#i will be so uninspired in the worst art block of my life nothing's coming out right

[dontstandmedown]

relationship healed with gouache i am now gouache's #1 fan. thank you James Gurney and studio ghibli background artist Yoichi Nishikawa on youtube

[aclosetfan]

Lunch Break Blues

The wind whipped Blossom's hair as she tried wrestling it into a top knot. It had been raining on and off all day, and no doubt it would start up again soon, but while the rain had momentarily ceased, she and her sisters took advantage of the rare sunlight pouring through the broken clouds. It was the first lunch in a long week that they took perched atop one of the skyscrapers far from any prying eyes. Usually, a weather report full of rain made Townsville dull and would drive Buttercup crazy, but this week's unprecedented downpour had done little to stop Townsville's villains. Blossom suspected it was because they were feeling a little stir crazy too.

She didn't know what was worse, staying home and doing nothing or flying around soaked to the bone each day. Her hair was a frizzy mess, and she was pretty sure a nasty cold was on the horizon. The rain was such a nuisance that Bubbles had begun to forgo her tennis shoes or steel-toed boots for her daisy-print rain boots. Buttercup had busted out her rain repellant windbreaker. And Blossom had personally opted for her ugly yellow polka-dotted raincoat and matching hat, which yes, she knew looked ridiculous, but she dressed practicably not for fashion. She didn't care who laughed (her sisters and a choice selection of villains); at least she was staying reasonably dry!

The skyscraper they were at was far too windy for her hat to stay on, so she had shoved it in her pocket and went to task on taming her hair. An awful frizzy mess. She pouted and sighed, dropping her hands from her mangled top knot. Generally, the wind did very little to bug her, having the capability to fly and all, but it kept spraying rain droplets and puddles into her face and her hand itched towards her rain cap once more.

A dejected sigh from her left pulled her attention away from her own problems. Glancing over at Bubbles, whose pigtails had gone limp, stabbed absentmindedly at her salad. Her sister took a sad, miserable bite and chewed slowly as she watched the next round of clouds blow in with watery eyes. Bubbles had seemed to be feeling blue (har har) for the last few days, and it wasn't because of the rain. What for though, Blossom didn't know. Bubbles hadn't decided to pour her heart out just yet. However, that didn't deter her from trying to pry the problem out of her sister. Blossom was a problem-solver after all—it was one of her core defining traits.

"Bubs?" She asked with a tilt of her head, "You okay?"

"Oh, Bloss," Bubbles sighed, putting her salad down in favor of ringing out the water from her pigtails, "I'm just feeling a lil crummy. Don't worry."

Blossom snorted, "It'd be easier changing the tide."

That tugged a small smile out of Bubbles.

"Is it the rain?" She asked, already knowing it was the wrong answer.

Bubbles sighed, "No, it's not the rain—it's just, well, it's kind of silly actually."

"I could go for a good joke about now that isn't about my raincoat," Blossom shrugged.

"It's an affront to fashionable society, Blossom," Bubbles sniffed, "You look like a drowned clown!"

"On the outside!" She huffed, "But I'm perfectly dry, thank you, unlike some people."

"I look cute, rain or shine. Jealousy isn't a good color on you." Bubbles blew a raspberry at her before going back to stabbing her salad.

Blossom rolled her eyes and muffled an annoyed groan, "So you're not going to tell us what's up?"

"You'll just tell me it's silly."

The response stung a little, but Blossom shook it off, "Come on, I promise I won't—" she held out her pinky, "—I swear!"

Bubbles regarded her hand for a moment with a thoughtful look before linking their pinkies together. Simultaneously, they lifted their hands and sealed the deal with quick kisses to their fists.

"So," Blossom tried again, "what's up?"

Bubbles sigh was loud and dramatic as she brought one leg up to wrap her arms around, resting a cheek on her knee.

"It's my art," her sister complained, "I wanna make something big, you know, like real profound, but all I ever draw is cute stuff!"

Blossom felt her eyebrows furrow, "But you love cute stuff?"

"Van Gogh didn't get famous for drawing fluffy bunnies, Blossom!" Bubbles whined, "Real artists have really thoughtful ideas! They mean things, and anytime I try to do the same thing, it comes out stupid!"

