#just doing some subtitle font experiments

[mysageukinbio]

[thelvadams]

some people were asking about the font settings on my gifs so if anyone's curious:

i haven't really felt the need to change the font i use in years; it's Ariel Rounded MT Bold. i usually keep it Strong but you can experiment with that if you like the other styles

for the other settings i just use a bit of stroke and drop shadow:

one different thing i do which i don't think most people do is i duplicate the subtitles on top of each other - mainly to make the drop shadow deeper and make the text stand out in front of the background better

that's pretty much it! like i said, i'm pretty happy with these settings so i haven't felt the need to change them in ages. the only change i make is how big the font is depending on how big the gif itself is. i hope this helps!

[leagueofgardens]

Assault Lily New Chapter: At the Seeds' Frontier / When the Bugle Blooms

Yurigaoka Fan Club is proud to present our English fansub of the stage play "Assault Lily New Chapter: At the Seeds' Frontier / When the Bugle Blooms."

Synopsis:

Yurigaoka Girls' Academy is preparing to take back Koshu from the Huge when four new Nests suddenly appear in the waters near Izu Oshima. The Garden dispatches Legions Alfheimr and Sanngrithr to remove the immediate threat. Tasked with the double duty of performing reconnaissance, Sanngrithr are the first to land on Oshima. On that island, Kondo Misaka—the captain of Legion Sanngrithr—encounters someone from her past that she thought she would never meet again. Izu Oshima is under the jurisdiction of the Gardens in Tokyo, and they suspect that the sudden appearance of these Nests is related to the unusual outbreaks of Huge that have happened in the city. The Inter-Garden Conduct Board sends the "Oshima Nest Survey Team", composed of selected Lilies from a variety of Gardens, to respond to the situation. But in addition to helping destroy the Nests, the Survey Team has a secret mission: that of investigating GEHENA's defunct laboratories on the island. Sanngrithr and the Survey Team find themselves fighting side by side on Izu Oshima, neither of them realizing that this battle is just the opening act of a much greater conflict…

Download the subtitle files and other extras here

You will need the Blu-ray disc of the stage play to watch these subtitles. You can buy it from Pius's online shop.

Before watching, install all of the fonts in the Assault Lily New Chapter Font Pack for the best experience.

"[Yurigaoka] Assault Lily New Chapter - At the Seeds' Frontier - When the Bugle Blooms.ass" is the recommended subtitle file.

"[Yurigaoka] Assault Lily New Chapter - At the Seeds' Frontier - When the Bugle Blooms [No Names+FX].ass" is an alternate subtitle file that does not have character names above the dialogue, nor the fancy karaoke effects. This file may work better for watching on low-spec devices.

"Assault Lily Setting Materials featuring Legion Sanngrithr.pdf" is a full English translation of an informational booklet released by acus (the creators of Assault Lily) around the same time as this stage play. It can be read either before or after watching it, but we do recommend that you read it for the best experience.

"Translation Notes.pdf" includes notes on our fansub translation and on some elements of the Assault Lily setting that the play itself doesn't explain. Read it after watching the stage play.

Enjoy the play!

[brotherconstant]

Hi! First of all, thank you so much for your photopea tutorial, it's been super helpful in making gifs. I wanted to ask, how do you add the text/subtitles? I've been trying but photopea is kiiiinda kicking my ass on that one.

sure! i'll try and explain, but in case something's not clear you can check out these other tutorials, they're extremely detailed and well made.

first you want to go to the sidebar and tap on the "T" symbol. next you want to double tap on your gif and drag the cursor to make a box, which you'll then place at the bottom of the gif. make it as big as you need, depending on how many lines of text you want to include. leave some extra space so your text won't sit at the very bottom.

now you can type your text. if you want to change font hightlight your text, then tap on the other "T" symbol, the one on the right. that's where you'll go if you want to change font, font dimension, font style etc. for example the bold P at the bottom will make your font "faux bold", or bolder.

