#idle thoughts on game design stuff

[paradizetobefound]

I do think games that follow the rp ideas of DE will actually be quite a good development. The thing is. Uh. To do such kind of integration of story and narrative... you actually need to have things to say. And it's a lot of things to say. You must be ready to talk about things at length and do it at different angles. And those things must mean something and you must figure out how to relate it to the game part of the system so even when you have things to say, you must be ready to talk about them and how those things relate to other things and how people feel about those things and and and

Like, it's okay to not have much to say, I do not have lots to say about many many things. But I think this particular approach to integrating roleplay and story is precisely not that popular because it is kinda like writing a book on steroids. Talking to the reader except they are even more of a participant.

[autistickfigure]

whenever i go into the shower ithink about oc etymology its so awesome but everytime i get out i forget everything. ONE DAY i will write ALLL about how they got from here to there it will be wonderful

[delirious-donna]

Left Me In The Afterglow [Higuruma Hiromi]

an: the solace of your body is too much to resist. Hiromi might have already wrung himself dry within your walls, but he has no intent on moving anytime soon.

pairing: Higuruma Hiromi x female reader

warning: implied unprotected sex, overstimulation, cheeky banter, implied multiple rounds, cockwarming?

Masterlist

Black hair peppered with the occasional grey fell to your breast, dampened with sweat and sticking at odd angles to his brow. Hiromi offered continued noises from the depths of his chest; guttural groans of his orgasm lingered along with residual hiccups stuck in his throat. The scent of sex hung thick and sticky in the air, a blanket of the passion that had ensued.

“Animal…” you scolded with a laugh, reaching up to touch the marks you could feel blooming into life on your neck and forming a path down the front of your body.

Hiromi hissed when your cunt continued to clench and pulse around his cock, an uncontrollable bodily reaction that tried to milk him again despite him having nothing more to give, or so he thought.

“Speak for yourself little miss man-eater.”

Laughter only produced more of the mess that trickled from your sensitive entrance, a combination of your arousal and his seed squeezing around the plug he’d created to stuff you full. It dripped slow and lewd, coating your thighs, wetting his pelvis and soiling the sheets below.

All you could think of was the slow floating sensation you’d not long experienced, that feeling of weightlessness as your body tightened and went lax at the rush of your orgasm reaching its peak. You smiled indulgently, carding your fingers through the raven strands of his lustrous head of hair. If you looked over his shoulder you could make out the dragged marks of your nails etched into his shoulders, the sight serving as a reminder of how desperately you had clawed at him during the moment.

“Stop looking so delicious in a suit and tie then mister lawyer,” you teased, wiggling your hips just to hear him groan and watch him lower his face into the swell of your breasts.

He twitched, cock still thick and throbbing between your walls. Your feet curled around his legs once more, a hand grabbing blindly to feel his butt clench at the shameless touch.

“Watch it, you damn minx! Ah-ha…” He whined at the continued movement of your lower half, fixing you with a look of disbelief when you feigned complete ignorance to your mischief. “My love—”

His warning fell upon deaf ears. After all, nothing could beat the warmth of cradling your husband’s spent body into the soft nest of your embrace. Instead of listening to his words you scratched languidly against his scalp and drew idle patterns of unknown design down the length of his spine and across his shoulder blades. You hummed happily, offering him a glimpse of the cheeky side of you he had fallen for all those years ago.

Well, two could play at that game.

“Mm, sweetheart. Fuck—you feel divine. Maybe I’ll stay here a while,” he murmured sleepily. His cheek nuzzled the side of your breast, the bristle of the day’s growth on his jaw scratched the sensitive skin which was already overly sensitive to stimuli.

Hiromi seemed more than content to remain buried in your warmth, happy to keep his cock plugged into your cunt and you eyed him with suspicion. He merely looked back, blinking dark brown eyes that gleamed with something devious. You were about to lean back against the pillows when the hook of his distinguished nose rubbed against your taut nipple.

“Hiro, careful…” You whimpered, every nerve ending screaming from the building overstimulation, you weren’t sure you were ready for more, but he sure seemed to be. Insistent lips latched around your pebbled peak, a hot tongue swirling around the flesh until a string of saliva connected his mouth to your skin and he pulled back to gaze at you again, daring you to tell him no.

“Shh,” he cooed. His hips drew back only to slide forward in a soft thrust to remind you that he was still very much hard and willing to use his cock to fuck you dumb and into silence. Oh god, he was a menace. A menace that knew you would take it. “I just want to feel you for a little longer, my dick is all snug in you.”

The warmth in your belly returned at full force, a flush creeping across your chest and up your neck with it. Hiromi repeated his ministrations on the other nipple but this time he also bit gently at your flesh, smiling at your startled yelp.

You wanted to writhe, to buck your hips and create that sense of urgency that might spur your husband into another round. Anything to end this stalemate, the weight of his presence in your abused cunt both addicting and mania-inducing.

“Honey, please. I-I really need you to move—ah!”

Heat coiled in your nipples, the sting just the right side of pleasurable. You gasped at the renewed vigour in which he tugged on either nipple in tandem, his hands curling under your shoulders whilst his bodyweight kept you pinned into the mattress.

Hiromi purred around a mouthful of tender nipple. “Hm? What was that?”

It started out as retribution, but it hadn’t taken long for him to become completely absorbed in the snug fit of your bodies, of how your plush stomach and thighs held him with such love that all those tiring and logical thoughts in his brain leaked right out of his ears. He was at the mercy of your heat, and there was no where he’d rather be than right here.

He listened to your desperate little pleas for that extra friction, faint hiccups tugging a dopey smile into place that resulted in even more desperate tugs to his hair. Your breathing was erratic beneath his cheek, shallow pants emerging but it only made his eyes roll to the back of his head.

“You heard me! Goddammit, I’m going to burst if you don’t fuck me right now,” you implored with an especially forceful squirm that had him sinking right up to the root.

His whisky eyes blew to almost pure midnight at the change in angle, his balls contracting up to the base with need thrumming throughout his insides. Through those lust-blown eyes he watched your face, adoring every expression that painted across the pretty surface. He was so proud to call himself your husband, love stirring in his chest to mingle with the gut deep desire.

Hiromi could do this all night if you let him, and he certainly wanted to for at least a little while longer before he fucked you both to sleep.

“Y’know… I’m the luckiest man in the world, but even so—stay still and let me feel you, my perfect little minx.”

[wolven91]

'I fixed it'

Ulfric stared at the hodgepodge of taped wires and jerry-rigged mechanical parts with a critical eye. It sort of looked like it would work? It gets a bit fuzzy in the middle, but his gut told him 'maybe' with a positive inflection.

He wanted to spit at the whole thing. To swear at it and curse the designer of the damned thing. The human didn't like how his work had turned out; it wasn't pretty nor, was he confident he'd done everything right. Theoretically the engine would come back to life if he understood how it all worked.

Problem was he didn't though. This was all alien tech; everything was alien tech! Human stuff was always behind! But even alien tech was supposed to comply with physics, so he did what he thought was right.

The ship he was on was supposed to be a 'simple' 'off the rack' skiff ship that could make it from one planet to another in less than a day. Not only had the jump drive catapulted him and his fellow passenger way past their target, but they were also floating alarmingly fast away from the system.

Sure, it had emergency beacons and SOS systems, it advertised that 'everyone found was saved' with its life preservation tech.

"Found." Ulfric stated with sarcasm. "Everyone found..."

If they weren't found, then sure, this shit craft's designer could keep saying that.

"How is it looking?" Asked a delicate voice from the cockpit.

The hornless taurian, who called himself; Yasil, appeared in the doorway, holding himself against the frame. Ulfric avoided the odd creature's gaze. Ulfric had been a rough man before the Earth 'thing', but now he was stuck in close proximity to this... delicate alien guy... 'Focus on the engine Ulfric', his mind supplied.

"Well. I think it might work, we have enough conventional fuel to turn up back the way we came, then we can try and jump." Ulfric said, scratching at the back of his scalp. He didn't know about male taurians and their demeanour, so once they were introduced to one another, the alien wasn't what he was expecting.

When Ulfric saw a bull coming towards him, horns or no horns, the human had thought he was going to be sharing with a man who could shoot the shit, but instead, every attempt to connect with the usual conversation points had fallen flat.

So, bored as he was, Ulfric changed tactics. They were stuck like this for at least a day, the human wasn't going to spend that silent.

Ulfric was rough, but he wasn't without a little game.

He turned on the charm.

An hour into their journey he'd turned the attempts at idle conversation into discussions on a far less superficial level. He didn't have a set plan or 'topic' it was simply a matter of listening out for what someone reacted to, what they wanted to or enjoyed talking about, if they wanted to talk at all.

Thankfully, it seemed the bull wanted to talk, and the topic was him. Or rather Humans.

Ulfric wasn't opposed to talking about humans, but he hated talking about himself. So, he answered the alien's questions, at least until the cockpit readouts went dead anyway.

They both had watched as the two of them fell out of a structured jump into 'real' space. They then had watched helplessly as their target planet sailed happily by while they travelled near close to light speed through the system. They got 'lucky' by not having anything in front of them while traveling this way.

By the time Ulfric had gotten through the sealed door into what amounted to an engine room, and then figured out which bit had done what, they were too far away for the general communications array to be of any use. Still, at least Ulfric could be useful now, well... either useful or both of them would be lost to the void forever.

What followed was multiple hours of swearing, sweat and the breaking of several noncritical machines and furniture to fix the busted, stupid, ridiculously crappily built engine.

The human created something akin to art. Only not.

His new engine was the opposite to art.

It was a monster, and he was the new Frankenstein.

Using the attitude adjustors, Ulfric changed their yaw and roll. They pointed at the slowly shrinking planet they wanted, or roughly where it was going to be in the near future.

"What now?" Asked the bull, nervous in tone, but hopeful as he looked longingly at the human.

"Now. I kick start this mother." Ulfric said, getting up from his seat and readying his kickstart. "You holding onto the controls? Like I showed you? This is going to shake and judder something rotten."

"I got it." The taurian announced with a nod and a firm grip of the controls.

With a nod, Ulfric, with everything he had. With every ounce of hatred he had for this machine; he kicked the engine as hard as he could.

--- 0 ---

Ulfric stood in front of the spaceport's lead engineer. An ursidain covered in grease and other stains kept glancing from him, back to the craft that she had just appeared from. His craft, at least his engine anyway.

She was currently staring at his monster with a flabbergasted expression and kept glancing back at him before returning to the engine.

"You should be dead." She stated firmly.

"Well I'm not, I need to know why it failed so we can sue!" Shouted the shorter bull beside him. Choosing to ignore the fact the larger ursidain was speaking to the human. He wasn't a large taurian, nor did the young bull come across as an aggressive sort, but god help the poor soul that stood between him and justice. Ulfric never cared much for causing a scene, but the taurian had assured him that if they could remain in contact, justice would be had! Oh sure, they might get a few credits, but if they prevented the company from doing this again; they'd save lives!