"Van Gogh drank paint and killed himself. So I don't think he's someone you should be comparing yourself to."

"But he was a genius!"

"He was sick." Blossom counterpointed, "And couldn't find the help he needed. I prefer you sane and alive. Everyone does. The world doesn't need another tortured artist."

Bubbles pouted, "Yeah, but they don't need another goofy doodlist either. I want to make stuff that means something to people."

"They do mean something." She smiled, nudging Bubbles' shoulder with her own, "Your drawings always make me smile. They're happy and fun, and even if they're sometimes silly, that doesn't make them any less valuable to me. That counts for something, right?"

Bubbles smile brightened, and she giggled, "That's really sweet, Bloss, thanks. I think I needed to hear that, but—" there was another dejected sigh, "—I dunno, I just feel so uninspired and bored, and I really want to make a statement. I know there's something great inside me—"

"Because there is."

That earned her another smile, "—yeah, but I can't get it out! It's like all my hand can do is silly cartoons!"

Blossom nodded, "Well, I'm no artist myself, but I'm guessing there's nothing better than practice."

Bubbles flopped back onto the wet concrete, and Blossom cringed in sympathy as she imagined the water soaking its way through Bubbles' shirt.

"Bubs don't lay on—"

"I need to be more introspective!" Bubbles interrupted, "More in tune with myself and nature and the world! I need more life experiences, ya know, so I have stuff I can really pull from when I draw."

Outside of Bubbles probably being the most "self in-tuned" person Blossom knew, it was "life experiences" that threw her the most.

"Bubbles, life experiences? You're a superhero. You face the most depraved of society every day; you met people at their lowest moments. You've faced adversity larger than most will ever dare encounter!"

"But none of that has affected me! I need to get sad! I need to get in touch with my blue period!" Bubbles waved her hands around in exasperation, "I need to be relatable!"

"You've faced the worst and have come out better because of it," She scowled, "and you don't want that? Do you want to be emotionally scarred? To be relatable?"

Bubbles groaned and covered her face with her hands. "I knew you wouldn't get it!" Then came a muffled whine, "This is why I didn't wanna tell you!"

Blossom tsked, "I certainly don't see how being a beacon of hope as opposed to a cesspool of depression and self-pity is worse."

"It's not like that!" Bubbles shot up, "I don't want to be dark and depressed, but that's like what all the great art is!"

"Great art is the art that makes you feel, Bubbles; it doesn't matter what emotion that is, you know that. And if your art makes people feel happy, then what's the big issue?"

Bubbles deflated, "I dunno. I just want to make something that'll make people remember. Centuries from now, I want it to inspire people! Go, oh, I want that! Whatever that is." Bubbles looked up back at the clouds, "And that means I've really got to come up with something good. Something meaningful, but I've got zero ideas."

Blossom considered what she was saying for a moment before nodding, "Okay, I think I understand what you're saying. It's like you're in an art block."

"Yeah," Bubbles nodded, "I'm on creative hold. Everything I make, I don't like."

"Well, this weekend, why don't we go to the art museum, look at the stuff you want to emulate, and try to get into the head of the artist, you know?"

Bubbles perked up, "That's a good idea! You'd really wanna come with me?"

"Of course. We'll drag Buttercup along too. You know she needs some sophisticating." Blossom murmured, shooting their other sister a sideways look.

With the hood of her windbreaker still partially up and wet dripping hair curling in every direction, Buttercup sat perched on the ledge of the building a few feet away, hunched over her sandwich. She chewed mechanically in what looked like deep pensive thought. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she seemed to study the cars far below. She had been mostly quiet this afternoon, happy to be outside but pissy about the rain, and had spent much of their lunch hour shooing away a group of hungry pigeons that seemed to follow her everywhere she went. The pigeons, however, seemed to be appeased at the moment with the few chunks of bread and potato chips Buttercup had relinquished to them.

Blossom expected Buttercup to snap at her for the comment, but it seemed she was so lost in her own little world, watching the cars whiz by, that she hadn't heard them talking.

