#import gaming ftw

[satoshi-mochida]

London Seirei Tanteidan(London Spirit Detective Team) is a Japan only PS1 RPG developed by Unit and published by Bandai set in Victorian London, with some steampunk elements.

The main character(name chosen by the player), a young orphan living on the streets of London, is taken in by the detective John Everett Millais as an assistant after witnessing him defending himself from someone trying to steal his bread.

Two other characters join his party: Aries Ivory, a brass 12 year old girl with an unrequited crush on Everett, and a 6 year old boy not officially named that is just called 'Aibou'(which can mean 'Partner', or as someone else said possibly sounded more fitting, 'Buddy') who looks up the MC like a brother, and tends to serve as comic relief. An older man named Virgil also joins on occasion, who has more knowledge on spirits and the like.

The story progresses in a serial format, with each Chapter being it's own case, though with an overarching story in the background.

Aside from the main case of each chapter, there's also side quests to accept.

Battles are random and turn based, and you can move around during them to position yourself like in SRPGs. They'll also take place on the map you're on and will actually not occur if there isn't room to fight properly.

You're also allowed to save anywhere, and not need to hunt down a Save Point.

Import Gaming FTW(who made a video on The Adventures of Robin Lloyd, which I made a post on before), also did a video on this game which made me want to make a post talking about it, and like the former, I hadn't even heard of this RPG beforehand.

There's no fan translation yet, though I think one might be in the works.

[adamtheamazing5]

Particle's

This time, I am looking for something a little different, instead of basic 3D art, fps mechanics, and other prototyping, I have decided to get a better understanding of the Unity engine's particle system so not only can I make my own particles in the game engine like fire, muzzle flash, and magic effects, but to get a general idea and understanding of how particles are made so I do things like edit public domain particle's I get from Unity store website, or if I am working with game artists who are using the particle system, I can communicate in their language, terminology and just generally be on the same page as them when creating particle's for games.

I learned how to create the particles with modules from a website called “School of Game Design”. I did not make the particle textures myself, it was probably done by the School of Game Design.

This took a while to assemble, and I learned so many things relating to particles.

WHAT I LEARNT:

--General--

How good the editor for the particle system is when editing multiple child object particles in the parent object particle.

Always good to start with a basic texture prefab particle, then play around with its modules like Renderer, Lifetimes, Texture sheet animation, etc to see how it all fits together until you are satisfied with the end result.

Most of the particle module properties can be determined with a single value, a value between two constants, and curves.

For properties of particles, there is no right or wrong answer, it's whichever one works best and what it needs depending on the particle.

For some particles, you may need child objects to separate different particles of the parent, e.g. dust funnel or snow storm that has debris or small balls covering the house on impact.

How powerful using curves for X,Y,Z options for certain modules, however, can take some practice to get used to.

--Modules--

Prewarm starts the particle before the player starts the level, however, it is costly for performance.

Gravity multiplayer determines if the game's physics affects the gravity of the particle.

For Simulation space: Local simulates sticking with objects while World space trails the particles behind when the game object moves.

For Simulation space: Start lifetime determines how long the particle lasts before being erased, Simulation speed determines how fast or slow it is going, and Size over lifetime determines how big or small it will be over time.

For Shape, turning it off makes the particle appear in one position which is good for making orbs.

For Shape, Radius thickness determines how the particle emits outside its shell shape.

Force over lifetime determines the force that pushes the particles over time.

Collision quality checks each particle collision in the scene but may need to be reduced to ease on performance.

Velocity over lifetime is good for speeds of particles between two constants, It can go slower or faster depending on the value.

 For Rotation over lifetime, rotating particles under 90 degrees is generally suitable, depending on the particle, however.

 Velocity over lifetime limits the speed of the particle once it spawns. Dampen controls how long or shorter it will be over time.

For Colour over lifetime, it can be used to control the alpha over time for particles, meaning how soon or later the particle is visible or invisible.

For Emission... - Rate over time determines how many particles in a scene at a time. - Rate over distance: determines how many particles are in the scene following a trial at a time. - the more particles you have, the more its harder on the processing performance. - Speed scale determines how big and fast the particle goes to be smaller, larger, slower, or even faster. - Length scale determines the scale of the particle before it shrinks. - Bursts: delays a certain amount of particles at a time.

Start size( at the top) is a good way to start small on the first step and experiment with it all the way to the biggest step before experimenting with other properties.

 Texture sheet by Animation... - controls how the texture sheet of the particle is rendered piece by piece. - Single row: Will animate in a simple row, left to right. - Whole sheet: will animate from left to right, up to down. - Frames over time control speed time between frames. - Cycles: how many times it loops.

Sub Emitters - spawns a particle. - Birth: creates a new particle.

--Idea’s for particles in future—

Dust storm could also be used for chemical smoke if colored. The same particles could serve multiple purposes with tweaked colors, modules, or textures.

Fire particles need to be on spreadsheets to animate consistency with their child object particles.

How different child object particles can blend with each other to create one whole particle game object, e.g. Fireball.

Render  - determines how it renders in front of the camera, e.g. the particles(s) look straight at the camera when it renders. - Horizontal billboard: renders facing above ground, does not look at the camera. - Billboard: particle looks at the camera. - Billboard> stretched billboard allows you to stretch the rendered particle (e.g. raindrops).

