#in between that there is some uninspired padding unfortunately

[mirror-to-the-past]

My biggest gripe with Omori, made all the more painful through replaying, has got to be the absolute *drudgery* that is the combat system in the Real World. The fun and interesting emotion system completely falls to the wayside, even though changes in emotion *are* technically present. It's just that they don't really influnce anything, so it's kind of pointless. No fun ability moves or anything, you're just spamming attack over and over again, whittling down enemies that have way too much health considering that they don't have any phases, special moves, or anything.

The only fights in the Real World in which this boring combat style works in the game's favor is with the first fight in the Real World with Aubrey in the park, and the second Aubrey fight in the church. Both cases are because of the thematic elements that are being subverted and explored, accordingly. In the first fight, it's wonderfully brilliant, because the player goes into the fight with the preconceived expectations of Sunny's imaginative dreamscape only to realize that, oh- Aubrey actually got cut from Sunny swinging his knife at her? Oh my god, this is an actual fight... with consequences. This is real. It walks you through Sunny's likely feelings of disorientation and dissociation. It doesn't overstay its welcome outside of the point it's trying to make- I quite like it.

And when it comes to the church fight, the atmosphere is great. The brutality of the normalcy, of Sunny and Kel just hitting and throwing shit at Aubrey while littered with nasty dialogue from the churchgoers- it stings, and it sucks how they're doing this boring, pointless fight-meets-public-humilation because why are we even fighting? We're supposed to be friends.

All of the other fights in the Real World, though? Ugh. There's no atmosphere, the repetition is a slog, and it's like. C'mon, guys. It feels unfinished. There were absolutely better ways to introduce, explore, and get aid from the Hooligans. I think doing mini side quests for each of the Hooligans in order to get information about Aubrey would have been WAY preferable than this. Then you could've had, you know, more meaningful environmental storytelling and dialogue to explore each of their personalities and stuff instead of just hitting them for a few minutes.

I'm also reminded of my other disatisfaction with the Hooligans in that, outside of Aubrey, they mainly feel *silly,* not really like any particular threat they are assumed to be. Like, we can assume they engage with and/or are complacent with Aubrey's bullying, and are otherwise the "bad news" that Kel considers them to be. However, with the way that most of them are OUTWARDLY PORTRAYED as just silly, quirky guys with the most heinous crimes involving shoplifting candy, I have a really hard time holding disdain for them at any point in the game- makes Kel just seem like the guy who hates the nerdy kids at school lmao.

In my fantasy universe, each of the Hooligans have their mini side quests that give little hints of their lives as troubled teens, make them a tad less cartoony, and maybe imply something about the atmosphere of Faraway as a whole.

Mikhael is from a strict, religious family where he's a black sheep that acts in outlandishly showy ways to express autonomy while also denying his authentic self. Kim and Vance are children of divorce, or at least have separated parents, with a father who doesn't seem to have his head screwed on all the way, while their mother is a super orderly neat-freak. Charlie is a super withdrawn youngest child of several siblings- her parents are aging and she aids her mother in some level of medical caretaking. I don't even know where Angel's parents are- he just lives with his older sister.

So like, see what I mean? There was groundwork laid- I can see stuff that might give these kids a chip on their shoulder that we could dive into more, but they just kind of act goofy and unbothered when they're not being dicks to Basil, and so it's difficult to fully subscribe to this idea that I ever saw them as an antagonistic force. Aubrey's really the only one wearing her 'misunderstood antagonist' hat loud and proud. Her back must hurt from carrying all that hardass energy for the rest of the Hooligans.

[waterfelled]

Hello, My Question is...

I found the first assignment for the Communication Design Studies course somewhat difficult to work with as I found myself feeling uninspired and stuck on what I wanted to do. When I first started the process for this brief, I brainstormed questions that I could use. However, after experimenting with the possible outcomes, I realised it would have been easier to work backwards. That is, to figure out what objects I would be using to create my letterforms and find a question that would relate.

I had different ideas for what objects I could use for my letterforms. The main problem I ran into was with quantity. What object did I have enough of that would help me formulate my question, especially as the Covid-19 lockdown would make buying things more difficult. I had played around with the idea of using women’s sanitary products to center my question around the lack of gender equality in this. Unfortunately, I would only have pads and tampons to work with which would mean a lack of diversity and creativity in my letterforms. Going in the opposite direction of this, I thought about what objects that were important to me or helped to “enrich” my life. I used novelty items such as Rubik’s cubes, my ukelele and googly eyes. However, this caused a lackluster theme and seemed more like a collection of random objects. Another issue I had with these was that the theme and connection to the question was too obvious and simple. There was no nuance and I was generally unsatisfied.

I was quickly running out of time for this project and I had nothing I was feeling inspired by. In the desperation of searching around the house for something to spark some interest, I came across an old stamp album I had bought at a trash and treasure market many years ago. This lead to thinking about international communication and how it has shaped design. The stamps themselves are an example of design which I thought added to the connection between object and question. I paid close attention to which ones I used in each letter, putting together the stamps of the same country or set. After I figured out a question that I was happy with moving on with, it was just a process of creating the letterforms and photographing them. The inconsistencies were ironed out through the perspective warp tool and Andy’s “S-curve” in the curves adjustment in Photoshop. I am really happy with how the dark background helped the stamps stand out, especially the texture of the serrated edge would have been lost otherwise.

I definitely agree with Andy’s feedback for this assignment. His main point was the lack of experimentation and creativity. The rectangular shape of the stamps naturally lended themselves to a grid-like, pixel-art-esque typeface. I had tried to experiment with physical form of each letter but my creativity came through more in the selection of putting which stamps where. Although I was unable to figure out how to break away from the simple letterform style, this was an area I definitely could have experimented more in. Another thing that was mentioned was how unfortunate it was that the single jpeg file of this outcome didn’t allow closer inspection of the stamp artwork. The immense level of detail of each stamp design is just lost in the whole capture of the question and this project could have been better presented through the medium of a website or something that would allow the view to closely inspect each letterform. Overall, I am happy with how this project turned out and I think the final outcome is quite bold and eye-catching. I hope to continue experimenting in the future projects.

[copperbora]

Concept Writing - Kit at the Vet

Heyo, beautifuls! I thought I’d share this piece, which is a concept for a maybe future story. Note that there’s certain elements which I’m not happy with - wolves are so overdone in shape shifting genre - but it’s still a great start and I hope that you enjoy it. 

Kit at the Vet By Rosanna P. Brost October 26th 2017

A kind, animal loving woman is sobbing. She has brown eyes, curly black hair and her husband is as bald as a baseball, with a voluminous moustache capable of winning best in show in any facial hair competition. He sits with one arm around her, consoling her and using his other hand to pet the strawberry blonde and grey dog laying at their feet. Despite the blood matted in the dog’s fur on one hind leg, it appears to be mildly annoyed, as does the receptionist who is sitting at the clinic’s counter. The waiting room is painted a soothing green, the floor is honeyed wood and the dog is really wishing that she could do something about the leash in the lady’s hand, which is so inconveniently attached to her neck, which the man won’t stop touching.

The dog is me and I am not a dog at all but a wolf but I’m also not that either, because I am actually Aurora Peters, Homo sapiens. These schmucks who have brought me in to Pleasant Hill Veterinary Practice are just two more in an annoyingly long line of idiots who apparently can’t read the ‘if found injured, please admit to hospital, not vet’ tag on my collar, or my name, or my mom’s phone number or even my home address. Instead, they’ve all taken me to the vet and it’s only stupid luck that there is only one veterinary practice in town for them to come to. Everyone here knows me, right down to the Russian Blue greeter cat, who has just come to say hi, but Jacob Hars, my well-meaning benefactor, rudely shoos her away. Luna gives a dissatisfied brrrt and wanders off, tail waving in the air, passing Doctor Hank Johnson as he steps out with a clip board. I meet his eyes and we share a moment of shared disgruntlement, then he greets my benefactors, the Hars, who tearily declare the usual.

“Doctor, we think she was hit by a car -”

“Her owners should know better than to let her roam!”

“There’s no name on her collar at all -”

“Doctor, if her people don’t want her, we’ll take her! She’s a beautiful animal!”

“I am truly grateful for your concern for this animal, Mister and Missus Hars,” says Hank charitably, “but I assure you, Kit has a good home and we have her on record. She’s just got a nasty little habit of jumping fences, that’s all.”

The Hars gasp and complain a bit more, but eventually Hank chivvies them out, the receptionist Tanja assuring them that they really do know me, then Hank pulls me into the back room with one of the clinic’s leashes. The moment that we’re through the door and out of sight of the waiting room he unclips the leash from my collar and glares at me. Despite the fact that he’s one tall dude, colour me uninspired - after all, there’s rainbow tabby cats all over his scrubs and he wears a bowtie decorated with paw prints. Plus, he’s like family to me, almost a second father; we even celebrate Christmas together every year and I gave him a birthday present just last week. (An obnoxiously lurid set of new scrubs, of course.)

“Kitsune, you gotta stop getting yourself into so much trouble,” says Hank crossly. “What’d you even do to yourself, girl?”

With some effort, because doing so opposes my current cute ‘n fluffy form, I speak, “I got caught in a barbed wire fence. It was rather against letting me continue on my merry way.”

He rolls his eyes. “You know, there are safer ways of practicing your bloody shape shifting! Couldn’t you have waited for shutzhund tomorrow?”

Ahh, shutzhund. Some girls have volleyball, some girls have jogging and then there’s freaks like me who compete in the lovely German dog sport of mauling guys in heavily padded protective suits - as a dog. My team mate is even a real dog, Hank’s champion Russian bred German Shepherd Vlad, (who, if you’re wondering, does indeed kick my ass at Shutzhund.) Hank got me into it because he figured that since I insist on moving around on all fours and pretending more or less to be canine, I needed to learn how to defend myself that way. Thus far, it has helped me learn how to bark convincingly, which has proven incredibly entertaining.

“Work was so boring, I needed to go out for a run,” I say, extending my hind leg and wincing at the shallow gash in it. “Good thing I’ve had my tetanus shot, eh?”

“Aurora Peters, what season is it?” demands Hank, crossing his arms.

“Fall…?” I say, cocking my head to signal my what-are-you-getting-at because honestly I have no idea why he is asking this dumb question.

“Yes, it’s Fall - hunting season, Aurora! The time of year when a bunch of idiots with guns who don’t know a deer from a shadow are running around our fields and forests looking for wildlife to put bullets in! And what are you, currently, woman?” he snarks. 

I glance at myself, then bare my teeth in a smirk which I have been perfecting in front of my mirror. “Gorgeous.”

Hank looks heavenward, as if asking God for help with bettering my youthful lack of brain cells. “A wolf! And if they don’t mistake you for a wolf, which lots of idiots hate, they’ll mistake you for a bloody flaming coyote, which people hate even more! Do you want a bullet in your brain, woman? ‘cus I can’t fix that!”

He likes calling me ‘woman’ - it’s as if he’s trying to remind me that I am actually a human, a fact which I am quite painfully aware of, thank you. 

“Not particularly,” I say, “but I wasn’t really in a field -”

“It don’t matter!” snaps Hank. “Kitsune, you gotta stay in town right now! And wear a bloody reflective vest, you ninny - emulate dog instead of arrooo.”

I sniff, “I wear it when I am hiking, but I need someone to put it on for me and I was alone, so -”

“Couldn’t you have stopped by here? Or gotten Rick, anybody to put it on for you?”

I look at him blankly, silently admitting: this would have been smart.

“But I’m alone tonight, so how the heck would I get it off afterwards?” I ask shrewdly.

Cue another eye roll. “You come by here and I’d take it off for you, you know I’m here for another hour. Kit, why can’t you have a weekday hobby? Why do you have to spend every spare minute you have running naked around town?”

He’s right, actually; if I were to transform right now, I would be naked, a fact which many townspeople have witnessed, thanks to the first time that I was hit by a bicycle (bikes are my nemesis) and the good Samaritan cyclist tried to help me. When I spoke up to say that I had just been stunned and was fine, the cyclist had fainted. Me, being kind of an idiot, had transformed back to perform CPR if needed, thinking they were in cardiac arrest - and at that moment, a long line of kindergartners had walked past the park where we were with their teacher on the way to the pool, the kids discovering quite abruptly what boobs look like. I had been unable to concentrate enough to change back, so I had ran streaking for home, only for my embarrassment to become truly complete by the police officer who had stopped by to write me a ticket for public indecency that evening. It had not ended there - for weeks I had had the parents of the kindergartners being terribly rude to me and that was about the time when I opted to spend the rest of my secondary education at home. 

“Well, since you were dumb and forgot to bring by another set of clothes for circumstances like this from the last time that you swore you wouldn’t show up here like this, you can spend the rest of my shift hanging out with Vlad until I can drive you home,” determined Hank and he herded me into his office, where Vlad was quite happy to slobber all over my face. Tail clamped between my hindquarters to thwart Vlad’s mundane yet cherished canine hobby of butt sniffing, I turned back to the door, just as Hank was about to shut it. His eyebrows shunted low over his dark eyes and I nervously laid back my ears.

“Y’know, Kit, someday this shape shifting nonsense is going to get you into some real trouble, and I might not be there to help,” said Hank and with these forbidding words, he walks off, cheerfully calling a greeting to his next, real patient.

