#i added a lot of stuff furniture included

[kureijei]

FINALLY FINISHED THIS!! my own interpretation and additions to Sebastian's room in sdv ! Tried to keep anything in the image from the year 2010 or predated. i think theres a few give and takes but i really like the "older brother" early 2000s grunge aesthetic on another level and i thought who better fits it than him. I put a lot of references to stuff i personally like as well ^_^

[fannyrosie]

Back in August, my mother, my sister and I did a three day roadtrip to Lake Placid in New York State, where the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics were hosted. We hiked and visited Adirondack natural wonders the two first days, but because my health was starting to fail me on the second day, we kept the third one for visiting the Downton Abbey costume exhibition at the Lake Placid Center for the arts.

On our way to the exhibit, we passed by the Pines Inn, formerly known as the St. Moritz Hotel, a hotel built in 1907. I had wanted to stay at that hotel, but my mom refused, saying it was in poor shape and looked haunted on the hotel booking sites (she wasn't wrong, but I love that stuff, as you know). I still insisted for us to at least visit it, and we sure did NOT regret it. We stumbled upon one of the concierges (or new owners, correct me if you see this!), and he loved my outfit so much that he gave us a tour of the hotel, including in areas closed to guests. He told us that Albert Einstein and the Kennedys had been guests at the hotel, that there was n*de sunbathing on the roof in the 1930s and that a lot of the furniture was original. Sadly, after the 80s, the hotel slowly went into decrepitude and abandonment, and many things got stolen and damaged. The new owners are currently working hard to restore the hotel, and it's indeed a lot of work.

Outfit rundown Dress: vintage Ingeborg (Pink House) Velvet michiyuki: vintage Hat: Rudsak with added brooch by Fuwari Gloves: vintage Shoes: old Clarks Bag: second-hand Vivienne Westwood Belt: thrifted Big British stamp brooch: second-hand Jane Marple Small marine cat stamp brooch: Via Carousel Anchor and crest brooches: vintage Earrings: old Dracolite

[genericpuff]

Hello! I’m just here bc I’m a little confused on what you meant by Smythe drawing out “each individual asset” when she was making comics? Now, granted, I can see that it made her file ginormous, but me personally as someone who knows nothing about making online comics but is really wanting to get into it (and also as someone who has a ‘too many layers’ problem myself), is there a way to avoid using too many layers?

My current way of making comics has been to draw the panels individually and then format them (which I know is terrible management wise and also messes with the quality) but I honestly have no other idea of how to do it properly, and seeing how stunning Lore Rekindled looks, I don’t know how you would manage to put all that lighting effects and little details on the same layers. (But also I may be thinking of it wrong so I’ll let you talk qwq)

Ah I can actually give you a visual breakdown of what I meant by that!

So in this you can see there are a TON of layers, and not even all of them are visible because some of them are stuffed into FOLDERS that have been left closed. BUT if you look REEEEALLY carefully-

^^^ These layers right here? That's specifically Minthe from this panel in Episode 61:

(the unique pose here makes it real easy to tell that this is the corresponding panel, you can see the matching body shape with the dark shading that's clipped to the base layer below it!)

So what this means is that Rachel didn't draw all her characters on one base layer, she drew every single character in every single panel separately. Now of course, she could merge all these layers together as working on separate layers helps make it easier to work on elements that collide separately (like one character being 'underneath' another character like Hades is here) but because she has all of those clipping layers with the shading already added in, she likely didn't merge them afterwards because that would actually create MORE problems (because if she merged the Minthe layer in with Hades, then the shading for Minthe that she painted outside of the lines would show up on Hades and then she'd have to erase it which is just a bunch of extra work).

You can also tell all these characters are on their own layer because the layer thumbnail EXCLUSIVELY shows those characters. A layer will show as much canvas length as it needs to cover what's in that layer, so if the thumbnail is only showing one character, that means there's NOTHING ELSE on that layer. If there were more elements on this layer than just Minthe, the layer thumbnail would look more like this:

Now let's compare it to Rekindled's layers! I'll use a completed page to make it fair as we use a lot of extra layers in the post-production phase where we add the texture effects and glow and all that fun stuff, plus I'll even make it a more complicated page like that big nymph explanation spread from Episode 51:

So I'll break it down to make this make more sense:

BG 2 Copy (technically this is supposed to be BG 1) - Basically the panel shapes, what I'll do is mark out the panels with flat blocks and through that we'll add background elements in a clipping layer (usually done by Banshriek). Often times they'll do multiple layers to make the process easier and then merge them all together in the end. With these shapes operating as panels, it means I can just auto select the whole layer, invert the selection, and easily erase whatever's outside of it (such as the lineart and base colors that I put down afterwards). I could just use masking layers like I did in [AFTERBIRTH] but I find this way works better for the process of making Rekindled.

BG 2 - This is where we add objects / foreground elements. So stuff like furniture, interactables, anything that needs to be kept separate from the larger background to make it easier to work with. This can also include "floating" panels that need to be above other panels, such as this:

All of the backgrounds are then nested in a folder for organization purposes (we also sometimes use clipping layers on top of those folders to apply extra effects over anything contained within that folder without affecting other folders, that's a common technique that Banshriek applies)

Then we get into our Characters folder:

BASE - This is where I do the majority of my work, all the characters in every panel on a page are flatted into this layer. Sometimes I do have to create separate layers to, again, make it easier to work with overlapping characters, but usually those layers will be merged before I go into the shading process. I simply shade on a single layer by using the lasso / magic wand tool to select my area for painting, the flat colors make it really easy to do that. Sometimes I need to create a secondary shading layer if I've put down dark colors that start to bleed into the lighter colors, but again, I merge when I'm done into a single shading layer. We also sometimes employ an Add (Glow) layer into the clipping set if we need a glow effect that's exclusive to the characters and doesn't travel outside of their base colors.

There's a (leaves) layer here that I used for the dryad because I needed the leaves to be above the base layer, after that I selected the leaves elements so that I could erase the lineart in the layer above it where needed.

LINEART - It's lineart, enough said haha That said, I do think Rachel actually uses clipping layers for her lineart in places, it seems to be visible in some of her process videos where you can see the lineart present in a clipping layer, and that would explain why there are panels where the lineart suddenly 'cuts off' and doesn't travel outside of the base layer, like so:

GLOW - This is where we do an Add (Glow) layer that isn't restricted to the base layer, it's where we add all the fun lil' glow and sparkle effects over the characters !

The CLOUDS layer is, like the leaves, a background element that needs to be above the base layers rather than constricted to the background.

Above the Characters folder you can see what I mentioned earlier where Banshriek has added more post-production effects that are exclusively clipped to the contents of the Characters folder. This means the effects / blend modes do NOT affect the background layers or anything above it.