Bubbles giggled, "Actually, Bloss, I was thinking I needed to be a bit more like Buttercup."

She gave Bubbles a look, jabbing a thumb towards their sister, "Buttercup?"

"Mm-hmm," Bubbles nodded.

"Our sister?" Blossom asked again for clarification, "Buttercup?"

"Ah, come on! Look at her!" Bubbles grabbed her by the cheeks and swiveled her head back towards Buttercup, "She's got the look down."

"What look?" Blossom asked, but because her cheeks were being squished, it came out like, "Wa'ok?" Bubbles understood her regardless.

"That dark, introspective look." Bubbles explained, "Ya know, mused hair, dark under-eyes, stained fingers. The look of a moody artist!"

Generally, Buttercup's hair was mused because she refused to brush it since it was "short for a reason, Blossom." Today, it was also because of the rain. Furthermore, Buttercup had dark under-eyes partly because she insisted on wearing dark eyeliner that smudged halfway down her face every day without fail, and also because she had stayed up until 3 a.m. last night playing video games. And finally, Buttercup's fingers were stained not because of any artistic endeavor but because she had stuck her whole hand into a vat of black and mysterious sludge this morning. She had done so because Blossom had explicitly told her not to stick her hand in the vat of black and mysterious sludge they had been investigating, which had been a mistake on Blossom's part. She knew her sister couldn't resist doing something after it had been brought to her attention, so why she had decided to tell Buttercup not to mess with the vat of sludge was beyond her.

And while Buttercup was often quote-unquote moody, it wasn't because she was broody or introspective. It was because she was either hungry or bored or sometimes both. Bubbles was actually the moody and overly sensitive one, but Blossom knew better than to say that out loud.

"She looks like she needs a bath." Blossom huffed, pulling her face from Bubbles grasp.

"Don't focus on that." Bubbles waved her off, "Look how deep in thought she is! Buttercup isn't much for talking, is she? I bet she's got a lot going on in that head of hers."

"Buttercup?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion once again.

Bubbles rolled her eyes and gave her shoulder a playful wack, "Don't be mean! I'm serious. She's been sitting like that for half an hour now, looking, thinking—"Bubbles tapped her chin in thought, "—I wonder what she's thinking about. From the looks of it, it must be important."

Blossom looked back over at Buttercup, tracing her eyes over her sister's face once more to look for something she may have missed. Her look was pensive. And it was admittedly artsy even if it was on accident. She supposed that even if Buttercup tended to evade artistic endeavors in favor of more physical hobbies, she could still be a poet at heart.

Buttercup was done with her sandwich now and handed off the crumbs to the birds. She still seemed lost in thought. However, she had moved her attention away from the hustle and bustle of the city to the clouds above. She didn't smile, but when a beam of light broke through the clouds and landed on her face, the stress lines on her forehead disappeared, and contentment passed over her features. Blossom couldn't help smiling at the sight of it. It was nice to see her like that. Maybe she was thinking about something profound and meaningful. Bubbles was right. Buttercup wasn't one to share her every single thought unless she was pissed, annoyed, or pressed for an answer. When Buttercup was in a good mood, she simply vibed, enjoying the quality time.

Blossom hardly thought she was mysterious, though. Buttercup's body language was more than enough to determine her mood. If she liked a song, she'd bob her head to its beat. If she liked a certain food, she'd inhale it without breathing. But now that Bubbles had said it, what was Buttercup actually thinking about?

Suddenly, Blossom felt guilty for never asking.

"Hey, Butters?" She called out to their sister, snapping a few times to get her attention.

Buttercup blinked back into reality and turned to face them, "Mhm?"

"What are you thinking about?" She asked.

"What am I thinking about?" Buttercup tilted her head, giving them both a look, "Why?"

"Don't worry about it." Bubbles spoke up, "Just tell us, right now, what you're thinking about."

Buttercup shrugged, looked away, smacked her lips a few times, and looked back, "Lizards."

"Lizards?" Blossom heard herself echoing as every kind, and warm thought she had regarding Buttercup came to a crashing halt.

Buttercup shrugged again, picking at her teeth, before looking back up at the clouds, "They're cool as shit, dude."