Ulfric didn't mind either of those outcomes and he was starting to like the little taurian. All that pomp and show was just that, a show. He had a mouth on him!

"No I mean; this isn't possible! It shouldn't have worked! You've combined. plasma and pure oxygen!"

"I needed a combustion source."

"Thats. not. you." She tried to grasp his logic, but failed as the idea of using this method as a combustion source was suicidal.

She blinked, smoothed the thick fur on top of her head back, pulling the hair bobble from her wrist and tied the fur on the top of her head back with it.

"So. why is there no core then? How did you jump, without a core?"

"We ejected it."

"Was it damag-"

"And detonated it."

"You-"

"And rode the wave back."

The large bear alien stood back up right and stepped carefully away from the machine.

"I'm not touching this. Someone call for containment breach clear up."

[ganondoodle]

sorry, long post, got totk thoughts ...again

first botw vs totk shrines aesthetic and meaning; then shiekah symbolism thats overtaken by sonau

botw vs totk shrines (not in quality of puzzle since i talked about that a little before, but as in aesthetic, meaning etc)

something that worked well with shiekah shrines in botw was that these things were built SPECIFICALLY to make a future link stronger, theres that denialability to it that kinda make sense when you think about it, they are small challenges for the future hero to test and make them stronger, they are spread around the world bc you wouldnt want to hide some major source of power in one place, a monk literally sacrifices their life to enable you to gain more power their dead body waiting for you at the end (neat!!), they are each a little different in pose and clothing and im pretty sure its implied each monk made the puzzle for their shrine themselves; and the ones that rely on something happening in the world first can also be explained by their ability to see the future, the shrines and towers all rise up from the ground, which gives them that believable sense of they have been down there all this time and been activated via the net connecting them all to signal it is time- their design is also just .. nice? its got a nice contrast of the dark and the ligher brown with eye catching light from orange to blue to pink telling you in what states of operation it is (idle, working/done, corrupted) and their shape design is a very striking mix of bigger emptier spots of dark with the lighter browns wiggly lines coming in in nicely paced patches and the strong lights poking through giving you a nice soemthign for your eyes to look at (their tech is also a mix of magic stuff AND mechanism, they still look and work kinda magical but still have cogs and springs and looks like they are actual maschines put together)

totk shrines have no real denialability to why they are the way they are, its pretty clear that they are there for game reasons (and to copy botw i guess?) with no proper thought given to it (or failed to convey); they are already there when zelda does her time travel bs, and i heard (havent seen it myself? or dont remember) that the sonau shrines were built to .. keep monsters at bay? ok, im not even gonna question that part ( ... but i am .. i guess lightmagic wahtever dont think about it) so .... why do they contain a puzzle at all? its not to prevent monsters from entering since you need raurus hand to activate it (in botw you need the shiekah stone to do so which isnt really found besides yours either but ... their purpose is to test and empower you anyway .. and pehaps in a wider range to strengthen the bond with other folks when you have to work with them to get to it) then they werent present in botw so they must have ... somehow appeared out of nowhere? their connection to the lightroots might have been an attempt to try and make them feel more connected but that didnt work either imo, the shrines on the surface mirror lightroots in the underground, implying they are connected somehow, i at first thought like the lightroot is their root and the shrine is the flowerbud, but its very clearly just some ...magic rock crystal with stuff built around it including a teleportation thing thats pretty much copied from the shiekah ones (??) and you somehow ... enter magic dimension (which is .. fine, but i liked how in botws it was an elevator going down, making it feel like you are put into a physical room underground) but then there .... are also shrines in the sky ... that have no lighroot to connect to .. (i guess .. magic light wahtever dont htinkaboutit) so that part kinda falls flat- and the bring-crystal-to-shrine-spot (uhg) also debunk that thought since its a (tasty looking) green crystal that just kinda warps into a big grey rock ... for some reason, at their end is always the same colorless statue of da kind and his fridge wife (not her build) they are also missing that denialability that they were built for link specifically, sonau cant see into the future so (unless they yoinked that from the shiekah too??).. how does .. anything of that work then? especially with the crystal ones given that they are always a blessing shrine sicne bringing the crystal to its spot is counted as the puzzle but they couldnt have known that thats where it would end up at (and then ...how and why would you put a shrine thing into a crystal thing and disconnect it and throw it whereever when it manifests somehow again thousands years later- i need to stop thinking about it)- then their aesthetic is white green and gold(ish) which is a nice color combination in itself tho its lacking that neat status singaling and the eye catching contrast with their glow, the green glowy bits dont stand out as much, their shape design i dislike alot since it ... looks kinda unfinished and in a strange disconnect to their tech; buildings and statues are very blocky solid colors with the occasional rune or dragon carved into, which is also very blocky and one colored, their shapes are pretty uniform in a blocky way, theres not alot of shape contrast anywhere besides basic smaller block and bigger block, the most interesting looking ones are the ... outer walls of the shrines with their scaled look and the ground with the circle patterns; their tech and clothing is in a strange disconnect, its got a gree-tealish scale like texture in anything solid, be it tech or ornaments, it also features alot more gold and also brown stones that look rather untouched- now, for clothing, that is fine, the shiekah didnt dress like their tech either (.... mostly, ancient armor does exist) BUT the constructs and tech also have that more natural look to them

the fact that the same blocky statue waits for you at the end alsso removes not just coolness but also personality, instead of individual monks that gave their life for you and you setting them free once you take their spirit orb its the same representation of the holy king and queen giving you some light juice to cure you more of miasma .. which doesnt actually matter sicne you get your normal arm back no matter how many light juices you got at the end anyway (their "tech" also just looks less like actual maschinery and much more like .. magic tm, the constructs have nothing maschinery like about them and are just floating rings animated by green magic wiggle lines and function almost the same as literal bokblins with the added thing of being able to fuse/use tech.. the empty spot of a threat like the guardians is very prominent once you realize that the constructs are largely just like a reskinned bokblin, and the miasma hands, while neat, are more like a surprise jumpscare and less like a looming threat and are also not taken to their full potential)

theres also a disconnect between the sonau as we are introduced to them in totk and the actual sonau ruins from botw, which share a common dragon motive but have a much more .. MORE aesthetic, theres even color present you dont see anywhere in totk sonau stuff, like the red paint- you are given the explanation that those are ruins built by hylians as a monument to the sonau but i think it falls very flat sicne its clear it wasnt designed to be meant like that in botw and also looks much more withered than the totk sonau ruins which rarely look withered at all despite being even older than the botw ruins; im very sure its jsut an excuse bc their design for totk sonaus got changed ... for some reason, just like their "barbaric" origins in the phirone/faron region

shiekah symbolism and more kinda overtaken by sonau

so, soemthing i really dont like about the sonau as well is that theres quite a bit that they take from shiekah and kinda... present it as being the origin of it, actually;

we all know the very dominant symbol of the eye/third eye with three eyelashes and a tear drop for the shiekah which is established in the very first chronological game (skyward sword) but also featured in alot of other zeldas, it symbolizing their connection to hylia and their foresight (perhaps even more? i dont know everything); now we got the sonau who ... have a LITERAL third eye (and it doesnt even look special ..) that has three lashes and they paint tear drops under their eyes... (which has only the connection to .. the tears zelda sheds when shes a dragon, no other character does so at any other point, lol?) it makes it seem like we are to assume that the shiekah got their symbols from the sonau, actually, just like their tech wasnt their invention either but the sonaus, actually, who are new to the franchise and have no other connection to anything of past games, unlike the shiekah who have been there from the start really

then theres the tech, the ancient shiekah had very advanced, mystical tech in botws ancient history and now the even MORE ancient sonau had even MORE advanced tech way before them in totks lore which goes beyond even botws ancient history

im not saying symbols gotta be exclusive to one group of people but .. it holds alot of significance carried from the older games too, it feels strange for them to highjack the shiekah symbols and achievements WITHIN the two games that are supposedly directly connected in timeline and world (while also pairing them with those supposedly aniecnt hylian feather crowns and belly out look ... which, im no expert but i raise my eyebrow at that) together with the fact that nearly any and all traces of shiekah tech, except for the little needed parts that are never called that though and are just footnotes .. if anything, are precisely erased feels .... off

another long ramble about my thougths about totk, some people graciously call them analysis but i wouldnt say its that, its jsut a largely incoherent waterfall of words that would have spun around in my head for weeks if i didnt write them out and i keep coming up with more thoughts bc im thinking about the rewrite and well ...

im gonna have art soon again ... promise <(＿　＿)>

[barksenji]

Kidkiller modern/real life (?) AU: College or something, idk.

Holy, this is my first time writing on Tumblr lol. This was originally in Spanish but I decided to translate it because it's cute. Anything that doesn't make sense is there for narrative purposes. Also, this is how college works in my country (Venezuela), I have absolutely no idea how it works in the US much less other countries. Lol. Anyways. Enjoy.

Sitting in the bleachers of the gym, the two guys watched as the ball skidded across the feet of the students playing football. The game, meant to be a simple friendly match, had devolved into what resembled a WWE brawl, complete with the loud thuds of bodies hitting the ground.

"I'm way better at sports than these losers," the redhead boasted, his thick Scottish accent sharp with arrogance.

"I know, Kid," replied the blonde, equally as Scottish, if not more.

"I'd have my team winning every damn game."

"I know, Kid."

"I'm gonna be the best football player in the world."

"...You're studying robotics engineering."

"That's beside the point, Killer."

"I know, Kid."

Both men had classes later in the day and lived quite far from the university, often finding themselves with long stretches of idle time between lectures. Their days sometimes began with a class at 7 AM, followed by hours of nothing until their next class at 4 PM. Rather than wander aimlessly around campus or venture out for errands, they found amusement in watching the medical students attempt to play sports, often failing miserably. Or more specifically, they enjoyed watching Law making a fool of himself.

The funniest part? It was an elective. He chose it himself.

"Hey! Trafalgar! Keep eating dirt like that, maybe it'll improve your grades!” Kid mocked.

“FUCK YOU!” Law shouted back, red-faced and indignant.

Kid threw his head back in laughter, oblivious to the enchanted eyes fixed on him. Killer watched Kid’s antics, a soft smile playing at his lips. He couldn't have asked for a better companion. Having Kid by his side made him feel incredibly fortunate.

“What are you staring at, bozo?” Kid asked, breaking Killer’s reverie.

“Nothin',” Killer replied, his voice betraying a hint of nervousness despite his attempt to sound nonchalant.

“Wish I could see behind that motorcycle helmet to know just how much you're judging me.”

“I'm not judging you! I'm just... contemplating.”

For a moment, silence hung between them.

“Uh-huh.” Kid arched an eyebrow, then laughed again.

Killer blushed beneath his helmet, trying to hide his embarrassment. They were bros, and such feelings were out of place.

“So, what's your next class?”

“Confectionery and ice cream,” Killer answered.

“Confectionery and ice cream?! Is that a real class?”

“Well, I am studying gastronomy.”

“Do you have a super hard exam on how to make a sandwich? Like 'Oh no! I failed my toast exam! I'm toasted!' Haha, get it? Toasted... because of toast."