Sort mode - sorts which particles emit first or last. - By distance is good to make sure the particles are not transparent with each other. - If the texture in the particle has lots of detail, it's best to organize the sorting mode so it can be seen better. - Youngest first: emits particles first, think of it like front to back like layers - Oldest first: makes the oldest particle within the particles to be seen first then the newest(simple fire). - Sorting Fudge: sorts the number of layers in order like Photoshop layers to organize which layer is to show first starting from layer 0.

Simulation space: world is good for making particle trails for moving objects.

How effective Shape is for particles to be given a 360 arc so they form like a circle like the Magic effect and Sunrays.

How good controlling the speed rotation of particles while they move, e.g. dust storm.

How effective Size over lifetime is to making particles start small and go smaller or larger over time.

How effective the Collision module is for using properties to behave when colliding in with objects like... - Bounce: how effective does it bounce when colliding with objects. - Dampen: how effective will it lose its friction when colliding with objects. - Max Kill Speed: How fast do particles need to be after it has collided with an object and then it dies. - Can determine which objects with certain Layermask it collides with. - Can be enabled to collide with dynamic objects.

WHAT WENT WRONG AND WHAT COULD I HAVE DONE BETTER?:

Next time, when showing the particles in the scene view, I should have the orange selection outline turned off.

I had a lot of difficulty making the video on Microsoft Clipchamp because it kept deleting the recorded clips and I had to reimport them back in which took a long time to load. I was originally gonna make one whole video, but I had so many problems with it, so instead I had to make separate video parts of the Particles video. Soon I will stop using Microsoft Clipchamp, and use a different movie maker app after I make two last videos of my newest project.

I was not really satisfied with the Smoke funnel because I was hoping it would look like a tornado with all particles blended together rather than look like it's coming apart, I will need to improve on making particles in general if I want to make a tornado particle for next time.

I think the snowflakes from the snow particles should have an actual snowflake texture to be realistic rather than a simple white circle, however, it will depend on my next game's art style and how far the player sees it when in snow-themed levels.

OVERALL:

Overall I’m glad I got a better understanding of how the particle system works, despite it was a bit tedious and a big project to do.

Now that I have learned a lot, it should make new and editing existing particles much easier in development with less headache.

It was tricky to name every single nuts and bolts detail on the post-mortem that I learned, so I did my best. If you have read this, thanks for watching and understanding.

[drvwing]

the correct answer is YES and anyone who said nope doesn’t know the franchise!! every Nintendo product released had an animal crossing game correspond with it. DS had wild world, wii had city folk, DSI had new leaf, when the 3DS came out they released welcome amiibo to new leaf + happy home designer. with switch came new horizons. when the OLED came out we had the last big update for new horizons, + DLC where they said no more updates. when switch 2 comes i believe we will either see an entirely new game, or at least an announcement that one is in the works. with how big the franchise grew in 2020 they would be silly not to release either an additional DLC, or the announcement of “coming soon” esp when every nintendo direct everyone is begging for new content for ac.

Do you think we'll get a new main series Animal Crossing game for the Switch 2 next year?

Might as well make a poll...!

[dawniedrella]

For some reason, this image makes me feel kinda sad idk why :(((

[SPOILERS]

(aka just me rambling abt stuff aksnjhbcjaka pardon me)

I always see Lan and Exe have this strong bond, being able to prevail through many battles together, even if it meant having to risk their own lives and all that... the more i think about it, the more it makes sense

I'm not fully well versed into battle network lore as i am with mmx lore but I always wondered if Lan knew that exe was actually based on his dead twin brother. Yes, he treats exe like his own brother but knowing where exe's data was from is something only Lan's father (and possibly his mother) know

Sometimes, putting yourself into Lan's shoes: imagine having to lose your netnavi a few times from battle and thinking theyre gone for good. I do see why, cuz I always see Exe as somewhat a polar opposite of Lan; the dutiful brother who's willing to take risks if it meant for the better good of the world or to just protect his family

But i feel worse for Dr. Hikari, for he's the one who created exe himself. He may have not fully moved on from the early infant death of his other son (Hub), therefore he used his deceased son's data to create Megaman.exe and gifted it to Lan on his birthday. Exe is a very important member in the family, especially to Mrs. Hikari (Dr. Hikari's wife), whom had to bear with the loss of her twin son. And having Exe around, either spending time with Lan, scolding him to do his work and listen to his parents, going to school with him, or even calling Lan's parents "Mom" and "Dad" gives Mrs. Hikari a sweet familial feeling.... a feeling as if her other son was still alive. At this point, Exe was not a netnavi, but their child: a child that they have lost too soon but was revived under the condition that they do not bear flesh, but digital strands of data.

I really WANNA RAMBLE MORE ABOUT THIS BUT I NEED TO SINK INTO MORE MEGAMAN BATTLE NETWORK CONTENT (I only played 2 games and watched the entirety of dubbed NT warrior so yeah HASBDBAKJ) rest of the stuff I knew was out of discovery

Still though, I just really love the concept behind Lan and Megaman.exe's bond and seeing so much possibilities behind it! Like what if we get an alternative universe where Exe was human instead of a netnavi (Hub Hikari ftw !!!) Or Exe meeting children suffering from the same disease he had (there was in the one of the games but i feel like that aspect should be explored more) I just feel like there would be more for them in store but for now we gotta wait THANKS FOR COMING TO MY TEDTALK

[einsatzzz]

i’m sorry if this is a rude question, but I was a bit surprised by the housework part in your ship meme. i just doubt that tsuna is such a good housewife material considering that at the beginning of the manga he had nana doing everything for him, he had a messy room, so i seriously doubt his talent goes beyond heating up food…. i just thought that kurumi and tsuna would just set the house on fire together because they can't both do anything

Thank you for dropping by my inbox, anon! No worries, I didn't read it as a rude question, I actually even got inspo from your ask lmaooo I'm just gonna put it here hahaha 🤣

Also, here's the link for the ship meme mentioned! 🐟🎀

Ok, now to actually answer your ask!