Blossom blinked once and then twice before turning back to Bubbles, who looked a little bit dumbstruck. 

"Well, you're right when you're right, Bubbles. She's a real Van Gogh in the making," She snorted dryly.

"Ah, shut it," Bubbles huffed, crossing her arms.

"Wait," Buttercup spoke up over the wind, "why you dumbasses talking about vans?"

"Face it, Bubs," Blossom smiled, ignoring Buttercup, "you don't give yourself enough credit. If there's someone here proficient in artistic musings, it's not the pigeon whisperer. It's most definitely you."

Bubbles uncrossed her arms and sent her a warm smile, leaning her damp head on her shoulder, "Maybe you're right, Bloss, but could we still go to the art museum?"

"Yeah, duh." Blossom smiled, leaning her head on Bubbles, "You know I love museums."

"Hey!" Buttercup shouted, hands on her hips, "Seriously, which van are two laughing about, and where is it going!"

[williamlwolf89]

6 Writing Motivation Tips That Work (Even if You’re Busy)

Feeling low on writing motivation? All you need is the right toolkit. Here are six tips that’ll change your writing game forever.

______________________________

You have lots of ideas you want to share with the world, but…

The motivation to sit down and write just isn’t there.

You open your laptop with great intentions, but end up getting trapped by your Instagram feed.

Maybe you even start writing — but ten minutes later succumb to an uncontrollable urge to get up and organize your spice rack.

Or perhaps you’re just tired. And who can blame you? You have so much going on in your life that when you get home from work all you need is your couch and your Netflix — not more work.

Therefore, you can’t help but wonder:

How do other bloggers and writers find enough motivation to write every day and finish writing entire articles and books?

Here’s the truth you don’t hear that often:

Writing Motivation Doesn’t Just Happen: You Have To Go Get It

Most successful freelance writers and bloggers have busy lives too.

Surprising as it may seem, they also struggle with tiredness, procrastination, and lack of writing motivation. No matter how successful you become, you will always have days when you feel uninspired, overcome with imposter syndrome, or when even watching the grass grow will seem more fun than writing.

So… what’s the secret?

It’s simple:

You can’t just rely on writing motivation to magically appear — you need to know how to create it.

The good news is, this is often easier than you think.

6 Hacks to Help You Regain Your Writing Motivation

Imagine that you’re building a new shelf. If you realize you have the wrong screwdriver for those screws, do you sit in misery and hope the problem will solve itself?

Of course not. You probably wouldn’t waste hours trying to force the screwdriver until it fits, either.

No, you would go to the shop and either buy new screws, or a new screwdriver (or if you’re lazy like me, go through all your kitchen knives and see if any does the trick).

The same happens with writing: when you feel stuck, you just need to find the right tool that will get you unstuck. And very often, if you hit the nail in the head (pun intended), you’ll be back into a flow in a matter of minutes.

Here are six very simple tips and mindset tweaks that have not only helped me regain writing motivation in my toughest moments, but also allowed me to create my best work ever.

1. Find Your Why, Then Stick With a How

For the first few months after I started my blog, I felt lost and unmotivated.

I kept reading articles about writing and blogging and trying different strategies a few days at a time, until I realized I was seeing no results.

It was frustrating.

Eventually, tired of shifting and indecision, I decided to invest in a blogging course — and everything changed. Sure, I could probably find all the advice I wanted online; but committing to one method and following it through to the end helped me eliminate all my doubts, stress, and decision pressure, and as a consequence my mind was finally free to be creative.

However, having a strategy isn’t enough.

Yes, taking that course has led me to develop my voice, write hundreds of articles, get thousands of subscribers, and sell my first online course. Without it, I wouldn’t be where I am.

But the truth is, despite technically knowing the path, I still lose motivation sometimes. I still get tired, busy, and stuck, and I still have bad days. In those moments, what keeps me going is knowing my purpose as a writer: to touch, inspire, and share knowledge that will help my readers become the best version of themselves.

To me, building a solid foundation of writing motivation takes two steps:

Ask yourself why you want to write

What’s the change you want to make in your readers? How will writing improve your life? How will it fulfill you? What’s the dream that will fuel your motivation on this journey?