"You're so hilarious, Kid,” Killer said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “But they actually teach you how to design amazing products using sugar, icing, chocolate, and other ingredients. You know, the kind of things I cook for you that you love? Like that Dundee cake you ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?"

"Ok, you should've led with that. Never stop making those, they’re delicious,” Kid said, practically drooling at the memory. “Nothing beats the pasta though."

"I agree, nothing beats the pasta..."

They both fell silent, lost in thoughts of food, debating whether their lunch money should be spent on actual lunch or saved for a taxi. No, they did not have a car. No, they didn't have money for one.

"So... what's your next class?" Killer asked, snapping them both out of their pasta-induced coma.

"Physical fundamentals of mechanics.”

"...Confectionery and ice cream does sound kinda funny next to that,” Killer admitted. “What do you even learn there?”

"Well, we study kinematics, point dynamics, work, power, mechanical energy, that kind of stuff." He was still baffled by the fact that Kid could comprehend all that.

"Yeah, I'm sticking to the ice cream," Killer laughed, but as soon as he noticed, he quickly covered his mouth over his helmet. "Ahem. Sorry about that. Uh—when did you say that class was?"

Kid frowned, noticing Killer's reaction to his own laugh. Killer had something called "PBA," or something along those lines; he didn't know—he wasn't that smart. What he did know was that it caused uncontrollable bursts of laughter in inappropriate situations. It had started after a brain injury from a mishap they got into together. Killer was self-conscious about it; he was already insecure before, but after the accident, he grew absolutely sick of it, even when it was genuine. Kid felt guilty; if he hadn't dragged him into that, he would feel okay. First, he lost his arm to stunt riding, giving Killer the biggest scare of his life, and now this—

"Uh...Kid?"

"Oh yeah, yeah," Kid snapped back to reality. "It’s at 3 PM."

"Kid."

"Yeah?"

"It's 2:56."

"Fuck, you're right!” Kid said, scrambling to gather his things. “Sorry, dude, don't want to leave you here all alone but—y'know."

"Yeah, no worries. I have to get to class soon anyway," Killer reassured him. "Plus, you'll need to study hard if you want to make that giant metal arm you showed me."

Kid paused, surprised that Killer remembered. A blush crept up his cheeks, followed by a wide grin. "Hell yeah, Kil! I will! I'll make you some sick cooking utensils too. Like—knives that spin like chainsaws."

"Why would I need knives that spin like chainsaws?"

"Because they'd look cool. And they'd be faster. Plus, there's the risk of adding a finger to the menu, which is metal."

Killer let out a soft giggle and a sigh. "God, I love you, Kid,” he muttered under his breath.

“HUH?!” Kid turned as he walked away, cocking his head.

“I said you'll miss your class, Kid!" Killer corrected himself, blushing furiously.

Kid raised an eyebrow. "...Love you too, bro, I guess," he responded with a smirk, then dashed off.

Fuck.

[corvidares]

thoughts and feelings about fnaf: into the pit

(spoilers! talk of endings!)

so, while i enjoyed playing this game a lot, i am left feeling dissatisfied in a lot of ways, mostly in relation to what the hell just happened

on the side of things i LIKED:

the pixel style!!! good god this feels so perfect for fnaf. obviously we've always had the minigames in the retro style, and while fnaf has had a fine enough "look" for years, i really hope to see more stylization like this. the pixel art and animations are beautiful and full of character

there's a lot of visual detail, both in the sense of easter eggs (of course) and background clutter. fnaf games are always good at having gross settings, and this definitely does that. even the cloud of dust that pops up every time you jump in the ball pit is yucky, lmao

speaking of details, the sound design is also VERY good. it conveys a lot of what is not seen; the closer you get to a kid thats been captured by spring trap (pit trap? guys idk what to call him) the more you hear their cries and whimpers. of course, as always, sound is a part of the gameplay too, helping you know if spring trap is close and that you need to hide

the writing in terms of dialogue and such is good! i like that oswald is.. well, he's kinda dumb. rightfully so, for a kid! he does things that arent always logical, it takes him a hot minute to figure out that hes in the past, etc

its also genuinely distressing and sad to see him suffering, to see him try to tell his mom that something is deeply wrong, only to be brushed aside because (presumably) the possession magic is invisible to adults. to see his trauma get worse and worse as the days pass; nightmares, visions, straight up sleeping through his school day because he's been up all night! even his idle sprites are always sad and scared

the gameplay itself! the learning curve felt appropriate, i liked the strategy of using the noise makers, hiding, and the vents. fwiw i did play the "creepy" setting which is essentially easy mode. but i still died plenty, its not a complete cakewalk or anything.

the classic fnaf snark sense of humor is definitely here in this game, and i love it. the achievements? hilarious. the tips on the loading screens, jeff's entire character?? good stuff.

misc things i noticed:

for whatever reason, after night 1 i had a constant "bloody/strain" filter at the edges of my gameplay. not sure if this is like, random? game footage ive seen doesnt have it, and one even had a different filter. not sure what to make of it, it seems odd to just be a meaningless, randomized detail?

i got one glitch: after checking the cameras while the other kid is in security with me, oswald's sprite didnt reappear and i couldnt do anything. so i had to restart the game lol. not major, and i have no idea how common it is. otherwise everything was quite functional iirc

regarding the more critical side of things.. im mostly frustrated. now, i know fnaf, i know it never serves you answers on a platter. i know theres always an abundance of easter eggs and secrets (which i have tried to research, tho the game is still new). but upon finishing the game and seeing all the endings, i realized i didnt get answers about a lot of things i thought i would. for example;

where the hell is foxy??? the other core three are there and get added as enemies when you progress. his stage is present and some kids at the past party mention they miss seeing him. but he's not on ANY of the imagery throughout the pizzeria. in fact, we don't see him at all. if i didnt know who foxy was, i would only know his name. the only exception might be some empty masks in the backgrounds, but honestly i doubt it. this seems.. really strange to me. ill elaborate later

why did spring trap tie up oswald's dad? what was he going to do to him? did.. did anyone even die? oswald rescues everyone!

this is probably silly and i acknowledge that. but what was up with the giant spider jump scares..... i assumed itd be a new enemy or something but nah. THAT SPIDER WAS TOO BIG. WHY

what was oz's dad doing this whole time? was he trying to escape at some point? why is his shit all over the resturant?

onto just general critiques:

the gameplay did get a bit formulaic and sometimes fetch quests felt repetitive and/or like busy work. like why did i have to get five different sets of keys. bruh

the story has a lot of plotholes. and again, this is fnaf, these games have always looked like swiss goddamn cheese. but i can still be frustrated about it

for example, how is time passing in the past versus the present? IS it passing if we're not there? how do we affect the past? why does no one in the present acknowledge what happened here?? did spring trap get caught in this timeline? did anyone die? was oswald always a part of these events or did he change the timeline? this is presumably the first four/five murders, but a lot doesnt add up. is there a timeline where oz is one of the murdered kids? in the bad ending, he gets possessed, but not stuffed in a suit.

how does spring trap's possession even work? back then he was still alive and perfectly mortal... right? but then again, he supposedly strangles himself in the end, then leaps back to life to kill jeff? huh???

why is spring trap so animalistic? he doesnt seem human, and his eyes glow, which i dont think is something that suit can do (though i could definitely be remembering wrong)

speaking of which, i dont think the og four's eyes glow either, but they do in this game.

the "true good" ending does not make any fucking sense, first of all. second of all, considering the amount of work one would have to do to get it, it is extremely minimal. if i had done all that and only gotten a slight dialogue change as well as a "yay happy eating pizza at jeff's" scene i wouldve been PISSED.

also, speaking of not making sense, im sorry but oswald's lie to his dad about what happened is so obviously not true. why does he not question this at ALL? ESPECIALLY considering he has a fucking CHUNK OF HIS ARM BITTEN OFF. we see in jeff's ending that that shit bled a fucking lot! was his dad too concussed to call him on the obvious lie of "you fell and hit your head". and if he was, he would OBVIOUSLY NOTICE LATER THAT FIVE DAYS HAVE PASSED. AND THAT SOMEONE WAS WALKING AROUND PRETENDING TO BE HIM. WHAT (and dont say "oh he thinks he just lost his memory of those days" YOU DO NOT LOSE HUGE CHUNKS OF MEMORY UNLESS THERE IS MAJOR BRAIN DAMAGE OR TRAUMA. UH UH)

while talking to my gf, we came up with a couple theories.

one, she thinks its likely this game had more planned. and i agree - the missing presence of foxy is the biggest indicator, in my opinion, but theres other things too. for example, despite the fact that we're never able to enter the library or mill, both places have a map that can be pulled up when you press the map button outside those buildings.

the mill, especially, obviously has a ton of animatronic parts in the trash, and we all know that can be important... it seems to be too big a thing to be a simple easter egg, but what do i know.

another thing that feels way too big to be an easter egg is gabrielle; the girl who gives you a notebook with information about the animatronics (not foxy :( ) that provides hints for later. she mentions that her grandfather was a technician that worked with them back in the day. he never talks about it now though (the ONE acknowledgement we get in the present that bad shit went down!!!)

like.. is this henry? someone else? SURELY that is not a random guy. but it's a one and done interaction. i thought, when meeting her, that she would become a friend and ally, that we'd be able to learn more. the writing seemed to slant that way, but no. we're never able to talk to her again afaik

all this lends itself to the idea that the game was pushed. i can perfectly picture, like a year ago, someone telling the team "fnaf 10th anniversary is august 2024, get it out for then" and them having to cut stuff they had planned (but perhaps not developed, as afaik there are not missing assets showing foxy or the other things mentioned)

which is obviously a shame, and if thats the case i of course commend the team! this is a great game, especially if it was rushed. but this is becoming a pattern with fnaf games, and considering this is such a big successful franchise, that should not be the case.

anyway! overall, i truly did enjoy playing into the pit, and im very glad it was my first experience playing a fnaf game myself rather than watching a playthrough. and there are secrets that seem to be deliberately cliffhangers, in true fnaf game fashion. such as the photo that stuns spring trap, or the minigames.

[badass-at-fandoming]

Do you have any headcanons for Beckett? Specifically about his life as a mortal? It sucks that we know so little about his past, other than the fact that Beckett "wasn't the name he was born with," and that he was embraced in the early 1700s in England. I find it strange that we know so little about him despite the fact he's practically a mascot for VTM.

Hi Nonny! I'm so used that World of Darkness' lacuna that it doesn't seem strange to me anymore, but it is quite a cold-water shock, huh? The game designers leave blanks on purpose so we can fill them in. I remember this one interview with Justin Achilli where the interviewer said the Book of Nod was (forcibly) published in 1993 (same as irl). He corrected her and said, "No, no, you have to say it was published in the early 1990s, so any Storyteller can fit it into their '90s chronicle, like if they want to do an adventure to prevent or pursue its publication." His answer stuck with me. As a fan I was like "...why does it matter, let us have this fixed date" but as a writer/baby game dev I was like "OH, that is CLEVER." It leaves room for creativity! Any adventure can follow the meta-canon! That's such a good game design trick! As a fan I find it frustrating!