The BLUR (Overlay) layer is something we just started doing over the past several episodes, it's a technique I actually picked up from 66 of City of Blank where I merge all the layers into a new visible layer which I then apply a Gaussian Blur to at around 60% and then set to Overlay (and then I adjust the layer opacity until it looks right, usually around 25-35%), it gives it a bit of a softer "dreamier" vibe in the final colors and really helps unify everything!

CANVAS - This is an Overlay layer which is also set to an opacity of 25-35% where I go over the panels with the Add Canvas brush from the Kyle Webster set, unlike the Canvas overlay texture in CSP I can actually choose the colors I want to use which means I can match the canvas texture color to the mood and environment of the scene (ex. I'll use a very light blue for scenes in the Underworld). Not only does it give it that signature texture from S1 of LO, but it also helps balance out the effects of the BLUR layer.

The SKETCH layer sits on top of everything and gets turned off once all the base layers and lineart are down, and ofc the SPEECH folder is just where all the text is kept.

I know everything I just laid out is a LOT but ultimately it's how we operate, it works for us! But it also begs the question of why Rachel operates the way she does because a lot of it seems extremely unnecessary and more likely to bite her in the ass (the more layers there are, the bigger your file size gets, the risk of drawing on the wrong layer increases as well as the risk of posting a panel that's missing elements because the layer was left turned off by mistake, etc.) And it's more so concerning with how she operates with her assistants because if she's still using this many layers when collaborating with other people, hooo boy. Though based on what I've observed of what her assistants contribute, I get a lot more of the sense that she circumvents this by having the artists do the flats separately and then importing them in as separate assets that she then just imports into the page and places them where they need to be. Still not a great workflow IMO because it's what's led to a lot of the issues of characters "floating" rather than feeling like they're actually in the environment-

-but that's still an issue that could be solved by Rachel just taking more time to actually flesh out the backgrounds and lighting to give more of an impression of the characters actually existing in the space. Like that Hestia panel could easily be fixed by just giving the background a bit more detail and putting actual shading underneath her (and lighting from whatever direction it's coming from).

Either way, regardless of whether or not Rachel's process is productive or not, I hope that breakdown helps explain how we do it in Rekindled! Learning how to manage layers is definitely a skill that can be tricky to harness, but once it "clicks" there's a lot you can get away with. Ultimately how you do it is up to you, but my best piece of advice to offer is to just be open to other types of workflows because you don't know how much you might be shooting yourself in the foot doing things the hard way when there are often way easier and more efficient ways to get the same job done. That's basically the vibe I get from observing Rachel's workflow, it seems like she's still using methods that she thinks are working for her (and probably did work just fine for her when it was JUST her) but could be vastly improved for her and her team if she'd just get over the initial hump of stepping outside of her comfort zone. Would probably make for a better comic too LOL

I hope that helps! Good luck! ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡

[devondespresso]

FINALLY

after NINE. HOURS. (NOT including meals and sleep) ITS FUCKING DONE.

A complete floorplan of the entire Harrington house. Including too much thought about random, throw-away lines from characters and squint-to-see-it background glimpses inside.

plently of stuff in the actual house is altered or straight up ignored in favor of following the fiction logic and because I Wanted To. A lot of this is motivated by my headcanons for the Harringtons and how I'm writing them in my fic, but I'm also certainly not an architect so it's by no means perfect. It is, however, unreasonably canon compliant in the few bits we do see.

Thought Process (for context):

the darker shaded floor areas are lower than the rest, some bits like the garages having stairs and some areas like the sun and dining rooms list being like a step lower. Windows are marked with dashes along the outside, sliding doors are two thin lines slightly overlapping, stairs change color as they diverge from the level we're looking at, and furniture is eyeballed so don't look to closely a the scale.

not all closets are labeled, just the ones i figured could be confusing. Steve and the guest rooms have closets i promise.

the laundry room and pantry are not the same size but by the time i noticed i was exhausted. so pretend they're both more reasonably sized.

i don't know what the floorplan symbol for garage door is and then i forgot to look so the headlights point to where the doors are and you can see them clearly in photos so yeah.

The general layout is based on the idea that the Harringtons are or were into hosting dinner parties and business meetings in their home, especially as a young rich couple looking for respect in their circles (Mr. Harrington taking on his father's business and reinforcing that power, Mrs. Harrington climbing her own social ladder and building an image).

So the house is laid out with hosting areas towards the right with the office big and near the dining room because it's more than just a workplace, it represents him as a businessman. In canon the entryway and living room both have very high ceilings and no second-floor above them, so I'd imagine they're also aware of how the top floor looks from below, hence the fancy double/french doors to the master bedroom which is in plain view from below. Steve's room and the guest room are's nearly as visible.

As for the kitchen and sun/pool rooms, I see them more as secondary hosting areas that aren't used as the main location most of the time and are more this background setting to these events that still feel rich. The kitchen is massive and mostly for dinner-parties and Mrs. Harrington's social events.

The kitchen and main bathroom's placement is based on a line Steve said to Barb giving her directions to the bathroom: "down past the kitchen, to the left". With the massive living room on the left and wanting to keep the dining and office close by, i interpreted the "to the left" part being like "find the kitchen, then turn left". And with the rest of the area being open-concept, the bathroom would be the only normal door over there and easy to find. it's a bit of a stretch with just that line, but it makes sense to me with the rest of the context for the layout.

the basement is similar to this, though not as openly displayed so I imagine its for slightly closer friends. Theres a garage door down there so I figured Mr. Harrington might have a cool car he shows off, like he's letting people in on a personal detail about himself. There's also a guest room down there (the only one still considered 100% for guests, more on that later) for those people.

beside the basement garage, there was originally one main garage that holds two cars, obvious Mr. and Mrs. Harrington's cars. I imagine they bought the house before having kids, so a third one wasn't on the mind but after having Steve they added the front one (either turning the carport into a closed garage or they never had a carport and added a whole new addition, up to you)

Both garages lead to the same part of the house, and that area is the only one besides the water heater room that is purely function over effect. It still looks good like the rest of the house but it's not made to be fancy because guests would rarely need to be over there if at all and it's not noteworthy from other parts of the house.

In my headcanon, Steve's room used to be a guest room, staying his room from nursery to present with Mrs. Harrington renovating every now and then. Its one of those places in the house that doesn't have to look perfect for all to see, so she gets creative and has fun with it.

The upstairs guest room is also unofficially Mrs. Harrington's room, based on a line where Tommy mentions a fireplace in "his mom's room" instead of "guest room" or "parent's room" or "master bedroom". I belatedly realized this could be a solidarity thing with Steve hating his dad and calling the master bedroom his mom's room, but that was after 9 hours of this and im not changing it but there you go. In this version, I imagine she leaves the master some nights because her marriage with Mr. Harrington is failing (cheating and all, I wouldn't want to be in the same bed with someone who cheated either)

the master bathroom was an executive decision, just looking at the house in canon and not having enough space in my first attempts, i decided the triangle roof part above the dining and office could fit a master bathroom.