I do agree that Nana practically did all the work in the house for him. His room is also quite messy as you said 😭 and highly likely, the only reason it gets cleaned up is also Nana (it's even shown at the room previews). There's even that one episode in Future Arc where Haru & Kyoko boycotted them, and they just kept eating instant noodles because they can't cook a proper meal. All in all, that's just how much of a Dame Tsuna he is, being crap at housework as much as he is with school grades.

Though, this doesn't mean he'll just "absolutely" stay like that forever. Just like the growth his character had throughout the entire story and his shows of courage (or just him stepping up when needed) in situations where we know he's scared too, I believe this characteristic of his can also spill over to other aspects of his life which includes something as common as housework. And it's not like he doesn't personally want to grow as a person too, you know?

Another important thing to consider for this is the dynamic between Tsuna and Kurumi (a character who's an added variable to what we initially have as canon, which can affect Tsuna's character as well). A key part of their relationship in general that we want to portray is that they provide each other more opportunities for personal growth. Of course, this includes Tsuna stepping up in taking over for most of the housework.

A nice analogy for this would be when you pair up an introvert and an extreme introvert together for a project, so now the introvert will have to step up their game for the other introvert even if they're bad at it.

So if we apply this example to them, while Tsuna is quite bad at doing housework (with Nana doing it all for him), Kurumi is even way way worse (with having multiple servants at their family's disposal to handle their housework + spoiled even more by her family + whatever black matter cooking fuckery she has going on). In the end, Tsuna is forced to step up his game, for both his and Kurumi's safety in their shared living space. He won't be perfect at it especially during the period when they just moved in together, but at the very least I can see him improving to somewhere around below average to barely average skill, which is as the anime dudebros would call "mid" jfmdhdjdjdhd 🤣🤣🤣

We never really said that he'd be a good housewife material, but instead! ✨He will be Kurumi's housewife when they're together in their home 🙏✨

He won't be able to cook those five-star restaurant steaks for her, but you can at least expect him to cook some fried eggs that are a bit burned on the side (or maybe even underneath lol) - it's still edible. I can see him learning to cook other easy fried dishes or boiled dishes (boiled eggs ftw 👍) or maybe just plain eggs over rice (can you tell i love egg dishes, but I've never tried eggs over rice, I just discovered it in Gin//tama).

Then when he washes the dishes, he definitely broke glass plates or cups while attempting to do so. As time goes on, the frequency of that happening would decrease, but he'll still break a few from time to time. I can imagine even more scenarios but I'll stop there hehe He's not perfect, but he's doing his best!

One can also argue that they can just hire servants (or Kurumi can just bring a maid with her) since they're both Bosses of their respective Families, but they're also the type of characters who wants to live a normal life away from the underworld (at the very least, in their home life). Having "servants" or "guards" is off the list for that! So, it's just the two of them trying to live a simple life together in a comfortable apartment (...as simple as they can. They're not exactly normal people to begin with 💀).

I'll be stopping myself from any further rambling, this is long enough kdhddkhdjd Thank you for coming to my Housewife Tsuna and Domestic TYL TsunaRumi TED talk!🥰🥰🐟🎀 I've been wanting to yap about this, thank you again for sending this ask, yippeeee!!!

=====

reference for the short above, the og user in tik//tok alr deleted their acc unfortunately huhu

[kismetrose]

Vampire Therapist FTW

I don't tend to buy games/visual novels when they're first released and this week was an expensive one for me, but I grabbed this little gem as a consolation prize. I've missed visual novels and I was instantly interested in its premise. I mean, "Vampire Therapist" says so much so quickly!

Now, I haven't finished it yet, but I have had a delightful time with it thus far. The main character, Sam Walls the vampire cowboy, is an adorable cinnamon roll who wants to help other vampires thrive. His new vampire mentor, Andromachos, is as patient and civilized as you could hope an ancient vampire could be. Each of the patients is unique, and some of them are historic figures.

The view on vampires, their psychology, and their issues is interesting. One thing I appreciate is that the game goes out of its way to show how philosophies, religious beliefs, and other modes of thought influence their worldviews, even many years after those modes of thoughts dwindled in popularity. It reinforces how they are products of older times.

I've become partial to the term "bloodfather/mother/parent" for those who turn others into vampires; I automatically liked it better than V:tM's "sire."

You learn various cognitive distortions and identify them in the statements your patients make; this is the heart of the game experience. I've found myself hearing Sam in my head, identifying them IRL since I started playing, which has added an extra layer of amusement.

I haven't done multiple playthroughs yet so I haven't seen if your choices make much of a difference. There have been some moments when it's clear that it doesn't matter what you choose - you'll either have to go through all the options or you'll go through until you choose the right one. Either way, there doesn't seem to be much difference in how others respond. After a certain point in the patient-cowboy therapist exchange, you don't get many choices; Sam just proceeds to wrap up with his observations and advice.

This has been a little disappointing, since it may make replaying it less satisfying, but it's also reduced the need to save-scum for a persistent little perfectionist like me.

The art is beautiful and Western-style, which I prefer. The entire thing is voiced by good voice actors in a variety of accents which I have had no trouble understanding; having so much voiced is a special treat!