Writer Benjamin Hardy created a journaling exercise where you identify something you want, and then you ask yourself “What about __________ is important to me?” enough times until you get to the “deepest why” behind it.

Here’s an example:

[Thing I want:] Writing.

[Question:] What about writing is important to me?

[Thing I want:] Expressing myself.

[Question:] What about expressing myself is important to me?

[Thing I want:] Sharing my experiences with others.

[Question:] What about sharing my experiences with others is important to me?

[Thing I want:] Making people feel seen and understood.

[Question:] What about making people feel seen and understood is important to me?

[Thing I want:] Bringing awareness to our shared humanity and making the world a better, kinder place.

Whether your dream is self-publishing a bestseller on Amazon or starting a blog to support people with breast cancer, set writing goals that mean something to you, and then…

Find a strategy that allows you to fulfill your why

Exploring different alternatives and learning from different sources is useful when you start, but if you want to see real results, at some point you’ll have to choose one strategy and stick with it. Therefore, find a course, a program, or a method, and follow it through to the end.

It doesn’t matter if it’s the best one out there — what matters is that it will remove stress and decision fatigue, and you’ll stay at one thing for long enough until it starts working.

Key takeaways:

Ask yourself why you want to write (use the “deepest why” exercise to help you);

Find a strategy that allows you to fulfill your why and stick it without getting derailed.

2. Spice It Up

Sometimes, no matter how sure we are about our purpose and strategy, we will still face most writers’ worst enemy:

Writer’s block.

When I get stuck with a difficult article, it can be hell to make myself go back to work the next day.

There’s nothing more demotivating than believing that you’ll never be able to write anything good again, that you’re a fraud and all your ideas suck.

It was Anne Lamott’s mind-shifting perspective on writer’s block that changed it all for me:

“I no longer think of it as block. I think that is looking at the problem from the wrong angle. If your wife locks you out of the house, you don’t have a problem with your door. The word block suggests that you are constipated or stuck, when the truth is that you’re empty.” — Anne Lammot in Bird By Bird: Instructions On Writing And Life

Next time you feel out of ideas or can’t solve a problem, try to fill that emptiness with something fresh by spicing up your writing routine.

For example, I often struggle with getting my brain going first thing in the morning. Therefore, instead of starting with my most important work, I often start the day by replying to emails from subscribers. This removes the pressure to be perfect and makes me confident that I can type something that doesn’t totally suck.

Here are a few ideas you can use:

If you write nonfiction articles for a living, spice it up with some creative writing exercises;

If you’re working on a long novel, take a break to work on your metaphor skills;

If you usually type on your computer, grab a journal or fill a stack of note cards with ideas instead;

If you work from home, spend the day writing at a coffee shop;

If you’re used to reading books and articles for writing inspiration, try listening to a writing podcast, watching a movie, or going to an art exhibition instead;

If you’ve been stuck for hours and nothing comes out, take a break.

Key takeaway:

When facing writer’s block, freshen up your writing routine with some new elements.

3. Take It One Step At a Time

One of the most common ways to lose your writing motivation is by setting big goals in a moment of optimism and then end up feeling overwhelmed.

I recently set myself a goal to write 50 guest posts in the space of two months.

Most of my writer friends tell me I’m crazy. Some days I agree, and I can feel my heart skipping a beat at the thought of the challenge ahead of me.

But there is one thing that keeps me sane:

Focusing on the next small step.

After some thinking and planning, I decided that the first step towards writing 50 guest posts was to write three headlines a day until I had a list of 50. So I just focused on that first step and chose not to worry about the rest until the right time came.

“Write three headlines” is not as scary as “start writing 50 guest posts.”

As I saw my progress, my motivation kept growing. To make sure I kept at it, I tracked my progress in my journal. Then, I gradually added more complex goals:

Reading five blog posts a day,

Writing for three hours in the morning,

Sending one pitch per day,

Keeping track of my word count,

Etc.

The key is to build up gradually: start really simple, build consistency, let that fuel your confidence, and then keep placing one foot in front of the other.