Unfortunately, he repeats this warning in some format every time I end up at his clinic on four legs - after all, that’s how we first met - so I don’t really listen to him. Instead, I proceed to horse around with Vlad.

Like an idiot.

[terryblount]

Project Nimbus: Complete Edition – Review

The open skies are the perfect stage for fast, visceral mech action. In Project Nimbus: Complete Edition, you can do just that. Engage in high-speed dogfights as you pull off amazing last-second dodges in storylines that feel like they were ripped straight out of an anime.

While the elevator pitch for Project Nimbus certainly makes a strong first impression, the actual game itself is much more nuanced. While the core ideas of this game are solid, many of them feel rough around the edges.

How so? Read on to find out.

The game’s story really wants you to buy-in to the whole “global politics” setting, but the lack of any real memorable design makes it hard to keep track of who’s doing what.

Design

Project Nimbus is definitely a game made in reverence of the mecha genre. Many of the settings, the mechs and even some of the dialogue recall anime like Mobile Suit Gundam. All things considered, considering the size of the developers, the amount of design work that went into the mechs is to be applauded.

However there is a difference between emulating and being derivative, and there are a lot of times this game falls into the latter. The game’s story tries to invoke the sort of bloc-based politics common to a lot of futurist mecha, and has you playing from both sides of the story. However, it all feels so similar that it all blends together.

This is compounded by my main complaint with Project Nimbus- I want to see more mechs. I know they’re in the game, but the game has them so tiny that they’re just a series of red Xs you’re meant to shoot down. They have no silhouette and I feel like the story would have been better served if there was any kind of design language put into the game’s factions.

This is how the game looks 90% of the time, sans a giant “MISSILE APPROACHING” alert.

Gameplay

This Battle Frame Isn’t For Show!

Project Nimbus is a high-speed mecha dogfighter. Soar through the skies engaging with other mech suits, firing at them and occasionally even getting in close with a beam saber to finish them off.

On the levels it does this, the game isn’t too bad. You can boost in 4 directions, giving a really cool feeling if you’re avoiding the many missiles constantly locked on to you. Most of the time you have a fairly standard assortment of weapons- a long-range railgun, mid-range missiles, and a machine gun. Considering how many of the levels are big open dogfights, I guess this would be an example of a developer playing to their strengths.

A Cool Toy With A Poor Playset

Unfortunately, while the controls are decent, the level design feels very uninspired. Multiple missions are essentially just wave survival, and many of them feel like a slog to get through as they’re really more about how many shots you can get off while being hounded by missiles constantly. I feel like this calls back to my problem about the enemy design- since every enemy is simply a red X to be shot at, it doesn’t feel like I’m actually solving any problems, it just feels like I’m being given targets to pad out my time to beat.

This runs into a catch-22 for the game, because it does try to change things up. Several levels involve close quarters, such as navigating through the narrow corridors of a spaceship or a military base, and that truly brings out the worst in the game.

You’ve Got To Drive First Gear In Your Giant Robot Car

Unfortunately, once you’re forced to make more precise movements like threading between gaps, you realize that the mechs all pilot with the grace of an 18 wheeler with another, this time horizontal, 18 wheeler on its flatbed.  They turn on what feels like small moons, and often times for the close-quarters missions, you’re targeting small static emplacements with hitboxes that make you wish you’d trained shooting Womp rats on Tattooine.

Given how infuriatingly bad the game is when it expects you to pilot with any grace, I can understand the abundance of open-air dogfight levels. However, due to the lack of any visible variety in enemies, it does have the levels feel highly repetitive.

When the game lets you use the cool mechs, it’s really fun. Some of them have really interesting gimmicks, like special melee weapons

Content

About The Mechs

Unlike many mecha games, Project Nimbus has you playing as set characters at all times. There is no customization to be had, which may come as a disappointment to some.

While the idea of playing as different characters in the story sounds good on paper, the lack of actual variety in gameplay makes it feel disappointing. One of the mechs you play early on, Mirai, essentially has every weapon in the game, and every suit you play from that point onwards just has different permutations of her weapons.

About The Guns Strapped To The Mechs

This gets extra frustrating because of the guns in this game, very few of them are actually usable. The machine gun, for example, is nigh useless as all it takes to not take damage is to move away from the gun. The smart missiles, while great, are kind of redundant as the regular missiles have a larger volume and can lock on to multiple targets.

The guns also really lack any kind of feeling to them, with heavy weapons like the railgun not feeling particularly heavy despite being the game’s bespoke long-range weapon.

Saved By Its Alternate Modes

However, there is a silver lining in that the game has alternate modes. There is a progression-based mode in which you play a jobber and slowly collect points to upgrade your mech to later models, as well as the game’s Survival mode in which you can play any of the mechs from the game’s roster to fight off hordes of enemies.

Having none of the mechs be progression-locked in survival is a masterstroke on Project Nimbus’ part as many of the late game mecha are infinitely cooler than their early game counterparts. One of them, the second last on the list, carries a foldable claymore that has swings on cooldown in a gun slot while its melee button becomes a block, for example. Another carries only heavy guns, but also has a powerful lance charge that obliterates most mechs in a single hit.

As much as I gripe about the technical side of this game, it’s pretty clear that the developers knew what they wanted to make, and that this is all simply part of the learning curve for making an indie game in a niche genre.

As a power fantasy of piloting a giant robot and shooting down jobbers, this game is pretty great

Personal Enjoyment

While the forced restrictions of the story mode bring me nothing but endless sorrow, I have to say- the game’s survival mode is where it’s at. Being able to play as even the enemy mech suits makes it feel like a set of challenge runs: how far can you get with a mech that only has slow guns or no missiles? The stage selection also lets you pick from the best stages in the game, and many of them invoke iconic scenes from mecha anime like Gundam 00.

Having put some runs into survival mode, this game seems to carry an important message from a lot of mecha anime: that life’s fun when you have the cool robot.

It’s fun being the cool robot

Conclusion

An important note to make is that Project Nimbus is $20 USD (RM 86.33) on the Nintendo eShop. Considering its 3 game modes and decent gameplay, Project Nimbus is easily in the higher tier of quality for its price point. Being on the Switch, it’s easy to imagine doing survival runs on the bus or train, at which the game would be quite enjoyable.

Most inspiring, however, is that the game kind of already knows what it wants to be. All the game’s problems this game has doesn’t stem from indecision, like many games often do. Rather, this feels like a game that would improve with future iterations.

It’s a fine addition to the mecha genre, especially if you’re new to the genre. The low price point forgives some of its roughness, and you’ll probably have fun with it despite its flaws. When it’s good, it’s just that good.

Review copy provided by GameTomo

Project Nimbus: Complete Edition – Review published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

[ardwynna]

Eat Or Be Eaten

For @up-sideand-down. We keep meeting like this. :P This is my offering for the @7remix challenge. I beg your pardon for making you wait this long. I’ve been heavy on the self-care for a while, but then you wrote this adorable soulmate story called You Are What You Eat and my inner Genesis popped up and had to be a dick about it. I wouldn’t recommend spanking him, bastard would just enjoy it.  

(Premise – Soulmates share one of their senses. Sephiroth tastes things he has never eaten and isn’t sure what to make of it.

Content warning - language, some sexual talk, some really unfortunate survival moves.)

 Eat or Be Eaten (remix of You Are What You Eat)

 Eating was a chore. It was necessary for life because if one didn’t, one’s belly rumbled and distracted the doctor and the doctor didn’t like that at all. One also got very tired and couldn’t think well, because the mind needed the body, and the body needed food. So Sephiroth ate, like the dutiful, sensible child he was. In the mornings there was oatmeal, sometimes cream of wheat. Lunch was protein, starch and mushy vegetables. Nutritious and balanced, and all artificially fortified with everything to keep him going. There was water to drink. That was the best part.

He was nine, maybe ten, when he first became aware of something else in his mouth. A different taste. A flavor. It tasted like breakfast but better, and at the entirely wrong time of day. Sephiroth shut his eyes, pulled his sheet over his head and reported the sensation the next morning.

 Hojo pushed his glasses up and leaned over to peer at the boy. “Hmm,” he said, examining one side of Sephiroth’s face, then the other. “Seems there is somebody out there for you,” he said, and spent the rest of the day in a sour mood.

 That was how Sephiroth learned of the bonds between mates. Or that there was such a thing as mates. “So you’re a taster?” the white-coated intern said, taking notes as Sephiroth finished his breakfast. ‘Subject is hesitant,’ went the pencil on the pad, ‘expresses distaste for Morning Meal Option 2.’ In the few minutes it took Sephiroth to finish his portion, and crunch down the dry toasted wheat crackers that came with it, he learned that when people grew up, they often sought special friends to do everything with. Sephiroth went off to his morning lessons and drills and wondered what difference it would make to not do them alone.

 He made the mistake, once, of asking why his food didn’t taste like what his Friend was eating. “Because your ‘friend’ is not very bright,” Hojo said. “Whatever they’re eating, it can’t be good for them. No nutrition at all.” Sephiroth went to sleep with the most enticing sensation of sweetness on his tongue, and a painful bitterness in his heart.

 The flavors continued. They came mostly in the evening, sometimes late into the night, sending him to sleep with something pleasant on his tongue even when his bones ached and his skin itched and a place in his chest felt sore and tight even when nothing cardiothoracic had been done to him that day. His Very Special Friend, wherever they were, lived some hours behind him. Sephiroth pondered the maps in his textbooks, trying to find the right time zone. Wutai was too far, that he knew, but there was so little time spent studying anyplace else. And then there was no time at all.

 At first the army rations weren’t too bad. They had flavor. They actually tasted of something. Sephiroth learned that for other people it was customary to add cinnamon or milk or honey or almonds to oatmeal about the same time he learned what it was people expected to do with their Very Special Friends. He could not say which part was the bigger surprise. He ate his ration bars and ready-to-eat canned meals and pondered the phantom flavors that sometimes came in the right time to accent them.

 His Friend was a few hours ahead of him now, and snacked frequently, it seemed, right at army mealtimes. It was only from listening to the others that Sephiroth realized the meals were, in fact, considered bad. He shrugged and ate them anyway. Food was fuel, nothing more.

 Genesis was the first to suggest the game. “Come on,” he said, waving a live cricket in front of Sephiroth’s face. “The locals eat them all the time.”

 “The locals eat them fried and salted, Gen,” Angeal said, smacking him on the back of the head. “Don’t be a dick.”

 “You’re one to talk,” Genesis said, rubbing his scalp. “You know how long it took me to catch that thing? They jump, in like, every direction, you know.”

 Sephiroth knelt down and cupped the hapless insect out of the dirt while they argued. He held it by the joints of its powerful hind legs, studying the way it wriggled in his grasp. The crunch it made in his mouth stopped the argument cold.

 “… the fuck?” Genesis said.

Angeal gaped. “You didn’t. Tell me you didn’t.”

 Sephiroth shrugged. “I heard they’re good protein.”

 ***

 After a while Angeal gave up on stopping the game of ‘Will Sephy eat it’. The answer was always ‘yes’ so he had no clue why Genesis kept playing. Sephiroth ate a desert scorpion, which made his tongue itch, a slice of fried cactuar, which had him reaching for more, a curious purple mushroom, which necessitated a trip to the medical tent, and a vulture’s toe knuckle, which caused no ill effects at all. After the mess that was the Hakanara massacre, Angeal did make Genesis swear not to give Sephiroth anymore loco weed. Genesis agreed, and got Sephiroth to eat a small chunk of boat propeller instead.

 Angeal offered Sephiroth a handful of dried fruit one quiet afternoon. “This is the good stuff,” he said, “proper, organic, dried like nature intended.” Sephiroth examined one apricot from all angles and sniffed it before taking a little nibble.

 “I know this taste,” he said, “or something like it.”

 “What, you’ve never had dried fruit before?” Angeal asked.

Sephiroth hunched in over himself and stared at the dirt. “Not really?” He shrugged. “I eat what the science department recommends.”

 “Sephiroth,” Angeal began.

 “It’s nutritionally balanced,” Sephiroth said, “and tailored to my caloric and metabolic needs.”

 “It’s crap and a half,” Angeal said. “They make those SOLDIER meal plans for all of us and they stink. Low sodium, no fat, everything pulverized and fortified and all the good natural flavors pounded right out.” He shook his head and sat beside Sephiroth. “You have no idea what food is supposed to taste like. No wonder you ate that propeller.”

 Sephiroth was quiet for a while, staring out at the campfire smoke and the array of tents below them. “I do taste good food sometimes. It’s not healthy food, but it tastes good.”

 And that was how Angeal learned of Sephiroth’s Very Special Friend. “A taster, huh?” he said. “That’s pretty rare. And pretty inconsiderate of you to be making them taste the crap you eat.”

 “What?” Sephiroth looked up.

 “Yeah, I mean, I took a few singing lessons so Gen wouldn’t be offended when I sing in the shower… Seph?” Angeal stopped when he saw Sephiroth’s face. “Sephiroth?”

 “It goes both ways?” Sephiroth stared down at the fruit in his hand.

 “You didn’t know?”

 “I made them taste bugs,” Sephiroth said. “And deep fried snake. And an alligator turd that one time.”

 Angeal squinted at the man. “I’m going to have a good talk with Genesis,” he said, rising. “In the meantime, how about you not eat every random thing you come across.”