The music is good, but one thing that might bother some of folks is that the music from the club runs rather continuously beneath most conversations. If you find it distracting, you may have to turn it off.

I hope to say more later, but I thought I should put in a good word now. $15 ain't a lot but can be a lot to an indie game company, and buzz can be important for something newly released. If this sounds like it's your bag, there's no harm in grabbing it. You might even learn some things that'll be of use to you.

And yes, Matt Mercer does voice a couple of characters. That wasn't a main draw for me, but I know it is for some folks.

[zerolympiustrife]

The Good News and Bad News of my current, ongoing life as we speak (the latter of which will be continued!)

For those who’ve read my previous post on why I’ve bid a tragic farewell to hands-down my FAVORITE anime/video game convention (AND convention center!) to have ever existed (San Japan FTW, always and forever!)…there’s a reason for that.

Good news: I had a fun experience here, as always! Bought myself merch, awesome keychains, cute plushies, played video games (old and new!), took photos of awesome cosplayers, the usual of what I’ve always loved coming to SJ. However…

Bad news: It’s likely possible (dare I say, the likeliness is automatically at 100%) that this is going to be my final year at such an awesome convention.

I repeat: It’s likely possible (again: likeliness: 100%!) that this will be my final year attending at San Japan, let alone visiting San Antonio for such a fun event that’s always been important to me ever since I found out this place existed in the city I’ve lived in since childhood. And if this DOES happen to be my final year, then…oh well. At least my final experience here went out with a bang, and never in silence.

But why is this going to be my final year attending to my favorite convention? Well…to be continued…next post!

[celeluwhenfics]

A compliment for you from this writer compliment ask game:

🧠 love how your brain works and how you solve plots

So, of course, I remain in awe of the way that you are in the process of weaving together super intricate story lines and plots points from Tolkien with those of Austen. That challenge kind of boggles my mind, and what we’ve seen of pHORSE so far (or what I have been lucky enough to hear about through side bar conversations!) is just SO impressive! I’m so glad that you’re doing it and so excited to see it keep playing out!

But even beyond that, I am always so delighted to get little glimpses into your thinking, whether that is worldbuilding (the creek game!) or character HCs (too many to even name but OBVIOUSLY I love that you’re bringing depth and personality to obscure guys like Gárulf!) or the plots of your one shots. The way that you wrote a whole story about the predicament of Éowyn as a caregiver that fully captured the desperate struggle of her situation without having to actually show us Éowyn engaging in any caregiving was so striking! So thank you as always, and I’m excited for more!

Thank you! 🤭🥰🥹 I don't know what to say, other than to blush violently and giggle!

I think that this compliment touches me so much precisely because it is something that is so important to me! Seeing that you realize how it's such a huge challenge, and that you appreciate the efforts I put in to make it work, means a lot A LOT to me!

And thanks for mentioning Spoons - although I think that it's my least popular work (it does touches difficult, unusual themes), in my opinion it is some of my best.

And yes - so happy to share a deep love of completely obscure dudes with you!!! 🥰 Gárulf and Guthláf FTW!!!

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

What do you think the Darkling's rule would have been like had he won or Alina had joined him to save her friends? I mean laws he would abolish, laws he would enforce, his tax policy, his crime management (talk about any of these that you find intersting/would want to talk about).

-discussgrishaverse

This is something I’ve talked about before a little bit. I think it’s difficult to speculate about with how thin the worldbuilding is, because like what are the existing laws and policies? He’s in power for like a book and a half, how are things different??? Can the average person feel a change in their lives at all?? It’s unclear!

Anyway adding onto some of the ideas in the other post, I think his immediate game plan upon taking power would probably be to declare martial law. If he can get his hands on the Lantsovs (whoever in the family is still alive) then they’re being imprisoned and publicly tried and executed for treason. Insert requisite propaganda about how they’ve neglected the nation and only ever acted in their own self interest. If this is after S&S then the Apparat would be slated to follow suit, which in reality, I think he’s slippery enough and has enough zealous followers everywhere that he’d manage to escape the country.

Which would also make the Darkling even angrier at the church lol. Unclear *how* the Ravkan church works, the Apparat seems to be equal parts Rasputin, equal parts the Russian Patriarch. He’s also introduced simply as the king’s spiritual advisor but “the Apparat” is used like a title— though it’s one he seems to keep even after being disgraced. The word “Apparat” itself comes from Apparatchik, but in English it translates literally to “an organization or existing power structure, esp. a political one” so like shdgf there’s an organization. But also they don’t act like there’s anything particularly organized about the religion. Sigh. Whatever. But let’s assume he’s head of the church ig? And his actions would probably reflect on it as an institution. Anyway, all this to say, I could see the Darkling going French Revolution on the clergy afterwards tbqh. Reform the church, break up its current structure and integrate it into his new government. And requiring all priests to swear an oath to the state, and to adhere to particular standards (preaching state sanctioned propaganda) or leave the country/be arrested.

I already talked about generally thinking that he’d likely seize any wealth from the nobility, enact very strict sumptuary laws, and raise taxes on imports. (Ravka apparently being behind every other country in advancement would make a mercantilist strategy not particularly effective, but like. he’d try. lol)

At face value he seems to think he’s like a supporter of the proletariat, salt of the earth, etc etc despite being fully out of touch, living in luxury, and having transformed the second army into an upper class. So I could see him outright just abolishing the aristocracy tbqh and moving the country outright into a military state vs the temporary martial law.