Feel free to use or reference this in your own fics! Feel free to block out my furniture or walls and make your own version. If you share my image please credit with an @ mention!! (again, 9 hours) (thank you fhalsfhd)

[coochiequeens]

Another sex offender TIM released into the public.........and given a laptop

Daughter's fury as paedophile father who abused and shared images of her with other sick perverts online before changing gender in prison is quietly released (...and given a laptop by an offender's charity)

By ROSS SLATER

PUBLISHED: 10:47 EDT, 16 July 2023 | UPDATED: 10:49 EDT, 16 July 2023

A paedophile who changed gender while in prison for sexually abusing her own daughter as a child and sending explicit photos of her to perverts online has been quietly released back into the community - and given a laptop by a do-gooding charity.

Claire Fox, 61, who was previously known as Clive Bundy, a father of six, served just seven years of a 15-year jail sentence, before being settled into a tiny market town on the Welsh borders.

Fox, who wears a black wig and floral dresses told neighbours, who knew nothing of her sordid past, that she was an electrician from Bangor as they helped her get settled into her new surroundings and helped her furnish her flat.

Fox's release from prison has appalled her daughter Ceri-Lee Galvin, who bravely waived her right to anonymity, having been abused by her father for nine years from the age of eight.

Revealing her astonishment, Ceri-Lee, 24, told MailOnline: 'My father is not a woman and I refuse to recognise him as such. He changed his gender in prison to make his life there easier.

But now he is out and already up to his usual tricks – conning everyone he meets. 

'The fact he is now dressed as a woman makes him more dangerous as young girls are his thing and he has never shown any remorse.

'My father is a highly manipulative man who has attended no sexual offender rehabilitation programmes, shown no remorse for what he has done and openly admits finding children attractive.

'There have been no meetings I'm aware of to tell local schools about his presence, he has no tag and no curfew. He has just been put into this community and given all he could wish for – food, furniture, a home and a laptop.'

Ceri-Lee, now a student paramedic, added: 'I am in no way transphobic and I feel incredibly sorry for people who genuinely need to transition. They face stigma and worse because of cases like this.

'But it should just not be an option for those convicted of sexual offences against children to suddenly say that they want to be a woman.

'This only arose at the end of 2021 when he was due to be moved to an open prison but then had a fight with a fellow prisoner that was serious enough to stop the move.

'That is when he went for the gender change – when he was almost 60, having been a macho man all his life and having had eight children and having never mentioned gender dysphoria before.

'Now he is being indulged by everyone. The prison service gave him make-up and women's clothes and now a charity for the armed forces have provided him with so much stuff when all he did was a short stint in the Territorial Army in his 20s.

He has conned them. He was never a soldier. The whole thing is outrageous.'

Fox arrived in a sheltered accommodation block for older people in a tiny town at the start of June.

She was given new furniture, a television, printer, washing machine, crockery and a laptop by the armed forces charity SSAFA because she had once been in the Territorial Army.

Fox's neighbour Lyn Robinson, 74, said: 'My first impression was that this person was very cheerful and amenable, assuring all us older people that they'd be no trouble. They seemed very confident despite the outlandish appearance.

'I thought she might find it difficult fitting in so I really took care of her. I gave her clothes and even lent her £70, which is a lot for a pensioner.

'I took her to the food bank at the Baptist Church where she was given loads of stuff including vouchers for a butcher in town and for a coffee shop.

'And we went to a concert at St Edward's Church where I introduced her to the vicar. I had no idea of her history.

Fox's decision to change gender before being released from prison, provoked a storm of protest when it was revealed in April.

She chose the same name as gender-critical campaigner and media pundit Claire Fox, now sitting in the House of Lords as Baroness Fox of Buckley.

Campaign groups fear that by changing their gender, sex offenders can effectively whitewash their past and could avoid detection under the Home Office's Disclosure and Barring Service, set up to protect children from abusers.

DBS uses official paperwork such as a passport or driving licence to carry out their checks, both of which can prove difficult to check after choosing a new name and gender.

The potential loophole is provided by the Gender Recognition Act (2004), which created a 'sensitive applications route' for trans people.

Ceri-Lee added: 'The victim liaison officer told me the only reason I was being informed about the name and gender change was because he had given permission for this to happen.

'It's allowing him to say that Clive Bundy never existed, that my abuse never existed and it is clearly a danger to children which is why I decided to speak out.' 

Fox is not the first sex offender to change gender while in prison

A rapist who carried out sexual attacks as a man named Adam Graham in 2016 and 2019 sparked a heated debate earlier this year after changing gender and name to Isla Bryson while waiting to stand trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

And in 2018, convicted rapist 'Karen White' – branded a 'highly manipulative' predator by a judge – was moved to HMP New Hall in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, and sexually assaulted two women inmates.

Fox was arrested after police discovered images of Ceri-Lee online that the abuser had been trading with other pedophiles.

She was later charged with and admitted to several counts of sexual activity with Ceri-Lee, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and distributing indecent images.

In 2016 she was sentenced to 15 years in prison. It was not until the end of 2021 that she told the authorities she wanted to change gender.

A SSAFA spokesperson, said: 'SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity provides practical, emotional and financial assistance to serving personnel, reservists, veterans and their families in their time of need. Due to data protection laws and our need to protect our beneficiaries' and employees' confidentiality, we cannot comment on individuals or their circumstances.'

A spokesperson for Dyfed-Powys Police said: 'In line with national guidelines we can neither confirm nor deny the information you have provided.

'However, we can confirm that Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements are utilised throughout the entire force area to manage appropriate offenders living in the community and they will be closely supervised by local officers to minimise any risk.'

[intimidating-fettuccine]

idk if this is allowed but maybe laughing jack or candypop x pregnant reader? hope this doesn’t break any rules 😭

I technically have two LJ pregnancy posts, click here for telling LJ you're pregnant, and click here for a couple headcanons of him during pregnancy

As for Candy, I hope both of you enjoy ^^ I just included both the requests since you both asked for it.

ABSOLUTELY over the moon once Candy finds out the news that you're pregnant. Candy has always been a big family man, and he's always felt a bit lonely since the loss of his original family all those years ago. To be able to start a new family with you here and now makes him so indescribably happy, he almost doesn't know what to do with himself, he's basically vibrating and he can't stop (gently) scooping you into his arms because he's so excited. At one point while he's hugging you he begins to cry because he's so overwhelmed, and of course, you get concerned for him, but he assures you it's just because he hasn't felt this excited about something for a long, long time.