"tracking" -> space between characters

"leading" -> space between lines

suitable fonts (there's more, but i usually shuffle between these three)

open sans

arial rounded

calibri

suitable font size

depends on how big the gif is and on your personal taste. idk why it's set to 24 on this screenshot, i usually make my text 17-18 px, sometimes bigger. if you look at my gifs you can notice i'm very inconsistent with fonts lmao.

then you can deal with font rendering. look for the drop-down menu next to the Aa symbol. i either go for sharp or crisp. strong is supposed to make the font look bolder, but it doesn't work in photopea, it messed with the smoothness and makes the font kind of jagged. crisp makes your font a little bit smoother.

if you wan to make your subtitles stand out more you can add stroke/drop shadow by going to "blending options". just right click on the text layer and choose blending options.

stroke: 1 or 2 px. depending on how you prefer it.

drop shadow. again, depends on your personal taste and on the gif itself. sometimes the gif is so dark or bright you might need to adjust the setting or add outer glow (dark grey, set to multiply) to make it so the text is perfectly readable.

i've been also experimenting with 3D (similar to drop shadow, but darker)

and that's it! hope this helped.

[isekai-crow]

Solo Leveling - World Premiere

How hype am I for this show?

I dropped $300 for an overnight trip to Tokyo to go to the World Premiere when I won tickets!~~

It wasn't anything super fancy or special, the tickets themselves were only 2000 yen / $20, but I considered it serendipity that I won tickets when I never win shit! (Capybara has a God Hand Of Luck and I have him do all my gachapon pulls for me to get what I want. He got me this Hisoka figure at the movie theater.) And it was worth the shinkansen ticket!

The World Premiere for Japan was on December 10, 2023, and was simultaneously shown in both Tokyo and Seoul and then at other various large cities around the world at other dates. I assume the later showings were recordings of the live viewing but with subtitles.

It was at 10:30 am and WOW THERE WERE SO MANY PEOPLE. Half of me was wondering if not that many people had bought tickets, and so the lottery for the tickets wasn't necessary, but nope FULL HOUSE.

(I will retake this once it's on display...)

We got cool little styrofoam cut outs with stands of Sung Jin Woo's very first dagger, the Kasaka's Venom Fang (which I have yet to put on display cause I'm moving soon, but I also got a spare for my Fox friend who's also obsessed with this show :3 Hopefully she'll put hers on display once I give it to her.)

The fricken... powerpoint screen I have at the top of this post. I wish I had been able to take photos outside of my tickets and that screen, cause like.

Thats a powerpoint. (That SURE IS a font choice) But it's not in presentation mode.

It's legit just a screen share of someone's laptop. There were slides with RED SQUIGGLY LINES UNDER SOME WORDS TO DENOTE MISSPELLINGS that don't normally pop up in presentation mode. Or SCREENSHOTS of slides, and various other font choice mishaps.

Welcome to the tech capital of the world, I guess? Lol.

Then we got to see the first two episodes!! I wasn't surprised by the lack of an opening or ending credit sequence because those tend to be a little last minute or have extra special touches put in to them. (For example, Zom 100's opening didn't show up until halfway through the first season because their studio is small and was having production delays, but its SO GOOD and worth the wait.)

I have yet to re-watch the episodes now that they've been released because I'm waiting for a chance to watch them with my Fox and Frog friends, but oh man.

The Japanese names sure did throw me off. Here is a link to a reference post I made about the Korean to Japanese names.

Solo Leveling Korean -> Japanese Names

I admit. I held out hope for keeping the original Korean names, but I'll leave my complaints about that for a different post. (Message from future Crow!! THERE ARE TWO VERSIONS!! A global version with the korean name, and a Japan version with the localized Japanese names. Curious if it'll be Korea or Japan in the global version.)

I was so excited by the sequencing of the story, though. We got to see Byung-nim in the first scene, AHHHHH!! 😍😍😍 The pacing is very good, the animation is very well done, I was holding my breath despite knowing what was coming and having an ABSOLUTE ethereal experience with one my favorite medias coming to life before me.

I'm also so happy I got to see Woo Jin Chul / Akira Inukai (BEST BOY). I love his Voice Actor. Unfortunately, he was not one of the VAs at the World Premiere. ALSO - HE'S BEING PLAYED BY SUNGWON CHO IN THE ENGLISH DUB. THAT ALMOST MAKES ME WANNA GO WATCH.