Re: taxes lolll talking about fantasy taxes. But also like he is so so militantly against technological advancement because of how it threatens Grisha power. He would tax any sort of technological or industrial development to hell and back. I could also see him attempting to incentivize a more agrarian model for civilians a) because he’s old and would generally be pushing a return to things he might find more familiar b) in attempts to make the country more self sufficient. The less reliance on foreign goods the better, isolationism ftw, all that stuff.

I honestly can’t decide if he’d lean into Grisha manufacturing and like pseudo industrialization via magic. Because there’s very much the vibe that Grisha power is reserved for use in the army basically and pretty much only afforded to Grisha soldiers. Like it doesn’t appear that they’re manufacturing stuff and like selling it to the average person? The nobility, at least at court, seem to use Grisha power frivolously, but we also know that the Darkling hates this and thinks it’s a waste. So. I think he might actually overlook any like particularly Grisha made goods that might be produced at a large scale and used within Ravka or even exported. At least initially, if he’s in power for long enough I think he might change his mind tbqh. Where with the advent of like parem, the sheer number of indentured in Kerch, and the super soldiers in Shu Han etc, Ravka no longer seems to have a monopoly on Grisha power. And he might be interested in fostering that.

Anyway so it’s super unclear how crime is managed in Ravka? They mention Tsibeya as a faux Siberia though, so I’m assuming exile there is a common practice. Capital punishment was pretty rare in Tsarist Russia? If we’re assuming that’s also the case in Ravka, then lol he sure is bringing that back 😬

[gumjester]

hey shawty its void from discord (i should change my username)

🏚💭💕🤝🎤 for the EAH ask game

HEY SHAWTYYYYYYYYY I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO ANSWER ALL THE OTHER ASKS LETS GET TO IT

🏚 - favourite abandoned plotline/story arc?

what a terrible misalignment of fate that i did not get to originally lament the tragedy of the abandoned hood-badwolf plotline to the biggest hood-badwolf supporter out there...... but i assume you have read that previous answer on that, you know my thoughts!!

another abandoned plotline that grates on my actual real soul is, of course, the missed opportunity with chase redford. i think about it every day. it keeps me up at night. i wont repeat myself too much from this post but by GOD didnt that boy deserve to come to eah and have a nice time???? a decent time????? a remotely better time than whatever the fuck he was suffering through in wonderland??!? chase redford, lost to the depths......

💭 - any headcanons that are important to you?

the more headcanons i think of the more of them i realise to be actual, real spoilers for my rewrite, be that worldbuilding or character arcs...... UMMMMMMMMM.... its important to me that lizzie has braces. or at least HAD them. it feels like a crucial part of her character. you understand

💕 - any other character dynamics you like (family, friends, ships)?

this is another fabricated chase friendship but the very idea of kitty and chase interacting brings me so much joy and in my head they are the very best of friends !!!!! kind of !!! kitty definitely thinks so!!! she loves to fuck with people and chase is very scared of causing problems so witnessing the abject chaos kitty puts everyone through every day is like simultaneous torture and therapy for him. they feel like this image to me

🤝 - brotp?

this time in terms of canon! DUCHESS AND SPARROW FTW!!!!!!! they work on literally any level - friends, enemies, lovers, a secret fourth thing.... theyre GREAT and lots of fun to write. banter CITY. so many of their traits intersect in fascinating ways... sparrows casual malice vs duchess' much more calculated and intentional approach, his love of music, her love of dancing, their unique approaches to rebellion... LOVE THEM LOTS

🎤 - what would you change about eah if you could?

GESTURES VAGUELY TO MY REWRITE...... ITS ALL IN THERE GIRL. LITERALLY EVERYTHING. the only reason i ever started my rewrite was out of the burning desire to manifest the changes i had always envisioned in the source material on paper..... im right, mattel. why cant you see that. why didnt you TALK 2 ME BEFORE YOU DID ALL THIS

[satoshi-mochida]

Wonder Trek, developed by Zest Works, is another Japan only PS1 game I found through a video from the YTer Import Gaming FTW.

Professor Favre and his assistant Nick(the player character) are approached by a man named Murdock, and tells them that about the professor's brother Amedio, as well as a mysterious island said to have a phoenix, who the two want to get one of it's eggs to eat. He pays for their trip, though on the way, their plane crashes, stranding them.

Soon after, they learn that the island is populated by animals thought to be extinct, and can speak like humans, as well.

The gameplay is action adventure, having Nick, followed by the professor, explore the island, collect items solve puzzles, and save the animals captured by poachers who came to the island, too.

Aside from poachers, the wildlife can attack Nick as well, and the only weapon you have is a piko hammer called the Supersonic Wave Hammer, which makes both run off, or pacify bosses, after being hit enough.

The Professor follows behind Nick as he explores. He can be asked to examine items and help with puzzles, though he needs Nick's help to climb large ledges. Thankfully, he can't be killed, so there's no usual escort mission problems to deal with.

The island is decently large, with the two's camp being a kind of 'hub'. There are some shortcuts to find, as well.

You can save nearly anywhere so long as you have Feathers that can be found all across the island to write journal entries.

There's a normal and True Ending to the game, the latter you get by rescuing all of the animals captured across the island.

After finishing the game, an Ark will open up that showcases the animals you rescued, giving details on them...as well as the circumstances of and date they went extinct/were believed to have gone extinct.

Some trivia; the game got the approval of the WWF(World Wide Fund for Nature, formally known as the World Wildlife Fund). On the full box art, there's a sticker from them.