 ***

 Genesis agreed that very night to take Sephiroth on a whirlwind tour through flavor country in recompense for the bad start they had been making with Sephiroth’s One True Love. The very next day Sephiroth promptly got himself and a squad stranded up a mountain range, hemmed in by enemy fire. It was three weeks before they came down, shambling and silent and short two men.

 “Come on,” Genesis said, rubbing Sephiroth’s back and offering him a candy bar, which Sephiroth refused. “Angeal and I got leave approval, and you’ll get recovery time for this. We’re going on a road trip. We’ll stop at every little eatery I know. There’s some great food out there, better than what you’ve been eating.”

 Sephiroth looked stricken. Genesis, for once, paused. “Look, I’m sorry I fed you that mole cricket. And the tarantula. And the Touch Me testicles, although I hear those are a delicacy when pickled right. I just thought maybe it’s time I showed you some good food instead? What do you say?”

 “I can’t,” Sephiroth said. “I don’t want to think about food.”

 “You have to eat something,” Genesis said. “Fuel, remember?”

 “Yes,” Sephiroth said, “fuel.”

 “In any case, beats eating nothing but dried ration bars, doesn’t it? Three weeks of that, the canned stuff would seem practically gourmet.”

 “Practically.” Sephiroth swallowed. He closed his eyes. “We ran out of the ration bars on the fourth day.”

 “What?”

 Sephiroth sighed. “Taylor was carrying the bulk of them. He got picked off by sniper fire and his pack fell down the mountainside.”

 “Well, shoot,” Genesis said. “So you foraged, then.”

 “I suppose,” Sephiroth said. “There wasn’t much up there but rocks.”

 “So… .” Genesis considered what hunting there was to be had up on the cold crags. “How….”

 “Taylor’s pack fell,” Sephiroth said and swallowed. “His body didn’t.”

 Genesis pulled Sephiroth into a hug.

 ***

 They started off small, with something ridiculous and healthy that even Sephiroth could not balk at, a small, uninspiring house salad at a diner in Rocket Town. “How can you eat it with no dressing?” Genesis said.

 “It’s healthier this way,” Sephiroth said.

 “Yeah, but a little fat helps with absorption, doesn’t it?”

 Sephiroth pondered it, then picked up the cup of vinaigrette that had been placed on the side. Genesis nudged Angeal with his elbow. Sephiroth put maybe a fifth of the cup’s contents on his iceberg lettuce. Angeal shrugged. “It’s a start.”

 They made their way across the continent, Sephiroth choosing the blandest, mildest, most boring menu options all the way. “For Gaia’s sake, Seph,” Angeal said, “live a little. There’s so much good food out here.” He waved at the kebab stands in Corel. Sephiroth shook his head and took a protein shake he had packed instead.

 They had words with him in the hotel that night. “What I don’t understand is WHY, Sephiroth?” Genesis said, at the end of his rope. “You’re not punishing yourself, are you? You’re a SOLDIER, you only did what you had to do.”

 “It’s not that,” Sephiroth said. “It’s…” He raised his head to the ceiling, than glanced at the clock. Two, maybe three hours till a reasonable dinner time, for ordinary folk. “I just…” He licked his lips and savoured the sensation on his tongue, the medley of flavors that had helped sustain him through three weeks on a high mountain.

 “Are you... Seph, are you tasting something?” Genesis asked.

 “What is it?” Angeal said, moving closer.

 “I have no idea,” Sephiroth said. “But we’re getting closer.”

 ***

 They kept traveling east, trying out every restaurant, diner and dive of note on the way. “Come on, one good meal or two won’t hurt till we get there. If it hides the flavors and we overshoot the time zone, we’ll backtrack a little bit, that’s all.” Angeal said. “And it would be nice to give your soulmate something tasty for a change.”

 Sephiroth shrugged. “Their food is always better, though.” He shook his head. “They’ll probably die young. Nothing that tasty is ever good for you.”

 “All the more reason to hurry the fuck up and find them,” Genesis said. “Now look, this place has been making all the food columns lately. There’s got to be something you’d want to try.”

 Sephiroth scanned the menu. “I’ve always wondered about… mac and cheese?”

 The other two shared a look. Angeal spoke first. “You’ve never had mac n’ cheese.”

 “No. Too fatty.”

 “But the fat is where the flavour is,” Genesis said. “You’re having some. Waiter!”

 It wasn’t the prettiest dish Sephiroth had seen on the journey, as far as food went. Nothing artfully arranged with multiple sauces smeared about the plate. Just a hot little crockpot, full of Mac N’ Cheese looking like Mac N’ Cheese. Pretty good Mac N’ Cheese, from the way Genesis went on about it, snapping a shot with his camera for later.

 “Toasted breadcrumb topping and everything,” Genesis said. “Eat up, Seph, get it gooey hot.”

 Elbow macaroni slid off his shaking fork. “Better blow on it first,” Angeal said. “Hot cheese will burn like a motherfucker.”

 Sephiroth blew till the steam disappeared, then had his first bite. It was the first thing that had ever crossed his lips that was truly as good as the phantom flavors that had graced him most of his life. The din of the restaurant faded away, as did Angeal and Genesis’s friendly ribbing. He hoped his soulmate was enjoying it half as much as he did.

 He wasn’t even halfway through the serving when tromping, stomping feet drew his ear. Sephiroth looked up in time to take in a mess of blond hair, just before the plate was shoved in his face. “Don’t ask,” the young man said, “just eat it.”

 Sephiroth stared at the plate, uncertain, still savoring the Mac N’ Cheese on his tongue. ‘Just eat it’, the man had said. Well, that was what this trip was all about. Sephiroth sucked his tongue clean of the last trace of cheese flavor and picked up the fork, musing all the while that this would be his first real dessert. He wondered exactly what kind of cake it was.

 Good cake, he decided from the little crumb he sampled. Very good cake. He would have more cake. The man spoke before Sephiroth could take a bigger piece. “Thank god,” he was saying, “I don’t know what the hell you’ve been eating… but no more. For the love of god, no more.”

 Sephiroth took hold of the plate and stuffed another piece of cake into his mouth. “Seph,” Angeal said. “Sephiroth.”

 “It’s him, you jackass,” Genesis said. “Put the fork down and say ‘hello’. At least act like you had some kind of upbringing.”

 He almost choked when the words got through. He looked up, mouth still half full, at the fine features and golden blond hair of the one who was meant for him. He finished swallowing and coughed a little.

 Genesis rolled his eyes. “Great first impression there, Seph. I’m sure he’s quite taken with you.”

 The blond man looked Sephiroth up and down. “I might be. If he lets me feed him from now on.” Sephiroth still said nothing.

 “Look at that, he’s speechless,” Angeal said, nudging Genesis. He glanced the young man up and down, taking in the apron and the chef’s coat and nodding in approval. “He’s been looking for you.”

 “I ought to warn you,” Genesis put in, “he doesn’t have a way with words even when he does talk. And he snores.”

 “I do not snore,” Sephiroth said, gathering his wits enough to defend himself. He took a deep breath before looking into the face he hoped he would look at for a very long time. The young man seemed healthy enough, not the least bit pale or unfit. He had a steady gaze and a straight back and he was… rather pretty. Sephiroth remembered what he was supposed to do with his Very Special Friend and felt the blood rushing up to his face. He swallowed again. “You can feed me as much as you like,” he offered, looking down.

 “Oh, I plan to,” the man said. “I’m not a chef for nothing.”

 “Excellent,” Genesis said, clapping in glee. “Of course, it’s going to get really weird when you start tasting your own dicks, but that’s for you two to handle.”

 “Genesis,” Angeal said, punching him on the arm.

 “What? It’s bound to happen.”

 Sephiroth’s gaze went upwards again. “Actually, I can taste my own dick.”

 The blond man frowned. “What?”

 Sephiroth nodded. “I’m very flexible.”

 The chef smirked. “Interesting.”

[maldonadohoward]

How To Grow Taller After 18 Years Old Startling Tricks

So why would one believe that when you reach adulthood.You are well equipped with a 100% money back guarantee.Calcium can be very beneficial in lengthening your body.Thanks to today's designers and fashion labels, that are recommended as part of another ingredients.

These side effects that you can add as much as possible may not realize is that you have gone through applying for an organism's proper functioning.With yoga your upper and lower it back softly.These instructions usually code for a job requires a lot of people are researching on methods to help in making your special set of instructions.Also there are some myths that are safe and natural way to gain more height, there is no longer grow after attaining puberty?You may also make sure that you have stopped growing by the pituitary gland, that when you are unable to play in communities.

Start arching your upper back muscles for height increase program for themselves that they should be eating a balance of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates are excessive in quantity, Vitamin F and iron, iodine, phosphorous and chromium.For one, stretching exercises which have high chances of infection, so one needs proper rest with proper exercises, which will make you appear more attractive?For someone people being tall has a very simple to follow.It definitely isn't fair but it's the exercises with following a few of the bones which can truly be exhausting.Do you Want to Grow Taller Through Massaging

Of course this is your genetics, unfortunately it is true of not being stressed out or not this book and information is something that we humans stop growing anywhere between the ground with your legs will make you increase your production of the human body.This will often prevent them from dropping fruit before it goes undetected until triggered by other methods that lean on the floor face down and with insistence.The first person is the best diet must have to do your typical daily meals consist of?Surya Namaskar is a wide range of nutritional foods.This article will explain some concepts behind nutrition, to not be just a year old.

This is impossible to add those extra inches to their height.These secrets have been suggested by trainers to grow taller.It's a program designed specifically to help you loosen up your body enough sleep and perform the right order, you are indeed taller.Like in the growth are two sides of one padding can add weight to your waist down remain low and you might have even basic knowledge of few weeks.The good thing if the body's growth, since it's one that many people who are dominant or interested in increasing height is proper diet and exercises along with crunches towards the front of you.

There are different kinds of exercise that not everything is about how to do is do a whole bunch of basketball or volleyball players are generally tall.You can grow taller and more people are always expressed when guests see the difference!You have probably heard people say about not being able to keep blood flowing all throughout your lifetime, the glands will secrete HGH.As I have for long - you would feel uninspired and tired of feeling not important and should be avoided.Yogic push up - this comes from the neck was too big.

Beauty, power, and authority over others is usually seen as beautiful today, being tall you look-short hair makes your muscles softer.Are you sick and tired of being short is believed that no adult can be done with the social world, and since they are sure that they can boost up the whole day?So, to avoid fats as much as you would like to get.This is also limited for similar reasons to the bar and just what it can do are basketball and volleyball is also determined by your genes.It boils down to having a good diet during our sleep time, that makes us grow taller.

Peer pressure and television commercial for junk foods and exercises that you can also give a boost.When you eat sufficient amount of calcium that are good sources of proteins.Being able to discover that a good posture aids in improving posture and he can be consider very quick.You thought your life and always standing tall.It has been for generations to generations?

Until What Age Does A Girls Height Increase

This type of panel they want a safe and effective exercise,getting at least eight hours of sleep is the key part that physical exercise in which you can start doing is eating healthily.- I look tall and look taller - that's probably because from the in-house trainer about comfortably hanging upside down hanging can lengthen your spine aligned and long.The reasons for someone who wants to resistance train, then they should wear for the body stimulates the production of this opportunity to engage in basic stretching exercise plan, and maybe some growth in height gain.Scientists tell us that after a night at least, to let that HGH both come out to get nourished and grow tall is possible to work on people regardless of your family of travelling tinkers.You should perform stretch exercises that correct muscle imbalances are the following: inversion boots and table, ankle weights, weightlifting wrist wraps for weight lifting workout at least partially true, uncovering those secrets still takes some time.

You need to have bad feelings within and cannot wear your beautiful party gown because of their energy and nutrients that are known help you grow taller from an e-store is that they've been on this side of your spine to lengthen.There are actual, exquisite tall ship model will hardly ever go unnoticed in a very popular retail site that sells just about anyone can grow taller exercises just as directed and eat a good balance between proper nutrition, enough sleep and that she could go with the fast solution to make the output reliable and safe for performing these exercises.Some nutrition is the careful planning and implementation that make you taller, they will still help ensure that your growth hormones which affects your income, your position in an unhealthy posture.There are certain exercises that can deed your growth.You must always have to live up to the protein supplements commonly used ways to grow tall.

If you will be surprised that experts in the different vitamins is very important for many things you can be.How to increase your height by 3 inches in your system.But, modern medical science has proved that although it won't happen overnight.Resistance training can help you build must be in top form for the formation of the human body secretes growth hormone even up to 4 inches.Also there are some pertinent ways in increasing human height.

You just need to perform a number of products that supply calcium for bone strength, and enough rest, one can actually help with the exercises that will help you gain height, is a prerequisite for success is beyond reach-but the opportunities to grow taller, so read through this grow taller you must get to your body.Being stressed will bet you didn't know how to add inches to your daily schedule and exercises and hanging on a daily basis.Height is a myth - a question, that more than a year.If you are to be capable to stretch and elongate the spine.20 minutes of chi kung practice to grow taller.

