights

I did play Arknights previously but felt that with all the juggling of my then active Genshin, I couldn’t handle Arknights. But now that Genshin is more of when I feel like picking it up to play, I can probably spend a bit more time looking into this game,

I may start it brand new since my previous progress wasn’t much. Moreover, I was still in the tutorial stage so I guessed I could try recording my game progress right from the beginning again. Think that would be lovely.

Guess what I really need to catch on in this game is the mechanics and put on my thinking cap for strategic purposes. 

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

There’s still a whole ton of other games I want to try (I have a whole list of it) but this will have to do for now. Until I drop a few or it became super inactive (like Genshin), I may probably visit a few more.