There's no fan translation at the moment, but there is a guide on GameFAQS.

[maybirdie]

Horizon Asks

Thanks for the tags @singingkestrel and @meg-noel-art !

1. ride or die ship (your otp): Ereloy. As if that’s news to anyone lmao

2. most annoying ship: I see y’all trying to start drama, I’m not falling for it lmao. Oh wait actually...Talanah/Amadis 🤣

3. second favourite ship: Between Kotallo/Talanah and Abadund/Morlund. One for spicy, one for sweet. Also Petra and like, most of the women in the game

4. favourite platonic relationship: I love the big brother/little sis vibes between Beta and Erend even though we never see them interact really. I love that she mentions that he makes her laugh. Also Aloy and Gildun - obsessed.

5. underrated ship: Drakka/Yarra - LISTEN I KNOW but it’s the ultimate enemies to lovers and I love them. Also Avad/Ersa....starcrossed lovers ftw

6. overrated ship: more instigating I see

7. one thing i would change in canon: One? LMAO. So many things post-HZD. Particularly the way Erend got shafted and how many threads got dropped (we didn’t get a post-Daunt makeup scene? Really??). Also Talanah should have been an official GAIA gang member, hands down. And I’ll be honest, the way romance for Aloy was handled in general.

8. something canon did right: The entire arc of HZD is masterful and perfect and it’s been a long time since I’ve been that gripped by a mystery in any media. It was always going to be hard to top, but I would love if the next game reverted back to that kind of storytelling vs the “doing too much” trend of HFW

9. a thing i'm proud of creating for the fandom: A hard choice, but I think I have to pick Love Games just because it was such a labor of love between myself and @sorbetowl​. I had a blast collaborating with such a talented artist and friend! For that reason I’m SUPER excited to be working on the upcoming VN, Focus on the Heart - already such an amazing experience!

10. a character who is perfect to me (wouldn't change a thing): GILDUN GILDUN GILDUN GILDUN GILDUN

11. the character i relate to the most and why: Definitely Erend. There’s a reason I ship him with Aloy lol. I guess there are pieces of both of them I relate to hard - Aloy’s impatience with rude people/social situations and her love for solitude, Erend’s self-consciousness and sense of responsibility for keeping everyone happy and feeling good. The combo of them hits real close to home.

12. character(-s) i hate the most and why: Tilda was a really tough character for me for personal reasons. She’s a wonderfully crafted villain but she also makes my skin craaaaawl. Which I suppose is exactly what she’s meant to do, so well done Guerrilla 😂

13. something i've learned from the fandom: God so much. I rolled into the Ereloy discord totally clueless back in April 2022, and feel like I have so much useless lore in my head now (and I’m not anywhere near some of the real lore people I know). But beyond lore, I’ve really learned how important empathy and putting yourself in other’s shoes can be. It’s amazing how many new friends I’ve made from being open to other people’s POVs, and how much I’ve seen people hurt each other because they’re not open to it.

14. three tags i seek out on ao3: Sensual Fingerblasting (iykyk), There Was Only One Bed, Sparring as Foreplay

15. a song i strongly associate with my otp/favourite character: Slowly by Olivia Dean, Can’t Fight This Feeling by REO Speedwagon cause what better Friends to Lovers song is there?

tagging: No pressure tags!! Also sorry if this is a repeat for anyone. @souls-that-have-senses, @sorbetowl, @imamandajulius, @emtazer, @brekkie-e, @cranialgames, @nerd-artist, @xxxhellfireravenxxx 

[shebeafancyflapjack]

If you're still doing the ask game, can you do Robin as you said he's your blorbo?

He is! Thank you anon!

Favorite thing about them: HE JUST SO CUTE! I'm a sucker for characters who appear one way but then completely take you off guard. Robin looks like your typical grunting simple caveman but then reveals himself to be the kindest, wisest, most mentally tortured character in the show. Add to that he's basically a human pupper. My previous blorbos (Thirteen, Arthur Morgan, Spike) have all had "Kitty!" vibes but Robin is pure Pupper.

Least favorting thing about them: That he didn't get to move on. :( The show was really playing into how desperately he wanted to go by the end. I was even certain that as soon as he felt "Christmassy" he would get to leave but it didn't happen. Let him rest! Also the incest...Just ew.

Favourite line: "She no porcupine!" / "I want my lawyer." / "Before you was moonah, before house was moonah, everything come, everything go, but always there, moonah." / "I miss a lot of people. But more come along."

Brotp: Canon is him and Julian. Chess husbands are so real, but queerplatonic imo. Fanon is him and Alison, he is her good boy.

OTP: I'm like the only person who actually thinks him and Mary were cute? Gremlin couple ftw. But really Robin/Mary/Annie is my favourite polyship and the only one I've actually written fic for so far.

Notp: Pretty much everyone except Mary, Annie, Julian and possibly Thomas.

Random headcanon: His whole going mad thing from the book is still an ongoing problem. He has more coping mechanisms now but still has bad 'spells', some of the ghosts help him through it but others have become so used to him just "being strange" they just ignore him and wait for it to pass like in Not Again.

Unpopular opinion: I think he was a good dad. For the time. For a man who had thirty kids and most of them probably with his sister. The way he talks about the importance of "raising children together, in peace and love" and watches over his animal friends when they have babies, how sweet he was putting Kitty to sleep, he seems to love just being around kids. I dunno if that's unpopular, it just always seems to be Pat or Cap who get talked about when it comes to dads and my boy was over here fathering future generations, as well as putting the work in to raise said kids - but he often gets passed off as too immature or uncaring, like forgetting the whole duality of his character and how he's never as simple as he appears to be. Like sure he probably picked those babies up by their ankles and carried them on his shoulders, but he never dropped them!

