#i do like these guys conceptually. would adapt into a new creature for sure

[ranticore]

caterpillar dragon from dragon website but with some actual caterpillar thrown in

[askelectrochromic]

what is the Krikani language like? i like the description of Cheloan glyphs as analogous to Hanzi or Kanji (being able to identify the ``spicy'' character) but id love to know about the Krikani writing system

(im not expecting you to write a whole conlang of course but was curious if you had a general shape or feeling to it in mind) ^^;

SableGear0: You know, I haven't actually given it much thought yet. I probably should, though. My first impulse was to say "they don't have a written language" (for reasons I will discuss in a moment) but that seems impossible; they're a sapient species capable of space-travel and manage huge military systems, they probably have writing since not all communication can be person-to-person. So, organic rambling solution-finding and some links and images under the cut.

Generally I conceptualize Kriken as a (semi-)eusocial hive organism that are passively psionic, to keep in touch with the greater hive. How much direct communication happens psionically I'm still not sure; whether it can be used "conversationally," or if it's merely a "vibe" they share with local Kriken that's strong enough to pick up on the "vibe" from the core colony sometimes. The fact that they have a spoken language probably means its closer to the latter.

If the psionic communication is powerful enough, then maybe they wouldn't need to write? But then how would you do something like label the controls on a starship or make maps? You might have to devote someone to memorizing what all the labels would be and then telepathically ask them what you're looking at. Which isn't totally unreasonable, if we consider them highly specialized hive organisms. Maybe they do have "librarians" that keep this stuff in their minds and can be asked/accessed on a whim. This would be an extremely alien way of keeping track of information. While I kind of like it, it seems maybe a bit too weird for the Metroid series as we know it. Arguably, Metroid has kept its aliens fairly (socially) tame, giving us a lot of written logs throughout the Prime series. Though the ones we've gotten the most lore on are Pirates and Chozo, which aren't great benchmarks since they were respectively "the bad guys" and "the good guys (mostly)."

Being insectoid, Kriken might also communicate via pheromones? But pheromones and what/how Kriken eat have been stumping me because... well, their heads aren't really attached.

Trace has no neck. And while in some renders it looks like that tiny teardrop of a head is resting on the body, the in-game model and wireframe show pretty clearly they do not touch. Hence why I go with psionic; their heads float for spooky psionic reasons. This also means that while their heads may be a sensory center (headshots still work in Hunters), I doubt it's where they stick food when (if?) they eat, so it being a chemosensor feels a little unlikely, but I digress.

Anyway back to written language. I suppose I have to ask myself, what would a written language look like if it was invented by ants? Or bees? Ants is a tough one mainly because I don't actually know much about ant organization. My impression is that they build and tunnel fairly organically, just wherever is easiest to go and/or smells like it has the most food. When I think about bees, though, I think about bee dances, and how that might be adapted into a written language; a system abstracting the orientation and movement of the body into markings that can be re-read at any time so that worker doesn't have to bust down and dance it out every time she wants to relay some information to someone new.

And thinking about that, I think about Phyrexian. This conlang shows up in the Magic the Gathering universe, and knowing what I know about Phyrexians (an all-consuming hivemind-like culture that take creatures and turn them into half-mechanical abominations to serve their own purposes), it seems like a decent fit.

The shape of these is really what I was going for but the cultural implications match up too. I was thinking of the cross-strokes being similar to the directional facing if you were to write down a bee dance, the extra marks indicating other movements like stops or the frequency of a waggle.

It also looks like something a bug might make if you dipped it in ink and let it walk around on a paper, so that's neat. Scratching marks like these out would be fairly quick and easy for a Kriken, since they only appear to have a crab-like manipulator and a single combat claw, and I've stuck with that design choice in describing them because it's more interesting than "oh and they have normal hands too".

So there's your answer, I guess. Written Krikani probably looks kind of like Phyrexian; branching strokes off a central line that stem from an ancestral system of gestural communication (and I like the verticality so I'll probably keep that too). Simple, efficient, and easy to replicate.

Thanks for the ask! This was a bit of a brain-teaser.

[pokemonrebirth]

Sword, Shield and the National Pokedex

So I heard the news, and everyone else’s thoughts on it. And sure, at first I was pretty disappointed there isn’t (at least at the time of writing this) going to be full inclusion of Pokemon in Sw/Sh. But the more I think about it, the more I read, I can understand this decision.

I can’t possibly imagine the horrors of trying to code almost 1000 different Pokemon and any forms they might have, never mind adapting their models and animations to a newer game engine AND balancing them - battle wise - with any new creatures they put in. When the game was announced, it did seem their intention was to do that, but during the course of development there’s been a change of decision - possibly because they underestimated how much resources and legwork would be needed for the task. An unfortunate oversight if that is the case, but these things happen a lot.

At least for me, given the choice between exploring new concepts like open overworlds (outside of the raids I can take or leave the big-ination mode, tbh) or having every Pokemon in the game, I’d prefer conceptual exploration. All my favourite games of the series have deviated from the norm, they all had limited Pokedexes as well, and while none of them were free of flaws, I enjoyed them a lot for their willingness to experiment.

And unlike games in the past, we’re still being given the ability to bring our Pokemon into the Switch generation for whatever future games will accommodate them. We don’t have to bring them through until there IS a game to put them in (unless they shut down Bank, I guess...?) but there is the option. It’s not like they’re closing the door and saying ‘You can’t use these guys in any gen after 7′.

I’m still enthused for Sword and Shield - not EVERYTHING about it, I’m...honestly tired of Gym stuff by this point - but the general feel of the game still has my interest enough that I want to pick it up. I’m okay with exploring with some old and new team members. Max raid battles with friends looks like fun (I hope I can actually do more stuff in the game with friends this time, haha...). All terrain bike is a small thing but refines multiple game commands into one efficient feature.

I hope that ‘creative break’ GameFreak has mentioned taking from Pokemon game development will incite new and innovative ideas for the series, stuff like we’ve seen glimpses of here. Perhaps take it in a new direction that *gasp* doesn’t involve making more Pokemon so there isn’t so much content to try juggling, and instead explore different ways the stories and game play could go. Perhaps. Just some things I’ve been thinking about.