This game design principle sticks even to the mascot. I've seen stuff that Beckett was a pirate, a privateer, an Oxford scholar, and/or an attractive dying waif. @chinesegal was kind enough to ask me various Beckett backstory questions, that you can find here: bathing practice, opinions on creationism, trans experience. I'd also point you to @vampire-the-askerade for their delightful Beckett writings.

My only like, firm headcanon for Beckett is that he has to be kind enough to warn the fledgling in VtMB. If someone's interpretation of his character doesn't allow for that, my interest tanks. I'm not even totally married to the backstory in my fanfic and idle-thoughts-before-falling-asleep scenario. Those were all convenient pretexts for me to write cuddles and snuggles, haha. I'd love more kudos and comments on my fanfic if you read those stories, but below the cut is the bullet point version.

A Kinder Universe series drops hints of a possible backstory, especially "A Monastery Hides More Than Bones," "It Pleased the Lord," and "Forbidden by God and King."

Birth name is Matthew Lowell.

"Matthew" after the Christian Apostle. The Matthew of the Catholic Bible was a tax collector and therefore a pariah in society (just like Beckett is kinda like an outsider to Kindred Society). He was called to join Jesus out of a crowd (like Aristotle called Beckett out of the wild, or how Caine singles out Beckett during Gehenna). After Jesus's Ascension, Matthew wrote a Gospel, which translates to "good news," and spread it around, (like Beckett spreads his theories like "Good news, everyone! Gehenna is fake!). Matthew's Gospel is focused on how Jesus fulfills Hebrew prophecy and begins with a long genealogy connecting Jesus to King David (Beckett is obsessed with the genealogy of the Kindred race and studies/fulfills/collects prophecies).

"Lowell" is the Anglicized surname of Norman French "lou," which translates to "wolf." Beckett's dark brown, straight hair and white skin is a common coloring with French people. We don't know his original eye color, but blue would clinch the deal. There's a long history of migration between France and England, both of people and culture. It's in the realm of possibility he's of French descent, at least partially.

Born in Oxford. One of many siblings. Mother died in childbirth. Kid during the Great Plague of London in 1665-1666. Good father.

Attended one of the Oxford universities and got his doctorate in some sort of proto-anthropology.

I think I've talked about it before, but I have an Embrace fic idea an Embrace scenario I've thought about real hard before falling asleep.

Beckett has the same tombstone data as above. He teaches at his Oxford university, but is not very popular among his department peers. He's too into evidence and the scientific method, and he's constantly quarreling with his colleagues.

Aristotle and Anatole visit Oxford to set up a satellite library. Possibly they needed a break from Paris for some Kindred political reason.

Kindred brothel owner owes them a favor and lets them stay in the brothel while the duo sets up the library haven

Beckett visits this same brothel to let off steam, and he's gifted to Anatole as a blood doll for the night. Except Beckett is like, "Can I rant to you about how stupid my colleagues are?" and this leads to a genuine discussion of scholarship and, later, friendship

Beckett becomes Anatole's regular client, and Anatole proposes to Aristotle that Aristotle Embraces Beckett

Aristotle approaches the Prince of Oxford and something something Kindred politics and Cassandra Darby kill steals Beckett and dumps him in the forest

The two Noddists learn that Beckett has been Embraced, and they try to find him. Anatole is so distraught that he is Not Helping the search at all, so Aristotle sends him back to Paris. Aristotle keeps up the search and eventually finds and adopts a feral Beckett baby

Aristotle and Beckett rejoin Anatole in Paris. Anatole has regained his equilibrium and takes over Beckett's Kindred education.

Yeah! I hope that answered your question, Nonny. Thank you for the ask!

[fetabathwater]

so. the new dragon age trailer. what you thinking feeling etc from it

legit only saw it like half an hour ago. been w/o internet in idle bliss for like 3 days and then its like wham! woe! da be upon ye.

first of all the name change. is it bc of all the dad jokes? lol no but srsly i think the new one more succinctly addresses the tone. also, i saw smth about like the numerical change and once again da2 was absolutely trashed by EA so in my mind still recapturing the name exodus to make it flow w every other one, and not be this big sore thumb sticking out.

obv solas wouldnt be the big bad. no doy. i dont care about that guy, i have nothing but like annoyance whenever i see his shiny head, but yeah obv he was never gonna be the big bad lol. and obv like act 1 "villain". he's setting the story in motion, so his purpose is that and then idk. sucking fem dalish inquisitors toes. idc. fuck off.

venatori are there. also a no doy. fantasy extremist organisations manage to survive like weeds. they need a token and identifiable villain there.

let varric retire? like holy fucking shit LMAO stop bringing back the same fucign characters like just UNCLENCH???? the other companions look cool. i think bioware was rly bullied into confirming the lady qunari character considering the concept art debacle a few yrs ago. also gryphons are there (does this mean you need to do hw for the game and have read the books)

on that note does the uh pre-dad book with solas being 93847298472 different people still stand or is that irrelevant now. the tevinter nights one.

also like the 2 companion only thing possibly? thats bullshit and i stand by this point. you always make a big cast of companions irrelevant (see: mass effect 2). people always end up defaulting to love interest + one other. at least with 3 companions, 2 others.

also the whole fade jumper? im sorry. v cool but like. how would no one have noticed someone literally fade jumping.................

panopticon tevinter was not in my bingo book. im sure it makes sense in the context of the game but i was like. hrm. sure. moving on.

also the veil magic being blue? that threw me out of any sort of like. mild interest. get outta here thats so wrong. also the demons designs are boring. i wouldve been disappointed if we didnt fight a big pride demon up first honestly. anyway next!

bioware has ALWAYS been really good at trailers and average at their gameplay reveals so my expectations are below the crust of the earth and the hurdle was tripped over. barely. sheer force of will pushed that hurdle over but im still like hrm? snork mimimimi

theyre releasing it this year though??????????????? i will say on the one hand i prefer that games are released the same year that companies start putting out the bigger trailers and stuff (like advertising it a wee bit earlier but yknow. actual content a few months out) just bc its like. not dangerous. but at the same time i really havent played a good AAA game released a few months after the first trailers. lol. borderlands 3 sucked ass.

also it still kinda sucks bioware has the market on this specific brand of game and ive played all the others and PREFERRED a lot more of the others, but those are smaller companies. and yte. they still have THEE market on it. make it make sense.

anyway. yeah idk tada my initial thoughts and feelings like only half an hr after seeing the trailer and gameplay.

[iwoszareba]

Knight Commander as Companion

for the longest time I thought I can't do this template for Knave because he doesn't properly exist outside of the context of being the knight commander but then I had the obvious realisation that he is a walking joke and full trickster

template by @dragonologist-phd​ and you can find blank version here

Name: Knave

Race: Kitsune (is what his character sheet says, he is actually fey)

Class: Crossblooded Sorcerer (Arcane/Abyssal)

Background: none

Appearance:

his full trickster appearance but the ringmaster getup was too out of place and had too much of a "the man in charge" energy for his role as a companion so I designed a jester outfit for him so you know you are getting yourself into some clownery the moment you see him

Favored Weapon/Equipment:

he starts with a fairly standard equipment for a sorcerer but with some goofy item descriptions like "I left my best stuff in the other save file to not destroy the party balance." or " My favourite colour is red. If you put a blue robe on me I will be upset."

Top Skills: knowledge arcana, mobility, stealth, perception

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

General Personality:

He has two modes which I call: cartoon character and horror monster. As a companion you mostly get his cartoon side bc he doesn't want to be kicked out of the party (and because he is well fed so he is feeling pretty chill). He is fairly friendly if a bit weird. Some other words I could describe him with: nonchalant, playful, capricious. He turns into a little pissbaby when he is bored. If you play an evil commander you get to see more of his monster side

What traits/values do they admire?

chaotic

independent

ruthless

jovial

What traits/values do they disapprove of?

predictable

mundane

mortal

serious

Are they affiliated with any deities?

Nope! Atheist. Will always decline if you offer him ascension. Gods fascinate him sometimes but he treats it like watching a puppet show.

What do they think of their role in the Crusades, and of sharing the Commander’s Mythic powers? What are their reasons for joining the commander’s party?

He doesn't think he has any particular role, he is just here for the ride, baby! He is an observer and maybe even a fan. He doesn't care all that much about receiving mythic powers but he is thrilled for the commander and is curious to see how their powers develop.

Who are their friends among the other party members?

Ember - weirdly enough. he would wear a flower crown if Ember made it

Woljif - kinda sad he doesn't get to mentor him here, but still very thumbs up about whatever Woljif is up to

Nenio - she is extra funny because she doesn't realise how funny she is

What about rivals?

Regill - Knave thinks he is exceptionally boring and stuck up which makes him fun to annoy. Regill despises him big time 

Ulbrig - Sarkoris and its practices are a bit of a sour subject for Knave so he sometimes boils when Ulbrig start to talk about it

Seelah - she can smell the evil on him and she is not a fan. Knave thinks she is thiiiis close to being entertaining but she is still a goody two shoes paladin, shame

Are they on any councils? If so, what sort of advice do they give?

He is on every council and it is said openly that he was not invited there but he refuses to leave. He gives nonsensical joke advice that somehow still works because that's what the game mechanics demand.

Where do they hang out in Drezen? In the Abyss?

He just randomly appears in different places. Sometimes he doesn't appear at all. One time you got jumpscared when he popped up in your commander's bedroom.

What are their idle animations?

He can juggle!! He can do a little dance!!

If you stay in one spot for too long he will lie down on the ground.

He is so bored he is ready to die.

(ofc he gets up with that roll back a bit and do a little jump move bc he is extra)

If they’re taken to Areelu’s lab, what is their dream?

You find him sitting at a table with two people: one is a teenage boy and the other is a young Osirian man. All three of them are chatting excitedly about magic. As you are about to speak to shake him out of the illusion Knave looks directly at you and puts a finger to his mouth to shush you. He lets the whole thing play out for a while longer but eventually gets up from the table.

"It was a real pleasure but regrettably I am needed elsewhere."

As he moves towards you the illusion disappears.

"We going?"

KC: So you knew it was an illusion?

"Sure. Why wouldn't I?"

KC: Who were these people?

"Mmmm. Just some guys I got to know quite well but can never meet or speak to. And before you ask - yes they are dead. I killed them. There is nothing more to explain, let's go."

Do they advise the commander to abandon or keep their mythic powers?

He is very pro mythic powers. Why would you want to be a regular, snotty mortal? The only exception is aeon and his reasoning is that he would like to see the story finale.

If you confirm aeon he will peace out: "Hey, soooo I guess you will grow even more powerful and I don't want my powers and your powers to clash and go on the fritz. We could get me erased by accident! What a shame that would be. So this is my cue to leave."

How/when do they join the Commander’s party?

You can stumble upon him in a couple different places in act 1. Always surrounded by disarray and in contrast he acts like a jolly tourist having a great time.