After the two episodes and credits played, the VAs came on to the stage and had interview time, and took a massive group photo.

The VAs from left to right:

Cha Hae In / Shizuku Kousaka played by Ueda, Reina (Also plays Kanao from Demon Slayer, Lemon from Mashle, Akane from SSSS.Gridman, Ruri from Dr. Stone, IdolM@ster and

Sung Jin Woo / Shun Mizushino played by Ban, Taito (Also plays Soyuz in Dr. Stone (HILARIOUS), the MC in Angel Next Door, YAGI FROM GIVEN.)

Yoo Jin Ho / Kenta Morobishi played by Nakamura, Genta, who is also a baby VA! He's only been in stuff since 2020, and considering Covid, there probably wasn't a lot of work for him to do! Hopefully he'll be popping up more in the future!)

Lemme just say.

Taito Ban.

Holy shit this dude goes SO. HARD. SO. EMOTIONAL. SO. GOOD. I don't know how he doesn't have more main character roles??? But maybe this is his big break?? He super fucking deserves more roles cause DAMN he's giving me chills.

At the Premiere, when they came out on stage and started interviewing, he was acting like the "cool guy" who was trying not to show how nervous he was, and honestly it took him a bit to warm up to the crowd, but when they brought out the real replica of the Kasaka's Fang Blade, he got so excited like a little kid. It was very fun.

Shizuku Kousaka was a lot more used to these events, which makes sense considering shes in SO MUCH, including IdolM@ster, and a few magical girl animes.

Genta Nakamura was excited and nervous and happy to be there, and you can tell he enjoyed his character and was excited for future episodes where his character would appear.

Multiple photos of the above shot were taken for various online news / anime websites (including another foreigner who might have been there for crunchyroll?)

Me in the top left corner of that group photo. I could spot my glasses, the little white patch is the skeleton clip I have in my hair, and I'm half a head taller than everyone else in the seats lmao.

Over it was super fun! It was only about two hours, but I got to hang out in Shinjuku and go hunting through Animate for various anime goods before taking the bullet train home again for work the next day.

I'm excited for the goods that will be coming out for Solo Leveling soon! I had a photo of them but NOW I CAN'T FIND IT??? was it a FEVER DREAM? hopefully it reappears soon. I want goods. Need a can badge of my boy Woo Jin Chul like now.

Hopefully I'll get around to write ups about the episodes now that they're coming out! They're on my to do list~

[pookapufferfish]

special interest special interest

(share! I wanna hear the special interest about accessibility features!)

:D

Okay so first here is a playlist about this that I watch all the time

So basically all of my hyperfixation on this started with me playing games and sometimes having trouble. I have a slow reaction time and a lot of games needed me to think quickly. Or I would use the only controller we had and it was small and hurt my thumbs.

Eventually I found the accessibility settings for a lot of games and became curious as to how they differed between games. It is also nice to check if there are things that make your gaming experience a little bit more fun. Because playing games is meant to be fun.

It is wild to see what games can come up with. Some games have nothing or very little in terms of accessibility, but others have so many features that can be turned on and off to help with any problems.

Anyways I also like to think of what I would do if I made a game, or anything for that matter, to make it more accessible. The features also are not just made for disabled people. I know I use some accessibility features in a lot of games I play. Technically adhd is a disability but that should not really affect how I play games.

It is just fun to look at stuff that 90% of people won't see and will never think about. Stuff like pressing a button once instead of holding it. Or being able to change the font. Or having subtitles in a game you would not expect (I play Minecraft with subtitles)

There are just so many things that are done per game. It is just interesting to see. I highly recommend people check the accessibility features of the games they play, sometimes you find a setting that makes the whole game that much better.