Candy keeps his eyes on you a LOT during your pregnancy. He doesn't want you to push yourself or let you get too stressed because he doesn't want any harm to come to you or the little one developing inside of you. He makes sure to go to all of your appointments with you and remember any information they tell you, and he makes sure if they tell you any recommended vitamins you should be taking to pick them up when you guys are heading home, and he makes sure you're eating all the right stuff. He almost gets a bit more into your pregnancy than you are, but he's just so excited for the three of you, yes, including the little one. When it comes to the possibility of knowing the gender before the baby is born, I think Candy would want you guys to be surprised, especially since it's not 100% accurate. Plus, he thinks it's fun to think up names for both possible genders, although I also think he's the type to try to think up a few gender-neutral names, that way you could find a name both of you love that could be used for your baby regardless. He loves just laying down with you at the end of the day and staring at each other as you cuddle up, just saying random names until one of them clicks, it's so domestic and it's a kind of bliss he's wanted with you for so long.

When it comes to decorating a room for your baby, I feel like that's one of the most exciting parts for Candy to be quite honest, as he loves decorating, and knowing it's for your baby just makes him so hyped up. In my canon bedrooms in the mansion adjust to however the person living in it wants it to look accordingly, so an extra door and another little room are soon added inside Candy's bedroom for the two of you to use for the baby. Rather than letting the mansion decorate itself, though, Candy decides to paint and furnish the room with the two of you. He paints the walls himself, and I think he'd paint a beautiful landscape, with clouds and fields, and the far wall at the top is a starry night sky, under which you can put the crib. He loves picking out furniture and toys for the little one with you, although I'm also sure Jason and LJ make a whole metric fuckton of toys for the two of you as Candy's best friends. When it gets into late pregnancy and you have a harder time moving around he's more than happy to carry you himself, especially because it gives him a reason to be closer to you. He's a huge help to you throughout your pregnancy, and he just can't wait for the two of you to meet your baby once they're born, as he knows the two of you are going to love and care for that little guy so much together.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

You know how I love offbeat properties and I found this seller's For-Sale-By-Owner ad on Zillow. He started building the home in 1969, in Eureka, California, and it's been under construction for 43 years! It's a French ornamented cathedral Gothic, with all custom ornaments, molds and scaffolding techniques. This mansion is based on Newport, Rhode Island style and spirit from the 19th Century.

This is what it's supposed to look like - The Vision.

And, in 43 yrs., this is what he's done so far. He's asking $4.5M. Now, he has been living in it, so you can live in the finished part. The house is being sold furnished, and what furnishings! Read what he wrote about them below:

"Also for sale here are 1500 sq. ft of the ultimate grade palatial antique Italian marquetry, veneer and solid wood furniture, ranging from console tables and mirrors; 10 different sizes of round antique tables, up to a 12' x 6' museum-piece dining table, various rare cabinets, marquetry, upholstered chairs, couches, china and other cabinets, solid gold (plated) grandfather clock and two huge antique chandeliers, all worth over $300k on the market now and arguably TWICE that!"

This outer door is amazing.

Here's a gargoyle and other ornamentation that still has to go on the house.

But, look at this - it says the exterior designs are ready for installation "when the lawsuit is over." So, the property is involved in a lawsuit, too? (Check the blog - I found the lawsuit papers and posted it.)

There's so much stuff here.

This room is done. It must be a ballroom. I don't know what to make of all this. This looks like the Romanoff's place.

This must be a music room. There's a harpsicord and a harp in here.

Look at these walls. He says the walls are hand done- are these the actual walls?

The walls are hand painted according to the description.

Here's a mantel waiting to be installed.

This is going to be the kitchen.

The gold double sink.

I don't know if this is an old picture of the original inspiration for this home, but it's definitely a representation of the home itself.

This is an amazing fireplace.

Another beautiful fireplace.

He's using the bedroom, but it's not finished.

I'm disappointed in this bathroom. Maybe it's just temporary?

He has a lot of photos of the furniture and these are really primo antiques. So, this would be one of the dining rooms.

This looks like a brand new bedroom set. Looks like a furniture store that used to be near me called Roma Furniture.

The chandelier in the ballroom that he says is included in the sale.

One of the sitting rooms.

Nice inlaid table.

There's a lot of furniture. If you want to see it all, click on the link b/c he's posted 100 photos. But, I'm very confused.

The property measures 6 acres and there are "massive fall color and rose gardens, 20,000 plantings, plus 10,000 daffodil, iris, lily, etc. Bulbs are spread over 6 acres, still there mostly, alive and colorful. Plus, hundreds of valuable landscaping sculptures are included."

[midstpodcast]

The music and sound design for Midst is absolutley masterful. You mentioned some cool and weird methods of making noises for the Fold - can you tell us of any other unconventional objects or noises youve used to create some of the tracks?

🎷: YES, YEP, I can tell you about cool and weird sounds ANYtime. Here’re a few fun ones in brief:

The Blinding’s sounds are heavily remixed and modified vocalizations from a variety of different types of seals.      

Years ago I had access to a storeroom full of defunct old A/V and electronic gear including old film projectors, vintage adding machines, typewriters, strange retro printers, and loads of other obscure electronics from the 50s-70s. I recorded tons of random audio in there of various contraptions doing various things, and a lot of that vintage machinery is what makes up the mechanical ambience of the Trust bank machines in the Central Vault and in Imelda’s mission.

S1E12 “Coda” was probably the most wild sound production episode of season 1, and I had several days of fun throwing myself bodily around the room, knocking over furniture, smashing pomagranates, and generally hyperventilating while semi-literally strangling myself. 10/10, would repeat. Good times. 

We decided that teletheric devices in Midst emit sound not with diaphragmatic speakers, but with organ-like pipettes that emit overtones (you can see them pictured in the episode icon for S1E03) – so processing audio in Midst to sound like it was coming out of a teletheric wasn’t just a simple process of making it sound “radio-y” with some EQing, but rather a fun techno-anthropological process of converting audio into mechanically-accurate harmonic sidebands based on the technology in-universe that we decided was creating that sound.

The reality-eating sound of the Tearror consuming the cave in S2E04 is 75% the sound of my cat snoring and digesting his breakfast. I stuck a stereo mic under his belly while he napped and recorded the whoosh of his breathing, the pulse of his heartbeat, and the gurgle of his lil' cat intestines for use as the stuff of nightmares. Scary sounds can sometimes come from very cute places!

[eddiediazismyhusband]

The Diaz Family Home

this is the house that my buddie sims currently live in with chris and their baby. i built it trying to bear in mind what kind of house buddie would realistically move into in the near future, and since los angeles loves the spanish bungalow, i decided to go for that style

Exterior:

like insaid before I wanted to still go for that spanish bungalow style that eddie’s house in the show has; i think a lot of the decor and furniture that eddie has in the show is suited to this style in almost a mismatch way so i wanted to maintain that throughout, even though in my game, buddie are engaged and have a baby so they would have bought new furniture/replaced things over time

Layout:

doing research to find inspiration for the floorplan/exterior showed that a lot of these homes in california follow a similar pattern with one side if the house dedicated to the bedrooms and the other to the living areas with a hallway splitting the middle. i had a lot of fun playing around with different layouts and i was very happy with how it turned out

Front Porch:

just a simple covered front porch that is common in this style of house.