When he notices your group approaching he points at you with a big smile "You! I've been looking for you!" you can ask what he means by that "Do you know that feeling when you finish a really good story and you instantly want to re-experience it? But then you realise it's kinda pointless, you already know exactly what happens. Why would you do the same thing again? That's me. And you are my key to some variety." ask him what he wants "Nothing in particular. Just want to see how all of this will go for you. I could do it from the sidelines but things are always more exciting first hand. I will assist you of course! I'm great in combat and I'm helpful in general. Helpful is my middle name actually. Knave Helpful Commander."

Describe their companion quest:

He doesn't have a companion quest proper bc it's not his story, he doesn't really have any specific wants or problems. But you get a special scene with him in act 5 after the whole situation with Areelu's child's soul is in the open.

LEGEND

You can encounter Knave looking more sullen than you've ever seen him before.

"You really want to get rid of that kid's soul, huh? I guess there is something to just wanting to be yourself. What a luxury that must be."

He produces two glasses filled with suspect looking liquid that shimmers with many colours. He offers you one of them.

"I never toast to the dead, I'm more of a spit on their graves kind of guy, but today is a weird day."

If you drink the strange brew, you receive a permanent +2 to strength, constitution and dexterity plus some minor fey themed power.

OTHER MYTHIC PATHS

Knave comes to you and seems more frantic than normally.

"I have a proposal for you. There is a… ritual that I could do to nourish that extra piece of soul stuff in you. 'Why the fuck would I agree to that?' I can hear you think. Trust me, it will be good for you. Something, something strength and weakest links. You know how that goes. And I promise no negative consequences."

If you agree to go through with the ritual, you receive a permanent +2 to intelligence, wisdom and charisma plus some minor demon themed power.

Are they romanceable? Describe their romance quest/scenes if you want!

Yea! Works both as a little friendship/romance path, you don't have to escalate it to physical and he is looking for a playmate regardless if you are into him sexually/romantically.

Available to commanders of any gender but not of any alignment. He needs to find you entertaining and I don't think that would be sufficiently conveyed with just picking the romance opener lines. So I imagine he has a counter that sums up all your chaotic and/or evil choices. You need to have enough of them in each act: 2, 3 and 4 to unlock his special scenes.

Act 2: a little spot of iconoclasm

He approaches you when you are camping out and about and says that he has something he would like to show you.

He leads you to a secluded place surrounded by big, jagged rocks, the only thing of interest you notice is a box that Knave goes to and sits on.

"So here's the deal, you had all these new responsibilities dumped on you and I know how that goes: they want you to do the most boring shit day in and day out and then expect you to thank them for the opportunity. The fucking audacity. There must be some pent up frustration there and I thought I could help you relieve it."

KC: That's suspiciously caring of you.

"Hey, I've told you I'm a helpful fellow."

KC: I actually enjoy my new duties.

"A bit of a weirdo, huh? But even things you enjoy can be frustrating at times."

KC: This already sounds like a great idea.

"Ha! It seems I was right and you really need this."

KC: Are you offering yourself?

"Mmmm, no. Or maybe I should say 'not yet'.

He jumps off the box and opens it, you look inside and see a whole batch of figurines shaped both as Iomedae's sword and visage of the goddess herself.

"There is nothing more relaxing than smashing something breakable. And we can have our symbolic 'fuck you' directed at Iomedae for making you toil to keep her crusade afloat."

KC: Did you steal these?

"Yeah, but all this stuff looks real cheap. You can say we are saving people from getting scammed."

KC: We can't just destroy the symbol of the goddess!

"Why not? What she gonna do, smite us? I don't see her doing that to all the fuck ups within her own ranks. Besides, she needs you and I'm not afraid of her."

KC: Can I also curse while I smash this stuff?

"Absolutely. Be my guest."

KC: Do you do things like this often?

"Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Depends on the mood."

If you still don't agree he will roll his eyes but he pats the box a couple times and the figurines inside transform into unholy symbols of Deskari and Baphomet.

"Hopefully this is more palatable for you. These guys deserve a personalised 'fuck you' as well."

Either way the two of you spend some time smashing fragile objects against the rocks. After you are done he pats your arm with a smile.

"Hope that helped. We could wreck something bigger next time around. A statue? Maybe even a whole temple! Something to think about."

Act 3: tavern brawl

He invites you for a drink in Half-Measure. The place is crowded tonight but when they see the knight commander they make sure there is a free table. The two of you chat for a while, you get to ask him some questions but at some point he starts to look around and a mischievous glint lights up his eyes.

"What if we started a tavern brawl?"

KC: (lawful) But I'm in charge of these people.

"What I'm hearing is that it's in your right to dispense a bit of misery to them. To build character, of course."

KC: (good) Someone could get hurt!

"What is life if not the constant possibility of getting hurt? They'll be fine."

KC: (chaotic) I like the way you think.

"I knew you would understand."

KC: (evil) I wouldn't mind getting some hits in myself.

"Mmmm. And I would never deny such a wish."

KC: You're just going to start shit no matter what I say.

"Well, yeah. But I like hearing your thoughts!"

With a clever use of mage hand, illusion magic and one raw fish turned into a projectile weapon the place soon erupts in all-out war. Knave seems to be having a great time, dodging hits left and right, but when he sees a whole ass table being thrown in your direction he grabs you, picks you up and you disappear.

You are teleported outside of the tavern, Knave looks at it with a satisfied grin as the sounds of scuffle are now muffled by the distance but still very much present. He eventually turns around and starts walking in the direction of your quarters, still carrying you in his arms.

KC: You can put me down now.

"But what if I want to carry you? Fine, have it your way."

KC: You don't look like you should be able to carry me.

"Really? But I invested everything in muscles. And by muscles I mean magic."

KC: Are you looking for an excuse to touch me?

"I don't need excuses for anything. I just do what feels right at the moment."

He carries you or walks you all the way to your bedroom doors.

KC: I had a fun evening.

"So did I. Made even better by the company."

KC: Maybe we shouldn't have done that.

"Don't overthink it. And in our defence: it was funny."

"You try to get some sleep. I'll go see the aftermath. Some of those punches looked real solid!"

optionally you can start a sexual relationship with him

KC: And what if I invited you in?

"Mmmm. Nothing like a brawl to get your blood pumping, right? Yeah, okay. I'll make this feel good."

Act 4: like the demons do

He comes to you with a little proposal and you can pick one of three options (l will not be writing out each possible scene bc please have mercy on me).

"Hey, so I know everyone expects you to be all 'boohoo, my crusade' and 'boohoo, being in the Abyss sucks' but what I think is that you should get to do something fun while you are here. And I have a few ideas!"

"I know where Socothbenoth's place is. We could sneak in there to throw eggs, break some vases, paint crude things on the walls… No, scrap that last thing. He could actually find that endearing. Anyway, we will think on our feet and cause some mischief!"

"This one may be a little controversial but what if we bought some slaves to see how hope lights up their eyes, the confusion of possible future, then turned into pained, fearful confusion as we kill them afterwards. I'm salivating just thinking about it."

"Have you sampled what Ten Thousand Delights has to offer? I don't advise rubbing elbows with demons too much, but if you would like we could find ourselves a cozy corner there. Do a little play pretend. I could be your demon whore for the evening."

Act 5: know where we stand

If you managed to go through all of his scenes, in act 5 you can have a little friendship confession and then optionally try asking for more but the latter is tricky since he doesn't show up for the jealousy scene and having any other romance active locks you out.

FRIENDSHIP

KC: I have to admit I had a lot of fun with you.

"So did I! Out of all the commanders I could have encountered, I'm happy it was you."

KC: Do you consider us friends?

"Mmmm, everyone seems to understand that word differently. But if 'someone who would drop everything to support your stupid ideas' is a definition that works for you, then yeah, I think we are friends."

ROMANCE

KC: Do you think we could be more?

Legend

"We can't. You are so nauseously mortal now, it's sad seeing you like this. Really breaks my heart."

Another romance active

"Mmmm. Tempting, but it seems things are getting serious between you and your main squeeze. Not that I particularly care about their feelings but I'm not really looking for that kind of drama."

Otherwise

"You have me burning with curiosity: why would you want that?"

KC: You are my kind of weird.

"I see, it's a highly curated kind of weird so no wonder you can't find it elsewhere."

KC: I always wanted a pet monster.

"Ha! You know the thing about leashes: they can be pulled from both sides."

KC: I think I love you.

"A horrible decision, really. But I get it, we don't always choose these things."

KC: I don't know, it just feels right.

"Ah, this I understand very well, following your instincts where they lead you, even when you don't fully comprehend them."

"You may be the most fun person I've ever met. You make me feel… things. I wouldn't be opposed to spending more time with you, even after all of this is over. Take that as you will."

(Shout out to Mother Mother 'Wrecking Ball' for finally putting me on the right track for writing this section.)

What would their ending slides be like?

General:

He stays for the post game celebrations and you get news about him causing mischief for a while longer but after that he is never heard from again and you are unsure what happened to him.

You agreed to drink the fey brew:

You haven't noticed it at first but some time after the crusade was over and everything calmed down it became apparent that every time you are about to have a drink you feel a subtle pang of sadness. Melancholy of missing something that is no longer there.

You agreed to the ritual:

When the crusade is long over and you begin to feel like that part of your life is behind you, you start to recall memories of Areelu's child as vivid as if they were your own. There doesn't seem to be any other effect. At least for now.

Friendship:

One day he shows up out of the blue to tell you he recently remembered how much fun the two of you had and asks if you would be interested in another adventure.

Romance:

He sometimes teases that he can't be truly tamed and one day he will have his freedom back but he is still here. With you. And it's been a good while already.

Any other fun facts?

he has a white rabbit familiar from arcane bloodline

—

if you use his kitsune change shape ability he turns into a literal fox and becomes useless in a fight but he gains a big boost to stealth

—

from act 3 you can make an observation that he seems to be really enjoying all the chaos and violence of the crusade (if you want you can be disapproving about it)

"Why wouldn't I enjoy it? Not only is it plenty fun, I also get a real good meal out of it."

KC: A… meal?

"Mmmmm… I may have said too much. Now you will think I am another cannibal. Would that even phase you at this point? Hah. But what I consume is not of the flesh and blood. It's fear that sustains me and we are in the middle of a war with demons. It's like the finest buffet here."

AZATA

"I could do without that colourful sprinkle of hope you keep adding to the mix but I doubt my opinion is going to stop you."

LICH

"My only concern is that most undead don't feel fear, so maybe don't turn all our troops into zombies? I would appreciate that."

DEMON

"And to have a leader who can be as frightening as the demons we fight? That is a doozy, let me tell you."

DEVIL

"And you commander, you may not be as aggressive as demons but you still make quite an impression on people."

SWARM

"And when you have your chow time I get my fair share too. We have a good thing going here."

ANGEL

"And you are an interesting puzzle. Your light can soothe but your zeal unnerves. Personally I would love to see more of the latter."