[stackslip]

i have many criticisms of nier automata but i'll always be SO fucking grateful for the auto-chip system and i can't believe that more games use a similar system for accessibility purposes. like i was physically unable to simultaneously play melee AND use the pod combat, the two at the same time make my brain hurt. also started the game struggling immensely with evading. so like, being able to start with the auto-chips for evading and pod gameplay was such a relief and it meant i was able to gradually adapt to the melee system and learn to enjoy it, before being brave enough to turn off the evade auto-chip and do so myself, and occasionally managed to use the pod by myself too! and as i'm fucking awful at the hacking minigame i just used the autochip and boy was it a lifesaver. never would have finished automata without these systems. and i know automata has an in-universe explanation for it but i really wish more games whose gameplay wouldn't suffer from these accessibility tools would use it. like i get that it wouldn't be possible for say, the devil may cry series. but there are so many games out there where nothing would be lost and there's everything to be gained about integrating these kind of accessibility features.(and also basic stuff such as accurate subtitles including for audio cues in gameplay, being able to change the font, pausing + saving at any time, control remapping, clearer/customizable HUDs, being able to lower the speed of gameplay..... etc etc etc all things that would cost nothing to players who want a Hardcore TM experience and would give so much to people who for some reason or another struggle with any of these aspects.

[tremendouskoalachild]

list of everything i didn't like about avatar: the way of water

(sorry avatar head mutuals, love you guys but i have very little positive to say about it)

(this is just me venting because i have Thoughts in my head and nobody i know irl has seen it. i wanna enter the new year with a cleansed mind i guess)

(for context i saw it because i had an opportunity to see it for free and went, fuck it. i am not a fan of the first film and haven't seen it since 2010. i also do not vibe with james cameron movies in general)

ruins the any day now meme by actually coming out :(

is an hour longer than it needs to be and two hours longer than it should be. i get that it's about the experience and all but pretty blue people admiring majestic creatures does, in fact, get old eventually

james cameron can't help himself i guess. the amount of underwater exploration scenes is borderline masturbatory, not to mention the whole finale taking place on a sinking ship

please tell me they didn't use the actual papyrus font for the subtitles. idk how noticeable it is in the original but watching the film subtitled is painful until you get desensitized to it

colonialism is apparently not enough to make us root against the humans. no we gotta show them gleefully murder a space whale momma (who composes music 🥺🥺) and her baby

the fact that the destruction of nature is treated as more heinous than the attempted genocide of the na'vi (who are pretty transparently stand ins for native americans) is to be expected from the franchise... i still hate it though.

bad guy lady disappears like midway through. and i had such high hopes for her after she was shown using her mech suit arm to drink coffee. slay queen

for such a ruthless piece of shit (affectionate) the main bad guy doesn't know what to do with a hostage. buddy you could have ended the fight like four separate times. you even had redundancy because they always manage to capture several kids at once 😭

the character accused by every video essayist alive of being a white savior wears dreadlocks now. idk kinda tone deaf if you ask me

the decision to just have the Na'vi speak english is cowardly as fuck. didn't you guys make a fully functional conlang for the first movie??

it also makes it more difficlut to tell what language is being spoken in various scenes. literally what is going on and who understands whom

neytiri was done dirty. barely present most of the film and underdeveloped.

even though the original movie apparently fucked over the hired composers i can't deny that its music fucked. can't remember a single melody from the sequel though

main villain being able to commune with nature without any self-reflection sucks ass. you could say he just subdued the flying thing through it comes back later and is apparently loyal so what was that

the spider situation is really weird. his adopted family don't really seem to care about his abduction much (was jake sully being more literal than i realized when he called spider basically the family's stray cat?? idk neytiri sure doesn't seem to give a fuck about him). the weirder thing though is how he is not restrained or even really supervised while captured despite being open about his loyalties

not to out myself as a space racist but i couldn't tell the two brothers apart until like halfway through at which point one got a lot more spotlight and it became clear the other was done for. rip son number 2 i literally don't remember your name

does this decanonize the avatar theme park 🥺 (this is a joke. all i know about the park is from that one jenny nicholson video and the lore does not seem all that good)

the love interest girl's character is said like once or twice in the whole movie. i was listening for it since i was crushing on her (because neytiri is barely in the movie)

there are multiple instances of a boat being thrown into the air and none of them look real

i swear they say "four fingers" when they mean five at some point. yeah i'm reaching here

the plot is paper thin and so many of the situations are incredibly basic

[joyce-stick]

I personally would not say that fansubs are fringe whatsoever, in our experience. They still persist, particularly in cases where the official subs are found deficient in some way (like Revue Starlight, for instance) or as fan edits to the official subtitles, where people fix perceived translation errors without doing the subs from scratch, add the opening/ending/insert theme song lyrics, or stylize the extant subtitles to be in a different font/color, translate onscreen Japanese text, and/or look more attractive to people who dislike the standard "black and white Arial font" approach. And there's still a healthy amount of other groups besides Commie still doing from-scratch subs- Chihiro, Good Job Media, MTBB, and so on.