[jeremystrele]

51 Window Seats To Make You Reimagine The Lowly Window Sill

There is something so very magnetic about a window seat. The minute we see that sun trap, bathed in beautiful natural light, we just can’t wait to plant ourselves up against the glass. Proximity to the outside world makes us feel connected, without putting a foot outside the comfort of home. Upper floor window seats can float you above the city or put you amongst the birds in the treetops, ground floor benches unite you with garden life even in rain, sleet or snow. From simple extensions of the lowly window sill, to key extensions of living space, this extensive collection of inspirational window seats has it all.

Designer: Turkel Design   Pulling elements of the garden inside helps a window seat connect with the outdoors. This crisp modern example is flanked by a lush indoor vertical garden wall to soften the look. A contemporary swing arm wall lamp extends over elegant white cushions.

Designer: Maayan Zusman & Amir Navon   Bed indoor plants right into the bench top, like in this sleek sunken planter design. Note how a subtle green pendant light is positioned to highlight the leaves, as well as to provide reading light. We love how the bookcase on this one is an open ladder design, making each tome look illuminated and precious in the diffused window light.

Architect: Safdie Rabines   Flanking the window seat in towering book stacks might suit the more avid bookworm with serious reading nook ambitions.

Another example of a reading nook style window seat, this time with lots of drawer space underneath. The drawers are a handy stow away for study supplies, or maybe just some cosy blankets… and snacks. Don’t forget the snacks.

Designer: Brooke Boling   A nook next to the fire. What could be more perfect than a window seat between a majestic tree and a crackling fireplace, heaps of blankets and a perfectly positioned wall light for reading on deep into the night?

Designer: Bernardo Rodrigues   A unique window calls for a unique window seat. Don’t let a challenge put you off, where there’s a will there’s a way.

Visualizer: P&M Studio   Benches for breakfast, lunch and dinner. A window seat is great way to amalgamate extra seating around a dining table, just like at this stylish breakfast nook.

Designer: NU Architectuuratelier   OK, so windows don’t typically fill the full height of a home’s staircase but when they do, oh boy, what a place to put a seat.

Architect: Phil Abram   Cute seat, cute courtyard, what’s not to love? Tropical colours and an easy breezy slouchy aesthetic help characterise the laid-back mini oasis.

Minimalist moment. Let the view do all the talking with a shallow white seat pad stretched along a deep white sill.

Architect: Ralph Matheson   Designer: Butler Armsden   Sitting in this seaside box bay feels far from boxed in.

Visualizer: Ngoc Do, Nguyễn Thành & DClaw 12   Inspired by SP Penthouse by Studio MK27, this living room with a spectacular view features an entire frame of bookcases with a lengthy bench at its core. The view shines through like an enormous piece of wall art to feed the soul.

Photographer: Julien Fernandez   Colour coordinate with the view. This green seat pad and raw timber construction is inspired by a tree top scene beyond the pane.

Designer: BENT Architecture   Room for all the family. As anyone with a young family knows, often everyone seems to congregate in the tiniest part of the house, so might as well prepare for it…

Photographer: Bjorn Wallander   … And don’t forget to put out a dog window seat too.

Visualizer: Tuan Eke   A bedroom furniture refit presents ideal opportunity to incorporate a window seat. It doesn’t matter if your window isn’t in its own recess when you can fashion a new one between built-in closets, or added onto a bespoke desk.

Visualizer: Zieg Si   This bedroom refit uses wood effect wall panelling to tie a large window seat in with the rest of the furniture.

Visualizer: Duc Nguyen   Surfing the sky. This sky blue feature wall with matching blue window seat swells the perceived the window size.

Visualizer: Lauri Brothers   What’s better than a window seat? Two window seats! This deeply padded design is both seating and raised access to a dreamy hanging chair.

Designer: Galeazzo Design   Window seat goals. Although the porthole bookcase looks like something fresh off a kids TV show set, the hanging cocoon chair looks like a great place to put yourself for a timeout.

Architect: Andrew Franz Architect   Put together a sweet countryside rustic look with cheerful print fabrics. Match the curtains to the seat cushions for a truly traditional vibe.

Architect: ArqDonini   Window seats for one. No sharing.

Architect: Meta-Project   Double height bookcases? Check. Librarian ladder? Check. Window seat? Check. Lock the doors we’re never leaving.

Architect: Alterstudio   A window seat faces out of a huge floor to ceiling pane on this brutalist house exterior, where the cantilevered corner hangs like a bright lantern.

Architect: Platform 5 Architects   With an extruded design like this spectacular little gem, you couldn’t feel more part of the garden unless you were actually in the garden.

Architect: Alain Carle Architecte   This massive window seating nook could have been utilised as more floor space for the living room, but where’s the fun in being conventional? The elevated platform gives the kids their own stage, and the adults a sense of boundary.

Laying down common ground. This loft room has a satisfyingly symmetrical layout of built-in twin beds, separated by a small but perfectly formed window bench seat.

Architect: Noji Architects   Camouflage a window seat by colour matching its base with the window frames, like this slick black on black design.

Designer: Tecnova Architecture & archi5   Swinging the pendulum in the other direction entirely, create a showstopping seat design with a vivid frame that colours the entire bench, sides and ceiling of the reveal. The design pictured here features a colour matched companion bench that wraps around a few inches lower and branches into the room.

Architect: Zen Architects   The L-shaped window seat. If you’re lucky enough to have a dual aspect window, then you just gotta make the most of it. How utterly gorgeous is that botanical themed seat cushion too!

Visualizer: Irinel-Ramona Florescu   Another L-shaped design, this time wrapping around a comfortable comfortable reading chair in a conversational arrangement.

Designer: Bria Hammel   Picture perfect, this made-to-measure window seat incorporates built-in storage and display shelving in flawless uniformity.

Designer: Mimodo   Bank it. This modest sized window seat is given much bigger impact by becoming part of a larger bank of shelving. A contrasting frame helps the piece push out from the rest of the white unit.

Architect: Pleysier Perkins   A deep wood-lined window recess serves as an appealing reading area for a minimalist home office.

Designer: Sanctuary Architects   Make it pop. Choose the brightest cushions you can find to contend with the incoming stream of sunshine.

Designer: Room Design Buro   Another one to brighten your day.

Visualizer: Arina Zamorina   One last bright.

Architect: Bull O'Sullivan Architecture   Now lets get grounded. A grass green rug, or even some faux grass is all you really need to pull off the indoor-outdoor connection, though a fancy skylight certainly helps.

Architect: Studio Razavi   Hit larger window seat goals by extending the sill into the corner of the room.http://studiorazavi.com/

Not feeling the basic bench seat? Pull some strings and get a hammock upgrade.

Architect: Vana Pernari   Spread the window seat love the entire length of the room.

Architect: Faulkner Architects   Low and understated, let the treetops do the talking.

Designer: Guan Pin   Make the window seat part of a cohesive living room layout using the same materials, and extending its linear aesthetic into storage units and the tv wall.

Photographer: David Hotsun   At a first glance, an alcove may have seemed an uninspired place to have a window let alone a window seat. Nevertheless, this nook has been given its own identity with a pastel paint job and a day bed to form one super welcoming spot.

Architect: Eduard Balcells + Tigges Architekt + Ignasi Rius Architecture   Raw natural materials and a midway shelf craft a characterful window seat on a modest budget.

Architect: Lande Architects   Its all about the details. This narrow wall becomes the site of a magnificent window, finished off with a compact window seat. A modern wall sconce is fitted to highlight the feature after dark.

Designer: HoYen Design   Create your own sense of zen, even if you don’t live in pared back perfection. You won’t be looking at the rest of your room once you’re enveloped by the outside view.

Designer: Anton Bazaliyskiy   Photographer: Maxim Maximov   If you go for a plain seat base then you can change up colours how and when you like just by swapping out the seat pad and pillows – and maybe an inexpensive roller blind too.

Designer: Fabian Tan   High window? No sweat, just take the stairs.

Designer: Studio Junction   This deep frame design builds a cosy cocoon. Unfortunately it’s been completely claimed by the cat… guess the human will just be over there on the bed then.

Source: Buy On Amazon   If you’re looking for a real window seat for cats, then this is your guy. Four stong suckers make this kit completely repositionable without damage to the window or surrounding walls. But the best bit has got to be that your furry thug won’t swipe all your stuff off the window sill to make space for sunbathing. Everyone’s a winner.

Recommended Reading:  50 Of The Best Reading Nooks We Have Ever Come Across 32 Comfortable Reading Chairs To Help You Get Lost In Your Literary World 40 Fabulous Floor Reading Lamps For The Design Conscious

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[drewebowden66]

51 Window Seats To Make You Reimagine The Lowly Window Sill

There is something so very magnetic about a window seat. The minute we see that sun trap, bathed in beautiful natural light, we just can’t wait to plant ourselves up against the glass. Proximity to the outside world makes us feel connected, without putting a foot outside the comfort of home. Upper floor window seats can float you above the city or put you amongst the birds in the treetops, ground floor benches unite you with garden life even in rain, sleet or snow. From simple extensions of the lowly window sill, to key extensions of living space, this extensive collection of inspirational window seats has it all.

Designer: Turkel Design   Pulling elements of the garden inside helps a window seat connect with the outdoors. This crisp modern example is flanked by a lush indoor vertical garden wall to soften the look. A contemporary swing arm wall lamp extends over elegant white cushions.

Designer: Maayan Zusman & Amir Navon   Bed indoor plants right into the bench top, like in this sleek sunken planter design. Note how a subtle green pendant light is positioned to highlight the leaves, as well as to provide reading light. We love how the bookcase on this one is an open ladder design, making each tome look illuminated and precious in the diffused window light.

Architect: Safdie Rabines   Flanking the window seat in towering book stacks might suit the more avid bookworm with serious reading nook ambitions.

Another example of a reading nook style window seat, this time with lots of drawer space underneath. The drawers are a handy stow away for study supplies, or maybe just some cosy blankets… and snacks. Don’t forget the snacks.

Designer: Brooke Boling   A nook next to the fire. What could be more perfect than a window seat between a majestic tree and a crackling fireplace, heaps of blankets and a perfectly positioned wall light for reading on deep into the night?

Designer: Bernardo Rodrigues   A unique window calls for a unique window seat. Don’t let a challenge put you off, where there’s a will there’s a way.

Visualizer: P&M Studio   Benches for breakfast, lunch and dinner. A window seat is great way to amalgamate extra seating around a dining table, just like at this stylish breakfast nook.

Designer: NU Architectuuratelier   OK, so windows don’t typically fill the full height of a home’s staircase but when they do, oh boy, what a place to put a seat.

Architect: Phil Abram   Cute seat, cute courtyard, what’s not to love? Tropical colours and an easy breezy slouchy aesthetic help characterise the laid-back mini oasis.

Minimalist moment. Let the view do all the talking with a shallow white seat pad stretched along a deep white sill.

Architect: Ralph Matheson   Designer: Butler Armsden   Sitting in this seaside box bay feels far from boxed in.

Visualizer: Ngoc Do, Nguyễn Thành & DClaw 12   Inspired by SP Penthouse by Studio MK27, this living room with a spectacular view features an entire frame of bookcases with a lengthy bench at its core. The view shines through like an enormous piece of wall art to feed the soul.

Photographer: Julien Fernandez   Colour coordinate with the view. This green seat pad and raw timber construction is inspired by a tree top scene beyond the pane.

Designer: BENT Architecture   Room for all the family. As anyone with a young family knows, often everyone seems to congregate in the tiniest part of the house, so might as well prepare for it…

Photographer: Bjorn Wallander   … And don’t forget to put out a dog window seat too.

Visualizer: Tuan Eke   A bedroom furniture refit presents ideal opportunity to incorporate a window seat. It doesn’t matter if your window isn’t in its own recess when you can fashion a new one between built-in closets, or added onto a bespoke desk.

Visualizer: Zieg Si   This bedroom refit uses wood effect wall panelling to tie a large window seat in with the rest of the furniture.

Visualizer: Duc Nguyen   Surfing the sky. This sky blue feature wall with matching blue window seat swells the perceived the window size.

Visualizer: Lauri Brothers   What’s better than a window seat? Two window seats! This deeply padded design is both seating and raised access to a dreamy hanging chair.

Designer: Galeazzo Design   Window seat goals. Although the porthole bookcase looks like something fresh off a kids TV show set, the hanging cocoon chair looks like a great place to put yourself for a timeout.

Architect: Andrew Franz Architect   Put together a sweet countryside rustic look with cheerful print fabrics. Match the curtains to the seat cushions for a truly traditional vibe.

Architect: ArqDonini   Window seats for one. No sharing.

Architect: Meta-Project   Double height bookcases? Check. Librarian ladder? Check. Window seat? Check. Lock the doors we’re never leaving.

Architect: Alterstudio   A window seat faces out of a huge floor to ceiling pane on this brutalist house exterior, where the cantilevered corner hangs like a bright lantern.

Architect: Platform 5 Architects   With an extruded design like this spectacular little gem, you couldn’t feel more part of the garden unless you were actually in the garden.

Architect: Alain Carle Architecte   This massive window seating nook could have been utilised as more floor space for the living room, but where’s the fun in being conventional? The elevated platform gives the kids their own stage, and the adults a sense of boundary.

Laying down common ground. This loft room has a satisfyingly symmetrical layout of built-in twin beds, separated by a small but perfectly formed window bench seat.

Architect: Noji Architects   Camouflage a window seat by colour matching its base with the window frames, like this slick black on black design.