Living Room:

i kept the vibe of eddie’s current house in the show, including a lot of the same furniture itsms i used for my re-creation of that house to show that while (in the story of my game) they’ve moved out of that house, they still kept some things while also adding new pieces/replacing some stuff. (note: some picture frames are empty bc i am going to be filling them with photos i take as i play the game)

Dining Room:

again i wanted to keep a similar vibe to eddie’s current house, but in my head, he and buck would probably have purchased a new dining room set when they moved- i also wanted to use green instead of the black that eddie currently has just for some more color

Kitchen:

once again, same vibe, but different colors and a slightly larger area for buck to cook (bc lets face it eddie would burn the house down trying to make grilled cheese)

The Nursery:

so i know we all love girl!dad buddie but when i started playing with these sims a while back, i had buck and eddie have a baby via surrogate (or as the game calls them a “science baby”) and it was a little boy w blonde hair and blue eyes so i named him Luke (i also named buck’s baby luke in my waitress au fic bc of this)

Luke’s Bathroom:

it’s just a basic bathroom but i think the wall decals are so fucking cute

Half Bathroom:

just a jack-and-jill style half bath that sits between the kitchen and the hallway

Chris’s Room:

so in my game chris is still a child sim, so i decorated his room as if he were still like 9 or 10… i again wanted to keep some of the same items i used in the recreation of the show house but changed the colors slightly to say that they “painted” it or smth but only bc i think the darker woods fit the color scheme of the room better

Chris’s Bathroom:

all the bathrooms in the house are the same layout, but i wanted to make chris’s a more ‘accessible’ bathroom. since we don’t have disabilities in the game chris’s sim doesn’t have CP, but i wanted to still decorate his bathroom with a shower unit so that he could access it better by himself, even if in the game he has no mobility limitations (i also had a makeshift shower chair in the shower at one point but it made the shower unusable so i had to delete it but the idea is still there yk)

Buck and Eddie’s Bedroom:

my thought process here was that when they bought this house to move in together, they bought a whole new bedroom set for themselves, so this room is almost completely original with no brought over pieces from eddie’s current house. i also have the in-game wedding certificate item hung in their room although technically they’re still only engaged at the moment in game

Buck and Eddie’s Bathroom:

just a basic en suite bathroom

Backyard:

I wanted to test out the new round pools that came with the latest update so they do have a pool. i also included a little kiddie pool for when luke ages up to a toddler, and i also have s swingset and a slide. on the back deck i gave buck a nice grill so they can host 118 barbecues after bathena’s house was barbecued (laugh at me i’m so funny)

Hallway:

i didn’t wanna just leave this hallway bare so i put a couple little clutter/storage items. the mirror table is something that in my head i went “maybe this was helena’s mother’s that eddie took when she passed away and they were cleaning out her house” or smth but it filled blank space so i used it

Laundry/Backdoor:

this is just a tiny space off the kitchen. nothing fancy or special about it, i just wanted to include it since the og house had a laundry room too.

[hippolotamus]

Tease Tidbit Tuesday/WIP Wednesday

Thanks for the Tuesday tags @elvensorceress @loserdiaz @spotsandsocks @hoodie-buck @weewootruck @wikiangela @giddyupbuck @daffi-990 @tizniz @diazsdimples Tagging you back for WIP Wednesday and looking forward to all your works 💖

So don't be mad, OK? I'm posting another snippet of this. (Under the cut because it got long) That being said, it's going to be the last one for a while until I finish some other stuff. Aaaand it's written in a POV I'm not sure I'm gonna keep. With that in mind... enjoy???? Also everybody who's into this thank James for forcingmaking me flesh out more details and @watchyourbuck for threatening me (with love ofc).

no pressure tagging (lmk if you want added or removed) @stereopticons @shortsighted-owl @eddiebabygirldiaz @disasterbuckdiaz @theotherbuckley @apothecarose @barbiediaz @buckaroosheart @buddierights @chaosandwolves @eowon @fortheloveofbuddie @gayedmundodiaz @giddyupbuck @heartshapedvows @honestlydarkprincess @indestructibleheart @jesuisici33 @ladydorian05 @lemonzestywrites @monsterrae1 @spaceprincessem @statueinthestone @steadfastsaturnsrings @the-likesofus @theplaceyoustillrememberdreaming @thewolvesof1998 @vanillahigh00 @watchyourbuck @wildlife4life @your-catfish-friend @epicbuddieficrecs @rmd-writes @welcometololaland @lizzie-bennetdarcy and anyone else who wants to 😘

Shit. This moment calls for a lot of different emotions, but that one is the most prominent. The glaring neon sign at the forefront of her brain as she registers the second pink line that’s becoming increasingly blurry. 

She brings a hand to her mouth, covering a silent exclamation. She wouldn’t have to. It’s not like there’s anybody around to hear. Just the secondhand furniture, personal items moved from her Mom’s place, and a few decorative things she bought to make the apartment more cozy. 

She sinks to the bed still clutching the plastic stick tightly between her fingers. Something about sitting there feels almost like she’s breaking the laws of a sacred space. Normally that would be right up her alley. Poking at the edges of societal norms just to see what she could get away with. But right now, perched on the edge of the mattress with a positive pregnancy test feels wrong. Even if it is the same place it happened. The place where her and Eddie first stumbled into something more than friendship together after too many drinks at the bar one night. Where they woke up the next morning and muddled through Did we just… and We could do it again. Where they kept landing until they had the guts to admit it was fun, but not what either of them really wanted. Because they both missed their best friend and enjoying each other without the expectations of romance. 

Not to mention the Evan of it all. Shannon had seen it coming from a mile away. From the first week her and Eddie met him at the Brass Bell and kept managing to run into him as he settled into town. 

A few people, one or two of her girlfriends included, whispered about Eddie and Evan getting together so quickly after the “breakup”. Some, thinking they were being supportive, came to her bitching about how rotten the situation was and that she deserved better. How dare he leave her for someone he barely knows? Honestly, it gave her a great deal of satisfaction watching them go pale when she casually mentioned she not only didn’t mind, but had pushed Eddie towards him. 

It was already obvious that her and Eddie weren’t heading for anything serious. And, as his self proclaimed platonic soulmate who knows him better than he knows himself, she felt it was only a matter of time anyway. Why delay the inevitable?