The fansub community may not be as big as it once was, but it never went away, it just evolved, and the groups got more selective about what they translated.

They also use a lot less weebspeak these days. In fact I'd say that current era fansubs look much more professional, since now they have competition, their focus is often on trying to make good English equivalents of puns that the official translators ignored or didn't get quite right, and generally trying to fill in the gaps that official subs can't - again, like the music that official licensors need to get permission for, and etc. We found our way to watching fansubs because of then-lacking/nonexistent official song subtitles for Symphogear, for instance. (This was before the series got blu-ray releases with essentially official fansubs.)

So, I would speculate that the focus is nowadays a lot less on making the weebs feel included, and more on catering to folks who went looking for other options when they found the legit options to not suit them.

(This is still not at all the case with manga scanlation)

We (somewhat rightly) mock the 2000's era fansub translation notes for their otaku fixations and privileging of trivia over the media, but they should be understood as serving their purpose for a bit of a different era in the anime fandom. Take this classic:

Like, its so obvious, right? Just say "pervert", you don't need the note! Which is true, for like a 'normie' audience member who just wants to watch A TV Show - but no one watching, uh *quick google* "Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne" in 1999 is that person. The audience is weebs, and for them the fact that show is Japanese is a huge selling point. They want it to feel as 'anime' as possible; and in the west language was one of the core signifiers of anime-ness. 2004 con-goers calling their friends "-kun" and throwing in "nani?" into conversations was the way this was done, and alongside that a lexicon of western anime fandom terminology was born. Seeing "ecchi" on the screen is, to this person, a better viewing experience - it enhances their connection to otaku identity the show is providing, and reinforces their shared cultural lexicon (Ecchi is now a term one 'expects' anime fans to know - a truth that translator notes like this simultaneously created and reflected).

But of course your audiences have different levels of otaku-dom, and so you can't just say 'ecchi' and call it a day - so for those who are only Level 2 on their anime journey, you give them a translation note. Most of the translation notes of the era are like this - terms the fansubber thought the audience might know well enough that they would understand it and want that pure Japanese cultural experience, but that not all of them would know, so you have to hedge. The Lucky Star one I posted is a great example of that:

Its Lucky Star, the otaku-crown of anime! You desperately want the core text to preserve as much anime vocab as possible, to give off that feeling, but you can't assume everyone knows what a GALGE is - doing both is the only way to solve that dilemma.

This is often a good guideline when looking at old memetically bad fansubs by the way:

This isn't real, no fansub had this - it was a meme that was posted on a wiki forum in 2007. Which makes sense, right? "Plan" isn't a Japanese cultural or otaku term, so there is no reason not to translate it, it doesn't deepen the ~otaku connection~.

Which, I know, I'm explaining the joke right now, but over time I think many have grown to believe that this (and others like it) is a real fansub, and that these sort of arbitrary untranslations just peppered fansub works of the time? It happened, sure, but they would be equally mocked back then as missteps - or were jokes themselves. Some groups even had a reputation for inserting jokes into their works, imo Commie Subs was most notable for this; part of the competitive & casual environment of the time. But they weren't serious, they are not examples of "bad fansubs" in the same way.

This all faded for a bunch of reasons - primarily that the market for anime expanded dramatically. First, that lead to professionally released translations by centralized agencies that had universal standards for their subs and accountability to the original creators of the show. Second, the far larger audience is far less invested in anime-as-identity; they like it, but its not special the way its special when you are a bullied internet recluse in 2004. They just want to watch the show, and would find "caring" about translation nuances to be cringe. And since these centralized agencies release their product infinitely faster and more accessibly than fansubs ever did, their copies now dominate the space (including being the versions ripped to all illegal streaming sites), so fansubs died.