Song I associate with them: Starman by Bowie. My Tears Ricochet by Taylor Swift is so him/Sophie/Humphrey.

Favorite picture of them:

Just look at him, hims just the cutest little thing!

[isabellehemlock]

GTKY Tag Game

Thank you so much @energievie for tagging me for a fun tag game!  I could have sworn I did this one a few months back but then again, just because I couldn’t find it via my search button means nothing in tumblr land lolll - anyways, here we go! Are you named after anyone?

Technically I’m named after my great-aunt, Katharina (turning 90 this year!), but to be honest, my mom said it was more about just really liking the name in general versus like any kind of honoring family sort of thing.  My two middle names are my paternal and maternal grandmother’s names.  And fun fact: I was almost named Ka‘iulani if it had been up to my Dad (and I think my Mom won solely for the fact that most of her family would not have been able to pronounce it correctly lol)

When was the last time you cried?

Over the weekend, watching the latest season of Queer Eye

Do you have kids?

Two AMAB, and one baby in Heaven due to pregnancy loss

Do you use sarcasm a lot? Only in person where I can hear tone, and see body language and vice versa - I can be very Vince Vaughn-ish kind of humor lol.  But online?  Nope, not without tone indicators.  My brain reads very literally (thanks NDcodedness).

What sport do you play/have you played?

I was the sickly kid (still am) - but I did a few years of choir, and show choir for two years in high school

What’s the first thing you notice about other people?

How they treat and speak to others.  Though I can appreciate everyone has off days, and one snap moment shouldn’t be like the end all to end all - and words matter to me, I’m a words of affirmations gal, I believe that though someone can fake being kind, they can’t fake being mean.  And if someone uses their time and energy to consciously drag someone down, I will not invest my time and energy into nurturing a connection with them.

Eye color?

Blue, a smidge of green, central heterochromia in both eyes, and a gray outline

Scary movies or happy endings?

Scary movies ftw

Any special talents?

Pretty much anything artsy, and (especially digital) organization related

Where were you born?

Fulda, Germany 

What are you hobbies? Anything artsy 

Do you have any pets?

Nope!  Allergic to pretty much everything pet related lol - but my mom who lives above us has several pets, so my kiddos meander upstairs for their pet fix.

How tall are you?

Five and five and a half - very important to include the half :)  Fun fact, same height as Marilyn Monroe <3

Fave subject in school?

History - with English, and Choir being close second and third.

Dream job?

Growing up: kindergarten teacher - ended up doing work with a lot of different children’s ministries and non profits, and human services in my late teeens, through mid30s.

Now?  I can’t offer consistent work hours due to chronic health issues, so adapting, I’d say, probably self publishing at some point, or selling zines.  Dipping my toes into it by offering prints on my (soon to be open) etsy store, and engaging with more fandom zines.  Might end up looking into it more seriously in another year, or two.

Tagging (with no pressure of course) @beepbeepsan @esinofsardis @carmine-sunlight @mylonelyangel7 @fablesdelightme @jennaflare @terribledelights @vexbatch @flawedamythyst @strawberryxfieldz @magslensherr @soitamulle

[spacestationstorybook]

3, 5 and 9 + Rainbow dash, 14, 16 and 18 + Glados, 4, 7 and 20 + Karlach for the fem f/o asks please!

💌donahdevotees💌

WOOHOO thanks so much @donahdevotees!! <3333 i love. Women

3. What foods does she love that you hate and vice versa? i actually think we might have more in common than not (canonically she loves to carboload which Same and also dislikes pie which. same! for the most part. sorry‏‏‎ ‎pinkie.‏‏‎ ‎though i do like chocolate pies just nothing with fruit in them) but i feel like while she snacks a lot she also eats a lot of weird health food to help her stay in shape which i'm not a fan of. not sure what i like that she wouldn't i'm usually the pickier one. i guess the chocolate pies lol

5. Do you stash snacks for each other? What kind? i believe in my heart and soul that she's a sour gummy worm girl. probably doritos and other chips too (she likes spicy chips i like tangy ones. salt and vinegar ftw) we probably have similar snack preferences but we both kind of hate to share (unless it's one of those ginormous bags) so i like to think she keeps a little cupboard just for astral‏‏‎ ‎snacks‏‏‎ ‎(or more likely astral keeps a cupboard for her because she lives in the sky so she's probably visiting them more than vice versa.)

9. Do you have nicknames for each other? just mentioned calling her speedy...which again. precious. dashie‏‏‎ ‎of course but since that one's a little more cutesy it's usually used during private just the two of them time (pinkie‏‏‎ ‎and‏‏‎ ‎fluttershy‏‏‎ ‎use it too but well. they're pinkie‏‏‎ ‎and‏‏‎ ‎fluttershy).‏‏‎ ‎astral's name doesn't lend itself to nicknames so well but ohhhh my god what if she called them sparky like to go with speedy.......FUCK okay that's adorable

answering the rest under a cut because my answers to ask games get long sorry haha

14. What are your thoughts on each other's profession? Do you visit each other at work? they technically have the same job lol which is scientist at‏‏‎ ‎aperture‏‏‎ ‎labs‏‏‎ ‎but after‏‏‎ ‎portal!nyx‏‏‎ ‎gets their robot body and aperture‏‏‎ ‎becomes defunct they don't Have to work anymore they just do it for fun. they help her set up the testing chambers. sometimes they go above ground just to explore but they always come back and tell her about their day :)

16. What type of gifts do you give each other? (For birthdays, special occasions, holidays, etc) i think‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎glados‏‏‎ ‎likes running little simulations for portal!nyx‏‏‎ ‎to complete (enrichment for them!!) so for a special occasion she'd run a really advanced and intricate one like some sort of one person escape room or something. she doesn't really get the point of holidays and such but she does like to see them having fun.‏‏‎ ‎and in exchange they bring her little gifts from aboveground :) books or stuffed animals or shirts with dumb sayings on them (she can't wear them but they amuse her).