She looks at the two lines again. How is she going to tell him? He’s the happiest she’s seen him in a long time. Maybe ever. Without question, he’s going to feel that overwhelming sense of loyalty and responsibility. The same fiercely protective instinct he has for Sophia and Adriana. Shannon can already see him devoting himself to this– Fuck, she can’t even think the word to herself. But he’ll throw himself into caring for her and break Evan’s heart. She can’t let him do that. Not when she doesn’t even know if she wants to move forward with everything. 

Shannon sits up a little taller, wiping away the remaining dampness from her eyes and cheeks, and makes a decision. She walks the test to the closest trash can, ties up the mostly empty bag, and drops it down the building’s garbage chute. 

When she returns to her apartment, she navigates to the last picture Eddie texted of him and Evan. They look… blissful. Content. He and Evan have their arms wrapped around each other while Evan presses a kiss to Eddie’s cheek. His skin is flushed and rosy, making him look almost bashful. 

She can’t tell him. It’s as simple as that. Eddie hasn’t said anything, but he doesn’t have to. She knows that look. He’s in love. Even though it’ll be ages until he allows himself to admit it and say the words out loud, that doesn’t make it any less true. 

There’s still time, she thinks. Time for her to get a checkup, to gather facts, to evaluate what she wants to do. Time to let Eddie be in love and hope he forgives her for not saying anything.

[cora626]

Downtown: 205 Custer Boulevard

This Lot Requires at minimum 4t2 For Rent Set

Download [SFS]

Alternate: [Simblr.CC] (Adding Soon)

Good Evening!!

Tonight I bring to you 205 Custer Boulevard. It's one of the Downtown Lots. This lot will be the lot that will house my Mayor for Downtown. Now, HERE'S THE THING. Please read carefully as you will need CC to make this Lot build look like the pictures. I will only link the build mode items, although some sets may have Buy mode objects such as the 4t2 For Rent Set. The download itself is CC free however if you have the items in your downloads folder already, they will appear in the house if I am not mistaken. If you do not have the build mode items in your downloads folder, you have a decision to make.

Download the build items on the list.

Work with what you get when you put it in your game and adjust it how you want it to look.

Don't download, don't use.

The reason why I did not include the CC in the download is because I am not sure of permissions, I rename all of my files so they will not overwrite if you have them and why not check out the creators' pages? they have awesome stuff, you might come across someone you didn't know existed :)

I did not include links to the decor and furniture CC as there is a lot to look up, and some pages are not search friendly, but I will answer WCIF requests.

Always make a backup of your game before installing this or any DLC into your game to prevent permanent loss of all your hard work in your game.

I used TS2 UC to makeover this lot. This lot is technically NOT CC free as it will not look like the pictures without the CC. If there are any issues, please let me know so I can fix and re-upload. Enjoy.

Build Items needed are:

Lord Crumps Collab with Episims, TvickieSims, Platinumaspiration: 4t2 For Rent

Pixelated Sims: Rounded Edges, Industry Matters Brick Facade

Tombstone L&D: Mosaic Tile

RDN: Doors, Stairs, and a fixed mesh

Shastakiss: Wallpaper, Painted Walls

Deatherella: Basement Hatch Door

Nonsensical Pixel: Garden at Home

TVivkieSims: Plants and Trees

Curious B: Wallpaper

If I forgot anything, please let me know. If there is decor, furniture, clutter you are looking for from the pictures, please do a WCIF ask, and I will answer it when I see it.

Have an awesome Night!!

Check out the beautiful rooms below :D

[fawnfictions]

are you still receiving requests? if yes, can i ask for the monkey boys (separately) with a tsundere s/o?

like, their love language is acts of service and gifts so they often cleans the boys’ things and buy them things that they heard they would like to have? and they just look away and shrugs like telling they had nothing better to do or ‘whatever’... also touch starved! they get hyper flustered and cute when receiving touch or affection in general but secretly wants more.

uh, whatever...

— macaque & wukong x gn!reader

wasn't sure if 'monkey boys' included MK or not—if it does!! feel free to send in another ask and i'll do another for him, too :))

;; romantic, fluff, no warnings? tsundere behaviour.

MACAQUE

- he would find this behaviour very cute.

- likes to tease you a lot for it, revelling in your flustered state and whines, trying and failing to deny his flirtatious words.

- he's lowkey glad that you struggle with handling physical affection, because it distracts you from the fact that he can't handle it, either.

- people around you two, staring with deadpan expressions as you whine and fluster at Macaque placing an arm over you shoulder, pulling you close to himself as a bright red blush covers his face, unable to make eye contact with anyone.

- you'll both be awkwardly reaching for each others touches and attention, touch-starved but struggling to handle the feeling.

- eventually, you both work it out, though—he gets a lot more confident and cockier with his advances and flirts, and you get a little more used to it, while still flustering.

- honestly, Macaque is quite lazy in nature, and with the occasional depressive episode he puts himself through because of his past, his places tend to get a little... messy, to put it lightly.

- although he may not show it, you cleaning up after him REALLY helps his mental health, and he appreciates it more than he can possibly admit.

- genuinely, though, if he comes home after a long day to find that you've cleaned his belongings and furniture, he won't be able to stop himself from falling in love even more.

- depending on his mood, he'll either kiss you on the spot and force you to relax on the couch with him, or he'll discreetly show his gratitude through an expensive gift somehow turning up amongst your things, or that one restaurant you've been craving arriving at your front door.

- but, if you get him a gift in return, he'll feel bad.

- Macaque isn't used to people buying stuff for him, especially as often as you do, so he's constantly trying to convince you to not waste your money/time on him, or is getting you a gift of similar expenses in return.

- keep it up and keep insisting that he deserves it, he'll eventually get used to it and won't feel as bad or undeserving of it all.

- he honestly adores your stubborn nature.

- Macaque loves that you usually have a response to his witty comebacks, or that you at least try to fight him on it.

- he likes the fire inside you, and is constantly adding to it with the intention to purposefully rile you up.

- sometimes, he may take it too far, though.

- once he realises he upset you, he'll feel really bad about it and will do just about anything to gain your forgiveness.

- in all honesty, he fucking sucks at apologies.

- but he'll try his best, stuttering over his words and giving you a peace offering in the form of a cute plushie or a sugar snack that he knows you like.

- "a-ah, i'm... sugarplum, i'm sorry—i didn't mean it. could you, uh, can you forgive me?"

- just tell him you do and give him a big ol' smooch and his tail will be wagging happily.

- he'll still tease you, though, just for the fun of it; but, he learns your limits and boundaries, and makes sure not to cross them again.

WUKONG

- this man is also guilty of teasing you a lot.

- it's practically his love language, other than physical touch.

- he can't get enough of the look on your face when he flusters you, making himself blush in the process due to the extent of his love for you.

- it's not too difficult to fluster him back, though.

- he'll take any of your physical affections in stride, but isn't as used to someone flirting back at him, or pulling any... 'spicy' gestures on him.