Though not totally - a lot of those fansub groups are still around! Commie Subs is still kicking for example. They either do the weird nuance stuff, or fansub unreleased-in-the-west old or niche anime, or even have pivoted to non-anime Japanese content that never gets international release. But they used to be the taste-makers of the community; now they are the fringe devotees in a culture that has moved beyond them. So fansubs remain something of a joke of the 90's and 2000's in the eyes of the anime culture of today, in a way that maybe they don't deserve.

[jadefarringtonlaunceston]

A Community Guide to a Happy Neurodivergent Christmas has launched!

If you signed up for a copy then check your inbox (or spam folder if it isn't there.)

If you didn't request a copy, or for some reason it hasn't delivered to you, then you can still get yours via www.linktr.ee/jadefarringtonlaunceston

Who is A Community Guide to a Happy Neurodivergent Christmas for?

Everyone!

What was initially envisioned as a brief self-written pdf with a few pointers has morphed into a community guide full of contributions from neurodivergent people of a variety of neurotypes. I'm very grateful to them all!

The subtitle is 'ditch the expectations and meet your needs', and that's very much what this is all about. You are allowed to do Christmas your way, whatever that looks like. The guide is packed with information, ideas and experiences to help you do just that.

The guide is a collection of ideas and experiences, and is not at attempt to speak for everyone. It's impossible to cover everything because we and our children are all unique, but if nothing else it will hopefully give you the confidence to do things differently and see that you're definitely not alone.

If you're neurotypical, the guide is for you too. You might have neurodivergent family, friends, students or colleagues. Or maybe you also quite fancy changing some of the expectations around Christmas!

It's available in two different versions, including one in the OpenDyslexic font. You can download both if you like. Please be aware that the OpenDyslexic font can induce motion sickness or headaches in some non-dyslexics.

The response has been so phenomenal that I'm intending to expand this into a full-length book for Christmas 2025. If you're neurodivergent and you have different ideas and experiences that you would like to contribute to the book then please get in touch.

Please share with anyone you think might be interested in the guide!

[nickymortis]

Survive the Final Act: Alone in the Dark Showdown

There's something totally rad and kinda nerve-wracking about reviving a classic survival horror game from 34 years ago while also ensuring you have enough funds to buy Xbox games. Alone in the Dark was the OG in its genre, laying down the foundation for games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. But, you know what? Despite my doubts about bringing back a game that old, this gothic mystery vibe slid right back into its groove like it never left. It delivered intense vibes, killer voice acting, and a bizarre yet captivating story that totally hooked me as I dove into its supernatural Southern world.

Exploring Characters in "Alone in the Dark"

When I fired up the game, I noticed it had some basic accessibility stuff like choosing different subtitle sizes to enhance my experience and maybe even find a good deal to buy PS5 games. But honestly, for a game dropping in 2024, I expected more—like audio descriptions, better options for low-vision players, and text improvements, especially since this game is heavy on text. But I'll dig into that later. If you're into nostalgia and want to revisit your childhood, there's an option to play Alone in the Dark with the original characters in their retro Derceto 1992 costumes. It's got that old-school polygon look and some cool vintage horror filters. I passed on that, though, 'cause I wanted to check out all the visual upgrades. I went with Emily Hartwood to tackle the Jeremy Hartwood mystery. I'm a huge fan of Jodie Comer from Killing Eve, and I was curious to hear her American accent in this 1920s-themed game, even though her face animations were kinda stiff. Next time, I might try Edward Carnby played by David Harbour to see how the story changes—it's cool how NPCs and the manor respond differently to each character but still hit the same story points. That's definitely gonna make me replay it.

Mastering the Puzzles of Alone in the Dark

The story unfolds in the murky bayou of New Orleans, and I was blown away by the sheer size of the sprawling southern Derceto Manor. It's all about soaking in the mood—from the shadows and beams of light peeking through curtains to the Art Deco lamps and nature-inspired architecture of the conservatory. This haunted house spread over three floors, is designed for exploration, and the non-linear gameplay nails it. Beyond Derceto, the vibe stays strong—from Emily's trippy nightmares in the French Quarter to the misty swamps of Louisiana and even surreal Ancient Egypt scenes. And the soundtrack? It's fire, mixing that rhythmic jazz of the 1920s South with just the right amount of creepiness for a whodunnit setting. But what really shines in Alone in the Dark, besides its killer environments, are the puzzles. They range from chill to challenging, clearly showing the devs put serious time and brainpower into crafting these mind-benders—like rearranging meds and paintings, or hunting down keys to crack open locked doors and boxes. Just a heads-up though—if you're not into reading heaps of text, this game might feel like a word salad at times.