Key takeaways:

Set a clear goal (bonus: write it down where you can see it every day);

Define the steps you need to take to get there;

Focus on one step at a time.

4. Big Problems First

Before I started working on my 50 guest posts goal, I was writing on average one article every two weeks. Now, I have to gradually build up to two per day.

The amount of writing time I have available hasn’t changed — therefore, the only option was to write faster.

In her book 2,000 to 10,000, Rachel Aaron explained how she increased her writing speed to 10,000 words in a single day by spending five minutes before every writing session deciding what she would be writing about and scribbling it on a piece of paper.

“I didn’t describe anything, I didn’t do transitions or dialog, I wasn’t writing, I was simply noting down what I would write when the time came,” she explains.

As it has been proven that our brains are at their most creative first thing in the morning, I applied Aaron’s brilliant writing tip and started outlining my articles in my journal before breakfast.

Let me tell you this: never before has a 15-minute writing tip made me so clear-headed and inspired to start my writing day. Not only has this removed a lot of my resistance to start writing, but it also increased my writing speed from 500 to up to 1,500 words per hour.

Nothing will motivate you more than knowing exactly what you’ll be writing about before you start writing it — after that, all you need to do is type it.

Key takeaway:

Spend five minutes before each writing session thinking about what you are going to write; this will make it easier to get you started.

5. Create Your Focus Vortex

It’s time to address the elephant in the room:

How do you fight the procrastination that keeps you from writing?

The lure of just another YouTube video, the popping notification, the inviting weather outside…

Distractions can be one of the main culprits in keeping you from writing.

In an interview with Tim Ferris, Neil Gaiman shared his writing motivation secret that keeps him from procrastinating. It goes like this:

In order to make himself write, he takes his notepad to his cabin in the garden where there is absolutely nothing to do. There, he gives himself two options: he can either write, or do nothing at all. Eventually, doing nothing becomes too boring, and writing becomes the most appealing option.

I don’t have a cabin (or a garden, for that matter), but I have earphones: when I want to focus, I put on some music, and I stick a post-it to my laptop letting people know that I’m in my focus vortex and I can’t be disturbed.

The result? Reducing distractions is a great motivator: not only do I achieve more in less time, but I have much more fun in the process.

Key takeaway:

Create a writing environment that is free of distractions and encourages focus.

6. Fuel Your Mind

Productivity and motivation require an energized mind. Having an energized mind requires an energized body.

Do you see what I’m getting at? This might seem out of place, but it’s probably the most important item on this list: if you want to stay motivated, you need to fuel your body and your mind with the right foods, regular movement, and inspiring food for thought.

When I started noticing how intimately my health and well-being were connected to my productivity and writing motivation, I gradually started tweaking my habits and routine to optimize my creative power.

Here are a few changes I made:

Whenever I feel tired and unmotivated, instead of drinking coffee or stressing out, I drink a glass of water and do a sun salutation — it works like magic!

As I’m more productive in the morning, I started waking up at 5:30 every day and spend around an hour writing on my journal to unlock new ideas and brainstorm problems;

Every day after breakfast I take a walk with my partner where we discuss ideas for our blog, which keeps us fit and allows us to come up with our best ideas.

I’m not telling you to do the same things as me; all I’m saying is that there is a connection between body and mind.

So get up from the couch, roll your shoulders back, drink a tall glass of orange juice, and take a walk around your neighborhood while you listen to your favorite motivational speaker.

Key takeaway:

Fuel your mind and body with good foods, physical movement, and intellectually nourishing activities.

Reignite Your Writing Motivation

Whether you feel lazy, unmotivated to write, facing writer’s block, or simply stuck in a procrastination whole, the problem is not you: all you need is to find the right tool to get you unstuck.

Therefore, after you finish reading this article, don’t get trapped in a self-commiseration loop; instead, pick one of the steps above and commit to giving it a try today.

And who knows — your best work might be just around the corner.

The post 6 Writing Motivation Tips That Work (Even if You’re Busy) appeared first on Smart Blogger.