- be warned, though, if you even TRY to do this, whether you succeed or not, he'll reverse it back onto you later, when you least expect it, to get his revenge.

- he's really good at seeing past your exterior personality, and understanding the true way you genuinely feel about things.

- he's thanking you for something, and you say, "whatever... i didn't do it for you, anyways."

- in reality, he knows the micro-expressions you make show that you're happy he appreciates your work, and the blush on your face solidifies this for him :))

- when he first met you, your reaction to his physical touches and affection made him back off a bit, assuming you genuinely didn't like it.

- but, later on, he realises that you lean closer to him whenever he's nearby, and that your hand trails after his when passing an object to each other.

- it makes his heart flutter to recognise that you do want his affections, you're just stand-offish and reserved in your own way.

- he's a lot more physical with you after that, cherishing his moments with you and finding your nervous reactions fun.

- he appreciates your acts of service and gifts, but he'd much rather spend time with you and enjoy the smaller things.

- he's Sun Wukong! the man already has plenty of objects and presents, its a problem, if anything.

- although, he won't leave your gifts in his hoarding piles, no, no—they've got their own place, where he won't lose them and the monkeys won't find them and destroy anything.

- as a compromise, though, he'll simply do these things with you!

- if you're getting him a gift, he'll go shopping with you! or will keep you company/offer help if its something that you make yourself.

- if you're cleaning around the mountain (good luck getting through the hoarding piles), he'll do it with you! helping sort things into piles, or taking out the trash—he just wants to spend time with you :(

- you'll probably yell at him for it... if he can help you clean, why can't he clean it HIMSELF???

- this is lowkey hypocritical of him, though, he likes buying you gifts a lot, especially if its Monkey King themed; he'll buy anything that reminds him of you (which is a lot, considering you're almost constantly on his mind).

[tellioari]

Q&A !! With @leafenzo/aka Leah and myself, Eliza

Leah: We don't hold ourselves to a strict schedule, I will say though we are a large chunk of the way done - all basic dyed blocks (like wool, concrete, banners, etc) are already in. We're just ironing out extra features related to the dyes. Also- before it releases we will have a public playtesting period for a tad if anyone reallyyy wants it early :3 (albeit in a quite unstable form). The plan is to release it for Fabric, and for 1.20.1 through 1.20.3 for now.

Leah: teehehe chunk-of-fun :3 jfsljfkslj Eliza: well, for the most part, the new bugs we are adding are things i just find interesting and have a good model idea for. i like making them very large, fitting into the large bug precedent set by the bees and silverfish :3 Right now the planned blorbos are the beetle, the wooly beetle, mantis, dragonfly, mint slug and silk moth! I've also made a seahorse model, but I don't think I'll end up using it in the dye mod. I might add more in the future if I'm feeling up to it.

Eliza: We have a lot of compatibility features in the works - including Suppementaries' Presents, every dyeable block in Create, Farmer's Delight's signs, and compatibility integration with Nature's Sprit as well. I've also thought about making dye compat with Another Furniture, but... that is a monumental task that I'd probably need help with/be able to streamline. We will also try and add compatibility textures to mods that autogenerate new dyed blocks - but that will have to be a case-by-case basis, and will be figured out during beta testing.

Eliza: I would love to make a tutorial at some point! - however, my process right now is very spur-of-the-moment and kinda random, haha. Maybe I'll make a post in the future if i'm feeling up to it. At the very least, I do follow some basic principles with designing my models:

Try to use clever techniques to minimize the amount of cubes used - this creates a confine that makes me get creative with what cubes i use while also optimizing the model at the same time.

Try to be as expressive as possible with cubes being used, no cube should be left untouched in the keyframes of animation.

Keep colors interesting by shifting hue a lot depending on lighting and what kind of material i want to convey (for example, if most of the model is smooth and green to blue, i'd go for green to yellow for the rougher parts)

Eliza: I would like to add some more storage blocks in the future, mainly stuff from new updates and any other random things I think of. I was thinking of making a create compatibility submod maybe, but because of the effort it takes to come up with textures its still just a thought. Leah: If by that you mean creating mods that add new features to squashed, or compatibility fixes, of course! and that goes for our other mods too! :D We'd seriously feel honored.

Leah: For me, the hardest part was just the frustration of it, frustration at the code, the tutorial, or far more often just at myself. Just know that it's the hardest at the beginning, but if you stick with you'll get your bearings and it will somehow start to get a bit easier. Also, datagen! It's useful as can be but gosh did that take me a while to figure out even just the basics of how to generate a model haha.

Thank you for all the questions!! We apologize if we didn't quite get to your question, there were a lot and we tried to pick the most general ones :3 If you still have a question that wasn't answered here, be sure to join and ask it on our discord!: https://discord.gg/eJePAPE27T

[buckera]

Re: Buck's loft decor - they kind of established that his designer /artist girlfriend (Ali) designed the place or at least had a heavy hand in picking things out.

Yeah I can give credit for most of the furniture to Ali, but that's about it. But thank you for this ask, because it made me go down the rabbit hole, so here are the details of Buck's loft in regards to what Ali had influence on and everything that changed since.

So this is the scene immediately before she broke up with Buck and just around the time Buck moved in. Seemingly the pictures by the door aren't there yet, nor are the baskets and the pictures on the shelf by his bed (see later pics), it's very much the bare minimum, right? Furniture, kitchen appliances, TV, some rugs and blankets.

The next time we see the loft is in season 3 when Eddie comes to help Buck pull himself together. If you look at the shelf you have some baskets and pictures there that are pretty distinctive and were not there when Ali dropped him off. Obviously people will have stuff on their shelves in their homes, that's not my point here. But look at the basket and the little box beside it... Whatever's inside, it sure as hell looks decorative to me.

Then moving onto the covid era. There are pictures by the door, but also a new dining table. (The one that was presumably picked by Ali was round.) The rug in the kitchen seems new too.

As far as I could tell this is the first time we see this plant, but I admit I might be wrong about that, because we don't exactly see this corner when Ali breaks up with Buck.

Then going forward with the other small stuff from later seasons (before and after Taylor moved in).

Look at the plant and the baskets on the dining table (you can see them on most pics actually). Clearly decorative.

And then there's the fruit bowl. Again, not trying to generalise one bit, but how many cishet guys do you know who live alone and have a fruit bowl? (Same guy "who's idea about healthy food is a side salad" apparently.)

I also honestly doubt that the gloves and the apron are coming from Ali either, but I'm willing to write them up to Maddie or Taylor (except these are colours we see Buck wear regularly when off duty).

This one is just for my amusement, because look at all those spices! (Actually I will point back to this in a minute.)

And finally this picture to talk about the cleanliness.