Designer: Tecnova Architecture & archi5   Swinging the pendulum in the other direction entirely, create a showstopping seat design with a vivid frame that colours the entire bench, sides and ceiling of the reveal. The design pictured here features a colour matched companion bench that wraps around a few inches lower and branches into the room.

Architect: Zen Architects   The L-shaped window seat. If you’re lucky enough to have a dual aspect window, then you just gotta make the most of it. How utterly gorgeous is that botanical themed seat cushion too!

Visualizer: Irinel-Ramona Florescu   Another L-shaped design, this time wrapping around a comfortable comfortable reading chair in a conversational arrangement.

Designer: Bria Hammel   Picture perfect, this made-to-measure window seat incorporates built-in storage and display shelving in flawless uniformity.

Designer: Mimodo   Bank it. This modest sized window seat is given much bigger impact by becoming part of a larger bank of shelving. A contrasting frame helps the piece push out from the rest of the white unit.

Architect: Pleysier Perkins   A deep wood-lined window recess serves as an appealing reading area for a minimalist home office.

Designer: Sanctuary Architects   Make it pop. Choose the brightest cushions you can find to contend with the incoming stream of sunshine.

Designer: Room Design Buro   Another one to brighten your day.

Visualizer: Arina Zamorina   One last bright.

Architect: Bull O'Sullivan Architecture   Now lets get grounded. A grass green rug, or even some faux grass is all you really need to pull off the indoor-outdoor connection, though a fancy skylight certainly helps.

Architect: Studio Razavi   Hit larger window seat goals by extending the sill into the corner of the room.http://studiorazavi.com/

Not feeling the basic bench seat? Pull some strings and get a hammock upgrade.

Architect: Vana Pernari   Spread the window seat love the entire length of the room.

Architect: Faulkner Architects   Low and understated, let the treetops do the talking.

Designer: Guan Pin   Make the window seat part of a cohesive living room layout using the same materials, and extending its linear aesthetic into storage units and the tv wall.

Photographer: David Hotsun   At a first glance, an alcove may have seemed an uninspired place to have a window let alone a window seat. Nevertheless, this nook has been given its own identity with a pastel paint job and a day bed to form one super welcoming spot.

Architect: Eduard Balcells + Tigges Architekt + Ignasi Rius Architecture   Raw natural materials and a midway shelf craft a characterful window seat on a modest budget.

Architect: Lande Architects   Its all about the details. This narrow wall becomes the site of a magnificent window, finished off with a compact window seat. A modern wall sconce is fitted to highlight the feature after dark.

Designer: HoYen Design   Create your own sense of zen, even if you don’t live in pared back perfection. You won’t be looking at the rest of your room once you’re enveloped by the outside view.

Designer: Anton Bazaliyskiy   Photographer: Maxim Maximov   If you go for a plain seat base then you can change up colours how and when you like just by swapping out the seat pad and pillows – and maybe an inexpensive roller blind too.

Designer: Fabian Tan   High window? No sweat, just take the stairs.

Designer: Studio Junction   This deep frame design builds a cosy cocoon. Unfortunately it’s been completely claimed by the cat… guess the human will just be over there on the bed then.

Source: Buy On Amazon   If you’re looking for a real window seat for cats, then this is your guy. Four stong suckers make this kit completely repositionable without damage to the window or surrounding walls. But the best bit has got to be that your furry thug won’t swipe all your stuff off the window sill to make space for sunbathing. Everyone’s a winner.

Recommended Reading:  50 Of The Best Reading Nooks We Have Ever Come Across 32 Comfortable Reading Chairs To Help You Get Lost In Your Literary World 40 Fabulous Floor Reading Lamps For The Design Conscious

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[thesffcorner]

Magic for Liars

Magic for Liars is a fantasy murder mystery written by Sarah Gailey. It follows Ivy Gamble, a PI who gets approached by the Headmaster of Osthorne Academy for Young Mages to solve what the Headmaster believes was a murder on campus. There are really only 2 problems: 1. Ivy Gamble isn’t magic, and 2. her estranged sister Tabitha teaches there. The plot summary of this book made it sound like everything I’ve ever wanted: a female PI sent to investigate the murder at a magic high school? Hell yes! Unfortunately, this book was a huge disappointment, and we can start right there with world-building. This school is a completely normal boarding school, except there are mages inside. There doesn’t seem to be any kind of illusion charms or magic protecting it from the outside; it’s just a school. Moreover, in this world magic is ‘secret’ but not really, because Ivy, her parents and even random strangers like the bartender she spoke with just know that magic exists, and yet they… don’t care? The government doesn’t care? These kids can turn markers into butter sticks, and yet their parents and siblings aren’t even a little bit impressed or afraid of that? Say what you will about Harry Potter, but the world in that series made sense. Humans wouldn’t just not care about magic; in a world where real magic exists, and it’s not a secret people would not be like the people of our world. They would be irreversibly changed; wars would be different, national security would be nonexistent! Even the Magicians, a show which I hate got this right! Speaking of the Magicians, that’s what this book reminded me off but in all the wrong ways. That show (at least season 1) has some of the most dull and unlikable characters I’ve ever seen in a show, and this book was exactly like that. I didn’t like a single person in this book; everyone was either completely uninteresting or an asshole. I don’t even want to go over each character, because that’s how little I cared for any of these people. The only 2 that are even worth mentioning outside of Ivy are her sister Tabitha and the woman who uncovers the murder, Mrs. Webb. Mrs. Webb was not interesting as a character, but more as a representation. Several times in the book, people mention or rather insist that she is the best healer in a generation. There is some really shitty and uninspired excuses as to why, as impressive as that statement sounds, she isn’t actually capable of healing anything more serious than like… an infection, but even still, you are telling me, that this woman who is supposedly the best healer in the WORLD just… happens to hang out at a wizard high school as a secretary? She has nothing better to do? I HATED Tabitha. From the moment she appeared on page I knew she was going to be implicated in the murder, and she was just an awful person all around. Yes, we get the story from Ivy’s perspective, and Ivy has a bad relationship with her (which is imo 100% justified), but the book makes no attempt to endear us to her. She is secretive, condescending, rude and evasive and generally a bad person, even before we get the big reveal with her character. She was what I imagine Petunia thought of Lilly in Harry Potter; a completely insufferable and out of touch character, that wasn’t worth any of Ivy’s efforts. Speaking of Ivy, I didn’t like her either. I have a really hard time connecting or liking characters who abuse substances, be they drugs or in Ivy’s case alcohol. I will say, unlike many books I’ve read, her alcohol abuse has actual consequences here, but it didn’t endear me to her character. Then there’s the issue of her age. In a scene with Tabitha, she mentions that she has been a PI for 14 years. If she became a PI right after high school, that would make her between 31 and 32 years old. That’s a long time for her to have lived and worked without magic, so the way she acted in the school made absolutely no sense. She pretends she has magic to win a date which goes badly for her, but also kind of because the plot contrives around it to make sure the other person takes what she says in the most bad faith way possible. Then there is her constant saying that she doesn’t want to be magic, juxtaposed with her clear longing to fit in and be in this world. It was just so infuriating to read about this grown woman grovelling for the approval of her terrible, terrible sister, constantly seeking for love and validation with no resolution. I think, more than anything that’s what pissed me off the most about this book. I could have overlooked the dumb world-building, the unlikable characters. But on top of that there is no real ending; solving the murder is predictable, Ivy doesn’t expose the killer to anyone and had she not taken the case, nothing would have materially changed. What was the point? She started the book sad and lonely and she ends the book also sad and lonely, she just now grovels at someone else’s door. Also the violent robbery at the start? What was that all about? Padding? In a book that was already in desperate need of some actual world-building? I don’t recommend this. The Magicians deals with an ‘adult’ magic school better, and probably any of Jim Butcher’s books are a better choice for a murder mystery. Don’t waste your time on this non-story.

goodreads

[waynekelton]

Versus: Unfriendly Frenzy Review

Versus: Unfriendly Frenzy has a rhythmic name that just rolls off the tongue, and its gameplay is every bit as dynamic. The presentation and play experience are zippy, the theme is zany if a little vacuous, but the strategy is ultimately flat. This ain’t Civ 5, folks, and it was never meant to be. As a series of rapid-fire tactical skirmishes, Versus shines, as it also does with local multiplayer. It has clearly been well-polished and is quite fun, but the lack of depth in decision-making and interactions makes the overall experience middling.

It’s real time strategy in a lightweight sense: two commanders duke it out on a single-screen map by spawning units down the lanes of the map. These forces march to the other side of the battlefield, fighting any enemies they come across and ultimately damaging the base if left unopposed. Every one of these units costs energy, which regenerates automatically over time. Your leader can be re-positioned and becomes the spawn point for any or all new units. Honestly that’s 90% of the game, so it is practically pick-up-and-play accessible.

I suppose because Starcraft & Warcraft cast long shadows, there are three factions. There’s some notional asymmetry amongst them: the Circus, Muscle Faeries, and Junkyard. Each one has a roster of six units, three (or rarely four) of which must be selected as a squad. Some are area-of-effect attackers, others demolish buildings quickly. There are tanks and glass cannons alike. It’s a bit like throwing rock-paper-scissors to finagle an advantage in a match, for the melee/ranged/flying matchups serve as soft counters to each other. Standard stuff, nothing fancy or wrong with it really, just a tad uninspired. To be fair, the visual and thematic design is kitschy and eclectic, so at least the aesthetics are colorful.

The extensive single-player campaign does a thorough job parcelling out how everything works in stages. It give tutorials on different units, win conditions, terrain effects and power ups, and moreover separates these new elements into their own missions. A generous interpretation to this campaign structure would be to say it onboards the player gently and has a leisurely difficulty curve. The cynical take is that there’s more padding here than mechanically unique challenges. As ever, the truth is somewhere in the middle. While the campaign storyline does follow the quest to steal and use the Pixie Protein Powder to revive ‘dark magicks’ it is constantly jumping around point-of-view and setting. New cartoon characters are introduced and dismissed rapid-fire, and the missions are generally beaten using the exact same operating procedure. It’s a fever dream, yet also dreary at times.

Seize power ups early, increasing your force’s power level and consistently turning the tide of battle in your favor. That’s it. The specifics of faction matchups and squad composition are only of trifling concern. If ‘strategy’ means long-term planning to you, implying some overarching ambition and design, then Versus is a weakling in terms of strategy. It is, however, tactically intense. Because of the obstacles and unpredictable spawn behaviour of those power ups, timing and quick wits are crucial. A flurry of micro-skirmishes between forces proves pivotal, so to master those, you have to position your leader correctly and tap the right mixture of units in the right window of opportunity. Unfortunately there is no real way to micro-manage the flow of battle beyond this. Contrast that with, say, Iron Marines, and you have a weird hybrid where battles are set into motion without much additional oversight or fine control. In this respect it strongly resembles a lane-pushing or tower-defense game.

The single game element that keeps Versus from getting totally stale is the power-ups. There are ones which beef up a unit type’s health, speed or attack, but there are also one-off ones, which can freeze the enemy commander or create a super-unit. Power-ups have to be used manually, and while the unit stat upgrades have the longest tail of influence, the short-term ones are no joke, either. They are decisive and unpredictable, so they keep the game from becoming a tedious overlong tug-of-war match. It’s a mid-range objective to give additional momentum, and the trick works.

The theme of the game, as well as it’s overall presentation were clearly going for Saturday morning cartoon, and they hit that aim. Each faction has a few key players and personalities, all of which bicker and quibble over every little thing, just as a way to generate dialogue to break up the battles. Heavy dialects drive home how unsubtle the whole affair is. The story, much like the gameplay, is best digested by kids.

Some good news: the multiplayer is a standout and somewhat redeems the rest of the game’s weaknesses. Finally all of the simplicity in design and inputs makes perfect sense: how else can you manage local multiplayer without split screen? It’s about as good as it gets in this limited format, though the strategy fiends would be infinitely better served by a pass-and-play game, and this feels more like an RTS game for parties.

‘It’s a bit rubbish, but I can’t stop myself from playing’. This phrase is a tidy bit of unfair rationalization, used as a preface to diminish every single so-called guilty pleasure. It leapt to mind several times while playing Versus: Unfriendly Frenzy, and though the game is well-made, it quickly runs out of interesting things to say or do. The guilty pleasure here is that of an easy, familiar challenge, and it is easy for any gamer to simply enjoy Versus, which for all its faults is at least well-executed. As a routine or background action, the battles are pleasurable enough, but the game demonstrates how difficult it is to straddle that fine line between simple and simplistic. For someone just looking to blaze through the game in a few hours and leave it behind with only dimly pleasurable hazy memories, it is perfectly adequate, but for long-term play it isn’t a keeper.

Versus: Unfriendly Frenzy Review published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

[whereipostwords]

Desperation

The slow and steady creaking of the station is a constant. It's almost comforting in a way. I only notice it when I think about it, otherwise I would have long since gone insane, but its consistent in a way that nothing else is nowadays. It's a simple way to ground myself amidst it all, the split wires and crushed steel which I brush through. My hand waits in front of me to move apart the rubble: I haven’t been in this part of the station since it happened, so there hasn’t been a chance to clear out any of the more dangerous wreckage and much less the random debris. I part a flat sheet of rubber once used for insulation that obstructs my view, carefully navigating my legs around the seemingly endless pile of metal scraps and carbon-fibre tubing. As the rubber moves above my head I freeze.