AEON

"And you. I don't know which is better: fear of your judgement or fear of what you are becoming... The mix of both probably."

TRICKSTER

"And it's said people fear what they don't understand, so from one trickster to another: people don't understand you."

GOLD DRAGON

"Do you think people are never afraid of you because you preach forgiveness? You are still a massive beast and some feelings are stronger than reason."

LEGEND

"They fear you will not be enough without your powers. You will prove them wrong, I'm sure, but I will savour this moment anyway."

KC: That's… not very normal.

"Well, it's normal for me! And as you know I'm a perfectly regular person."

KC: How does eating fear even work?

*shrugs* "It just does. It's kinda like when clerics channel positive energy and people get healed or rejuvenated simply by being in proximity. But fear is better, believe it or not it has flavours. So many nuanced flavours."

KC: Can you tell what people are afraid of?

"You worried I will use that against you? Don't be. Your secrets are safe with me. Your tasty, tasty secrets."

KC: (good) You can't feed off of people's fears like that!

"What do you want me to do? Starve myself? Tsk, tsk. Didn't expect you to be this cruel. Mmmm. Actually that's a good look on you."

KC: (chaotic) Oh, I hope to never see you when you get the munchies.

"Ha! Would you say… you are afraid of that possibility?" *winks*

KC: (evil) That seems like it could be useful.

"Sure thing! Use some fear spells during combat and I promise I will fight extra hard for you."

"And as I said I am fed and happy simply being here so this is a non issue for you."

Provide some dialogue/bark examples!

On select: 

“Yeeeeees?”

“Imagine I'm saluting.”

(clicked too many times):

“Oh I see, you want me to tell a joke? Be your little jester? Sorry, I don't perform on demand.”

Perception Check Passed:

“Look-see!”

“Something interesting?”

Succeeding a skill check:

“Easy-breezy.”

“The dice are in my favour.”

Failing a skill check:

“Aw beans.”

“I am very powerful, I swear.”

Low Health:

“A solid hit hahahah- ouch.”

“Heal me, maybe?”

Attacking:

“Strike fear into their hearts!”

“Yes! Let's have some fun!”

On critical hit:

*maniacal laughter*

“This is what it's all about!”

Provide some examples of companion banters!

I know I previously would make these for all the companions but this time around I was not feeling it so there are just a couple

there exists a set of banters from his own early game if you are interested in that

—

Knave: Hey, psst. If you ever want to like… *cough*Killyourdad.*cough* I could be a better company than the commander.

Camellia: I will… consider your words.

—

Ember: Will you show me that trick again, the one with hat and the rabbit!

Knave: For a real magic aficionado like you, I will do it as many times as you want.

—

Woljif: I don't understand how you move all stealth like with those bells attached to you. There is some magic to it, I just know it.

Knave: My bells know what I need! They would never betray me.

—

Knave: I never tire of watching you think up more and more insane things to do.

Nenio: Don't just sit and watch, strange boy! Come over here and help me set up this experiment.

—

Knave: Hey, want one honest advice? Stay away from Camellia. Make her work for her meal.

Trever: I- don't understand what you mean.

—

Regill: You have been staring. If you have something to say, spit it out and be done with it. 

Knave: I was just wondering if it's more reassuring or infuriating that every time I meet you, you are still a sourpuss.

—

Lann: So let me get this straight, you chose to look like this?

Knave: I know how to take pride in being a freak show! You should try it sometime.

[smolsix]

im back im back and im looking at the footage in this massive post WEE HEE HEE!!

no fr it's a long post

i went onto the website and Low is the boy in a mask and Alone is a girl with the wrench.

starting w the trailer

you can see Low here by himself which is interesting, in single player it makes sense to have one character before you meet your AI companion but I wonder how this could work in multi

Low is also by himself here, before the next scene where he meets up with Alone. So Ig Low is travelling and ends up with Alone.

In the trailer when it shows the busted mirror you can hear the ticking noise that is so well known in LN II for the section where Mono transforms into a new Tall Man (no i still do not believe in the time travel theory and I will not debate it < 3)

A NOME!!! ON THE LEFT!! while it makes sense emotionally that they are here (they are so little nightmares after all), logically it does strike me as curious. It was The Lady who turns children into Nomes, so either this one is just here (i know there's at least one in LN II) or other people can have this power?

Also it's curious they're holding a paper, wonder what they've found? Wouldn't it be insane if it was another advert for The Maw haha (in all likelihood it's probably a map of some sort since their goal is to leave this place, but it can also just be part of the trailer and not gameplay just to give us a better look at the characters)

the little umbrellas fiNALLY made me realise why the art direction feels so different, it's very tim burton. little nightmares could be considered as such but different enough because it lacked a lot of the whimsical aspects of tim burton's designs, but these have some charm to them that is whimsy enough that it is set apart. Anyways, the umbrellas are cute and i am guessing they auto deploy rather than you being able to use them whenever. I wonder if they're visible at all on the character's designs? since both characters have matching ones, do they get them somewhere? make them? i am interested in where they got these haha

also i noticed a lot of netting for this region, i know it's a desert style location (the website even mentions a fair park section and i am BEYOND excited for that because i LOVE clowns and circus stuff)

this particular puzzle is shown a few times in the trailer so they must be quite proud of it (i mean it is cute and i like it haha). i am guessing this is part of the fairgrounds section, as it did feel out of place in the trailer but would make a lot of sense for a location like that (it is very colourful which is pretty new for the series)

Also Low has this cute lil anklet omg

there is an axe here! i wonder if it dislodges when you solve the puzzle. the eye motif is back as it should be, it's very LNcore of them. im guessing the green thing is a giant crayon? being a too small child in a location made for children is a fun concept and furthers with the theme of subverting childlike concepts into something a bit unnerving.

initially i thought these were guests, but looking at the area more closely and now that i know there's a fairgrounds, these are probably The Dwellers and this is probably the fairgrounds.

ofc, we have the sewer hands. they are self explanatory honestly. but i can't help but wonder how they function in game as an enemy. i can see their surprise jump scare factor, but as an active enemy to avoid it does have me wondering how they will work.

the fuses are back! and there's the roaches. you can see Alone with her wrench out here, wonder if it's part of her idle or run animation at all? it could also be because Low has the fuse so she has her wrench ready for whatever reason. I want to say she could possibly smash roaches, but there's so many here I think it'd be impossible

strange thing in the back there........ the gears are cool though, wonder what they're powering?

these shelves are much like the ones in LN 1 in the swaying gnome section of the DLC i mentioned before, it's cool they brought these back as they're very reminiscent of the first game in general. But the jar is very LN II of them.....

I know I keep making comparisons between I II and to III but I honestly do believe the studio is bringing back a lot of motifs, imagery, items, and assets on purpose specifically to feel familiar enough to the audience who has played the first two and might be uneasy about the somewhat new art direction.

also very LN II of them~~ but this could be a carriage like from the fairgrounds? So far the trailer seems to be going in order of locations, though, so who knows.

i wonder what location this could be? And why is Lone able to use mirrors like this, and why is he only doing so now? He also travelled here alone, so I'm super interested in his backstory.

so i was surprised to see the website explicitly call this a giant baby and not a doll when it is very obviously one. unless it is a giant baby wearing a doll head?

the left eye (our left) also clearly has the ability to petrify people, too. the baby itself is very worn down so it's either quite old, or has simply seen a lot of damage. im guessing at one point its other eye also functioned.

this is VERY interesting. these statues of petrified people are larger than the MCs meaning they were probably adults, so the baby really does target anyone probably. it's also strange as these people look... normal? there's nothing going on with them, they are simply petrified. it paints a picture where it's possible that at one point, the little nightmares world *was* normal, and something happened that warped the adults. it's possible the giant baby is man made itself, idk what it is but it feels that way to me. i dont think it was just... born like this.

literally no idea what this could be about. i know it looks like a trash dump but i can't tell for what if anything specific. why the table with jars neatly placed on it? why the giant machine? initially i thought it was like a machine that'd scoop things and then drop it, but it looks like a chute which means something or someone is filling it somehow.

if you watch the animation for this part Low is pulling Alone who stops him and then lets go before they look at you, it's probably a simple animation but it'd be interesting if it told us anything abt their dynamic.

and then from the additional gameplay footage:

we have the eyes returning < 33 tho they do look different-mostly the peep hole is more narrow giving it a more threatening look (pupils become smaller when someone is angry for example)

[robloxstruggles]

royale high blackwood manor (shooter minigame) tips

hi everyone, idk how much the Greater Royale High Community (tm) knows this stuff or how much people have figured it out, but i know a few friends haven't so im making a guide full of tips some of my friends have found useful.

blackwood manor is, with a little aim, EASILY the fastest way to farm candy (and for me the most fun). i've written this guide assuming that the player doesn't have much experience with the shooter genre at all just so i can cover all my bases.

THIS IS NOT A CANDIES GUIDE. it's a gameplay guide + analysis that may result in you getting more candies. all screenshots in this guide were taken on graphics setting 9.

this post includes:

what i consider the best FPS setup

how to see

some thoughts i have about how projectiles/enemies work

cosmetic tips

a tl;dr because it's too long

LASTLY, A DISCLAIMER: this is helpful for ME!!!!! if you have another system that works for you, feel free to share! this is not an attack on how anyone else plays the game or a presumption that i am the best royale high blackwood manor gamer, it's just a bunch of things i've found that my friends think is helpful.

how to play as an FPS the easiest way + visibility tips

DON'T PLAY ON MOBILE. i mean someone out there is gonna prove me wrong by being awesome at this game on mobile but i've heard nothing but complaints from mobile users playing this game. i have no clue how it handles on xbox. i play on PC with mouse and keyboard because it's how i play most shooters.

royale high has the shift button mapped to sprint, so playing as a TPS, you'll be right clicking and dragging a lot *or* toggling shiftlock all the time. FPS is the way to go.

when you zoom in, you may be met with your gun blocking your screen like this:

the surest way i've found to get rid of this is to use the "ninja" or "crawl" walkpack. it's under animations -> walk packs. if you're unfamiliar with RH, note that you have to jump or walk to reset the walk pack. here's the FPS view for ninja, then crawl, both idle and when fighting at a standstill:

the main benefit to using crawl is that the gun is basically never visible, even when running and shooting, because it's below the HUD. this means you're never gonna have it blocking your vision. but when you look down, you're gonna see your RH nickname, since it's in front of your first person view sometimes. you can get rid of that by resetting your RH nickname to display your normal roblox display name, but the RH nickname is such a big social part of RH that idk if that's a benefit unless you really, REALLY can't handle seeing the gun shake.

that said, with ninja equipped, your gun WILL be in view when running and not shooting... so it depends on your preferences.