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[operationrainfall]

Title Furwind Developer JanduSoft Publisher JanduSoft, Boomfire Games Release Date June 27th, 2019 Genre Action Platformer Platform Vita, PS4, Nintendo Switch Age Rating E for Everyone – Fantasy Violence Official Website

I should start this review by saying I’m a fan of games like Furwind. That is important to note, since in many ways this review will read as an autopsy of sorts. That’s not cause I hate the game. I’m a big fan of indies. But just because I enjoy them doesn’t mean I’m not critical of them. That goes double when I see all the potential a game has, and feel it’s not realized. So let’s start out with what Furwind does right before I have to delve into its many missteps.

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The game starts with a lovingly narrated introduction amidst illustrated pages from a book. It tells the tale of a dark force locked away years ago that is fighting back to the world of life, corrupting the natural order. Pretty standard stuff, but nothing bad either. You play a young fox named Furwind who must fight against the rising evil while helping the inhabitants of the forest world you live in. At first I actually thought that Furwind was a metroidvania, since you have a double jump and dash move to traverse your environment, but it’s really more of a platformer adventure game.

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Furwind is broken up into 3 separate chapters with a handful of levels each, as well as optional challenge and rescue missions. To play those, you first need to unlock both in the standard stages. The following are the only types of standard stages you’ll come across – forest stages, fiery ruin stages, dark caverns and temple chase stages that grants you a new ability. You’ll get an ability in each chapter, and to make those challenging you’re stripped of your other obtained abilities while you beat these chase stages. For example, you’ll get an aerial dash ability which would have helped make those chase stages much simpler, but sadly you’re restricted to lateral movement and your double jump. I consider myself good at platformers, and I still had a rough time with some of these. While the difficulty does ramp up in each chapter, I was a bit disappointed by the lack of stage variety. I would have loved more, cause while what’s here is fine, it does start to get stale pretty quickly.

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In the standard stages, your primary goal is to find both pieces of the golden Totem needed to unlock the stage exit. Each one is protected by a Guardian, ranging from a primal cat warrior to a snail-riding archer to a hive full of insects to a boar wizard. There’s some cool ideas here, but unfortunately in any given level whichever Guardian you face the first time will be the same one you face the second time. I suspect the reason for this is a lack of budget more than a lack of creativity, but it was disappointing nevertheless. Once you’ve faced a Guardian once, you know exactly how to beat them next time, and only rarely do they get armed with new tricks.

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Your other goal in every stage is to collect as much loot as possible. Colorful gems will be strewn throughout each stage, and many foes will drop them when defeated. You use these for buying upgrades to your skills and stats from the Mystic Shop run by Korvo, who is the first citizen you rescue. That’s all good and well, but there’s a couple problems. One is that you don’t just need currency to unlock upgrades, you need it to activate checkpoints. Each stage has a couple of them, and every time you use them they cost more. I tried not worrying about using them, but the more frantic the game gets, the more I was forced to. This meant I had less cash to spend on upgrades, which was annoying since there are a ton of them and most of them are necessary. You’ll need to buy more starting health, for example, as well as increasing your stamina meter.

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Yes, you heard me right, Furwind has a stamina meter. While it doesn’t govern things like your abilities (which are limited use anyhow) or double jumping, it sadly governs your only physical attack, which is a short tail swing. What that means is if you’re surrounded by foes and are smacking your tail around, you’ll eventually get winded and be defenseless til your stamina recharges. That is a feature no platformer needs, as it just feels like an artificial way to increase the difficulty. Further compounding things is that your other attacks are basically useless. Early on you get Seed Bombs you can toss at foes. Unfortunately, they don’t explode on contact, so you need to be the exact right distance away to have them explode in enemy faces. They also seem to do less damage to foes than your tail swing. Now, to be fair you mostly use Seed Bombs to destroy certain blocks to progress, but it felt like a real missed opportunity for them not to double as a versatile attack alternative. You’re also only able to hold 3 of them at a time, which makes them even harder to justify using except when you absolutely need to. Other than that, you get a Will of the Wisp that will rotate around you and fire projectiles with minor homing capacity, but these were equally underwhelming.