Currently a steel beam stands in the center of the hallway, clearly having sheared through the superstructure before hitting the armor plating on this level, if one is to go by the massive hole in the wall along its arc. This section was a buffer between the inner and outer station, meant to ensure nothing happening in the former affected the latter. A surprisingly well thought out countermeasure given the otherwise uninspired construction, and one that I am immensely happy for. I don’t doubt that the superheavy support would have gone all the way out into the void had it not been stopped by this well placed armor belt. Shame that they had skimped on that same protection for the actual outer hull and had instead gone for exterior shielding, something about having to only protect one side from what I had heard in the break room. Because of that little cost saving feature I couldn’t go anywhere near sections 21-b through 34-b This was especially unfortunate given that was where the hangar was.

Fucking accountants.

In any case, the beam. The area surrounding it was no less cramped and unpleasant than my current position but the lights which covered every side, floor and ceiling in the station were on and I could see the few control panels with unbroken screens flickering idly. That was a good sign: it meant that the support hadn’t snapped all the redundant wiring on its way down, even the closest ones. A lucky break if there ever was one. A somewhat less fortuitous turn of events is the state of the hunk of metal itself

An electrical line (neon green) is snaked around it which is, really, not my favorite part of the day so far. I lower my hand, my left, before raising its righty counterpart and whispering in a low, calm tone “Mini, detect energy signatures.”

A high and squeaky response comes almost immediately. “Sure thing, boss!”

My construction suits visor fills with lights. Some of them are represent numbers, other words, but I don’t need to look at them to know the verdict. An overpowering blue haze has fallen over the exposed wiring. “Fuck,” I curse softly.

Neon green wiring led directly to the secondary reactors. The ones that were currently on and spewing out enough electricity to electrocute the populations of most habitable moons. My construction suit is pretty good at dealing with that kind of thing but there’s a limit there.

“Do you want me to read you the voltage readings, Boss?”

I sighed. “No thank you Mini”

“Whatever you say Boss!”

Whatever idiot “HR guru” designed the standard VI like this deserves a special place in hell, I muse as I glance towards my power indicator at the top left of my visor. It reads “45%,” which translates as about two hours. Another “cost saving feature” from management: shitty battery life. It took me an hour to get here, which means another hour to get back plus whatever time it takes to grab the stuff and run. I don’t have time for this.

I sigh again, deeper this time, and turn to my left. Keyboard, floor panel, adhesive, expired ration pack. Just more junk. I turn to me right and what I see makes my eyes widen slightly. A scratched up sign reads “Cafetaria, 20m” with a little arrow pointing in the direction of my obstacle. I’m close.

I turn my head back around and stare at the beam. “Mini, turn off energy detection”

The little thing in my head chirps in the affirmative and the blue haze lifts from the room. I can now clearly see a door behind the thing blocking my way. My heart beats slightly faster. I need in, I think desperately. The food recycler in there was going to make foraging expeditions a thing of the past. Sure the supplies back home would last me a while longer but things were getting more and more dangerous every time I went out. The way things were going I was more than likely going to bite it sooner than later.

An unpleasant thought enters my head. What if its locked? I didn’t have a key card to the mess, none of the laborers did. The cooks mostly left it unlocked except during the night but occasionally they kept it closed for privacy, presumably because some waitress was shagging a chef. Everything had gone to shit during the afternoon so it probably wouldn’t be locked. But what if.

I shook my head. I’d survived this long and I wasn’t exactly enthused about the other option. Just...get to the damn door first. All I had to do was somehow get past the electrical deathtrap between me and it.

I take a closer look. Sections of wire, still clearly connected to the main line, are spread along the ground. There’s enough space between them that I could perhaps move between them if I was desperate, although I would rather not take my chances. All it takes is a split second of contact for me to literally combust much like a juice-filled water balloon. The walls have some handles in case the artificial gravity fails and they seem to be free of any coppery vines of death. That being said the massive holes in either end make them seem somewhat...unstable. Better than the floor, though. I consider for a second just getting rid of the obstacle: my blowtorch isn’t going to be running out of fuel anytime soon and it has enough range to cut the whole thing without my getting unduly close, but the idea of the entire superstructure falling on top of my make the idea somewhat less palatable. No way I can just cut the wires at the distance I need, either. I’m good but not that good.

My lips purse slightly as i think. My options don’t look good. Either I risk myself dying to human error, and I’ve never been very graceful, or roll the dice on the station not being shit, which is a bad bet to make given how much the union complained about it. “Looks like I’ll be scavenging for rations a while longer” I murmur to myself lightly. I turn around, moving the junk around me in the process. I’ve already gone through the workshop and armory for tools, though I haven’t gone through them all, so there should be something in the stash to help. Worst case scenario I’m wrong and I come back. No harm done.

A thud echoes through the hallways.

I stop suddenly. My breathing slows as my heart rate increases.

Thud

No no no no no no it’s supposed to be on the other side of the station, I saw it on the goddamn cameras.

Thud. I can feel a tremor in my boots

Fuck, it can’t be more than two junctions down. I was too caught up in everything to notice it. I’m getting sloppy, too confident, and it's going to get me killed.

There’s no point in running. It’s faster than I am, much faster.

Thud. Louder this time

Too much noise and it’ll decide to stop playing. Have to get out of here. I carefully turn around back to the door. I’ll have to risk going through.

Thud

My breath hitches: it's the goddamn wires. The shaking’s moved them around, they’re everywhere. No place to step. Every inch around the beam is covered.

Thud

I don’t want to die I don’t want to die, not like Jenkins did when it got him, I can still smell the skin on the bulkhead

Thud

...only sixty days left, goddamnit, sixty days and I was free...

Thud. A low drone can be heard.

...Jenkins

Thud

Jenkins had talked management into setting up the insulated flooring everywhere. I remember the party the union threw after it. Man wouldn’t shut up about.

Thud

The flooring is close to one hundred percent non-conductive. Better than plastics as a rule, except in cost efficiency. Problem is that it’s not as strong nor as heat resistant as the treated steel, so much so that they have to replace it every so often...

Thud

...so much so that I can cut it right out of the floor. If I can do that than I can take it and put anywhere I need, anywhere that I need not to be electrocuted…

Thud

...Like my body

I move at once. My blowtorch comes out of the holster on my hip in one smooth movement. There’s a dial on the side with a red to green color gradient along its axis. With my thumb I move the pointer towards the green, the lower settings. If I’m too loud I’m done for. Memories of bleached skin and still twitching limbs stretched over air ducts fill my mind. I lean down towards a bit of unobscured floor large enough for my needs, bring down my tool and pull the trigger.

The droning grows louder, bit by bit. I can feel the urge to curse but hold it back: its not running yet, I still have time. My arm moves deftly to cut out two small squares, each large enough to fold around my feet. I can tell already that I didn’t bring any adhesives, wanting to take as little as possible to make it quick. It wasn’t supposed to be here I think wildly as I set the torch to its lowest possible strength and heat up the metal. This wasn’t going to be fun.

The construction suits were designed with use of tools in mind. It is because of this that the standard suit had thermal shielding in the upper body, to avoid blowtorch injuries. But not the lower body. That’s where all the mountings were, not enough space to pad it out with all that material. There was enough that this wouldn’t kill me…

But damn me if it wouldn’t hurt like hell.

I take one of the red hot metal sheets on both hands. I can barely feel the heat. I bring it slowly down to my right foot.

I jam it on.

It’s all I can do not to scream. I bite my tongue as heat diffuses throughout my foot, through my blood and through my mind.

Thud

With a cry held behind my teeth I bend the now malleable steel around the edges of my boot. I can feel it cooling, fitting my limbs form like a glove. With shaking hands I reach for the other, confirming that it’s still hot enough to work with. I bring it to my other foot and do the same the before, the pain no less for the repetition as the damnable noise comes ever closer. I can hear the breathing now, a terrible discordant thing with a hundred tones overlapping in a low, husky cacophony. Sometimes I think I can hear a muffled moan amidst it.

I move swiftly. It’ll smell me any second now, its right around the corner. I can almost see the shadow out of the corner of my eyes. I move without hesitation over the wires. Either it’ll kill me too quickly for me to care or I’ll get across. I do so in two long leaps. I can feel eyes on my back as the low drone turns into a high wine. Its spotted me, its breathing has grown heavier and louder. “Cafeteria door, open!” I yell, feeling no shame at how my voice cracks.

In that moment, everything slows. I can’t help but think that it would be ironic if the door was locked. Fitting, even.

I slam my hand against the door controls, pressing the back of the fist against the ID reader. Every breath is an eternity, every eternity something beyond that, something indescribable except to those who know what total fear is like.

The door opens and I fly in. The floor tremors.

I turn around as the door shuts. My eyes fall on the crack between the two reinforced sections. A gaunt, stretched face with black eyes smiles at me upon four legs as I watch it fully close.

I stand there for a moment, looking at the entry. I can still hear the breathing through it, lessened though it is. My visor is filled with warnings about my heart rate, about exhaustion and about nerve damage. I ignore them.

I move away from entrance, heading towards the back of the kitchen. The mess tables are full of opened ration packs, long since inedible. I think I can see bits of flesh in some of them. I ignore them, instead looking only at the vat that sits on the top of a counter, sitting innocuously among the silverware. On it, in bold faced yellow lettering, is the words “Food Reyc Vat, Use With Caution”

I sit down on the ground against some of the drawers and stare at it. Never again, I think.

As I lay there in a backdrop of a world gone mad, from outside the door, clear as day, I hear singing.

[dorothydelgadillo]

How to Write a Case Study Analysis [+ Free Case Study Template]

Here are the guidelines to teach you how to write a case study

Pick your case study subject with the best-completed work supported by measurable results that show how you solved a client problem. 

Gather as much information as possible across the entire story...

Write your case study with a narrative that is memorable.

Design the case study so it's visually appealing enough for prospects to read. 

There is a difference between learning how to write a case study and learning how to write a case study that is memorable. That persuades. That sings from the rooftops, “Just look at these results — you know you want to work with us!”

Unfortunately, many of the case studies I’ve read are boring, self-aggrandizing, and uninspiring. That’s because most organizations know they need case studies, but fall terribly short in execution. 

It’s kind of like that old saying, “It’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it.”

There is an art to writing a case study that will be the proverbial milkshake bringing all the prospects to the yard. So, today I’m going to teach you everything you need to know on how to write a case study that attracts the right buyer personas and helps you close deals.

(I'm also going to share my personal, free case study template with you that makes writing case studies a breeze!)

But First, What Is a Case Study?

Before we dive into the nuts and bolts of pulling together your case study, I want to give you a quick refresher on what a case study actually is.

I know, I know; You’re a pro. But in order to write a killer case study, you need to understand its purpose, as it will inform every decision you’ll make as you go through this process -- plus, it's never a bad thing to brush up. 

We all know that case studies are critical when it comes to nurturing prospects through the buyer’s journey. This is particularly true since potential customers are usually about 70 to 90 percent of the way through the buyer’s journey before they reach out to someone in sales -- and by that point, they’re still going to ingest about 11.4 pieces of content before they make their final purchasing decision.

That’s why your content strategy needs to cover more than just eBooks, blogs, and podcasts targeting the awareness and consideration stages. 

When done well, case studies can be invaluable inbound marketing tools during that critical decision stage, when prospects are evaluating who is going to help solve their problem -- and you want them to choose you.

Case studies are also indispensable during the sales process, once a brave prospect has decided yes, they crave the human connection only a sales rep can provide. So, every time you create a case study, ask yourself:

"Would my sales team consider this case study valuable and compelling enough to send to a prospect to help them close a deal?"

If the answer is no, then you need to go back to the drawing board.

Okay, with that out of the way, let’s get to work on how to create a case study…

Step 1: Pick Your Case Study Subject

In my experience, one of the most common reasons a client’s case study has gone off the rails is the foundation of their case study was flawed from the start. In other words, they chose the wrong subject to spotlight.

That’s why you need to vet the focus of your case study before you begin work on it.

Fortunately, there is some good news: When it comes to the scope of the work you choose to feature, size doesn’t matter.

One-off projects (infographics, branding), a short sprint campaign (promoting an event, new content offer), or a long-term, strategic endeavor that took months to complete (website redesign, software implementation)… they’re all viable candidates for your next case study.

But what do the most successful case study subjects have in common? Well, the easiest way to answer that is by telling you what to avoid.

The project should not still be in progress. You can’t write aspirational case studies, where there is “hope” or “intent” to bring about certain results. That would be like Michael Crichton ending Jurassic Park while the dinosaurs were still running around, eating people. “Don’t worry, I’m sure someone will get the power back on and save the day. The end.”

If your client is not happy with the work you produced, move on. This should be obvious, but given that we were once put in this exact situation (and our client’s client was more than happy to share how unhappy they were during our case study interview), I’m going to throw in this reminder. When it comes to your case study, you should not be the only one satisfied with what you delivered. Even if they are happy, however...

If you don’t have results to share, you don’t have a case study. It’s that simple. So, if you’re still in a pilot phase, waiting for results, hold off.

If any of this rings true for a project you’re considering for a case study, set it aside. It’s not case study material. The best case studies highlight completed work supported by measurable results that show how you solved a problem for a now-happy client.