(i also suspect that you may have slightly less range with crawl. but i also suspect that is not actually an advantage in this minigame. more on that later.)

the elder animation is also pretty solid, but the takes up a lot of the screen when shooting. here's that for comparison.

lighting tips

now you have to worry about seeing. it could be my monitor settings, but i see better WITHOUT the night vision goggles. (you can turn them off if you have them equipped in case you want them just for the looks.)

when i first wrote this i swore by the headlamp - but i turned my graphics settings down and noticed the effectiveness of the headlamp entirely depends on your graphics settings. to summarize:

on settings 1 and 2, it's so muted i can only tell it does something looking at my avatar. it hardly projects onto the environment at all.

on 3, its brightness is slightly more noticeable, but still pretty terrible.

on 4 and above, the spotlight is much clearer and it has a noticeable effect on the environment around it.

luckily, there's another way to make the environment glow that's fairly effective at all graphics settings: items designed to emit a nondirectional glow. this includes things like candles, lanterns, etc. a lot of wings i thought would do this don't; dewdrop mist does for some reason but it only helps a little. the items i listed will be the most effective, and they're best with the light source set to white. this will largely just help you with your immediate surroundings (i.e. running into a wall) but it does help. on graphics settings 1 thru 3, this is your most powerful option.

if you don't have any, there's a new item this royaloween that emits a good glow: the pumpkin wand. equip this and change the colors however you want, but make the light itself white. if you don't have the item, google a guide for royaloween 2023 chests and it'll be in there.

two warnings: 1) it'll look in third person mode on your avatar that stacking tons of glowing items adds more glow, but in first person mode i don't know if they help much. 2) not every item that has a bloom glow effect will emit an actual light source anywhere near your avatar.

top: just the headlamp. middle: headlamp + Nightmare Cavern Lantern item. bottom: headlamp + Nightmare Cavern Lantern + Pumpkin Wand.

the game is always gonna be super dark appearance-wise, which is actually one of my least favorite things in a shooter. most of my navigation is done by just knowing the map, which is kinda unfortunate.

some combat thoughts i've had

the game is definitely designed to encourage you to seek out the ghosts. they can lose you by moving through walls, but they move at roughly your own walking pace. and while you can't go through walls, your bullets can. this means when they go through a wall, you can sprint to find them in a reasonable time frame, all while shooting at them.

your gun shoots a projectile which travels a short distance in front of you in an arc. i THINK the projectile is actually dealing damage to the ghosts, because shooting something out of range will miss if the projectile goes below it but your cursor is on the ghost. it also feels like the damage isn't dealt until the projectile lands on the ghost, so there's no invisible instantaneous damage arc.

this means you can arc your shots by firing them higher. if you haven't played a game where this is important, this means taking advantage of how the arc from the gun is shaped. if you aim slightly higher than the target, you can hit a target further away. if you've played a game with a bow and arrow, like botw/totk, you've probably done this. the same thing applies to this game.

that would be really useful, BUT!!! the ghost-sucking mechanic also encourages you to follow them. it can be REALLY tempting to stand around getting arc-snipes on the ghosts, but that means when it's time to capture them, you're across the map from them fighting your way thru dark walls trying to close the distance and someone else will get the ghost! you'll still collect candies for shooting the ghost, but you can collect even more if you suck them. plus, the timer means for some ghosts, you REALLY won't capture them alone unless you start immediately.

so when is arcing shots useful? simple: the biggest ghosts. the ghosts all hover about the same distance from the ground, and the ghosts with the highest XP are the tallest. these ghosts are going to attract a lot of players. if you want to get the most candy out of them, you NEED to be pumping damage into them. so if you can't pursue it and maneuver thru the map at the same time, it can be beneficial to hang back and aim at it from far away, THEN close the distance once it's almost time to capture it.

i think this is clever not only because "big ghost = more HP" makes a lot of sense if you've literally ever played a game before, but because their height encourages players to arc their shots anyways. the highest HP ghosts are the easiest to aim at from a distance. the tall skinny ones take a little more aim, but they're still easier to hit at a distance not just from the bigger hitbox, but because it encourages you to aim in a way that maximizes your range. pretty cool, huh?

just remember, if you've never played a shooter before: at range you need to aim ahead of the target with slower projectiles like the ones in this game.

also: the distance your gun travels is DEFINITELY dependent on how high it is from the ground. your range feels like it's HALVED when using crawl compared to ninja. this means the ideal way to play the game seems to be to equip super high heels and then use an animation that keeps the gun away from your vision.

cosmetic tips

save an outfit with the goggles and/or headlamp and you'll be able to use them year-round. i've been using the goggles all year this way. here i am wearing an outfit in royale high with them. second pic is to show you that the headlamp still works!

you can change the colors of the headlamp and night vision goggles. the night vision goggles even support patterns on the metal part. adding a pattern to the glowing eyes will make them stop glowing.

the headlamp will equip an average color if you try to use a pattern with the band. using a pattern or a dark color will cause the glow effect on the item to stop working, but the light emitted to the environment doesn't appear to depend on the color you select for the headlamp at all. ugly combination of the two for demonstration:

if the headlamp doesn't go with your outfit, the skull crown layers really fantastically over it. it'll look like the skull is glowing.

and, of course, combining that with the ability to change the colors of the lamp/goggles, you basically get custom glowing skull this way:

my favorite combination for the night vis goggles is the breathe me mask. this is a super unpopular outfit item, but it works really well with the halloween gear. when it glows, it blocks the bulkiness of both items and only the lights show through. equipping a dark color or pattern will let all the details show through. both effects are super cool for a sci fi vibe.

but honestly, i will put these goggles over ANYTHING.

in conclusion:

FPS is the best way to play the minigame. it gives you the most aim control while moving. if RH could map sprint to anything else TPS might be viable. but right now it's not. to play FPS, make sure you've got an animation equipped where the gun isn't in your face.

SAVE AN OUTFIT WITH THE EVENT ITEMS SO YOU CAN USE THEM ALL YEAR. THEY ARE FREE and if you play sunset they are SUPER HELPFUL IN SPACE/SCI FI THEMES.

equip a glowing item with white light to help you see.

happy hunting!

[love-death-game]

Devlog #001 - Starting Progress

Hello! This is the first devlog for my current game project called "Love, Death."

As stated in my previous post, this project was originally a research assignment for one of my university classes. As I had already made quite a few assets already, I have lots of stuff to show off in this devlog!

(Pictured Above: A screenshot of a work-in-progress shot of one of the opening scenes of the game)

Characters

So far, I have created the two central characters that I want the game to be focused on: Ghost and Shepherd. As this is incredibly early in development, I hope to update these sprites in the future should I make any major changes! (Especially Shepherd's sprite since it feels the roughest)

(Pictured Above: A gif of Ghost and Shepherd's sprites doing their walk-cycles)

Concept Art

While most of the concept art I have so far are in the rough-sketch stage, here is one piece that I've been working on for a while now that takes place further into the game's story :)

(Pictured Above: A work-in-progress illustration of Ghost and a mysterious man in the foreground)

Level Design

With the original rooms I made in the prototype, I learned a lot about how RPG Maker MZ handles parallax mapping and in general, how maps should be laid out.

(Pictured Above: the opening room of the "Love, Death" prototype - a long blue room with a glowing door to the left and a gravestone to the right.)

(Pictured Above: another room from the "Love, Death" prototype -Shepherd's office which is basked in hues of red. In the far left, there is a desk in front of a window.)

With all that information, I've started planning out the room layouts of the levels I want players to go through with an emphasis on good composition, exploration, and different points of interest.

In the coming days and weeks, I hope to assemble some placeholder rooms with layouts I've created to see how they turn out and figure out ways I could improve upon them.

(Pictured Above: A mock-up of a level with different rooms and interaction points)

Tilesets

(Pictured Above: A screenshot of a test room with a custom tileset.)

When planning out this game, I was unsure of whether or not I should use RPG Maker's default tiling system or if I should focus more on parallax mapping for the game's maps. In the end, I decided to do a little bit of both!

I've created a placeholder tileset for the first area of the game that works with RPG Maker's autotile system and some other tiles that I could use for different variants.

When it comes to parallax mapping, I'll save the maps and their tiles to a png and use those as a reference point for the elements I want to parallax map. These include lighting effects, foreground elements, and scrolling backgrounds.

Gameplay Mechanics

Below are a few things I've been working on during my testing!

(Pictured Above: A video showing a few tests in the game.)

Idle Animations

I made simple idles which happen to characters when they are idle for more than 5 seconds.

Character Switching

When pressing the [TAB] button, players will be able to quickly switch between playing as Ghost or Shepherd. Depending on who they are playing as, new mechanics would become available to them.

Shepherd Crawling

One of the unique mechanics that would be available to Shepherd would be crawling! While small spaces would be unreachable to a tall sprit like Ghost, Shepherd can reach them with ease!

When interacting with small spaces, Shepherd would crawl into the space, giving players access to whatever lies within.

Goals for Next Update:

Complete a draft layout of the tutorial area of the game

Create at least one area-specific puzzle

Create a Ghost-specific mechanic

Fun Facts and In Closing!

I thought I'd take this portion of this post to talk a little about myself and why I'm developing this game.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm Somewhatcold (you can call me Jan), an 18-year-old university student in Canada interested in game design and concept art. I've always been in love with RPGs and some of my favourite games include the Dragon Age series, Final Fantasy XV, and OneShot.

I'm currently doing a Bachelor's of Design in Illustration with a minor in Games and Play and hope to use this experience as well as further projects to learn more about game development.

Although I've made different RPG Maker games in the past for a few school projects, I've never actually made something of this scale. It's always been a long-term goal of mine to create something like this so I'm incredibly excited to see where this goes!

Feel free to ask me anything in my ask-box or to contact me via the instagram I linked above!

The next devlogs are definitely not going to be this long - this one in particular had a lot of information simply because I already started this project a few weeks ago. Going forward in the future, the devlogs are mostly going to be smaller updates and new things I've added to the game.

Below, I've also included some samples of my previous illustration work just for funsies :D

(Pictured Above: An illustration of Hebra Mountain from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild)

(Pictured Above: An illustration of a woman on a balcony overlooking a cityscape.)

[dansconcepts]

A Day in the Life of a Gamer!Kaede

Or: my talentswap au in a non-despair setting with a focus on Ult. Gamer Kaede and some moments feat. a Reserve Course Tsumugi, Ult. Bartender Shuichi, and an Ult. Magician Kokichi.

Being at Hope's Peak is strange, but in a good way. Of course, she gets to meet all kinds of people that she wouldn't have met unless they were watching her stream or are in the same lobby as her. And they're all with some quirk one way or another, which makes her feel less like a "Gamer Freak" around them.

Experiencing the diverseness of the people in her classes and even outside of it is something she loves dearly. But... of course, there's always going to be something slightly strange...

・┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦ ┆・

Every so often, she notices a girl with very long blue hair and glasses standing in the doorway. She wears the signature black ribbon and long-sleeved white dress shirt that Reserve Course students wear. While RC students aren't banned from being around Ultimates or anything (how messed up would that be?), their classes are in different areas. It's just inconvenient for them to be walking back and forth unless they've got friends here. And evidently, this girl does, because Rantaro meets her out in the doorway. He always invites her in, but she always rejects it.