More Furwind on Page 2 ->

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I’ve explained the basic flow of levels and combat, but any platformer lives or dies by its platforming. At first I thought Furwind was doing well in that regard, but that belief didn’t last long. For example, I liked how you start out with a double jump in the game, but quickly realized its early inclusion meant that it felt less necessary. You’ll find lots of things just out of reach, even with your double jump. Instead they often require you to get to a higher vantage point and then dash over to them. Also bad is that after your second jump, your landing feels a bit slippery. I’ve fallen off blocks right after landing on them, which is problematic. It was also frustrating that most all of your abilities cannot be used while in midair, with the exception of the aerial dash. This hurts the flow of the exploration badly, and made the game feel clunky and awkward. Platformers need tight controls, and Furwind was spongy at best.

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Despite those problems, the exploration does have its bright spots. The Ruin levels have lots of fiery mayhem I enjoyed, and a sort of ancient version of Simon you need to beat to unlock the Totems. I also found the dark Cavern levels compelling, since you needed to keep a bunch of glowing fireflies around you otherwise you’d get devoured by the red-eyed creatures hiding in the darkness. There were legitimate cool ideas here, which again makes me wish for more level variety. Give me some underwater levels or ones set in the clouds. Introduce new mechanics that require your abilities. Instead, things just don’t really grow that much, especially since only one of the abilities you obtain provides a new way to explore. The others are just a healing skill and the aforementioned Will of the Wisp.

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What really brings the game down was the aggressive enemy AI and uninspired combat. Whenever a foe finds you, they’ll rush your way, even if they’re a screen away. This is problematic for the tiny flying enemies that can pass through terrain, such as teeny bats, red floating eyeballs and wasps. They will wander at you out of nowhere and will often interrupt you, knocking you out of a jump. It’s especially bad when there’s a swarm of them. And keep in mind, that stamina meter and the limited range of your tail attack only exacerbates things. Not to mention, often when you break a box in your path, a foe will spawn from it and charge you. And while I do find all the main boss fights interesting and different, none of them let you directly attack the monsters. Instead you attack things around them, which is far less satisfying.

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Before we move onto the last part, let’s touch on the art and music design. I still love the pixel art in Furwind. It’s colorful, complex and charming. While I wanted more enemy variety, the ones here all look different and have distinct behaviors. My favorites were the ornery shamans, luminescent giant grubs and the shambling purple goblins. Likewise, the bosses all looked sinister yet cartoony, which is a tough trick to accomplish. Musically, the game is equally great, with tunes well suited for such a quaint fantasy. I liked the grunts of goblins as they chased you and the sound of lighting and rain falling in the forest. Furwind is at its best in the aesthetics department.

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Now we have to touch upon the weakest parts of the game. I mentioned the narrated intro earlier, and while it sounds great, it also in no way accurately matches the text. The game has lots of grammatical errors and misspellings, and they become annoying quickly. And while I liked the sound effects in general, there are some places they’re beyond stupid. One is how Guardians mutter the same random words over and over, like how the snail-rider keeps muttering “snail!” loudly. Another large complaint is the use of HD Rumble. It’s incredibly aggressive and I couldn’t figure out how to turn it off, like in most games. And while I did enjoy some of the platforming, Furwind desperately needed a mini map. I got lost plenty of times in the large levels, and that’s never something I enjoy. But perhaps worst of all is that you get nothing for 100% beating the game. I finished every rescue and challenge stage, and got zip for it. I’m a strong proponent of everything serving a purpose in games, and thanks to this design these optional stages just felt like filler.

Better luck next time, little guy.

I honestly feel that Furwind had all the elements it needed to be a great game, it just put them together in the wrong configuration. Had this been a metroidvania like I thought, one with well translated text and more diversity of challenges, it would have been fantastic. Instead, we get a throwback to games of the past that felt awkward and disappointing. While it’s pretty affordable at $9.99, and I did get about 6 hours of gameplay out of it, it’s really hard to justify buying it at full price. I respect what I think JanduSoft was trying to do here, but it missed the mark. Here’s hoping they take this constructive criticism in the spirit it’s intended and make their next game a masterpiece.

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”2″]

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REVIEW: Furwind Title Furwind