That is a hell of a light coloured kitchen furniture. Do you know how hard it is to keep something like that clean? (Unfortunately I do, from experience.) Especially when you're a guy who regularly cooks and bakes and not just easy meals, but like very elaborate recipes, admittedly even trying them out 3 times before even serving it to anyone.

But this is my main point: This is not a real flat. This is not a real kitchen. This is a set.

The set designers' job is to create a set that corresponds to the story and the characters interacting in it (while you also have someone on set who pays attention to continuity with objects and stuff, but sometimes you still end up with Starbucks cups on a medieval set, whoops), their job also includes adding tear, wear, dirt and grime accordingly to the usage of certain places and objects.

Of course, it's more than possible that they never really thought about it from this angle, they just wanted the set to look warmer when filming scenes in it and having it clean for continuity purposes.

All that being said, within the show this is Buck's place and someone's home tells you a lot about the person. So, regardless of it being intentional in most cases, this loft and the items in it aren't exactly what you'd normally find in a bachelor's pad. (Nor do I think someone could afford a place like that alone in LA, but that's an entirely different topic.)

[gaydelgard]

Like many, I got ACNH as a pandemic thing. So I got to play it as they put out patches and updates, so the whole game kept growing and changing at just about the rate I'd play. It was a blast. And then they stopped adding stuff, and it just died.

Which is why I can't imagine how bummed I'd be if I bought it new, now, and you have all the updates and add-ons from day 1. Totally different gaming experience.

i honestly think part of the problem was that a lot of people had so much free time and also no chill at all lol. like there are things in animal crossing that are meant to take a lot of time. and i think thats a fundamental part of the series and its gameplay. and like i said previously, acnh was preeeetty lacking in this respect, especially at launch

at the time, i assumed they would be adding more as time went on. which. they did a little bit. but not nearly enough

but that doesnt mean there was NO longevity in the game. collecting furniture/art/bugs/fish for example have always been part of the long-term gameplay, and we can add diys to this list (including the celeste diys which have their own unique time requirements on them)

and im not saying nobody time traveled to achieve these goals in older titles

of course they did

but acnh was such a phenomenon, and people became obsessed with filling their island out exactly as they wanted it to be as quickly as humanly possible

which defeats a lot of the point of the game

and its no wonder the game started to feel hollow so quickly, especially once updates stopped but even before that. people shotgunned all the content, which is not how the game was designed to be experienced

so i think the experience now might actually be better in some ways. since the frantic craze has died down

and i think if youre taking the time to experience the game, thatll take you pretty far

but youll definitely reach a point where its like. well. guess this is all its got.

a point which could have been extended by quite a lot if they had added any further island development whatsoever

but thats nintendo for ya

[rootvegetableboy]

cm dev log #9 - july 2024

i think july might’ve been my most productive month yet! i really surprised myself with how much i achieved. it’s really satisfying proof that development is only getting faster & smoother the longer i go on :]

some really really exciting stuff implemented, including but not limited to…

new mechanics!

a surge/dodge mechanic has been added! press the spacebar to avoid incoming attacks! you can use this both directionally for a boost of speed, or while standing still to become invulnerable to damage for 15 whole frames. woah!!!

healing flask!! fuck everything else i’ve said in every log, good game design is all about beautiful potions. like all good potion ui, you get a little visual of your flask emptying:

reworking older systems!

i’m currently in the midst of reworking my save/load system! i’m not going to say too much, because… it’s one of the main hooks of my game… but it’s going real swell. i only have to do one more thing before this is in a workable state, which is:

i need to create a new in-game menu system from scratch =_=

this is something i’ve known was coming for a while, but i find coding UI pretty annoying sometimes, so i’ve been putting it off. the current in-game menu isn’t up to par with the artistic style of everything else, so i want to re-do it. i also plan on separating out the save/load menu from the in-game menu.

HOWEVER! i was able to do a successful collisions/hitbox rework this month in its entirety! this is huge, it’s an issue i noticed in january and has been bothering me all year!! it’s kind of hard to explain this one, so let me whip out some visual aids:

the dark rectangle around her feet is her collision box; when i write code that references a collision with the player, it’s checking for a collision with that box. such as… collisions with walls! or furniture! having it just around her feet is what allows me to fake a 3D look with only 2D art, so she can stand/walk in front of walls and objects and it doesn’t look horribly strange.

if her collision box included her head, she would stop moving as soon as the top of her sprite touched the bottom of the wall.. it would look and feel very odd!

but, you can immediately see where this becomes a problem when enemy bullets are checking for a collision with the player. she would get shot in the head and just like, be fine, it would go right through her…

i had the same problem with one of the enemies i’ve implemented, where i wanted to figure out a way to have both the collision box that comes with the sprite and a differently shaped hitbox. i hunted through a lot of forum posts for the best way to do it, but ultimately decided on what i personally thought to be the most “elegant” solution:

an entirely separate invisble object that follows all of the player’s exact movements and handles all of the player’s health and taken damage. (that’s all it does: the player object got to keep all its other code.)

i actually have no idea if this is optimal! but it works, and i got it working with minimal effort. it was a little trickier figuring out how to apply this concept to enemies, but i was able to write a little script so that every enemy i place in a room will spawn its own hitbox object. task complete!! the 3D illusion is secure and i can still maintain expected combat logic.

actual game content!

ah, finally…! after 9 months of development, the first miniboss is here…!!!

like a lot of things in game dev, you never really think about how much goes into a boss fight until you make one… but i had So Much Fun crafting this. im absolutely buzzing with ideas for future fights!

so, this all included: a small arena, pre-fight dialogue that automatically triggers when walking into said arena, barrier objects that appear during the fight so you can’t escape, and associated save/load scripts so that the boss doesn’t respawn if you leave the room and go back in. as for the miniboss herself, she gets her own special health bar with her name attached, and a state machine that cycles through three different attacks until she dies. (i haven’t coded player death yet lol)

some miscellanious stuff!

you may have noticed if you watched the video above, but i’ve changed the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9. i like the nostalgia of a 4:3 but… i think with the way combat is emerging, the experience only benefits from the added screen space. you get a lot more room to see, and thus more time to react.

i’m finally starting on implementing music!! it’s getting atmospheric, babey!!! i’ve also got a little list of sfx that needs doing and i’m stoked to get started on it. video above doesn’t contain any sound because, i have not written a boss theme for her yet, and i didn’t want it to just be the shooting/damage sounds… i promise i am thinking a lot about sounds. and i can’t wait to dive into vcv rack to whip some up!!

i finally set up a github source control. files are secured. every other hobbyist dev should do this way earlier than i did

i’m proud, i did a lot! ^_^ i really want people to be able to playtest the miniboss fight soon—currently i plan on having one available to those interested in a couple of months! i have no idea how hard it actually is and i need some different eyes on it asap, so please let me know if that’s something you would be interested in :]

signing off for now… have a good august, everyone!