18. What's one moment in your relationship where she changed your perspective of yourself and vice versa? i feel like‏‏‎ ‎portal!nyx‏‏‎ ‎struggles a lot with feeling useful and important (one of my most common insecurities to give to my s/is). and i think that‏‏‎ ‎while‏‏‎ ‎glados‏‏‎ ‎is somewhat annoyed by them at first (though she still chose to put them in the robot body soooooo) they feel energized by all the little tasks she gives them and while sometimes they're lonely it's nice to find meaning in being useful for someone. as for vice versa portal!nyx‏‏‎ ‎is the classic Villain's Soft Spot so maybe they just change her perspective of herself as rageful and evil allll the time. (just some of the time)

4. What drink does she order for you? What do you order for her? oh i LOVE trying weird drinks and‏‏‎ ‎karlach‏‏‎ ‎loves trying weird anything in general.‏‏‎ ‎i think‏‏‎ ‎aerax‏‏‎ ‎should get a fancy lemonade that like changes color (which‏‏‎ ‎in‏‏‎ ‎the‏‏‎ ‎original‏‏‎ ‎bg3‏‏‎ ‎setting would probably be because of magic) and‏‏‎ ‎karlach‏‏‎ ‎should get hmmmm. something tropical probably....maybe a pina colada that'd be fun (regarding alcoholic drinks i have no idea about my own preferences yet because i'm 20 in america but i like virgin margaritas so we'll say‏‏‎ ‎aerax‏‏‎ ‎likes real margaritas)

7. What hobbies do you share? What hobbies do you do separately but encourage the other about? both of them LOVE adventuring and discovering new things!‏‏‎ ‎karlach specifically likes more dangerous stuff and aerax...could really give or take the life threatening peril but loves discovering new plants or animals or spells or anything really.‏‏‎ ‎karlach‏‏‎ ‎is very into athletic pursuits and‏‏‎ ‎aerax‏‏‎ ‎is fairly strong but not nearly to her level but they like to encourage her (it helps that she can pick them up easily despite them being almost as tall as her).‏‏‎ ‎aerax‏‏‎ ‎is a big reader and‏‏‎ ‎karlach‏‏‎ ‎is not so much but she Does let‏‏‎ ‎aerax recommend her things they think she'll like as long as they don't make her read any of the big dusty spellbooks.

20. Free space, gush about her/your ship! she is SOOOO lovely...definitely the‏‏‎ ‎number one thing that got me into‏‏‎ ‎bg3.‏‏‎ ‎there were many other smaller things but i might not have bought it and just been content to enjoy it through my mutuals if it hadn't been for her. she's so tough but also SO kind and caring despite all she's been through and she feels so much...she deserves to never have anything bad happen to her ever again forever

[princesseevee06]

joe and mai hypothetical adventures entice me... but i also have to know what mais deal is......

hi hi hi yeah i just realized i haven’t elaborated on mai that much yet!!!! she is such joyous fun to me :3

so basically i wanted to expand upon the description in the artbook of mai being the “poster girl” for her town’s bakery…but the bakery is a family owned one! so she helps her parents out in running it. maple is also there (she was originally hired as a maid but they found out That Girl Can Bake‼️ so they were like….bro just come work with us)

but what you’re probably asking about is the juicy deets on why she is important to the death game. SO

mai was originally supposed to be a candidate for the death game (emphasis on supposed to) but asunaro was also like, we want that maple girl to be part of it too, so maybe we can kill two birds with one stone. they basically blackmail mai (i havent decided which agent would be in charge of recruiting her yet. i think it would be interesting if it was emiri) and say “hey if you don’t get maple to sign the form we will come for you and your family (smiles so wide and serenely)” and so obviously mai doesn’t want to trick maple into doing something shady for a shady organization. BUT she is very scared and so she does it anyways

…what mai doesn’t know is that maple overhears this conversation take place and so she realizes why mai is doing what she’s doing (tragic yuri ftw). BUT when maple signs the form she wishes for mai and her family to be safe and so uhhhhhh. this throws a wrench in asunaro’s plans! because now they are obligated Not to kidnap mai and she never ends up becoming a candidate. or participating in the death game at all

…i imagine when maple goes missing mai would be wracked with such guilt wondering what happened and if it was all her fault. Great

BUT THATS NOT ALL WE SEE OF HER. asunaro gets Pissed that mai wasn’t secured for the death game because she was very much supposed to be part of it, so they compromise and end up making an AI of her! so “mai,” or velvet as she is called here, takes maple’s place as an obstructor and as you might have guessed she is red velvet cake themed :) (this also gets very weird and very sad quickly on the route where maple lives.) the worst part is that she doesn’t even have any memories of maple so if they see each other again it is solely just. Grieving on maple’s part

sorry if this isn’t that much but i do find mai to be v interesting here and i will def draw velvet in the future ;;