Today, she's out there again. She's almost like an NPC, following her designated pathing outside of her class door. Unfortunately for her, Rantaro had stepped out. She must not have known, because she's standing there in her idle animation.

She could:

> Go back to her game [which would probably lead to the girl just standing out there until Rantaro comes back] > Tell her about Rantaro [which would probably lead to more interesting dialogue options]

“Hey, um, Rantaro went to the bathroom, he should be back in a few minutes.”  

The girl looks up at her and quickly looks away. She frowns. Did she do something wrong?

The girl meets the blonde's stare, and her eyes widen considerably. “A-ah, please don’t mind me, I’m just very plain…” 

“Hey!” Kaede pouts. “Don’t say that, I’m sure you’re amazing! You’re very pretty, to start!” 

Tsumugi smiles, pity in her gaze. “That’s very kind of you, but I don’t have a talent. I really am plain boring…”

“No, it makes you the most interesting person here!” She gets a skeptical hmm, and she figures she'll need more interactions with her to convince her. “I’m Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Gamer. Nice to meet you…?” She pauses with a tilt of her head.

“Tsumugi Shirogane, just a plain ol’ person.”

“Yeah, we’ll work on that.” She even sounds like an NPC…

・┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦ ┆・

She's finished up a map on Project Sekai and about to start a new one, only acutely aware of the familiar purple blur that always comes up to her seatmate when-

“No, Kokichi, I’m cutting you off.” Shuichi frowns, moving a cup with dark liquid away from the boy whose arms are crossed on his desk.

Cutting him off-? 

“But Shumai!” He whines, even crying hysterically.

“A-are you serving Kokichi alcohol?!” Kaede screeches. She believes in Shuichi, but she knows he has drinks in his lab to mix with...

“He is!” Kokichi giggles.

Oh goodness, this is way worse than she thought!

Shuichi only lets out a heavy sigh. Upon catching her highly concerned look, he shakes his head. “No, he’s lying. It’s just Panta with some root beer. I don’t even know how he can drink so much of this stuff…”

She lets out a huge sigh of relief. She couldn't imagine dealing with a temporarily debuffed Ouma, and an inebriated one at that...

“Nishishi~! It's because of your amazing skills!”

“That's very kind of you, Ouma...” The boy flushes.

Kokichi frowns. “Yikes, you really believed me? It was a lie.”

“I doubt it.” She interjects. “You're very talented after all, Shuichi, so-” She yawns. “-don't listen to him.”

“Kay-ay-day, he knows that lie was a lie! Righttt, Shu?”

Shuichi blinks slowly. “...Right.” He turns to her. “You stayed up again, didn't you?”

The reminder has the bags on her eyes feel heavier than ever. “Ah, is it that obvious?” She chuckles sheepishly.

“A little.”

“Ha! More like really obvious!” Kokichi snickers. “Here, I have just the thing!” He hands her a flower. It's a sunflower.

She takes it gratefully. “Thank you Ouma, this is quite pretty.” She holds it up to her face and-

“EEP!”

Drops of water drips down her face.

“Kokichi!” Shuichi gasps.

“Kokichi...” Kaede warns lowly.

“Wow, you really are tired if you fell for the easiest trick in the book.” It comes out as a tease, but Kokichi's frowning. He pulls out some cloths from his sleeve and offers it to her.

She takes them gratefully, wiping her face off.

“Are you alright?” Shuichi asks, his brows furrowed.

She stares down Kokichi, who stares back at her.

She hears Shuichi gulp.

“Ultimate Magician? More like Ultimate Clown.” She grins.

Shuichi sags in relief.

“Heh, you really were worried, weren't you Shuichi? Haven't you dealt with tension between patrons before?”

“I have, but it's more unnerving when it's between friends...”

“Aw, you consider me as a friend, Shumai? How adorable!” Kokichi coos.

“I do too!” She pauses. “Sort of...”

“WAHHHHH! You're so mean Kaede!” Kokichi cries. “Did gaming so often make you forget how to interact with people or something?!”

Oof. She frowns. That was super effective...

She stares back down at her phone and thumbs at it.

“Quit it Kokichi.” Shuichi firmly snaps.

“I guess...” Kokichi sighs dramatically.

Later that day, she finds a tiny Kirby in her dorm. It would make a great charm for her phone.

But how did it get here? Her brows furrow.

Alas, she knows a magician never reveals his secrets.

[hahahahawk]

I want a fake person to live in my computer. But not like that.

The neurospicy coping/productivity technique “body doubling” is about seeing someone doing your desired activity helps your executive functioning circuits let you also do the desired activity.

I’m not a scientist about this, I just have a wonky brain that responds well to this (but not working in an open plan office, go figure (that probably has to do with agency and consent, but this is a derail))

Today I tried a utility/tool/“game” called Spirit City: LoFi Sessions. You get an avatar in a cozy apartment, and both avatar and apartment can be customized. You set the lighting/time of day and tell your avatar where to go (“on the bed”, “at the desk”, “on the window seat”, “by the fire”) and what to do (writing, typing, gaming, drawing, meditating, knitting (as a knitter, I judge the knitting animation “not bad”)).

There are lofi-chill out music playlists in the “game” and rudimentary productivity tools like a todo list, a habit tracker, a pompodoro timer, and a “journal” feature.

The gamification is earning coins (by logging in, having the app open, and using the productivity tools) to buy different furniture/clothes and following hints to find new wacky pets.

I’ve spent about 15 years obsessing over productivity tools and techniques, so that side of the utility did nothing for me. I pay for Spotify, so the included music did nothing for me (the songs were pleasant, but repeated too soon for my liking, and I wasn’t interested in manually switching the playlist every 40 minutes). Dress up/decorating does nothing for me.

Needless to say, I got a refund pretty quickly.

Well, I did… but not without some hesitation because holy shit the body doubling aspect did something for me. At a few junctures in the hour-ish I had the program open, I looked over from my main project, saw my avatar typing away at their desk and thought “hell yeah, we’re getting stuff done” then went back to my project without doing any random googling or checking social media.

I considered keeping the “game” just for that aspect, but

The window didn’t fit well on my vertical monitor

The avatar wouldn’t change tasks/take breaks without my input

I would *so much* love to have a CG avatar in the corner* of my screen that would have its own pompodoro timer and mostly spend 5 hours typing on their laptop in a variety of locations, but also model “get up and stretch/snack/drink water” for me.

The interaction I’d want to have with this avatar:

Patting them on the head to tell them they’re going a good job.

I do *not* want that behavior reciprocated to me because I refuse to be complimented by inanimate objects (or people who don’t know what they’re ‘complimenting’)

Them suggesting I take a break whenever they do

Me notifying them when I start a break/get back to work. (I do a lot of flow state work and usually prefer flexible breaks rather than scheduled ones)

I will accept feedback (and data exports) about my working/taking a break patterns

—-

* I think the large default window was both a blessing and a curse for Spirit City. It allowed the avatar to be big enough to feel like a person in an environment instead of a stick figure in a box. But I don’t actually have a lot of screen real estate to give over. So it’s be nice if the program handled being odd window sizes better.

Anyway, Rusty’s Retirement is an idle game that doesn’t scratch the body double itch (though it might if you identify as a robot), but it is a calm farming game that is designed to only take up a strip along the bottom/side of your monitor and it’s been much better for my productivity. It’s great for the occasional quick hit of dopamine (bring it to the front, plant some crops, queue some bot upgrades, put it away again), and also useful for short breaks. On those longer short breaks, I make larger functional and aesthetic changes to my farm, but it generally takes less than five minutes to catch up/run out of content. After that I’m generally ready to jump back into work, and if I’m not it’s usually a sign I need to stand up and take care of some other needs.

[breannasfluff]

So if in a Wing AU, Wild lost and replaced a wing instead of an arm, how do you think he'd cope? I love reading stuff about the boys dealing with disability or injury and some totk headcanons are always a fun time. The biggest struggle when building a flight machine in game is not overbalancing one side in weight. So I'd like to think he'd either have to wear weighted gear to rebalance his body or relearn where his center of gravity is.

Also related but I'd love to see how you think your version of the boys would help him out if they were around during the recovery period.

I see what you mean about the balance in the game, and weighted gear is a great idea! I was going to write a little drabble on my thoughts, buuut it's kind of spiraling longer so I figured I'd answer this instead of making you keep waiting 😅

Changing out his arm for a wing has been interesting to think about! If the design of the new wing matched the arm, then it would have a fair amount of metal holding the "feathers" together. So, new wing would be heavier and probably unbalancing in flight. He can wear a harness to help, but that puts the weight on the chest and not on his wing where he needs it. If only the rito could help give pointers (evil laugh at somehow matching this to current plot).

The arm doesn't seem to bother Link in the game, although one of the idle animations is him looking at it. It functions generally how a wing should, but there's still something a little "off" about it. I'm actually still thinking about how that would crop up.

As for the boys...if the wing was replaced and he was dumped immediately back to them, he'd probably be doing a bit better.

He needs support and understanding, and who better than others with wings?

Time would be in a tizzy because he's big keeping the group safe. He'd blame himself even though he couldn't do anything. Twilight would hover a lot, worried about Wild but also unwilling to push too close and make Wild nervous. He might end up kind of annoying and Wild would probably tell him to either come close or stay away, just pick one, Twi.

Warriors is used to injuries from his time in battle, but it being someone in the flock pushes him off kilter. He's still a loner bird so he doesn't hang around like Twi and Time. Instead, he helps Four.

Four's normal chatter vanishes and he shifts all his focus to coming up with a gear to help Wild fly normally again. Despite his normal nature, this is too important to give anything but his full attention. Warriors help is a surprise--they don't spend a lot of one on one time together--but he has good advice.

Sky sticks to Wind, who's clingier than normal. Both of them insist it doesn't matter what they eat (they really prefer seafood) because Wild shouldn't need to worry about cooking. Sky's got a bad habit of stealing other's food, but even that rarely happens now, and never to Wild. Wind's worry means he doesn't put as much time to grooming his feathers as he should, so Sky often takes over.

Legend and Hyrule are the closest to Wild, so it hits them the hardest. Legend gets especially snappy with the others when they talk about how to help Wild. His snarl could give Twilight a run for his money. While the vet may be the resident grouch, he's still pretty open with physical affection. Now, it's all dumped on Wild, who appreciates the gesture but gets a bit ovewhelmed.

Where Legend is proverbially running others off, Hyrule is doing his best impression of an octorok and clinging. Literally; he's almost always in physical contact with Wild, generally commandeering an arm or hand to hold.

He's a little less smothering than Legend, so he's a little easier to deal with, but Wild is rolling his eyes after 24 hours. He points out that his wing still works and he's not dead, which only makes Hyrule cry.

At this point, Legend is so puffed and worked up that Wind comments they should roll him down a hill to see if it will flatten his feathers. Legend is left speechless, but the others laugh and some tension is broken.

Longer term, I'm sure they'd all take turns working with him to help him rebalance, deal with the emotions, etc, but I'd have to think on that further or do research.

Thanks for the wonderful question and I'll tag you when I post the first drabble!