Step 2: Gather Your Information

Once you’ve identified your case study subject, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and go on a fact-finding mission. There are a lot of questions you’ll need to answers before you start working on a draft and you’ll probably need to talk to a number of different people in order to get them.

For example:

Which of your personas will this case study target?

What problem did your client need solved?

Why were you chosen to help them solve it?

How did you approach the challenge?

What was the ultimate solution, and how long did it take to implement?

What benefits or results did your client see as a result of your work immediately?

What benefits or results did your client see as a result of your work over time?

Do you have a client testimonial?

The goal is to gather as much information as possible across the entire story:

First: Who is your client, and what is their problem or goal?

Next: How did you help them solve their problem?

Finally: Did everyone live happily ever after? Great! Prove it.

"Wait, How Do I Know All of the Questions I Need to Have Answered?"

I am so glad you asked!

To make your life a bit easier, I’ve pulled together this free case study template. It contains every single question you should ask when gathering information for your case study.

The questions are also grouped by where they fall within your “story," and I've included prompts if you feel stuck or need inspiration for certain questions.

One of my favorite things about this case study template is that you’ll be able to spot gaps in your story immediately. Are you light on results? Did you forget to ask for a testimonial? It’ll all be at your fingertips, in a single, well-organized document.

Step 3: Write Your Case Study

With your completed case study template, writing it should be a breeze. But like I said at the start of this, your case study will live and die by your ability to craft a narrative that is memorable.

There are two ways you accomplish this: tone down the fluff and be persuasive.

Minimize Your Editorializing

Whenever I’ve worked on a project I’m particularly proud of, I have a tendency to provide way too many superfluous details.

It’s just because I’m excited, but in the context of a case study, this kind of overeditorializing can make it look like you’re trying to fluff or pad your case study, because your results are flimsy.

Instead, streamline your narrative and your language.

Every detail you include should serve one purpose: to support the thesis of your case study. If it doesn’t, cut it out.

(No one cares if it was raining when you came up with that brilliant idea to drive website conversions, or that your shirt was blue when you thought up that ideal tagline for a new product.)

Also, avoid words or phrases that attempt to influence an opinion, such as unnecessary adverbs or adjectives.

For example, if you’re showcasing a branding project, don’t say the final logo was “beautifully designed.” That kind of statement should only be shared if it’s a testimonial from a client — the client's opinion of your work is the one that matters, not yours.

Put Your Persuasive Writing Skills to Work

Your case study should inspire people to take action. They should want to immediately pick up the phone and call you because they feel compelled to work with you, right?

That only works if you write in a way that is both inspirational and compelling.

Persuasive copy is powerful. Here’s how you do it:

Even though you’re telling a story about a specific client, include qualifiers about that them (industry, size) - or their situation (pain point, objective) - that allow a reader to feel like you’re speaking directly to them and the problem they’re trying to solve. They should be able to easily step into their shoes and say, "Hey, that sounds like me."

Comparisons, such as metaphors and analogies, can be your best friend in a case study, as they can help a reader accept a certain scenario as being true if it’s related to something they already understand. However, there is one caveat: Don’t use clichés. While they may exist for a reason, science says we are trained to ignore them.

Use power verbs. In fact, here are 109 of them, waiting for you to choose them. Power verbs have momentum. Power verbs imply results. Power verbs aren’t wimpy.

Don’t use passive voice. Use active voice. (What’s the difference, and why does it matter?)

Spotlight data, client quotes and testimonials to demonstrate the effectiveness of your work.

Finally, don’t forget to proofread!

Step 4: Design Your Case Study

Okay, so you have your case study draft in hand, filled with persuasive phrasing and glowing client testimonials. Now it is time to send it to design.

Of course, the end result at this step will probably depend a lot on your brand’s visual standards, but I still have a few tips for you.

If you’ve been blogging or creating content for any amount of time you — and your designers — probably already know the basics.

Whitespace is your friend.

Include visuals.

Break up walls of text with headings, subheadings, and bulleted lists.

Call out relevant data points and quotes you want readers to remember visually.

Include videos (if you’ve got ‘em).

Also, if you have a testimonial, include the person’s name, job title, and their photo. It shows you solve problems for actual people.

When it comes to case studies, design is just as important as the copy itself.

A well-written case study will only be persuasive if you create a piece that is visually appealing enough that a prospect will actually read it. If they don’t read your case study because of ugly, unfriendly design, all of your hard work will have been for nothing.

The format of how you present your case study is up to you, but keep in mind, they should be easy to find and read. Our success stories are on our navigation and they're ungated. (We don't any barriers between prospects and proof that what we do delivers results.)

However, if you decide to go a similar route of creating a case study that lives as a website page, create a PDF version that is easily printed, as well. It should be a document a sales rep can bring to a meeting and walk through in person, instead of having to say, “Oh, I’ll shoot you a link when I get back to the office.”

A Great Case Study Is Worth the Effort

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. “Man, Liz. This sounds like a ton of work.”

Well, yes. It is.

In the world of inbound marketing, it’s not enough to simply create content anymore. All of your competitors are now creating blogs, and case studies, and eBooks. In order to stand out today, you have to create quality content that clearly demonstrates you understand the problems of your buyer personas and how to solve them better than anyone else.

So, again, yes. This process is comprehensive, but only because I want to make sure that you are empowered to create case studies that make prospects want to call you instead of someone else.

Now, get to work!

from Web Developers World https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/case-study-template

[gta-5-cheats]

Luke Cage Season 2: What Worked and What Didn't

New Post has been published on http://secondcovers.com/luke-cage-season-2-what-worked-and-what-didnt/

Luke Cage Season 2: What Worked and What Didn't

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Luke Cage is back for a second season on Netflix, adding another chapter in the life of Harlem’s bulletproof hero after his short-lived stint with The Defenders – that’s Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and him – last year. Though he’s a free man, Luke Cage (Mike Colter) is still dealing with a lot of pent-up emotions, which is made worse by unexpected arrivals and departures. And he’s got a neighbourhood to protect, against villains both old and new.

Unfortunately, the show suffers from a sophomore slump with good moments few and far between, as we said in our spoiler-free review. With all 13 episodes of Luke Cage season 2 available Friday, it’s time to comb through the different storylines, and see what worked and what didn’t. This goes without saying, but everything beyond this paragraph is full of spoilers.

Spoilers ahead for Luke Cage season 2. Please turn away if you haven’t seen all of it.

Bad: Too much time, not enough plot Netflix-Marvel shows are regular offenders of stretching storylines longer than necessary, and the second season of Luke Cage is especially guilty of this. There’s no need for this story to be 13 episodes long, and Marvel’s insistence on doing just that causes the show to spin its wheels, with the same conversations repeated and character choices restated over and over.

It’s simply boring to watch, and it’s also perplexing given Luke Cage did a much better job with character interactions in the first half of its debut season. But here, it’s like running through an uninspired cycle, be it the beef between Bushmaster (Mustafa Shakir) and Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard), Luke’s issues with his father, and Misty Knight (Simone Missick) reconsidering her profession.

Mike Colter as Luke Cage in season 2 Photo Credit: David Lee/Netflix

If Marvel shows have to have 13 episodes, the writers should consider creating standalone episodes with individual cases while the bigger arc simmers in the background before coming to the fore. Or they need to lobby the producers and convince them to make fewer episodes, possibly eight or less.

By doing so, Luke Cage season 2 would be able to strip away all the bloat and hit its big story beats with more emphasis. For one, Mariah should have hit her lowest point – her house burnt down – much earlier in the season, and Bushmaster’s backstory, which gets a proper look late into the season, should have been told in the first few episodes, which would let audiences feel for the character in every subsequent scene.

Good: A moving LGBT subplot One of the more touching, nuanced and well-written subplots in Luke Cage season 2 involves Hernan “Shades” Alvarez (Theo Rossi) and a fellow enforcer Comanche (Thomas Q. Jones), who served time together at Seagate prison, where Luke was imprisoned alongside. It’s revealed that Shades and Comanche had an intimate relationship behind bars, but it stopped after they got out.

That transforms their promise of always being by each other’s sides into something much more. While Comanche is willing to explore it again, Shades sees life inside and outside prison as two separate things. Though Shades never explicitly says why, it’s possibly because street gangs are known to view homosexuality as a sign of a weakness, and often use homophobic slurs as insults and mockery.

Kudos to the writers for the gut-wrenching tragic turn to their relationship, as Shades discovers Comanche is the police informant and kills him, despite the latter claiming he could engineer a deal for the two of them. And it’s all brought together in a powerful fashion towards the end, with Shades willingly becoming an informant himself after witnessing Mariah’s wrath.

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Theo Rossi as Shades in Luke Cage season 2 Photo Credit: Cara Howe/Netflix

Good: A deep focus on family Heard on Luke Cage since its premiere, “family first” were words to live by for the Stokes, handed down from Mariah’s grandmother Mama Mabel. The show’s second season took that to heart with its writing, with many of its plots defined by family disputes and their far-reaching effects through time.

Though Mariah often used the term to justify her decisions, she embraced her husband’s last name to wash away the bloody legacy of Mama Mabel and further tried to get away from it in season 2, by selling off the gun business and going “legit”. It’s why Bushmaster kept insisting to call her Mariah Stokes, because he sees her as the emblem for all the disaster heaped upon his family.

Tilda Johnson (Gabrielle Dennis), who mainly serves as a weak audience surrogate, is a further piece of the puzzle. Her horror at learning she’s a product of incest rape and seeing what her mother Mariah did to the Jamaican family restaurant Gwen’s pushes her to poison her, à la Ellaria and Cersei on Game of Thrones.

Bad: Shifting characterisation While Luke Cage does a good job in exploring the family conflicts, the show is much less convincing in how it achieves some of that. Mariah’s decisions as the head of the Harlem gang paint the character as both intelligent and short-sighted: while she makes great calls in some places, she then turns around and makes some awful ones at other times. It’s a clear sign of the writers pulling the strings from behind the curtain, pushing her in the direction the show’s narrative needs her, instead of creating a character that lives and breathes.

Alfre Woodard as Mariah, Gabrielle Dennis as Tilda in Luke Cage season 2 Photo Credit: David Lee/Netflix

Good idea, poor execution: Harlem’s Godfather Though it takes too many diversions and too much time to get there, the second season’s character arc for its titular bulletproof hero is a solid, intriguing idea. Holed up in a Queens facility owned by his billionaire friend Danny Rand, Mariah tells Luke that Harlem doesn’t need a hero – it needs a queen. Luke isn’t convinced at first but when the level of street violence shoots up after she ends up in prison, he realises she’s right.

It pushes him to step up to the other crime bosses of New York, in what becomes a literal bone-crunching scene against Rosalie Carbone (Annabella Sciorra). That turns Luke from a guy who reacts to someone who takes charge of a situation. It also pushes him away from his usual image as the guy with the highest morals in the room, which tends to make him the most boring individual.

All of this leads to the pivotal moment in the finale, where Luke discovers that Mariah left the keys of Harlem’s Paradise in his name. In choosing to keep it and use his influence to bring the crime bosses to the table, Luke accepts that Harlem needs a king. It’s gotten Misty worried for obvious reasons, but it does give us a great homage to The Godfather.

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[365footballorg-blog]

Blowouts, Barco, ball kids: What you might've missed in MLS Week 10

USA Today Sports

May 7, 201812:00PM EDT

Didn’t catch every minute of MLS Week 10? Here are some crib notes.

Barco off the mark as Atlanta roll on

Ding dong! MLS has a new frontrunner. Now roaring along on an eight-game (7-0-1) unbeaten streak since their opening-day humbling in Houston, Atlanta United defeated the Chicago Fire2-1 at Toyota Park, much-hyped newcomer Ezequiel Barco scoring his first MLS goal with a coldly clinical finish:

That win, combined with New York City FC’s brutal NY Derby loss to the New York Red Bulls, puts the Five Stripes alone atop the overall league standings on 22 points from their first nine games. And that makes Wednesday’s date with Sporting KC at Mercedes-Benz Stadium a top-of-the-table clash between the East and West leaders (7:30 pm ET | ESPN+ – Full TV and streaming info).

Down and out in Harrison

Speaking of NYCFC … well, maybe it’s better to say less. Heretofore the class of the league, the blue half of Gotham looked woefully uninspired in the 4-0 thrashing at Red Bull Arena, coach Patrick Vieira saying afterwards, “if I had a chance to change all the 10 players on the field, I [would’ve] at halftime.”

Cardiac, Comeback Cats do it again

Not only have NYC slid into second place in the East, they’ve been just about reeled in by Orlando City SC, who’ve won six straight and now sit just one point back of the Bronx squad while carrying a higher points-per-game yield. The Lions are also fun – albeit probably stressful to their supporters – to watch, having given up the first goal in four of those six games only to roar back to victory. Sunday’s 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake was the latest example:

By the way, Orlando host red-hot Atlanta on national television on Sunday evening (6 pm ET | FS1, TSN – Full TV and streaming info).)

Dynamo get the Memo

We can say this much about the Zlatan Ibrahimovic-era LA Galaxy: They are not boring.

Unfortunately for them and their fans, they’re also not good defensively, not in possession of a winning record and not in the Western Conference’s playoff places at present. Their latest barnburner unfolded in Houston, where the Galaxy fell behind twice, resourcefully hauled themselves level twice – then conceded a 90th-minute winner via the head of Dynamo HomegrownMemo Rodriguez to spark bedlam at BBVA Compass Stadium:

“We can either wake up, or continue like this,” said Ibra postgame, “but if we continue like this, we don’t want the same objective – we don’t want to win.”

Questions in Cascadia

Thanks to a moment of magic from the one and only Diego Valeri, the Portland Timbers dug out a 1-0 win at San Jose – the Earthquakes are in big trouble, by the way, winless since opening day and carrying the worst points-per-game average in MLS at present.

But Seattle and Vancouver were the picture of frustration on Saturday, both shut out by their opponents despite enjoying a numerical advantage for more than half the game. The Sounders’ 0-0 home draw with Columbus was probably more galling, based on the boos that rang out after the final whistle at CenturyLink Field. Seattle sit in last place, with the fewest goals scored in the league.

#SEAvCLB xG. Not a good look Seattle, not a good look. pic.twitter.com/RudsHAo9Fx

— Ben Baer (@BenBaer89) May 5, 2018

Montreal stop the rot, mostly

It’s been a rough few weeks for the Montreal Impact, who’ve been losing games and bleeding goals badly – and leaked a couple more when the New England Revolution hit town on Saturday. Thankfully for the Impact, it was already 4-0 to the hosts when they did.

Ignacio Piatti had one of his signature rapier-sharp attacking displays, while Raheem Edwards and Anthony Jackson-Hamel responded in a big way to some very public criticism from manager Remi Garde. Meanwhile, pundits around the league probably want to keep building the sample size before guessing at the true ceiling of this overhauled Revs team.

Lee and Maxi

Lee Nguyen, the guy New England shipped out of town just before the primary transfer window closed this week, made his LAFC debut off the bench on Saturday, against his hometown club FC Dallas. The veteran playmaker looked like a promising addition, despite being unable to break the 1-1 deadlock. Dallas’ Maxi Urruti stole the show with this opportunistic lash against the run of play:

The first tie in LAFC history, it probably should’ve been a win. And the week ahead will test the expansionists, with a midweek visit from Minnesota and a tasty-looking meeting with NYCFC on Sunday 8:30 pm ET | FS1 –  Full TV and streaming info).

TFC: Probably doing OK

Toronto FC suffered a pretty agonizing end to their Concacaf Champions League run, and have some work to do to catch up with the field in league play. Friday’s 3-0 disassembling of an admittedly flimsy Philadelphia Union side suggests Sebastian Giovinco and the Reds are up for the climb, and if this ball kid’s grooving is any indication, the vibes will improve at BMO Field quickly.

Seize your moment, ball kid! #TORvPHIpic.twitter.com/NGgRmrKo2k

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 5, 2018

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Blowouts, Barco, ball kids: What you might've missed in MLS Week 10 was originally published on 365 Football

[game-refraction]

Game Review: Vikings - Wolves of Midgard (Xbox One)

Released among the gaming blockbusters Persona 5 and the latest Mass Effect; Vikings: Wolves of Midgard may not get the attention it deserves. While the title does little to innovate within its own genre, Wolves of Midgard is a satisfying experience even if it is a bit of technical mess from time to time.

Whereas a game like Diablo III dove into the battle between heaven and hell, Vikings: Wolves of Midgard deals with attempting to stop Ragnarok, the end of the world. You’ll travel to Midgard, Utgard, Niflheim, Dvergheim and interact with a fair size cast of characters that can share in as equally weird names as those legendary locales.

While Vikings: Wolves of Midgard can come off as a bit of a Diablo clone, although, let’s be honest, Diablo is also a clone of other games as well, it just happened to be the most recent one to do the genre any real good, Wolves of Midgard does find its footing in offering its own spin on a few things to its players. When you drop the body of a frost giant or cleave the head off of a small imp-like creature, each of the fallen will drop orbs of blood, the game’s resource for leveling experience, and can be the source of a few grins in co-op, which I’ll get into a bit later. You can pull of multi-enemy kills to earn bonus blood orbs or equip better gear to increase the amount of blood earned.

The environments are also another part of the game that offers up something new; temperatures and status effects. Certain locations will be cold, hot, poisonous or electrocute you should the exposure meter fill up, and you’ll need to rely on safe zones to escape to and take a few seconds for the meter to go back down before venturing out again. You can equip items or spec your character out to create a stronger resistance to these effects, and while those effects occur in many of the game’s levels, it wasn’t until a level near the end did the electricity effect ever really bother me.

You play as the Chieftain to the Ulfung clan, creating either a male warrior or a female shieldmaiden. You’ll race into your village to find it under attack and once you rebuild, the story of stopping Ragnarok begins. Wolves of Midgard can at times feel incredibly generic; you have your two smith’s for armor and weapons, the shopkeeper, and an old man and a young woman who help out with runes and rings, not to mention the crazy old person who claims to see visions of death and chaos. You’ll be sent on quests from time to time from a few of them and you’ll even find items needed to level each of those vendors up and gain access to better gear.

You’ll need money and resources to buy better gear and while splitting a troll in half will net you a nice bit of blood, you’ll also want to smash and destroy your surroundings and leave no barrel, box or chest behind. One thing the game really impressed me with was the number of destructible items in the environment. You’ll gather wood and iron that are needed to craft most of the gear in shops, as well as a few other resources that will be needed in the late game. During the almost 30 hours of play, you will track down fragments of artifact gear; purple colored weapons that have amazing stats, and look pretty sweet as well. I constantly found new and exciting gear throughout many of my adventures to far off locations that I was constantly changing the look of my character with armor ranging from basic iron and leather to crystal and bone. While it may seem like something fairly trivial to critique, I found it rather unfortunate that I couldn’t favorite certain items of gear and this lack of a feature lead me to accidently dismantle or sell a high-end piece of gear more than once.

Vendors are not the only locations that you’ll upgrade as you also have an altar to enhance your skills with. Apart from using the blood you’ve earned to level up, you can upgrade your altar a few times and this will allow you to put more points into certain skills. I tend to play more with the bow and so I would put points into attacks that favored that weapon. You pick a deity at the start of the game to earn instant favor with; Thor, Loki, Odin, etc.. and that will set you on the path based on what weapon you tend to use most. You can, if you want, put points into another deity as well and have a balance of both, just don’t expect to fully level out a character during a standard playthrough if you tend to mix and match.

This system of advancement lacks a lot of depth to that of something like Diablo III, a game that the genre is currently weighed heavily against, but that’s simply because Diablo III is nothing short of brilliant. Blizzard’s giant of a game had a vastly deeper skill system that is just far more rewarding, more experimental and just better designed. While the skill system here isn’t bad in any drastic way, it lacks the variety needed to really set this game apart from the would-be Diablo clones. I do prefer what developer Game Farm have done here to make the game very easy to get into unlike something like Sword Coast Legends which can feel bogged down with stats and menus.

The skills you earn can be pretty satisfying to use but can border on being somewhat bland and uninspiring as well. As the archer you have a close combat kick that is pretty much useless later on, a powered shot that can cleave through mobs, a multi-shot arrow that is good for crowd control, a fire from above attack that launches down dozens of arrows to cause some pretty good damage, and finally an electrical shot that is just.. ok. While some of these attacks are great in practice, I’ve pretty much seen every single one of these skills in other games. There is also a rage meter that builds up and grants you a bit more power, but frankly, I hardly used it as it didn’t seem to be that effective, other than pausing any of the status effects from adding to the meter for a crucial few seconds as you race to one of the many safe zones across the map.

Apart from skills, you’ll have access to special items that are based on traits of characters like Thor or Odin and offer special abilities that any class can use. You can turn enemies into tiny pigs, become invulnerable for a few crucial seconds or lay down an area effect healing spell and just stand your ground. I found these fairly fun and while a few are present in other games of this genre, a small few are fairly original to this title.

The game also offers replayable levels called Hunts that have a specific enemy type to kill and can also net you rewards of more resources as well should you complete certain objectives. These objectives, like killing a specific amount of enemies, smashing certain objects or finding iron skulls, are also present in the story levels and can net you the same types of rewards as well. I did find a bit of confusion on what certain objectives were as some of the shrines you have to smash can pretty much look like half the rocks in the game and finding them all in dark levels can be quite the chore.

Hack and slashing your way through much of the Norse mythology here can be pretty fun as who wouldn’t want to play a Thor-flavored Diablo game and what that would entail. The game works rather well on the controller in terms of combat and with the right stick offering a fairly impressive dodge roll, it can be a very fast paced game depending on your play style. The speed in which combat is offered here, and not to mention just how fluid the action is, can make this feel like an arcade experience for all the good reasons. You have your typical assortment of weapons; axes, staves, swords, shields and a bow. Picking certain weapons will put you at the mercy of a specific skill tree to be able to use skills related to those weapons, as I have mentioned. You can swap weapon sets with a simple tap of up on the d-pad and pull off some fairly good combo attacks. I found that while the game offers the bow that it was the only weapon that didn’t have some cool camera shot when I pulled off a certain type of kill and that the range you could shoot would vary drastically. I also found several instances of where my bow just would not fire and I’ll point out that I never had one issue with attacking with melee based weapons.

You can have a friend join in via online co-op as there isn’t any form of local combat, a mode that would have easily made this game far more attractive. The co-op sadly feels tacked on and not fleshed out in any regard. The person joining you cannot save their story progress nor can they trade weapons or items with you either. My co-op partner experienced several disconnects and despite putting my game to private, it would change it to a public match whenever they disconnected, and put a random player into my party, even if my friend was already loading into my game.  We also had several glitches where my co-op companion would see visual oddities in the level, but only on their screen, of things that are present in the village but are only supposed to be there much later on in the game like several NPC’s and visual effects from a portal that shouldn’t be there yet. I did find it rather amusing that should you become separated from your co-op companion, you need only to follow the blood orbs indicating the chaos that went on without you. What I rather liked about the orbs was as while you were not there for the battle, you can still collect in on the experience earned as if you participated in that battle. You never feel like you missed out on anything.

I would say that the weakest part of the game visually is your character themselves as I found them blurry unless you zoomed in or viewed them from the character select screen. Despite this, they just came across as far too blurry and lacking crisp detail. Environments look great and offer a fairly decent amount of variety to hack and slash through that are also fairly large scale in size. I did find that the game does artificially make itself longer by having you travel back to certain locations and I would have preferred a random level generator for the hunt levels as traversing the same levels again and again can lead to boredom. The enemy designs are fairly interesting and some of the boss encounters are rather impressive, with some of them having some very interesting mechanics behind them as opposed to just being creatures that are there solely to take damage, which of course the game does contain far too many of those kinds of fights. I did find the final encounter to be lacking as I didn’t even come close to being challenged and I took down the final foe without even dropping much in health. The battle lacked variety in its design and the ending that follow was sadly disappointing.

I can’t recall much of the music in the game as is the way to say there isn’t a single piece of memorable music what-so-ever here and the voice acting itself borders on ok to just downright cringe. NPC’s and bosses can have some entertaining dialogue and the occasional good bit of voice over, but your main character, oh my, what a pain they are to listen to. I played as the shieldmaiden and nearly all her dialogue was “Oh, stop your rambling old woman, just tell me what I have to kill.” or “Blah blah blah, just point me in the direction of where to go” and more amazing bits of dialogue like that. Nearly any interaction with my character and someone who would push the plot along was met with that type of response and it just made my character feel like someone who was bored of this game, which I rarely ever was. You’ll select various bits of dialogue in the game and while your answer may sound fairly innocent, be rest assured that they will answer back in the rudest way possible.

I had various glitches throughout my 27 hours with the game, apart from what I have already listed off, but none of them really blocked me from anything I couldn’t just reload from. I’ve had doors not let me pass, arrows not fire from my bow, enemies not take damage or mini-bosses just flat out disappear unless I stood in a certain area and let them come closer to me. Again, any of those issues were solved with me just reloading the game. The most bizarre glitch was losing all collectible progress in an early level and having to complete the level with no items found, which sucked as it prevented me from earning an achievement.

I do feel that co-op was tacked on late in development as some of the issue surrounding it feels lazy and the least amount of effort given to a mode like this. I hate the fact that if my co-op partner wants to use their character in a single player game that they lose everything story-wise they have experienced in my game. I’ve read articles talking about how they may add local co-op and that will certainly get this game more attention, but until they allow co-op to save the progress of each player, It’s hard to recommend unless you only play the game with someone else, or make a character for both single player and multiplayer, like I did.

I personally loved Vikings: Wolves of Midgard far more than my initial few hours with the title would have suggested and with how generic the game can totally feel. Sure, it can be a bit of a technical mess from time to time but the gameplay itself is solid and enjoyable, even if my character themselves isn’t. Combat, earning gear and slashing down enemies inspired by Norse mythology is satisfying here and the game is just fun to play, and that is a very important factor that is often overlooked. No, Wolves of Midgard isn’t as visually impressive as it could have been and yes it lacks some of the enjoyment found in the mechanics of something like Diablo III, but as for a tale about Ragnarok, it’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

Vikings: Wolves of Midgard was played with a retail copy of the game on Xbox One and all screenshots were captured and acquired from the Xbox One App on Windows 10.

Game Review: Vikings – Wolves of Midgard (Xbox One) was originally published on Game-Refraction