Lonely Atmosphere in Alone in the Dark

Man, unraveling the story in this game meant wading through a ton of letters and info dumps. Sometimes, it got so overwhelming—plus, the font was tiny and hard to read unless you were practically glued to the screen. I ended up doing this awkward dance of sitting down and getting up from the couch just to catch all the details, which totally messed with my flow. They really needed better accessibility options for that. It struck me as weird that this lavish mansion, which was supposed to be a sanctuary for the mentally drained, felt so empty. Sure, there were other guests around in cutscenes, but the place itself was kinda desolate. If it wasn't for the puzzles sending me all over the house, it would've been a seriously lonely vibe. I would've loved to see more people wandering around, maybe hearing creaky floorboards or stumbling upon someone unexpectedly—it would've cranked up the creepy factor big time.

Immersive Thrills in Alone in the Dark

Sometimes, moving the character felt awkward, especially during fights with enemies—it wasn't as smooth as it should've been. And when I tried to escape from creatures, I got stuck on invisible walls a few times and had to reload my last save. The devs say they're fixing these issues before release, though. Despite that, Alone in the Dark is totally worth the 15-hour playthrough. The puzzles are solid, the environments are breathtaking, the atmosphere is creepy as heck, and the nightmare landscapes are wild. Unraveling Emily's backstory and how it connects with Jeremy and the Dark Man kept me hooked with well-written story moments that left me hungry for more. But there were parts where I wished they'd expanded more to really elevate this already amazing game.

[tsreviews]

GPTReels Review : Pro Quality Video Reels for Any Business

GPTReels Features

FEATURE 1 : Easy Mode Allows You to Just Give a Keyword and 3 Clicks!

Advanced Mode Allows you to do Essential Customization Hyper Mode Gives Further developed Choices and Unlimited authority on All Parts of Video.

FEATURE 2 : Customized Video Creator

Get Even More Control and Create More Specialty explicit Recordings by Gaining Total Influence on the Video Creation Part.

FEATURE 3 : Get the Right Content From AI!

It's Time to See REAL AI! Our AI is Trained Internally to Give you Laser Designated Content for Every one of Your Recordings! Not any more Inconsequential Substance or Going through Hours to Produce Right Happy! It permit you 3 Choices to Choose From! Every one of the Prompts are Changed for Powerful yet Captivating Video Contents.

FEATURE 4  : High Quality AI Voices

This is the REAL Show! It's An ideal opportunity to Experience Genuine Voices with Genuine Feelings! Don't bother Banging Your Heads with Mechanical Voices Any longer.. Be Interesting and Stand apart of the Group!

FEATURE 5 : Complete Slide Management

You can Easily Move the Slides Up and down and Even Remove it with Ease! Create Your Video in Your Style!

FEATURE 6 : Enhanced Editor to Add Hyper Engaging Video Elements in Your Video

With Just 1-Click you can Add CTA's, Texts, Graphics, Emojis, Shapes, Arrows, Gifs and Anything as You Like!

FEATURE 7 : Drag and Drop Editor

No Clicks Needed! Just Drag and Drop your Favourite Elements from Inbuilt Parts or from Your PC in Piece of Seconds!

FEATURE 8 : No Video? No Idea? We Got You! Use Trending Reels Finder & Repurpose in Minutes

Stuck with Idea? Not to Worry as We Got You Covered! Look for Moving Reels and in Only 3 Ticks You can Download the Video Straightforwardly into the Manager and Reuse it!

FEATURE 9 : Extensive Stock Media Library

No Need of Pay for Stocks! We have Coordinated Broad Stock Media Library of Pictures, Recordings and the sky is the limit from there! All of them are Royalty FREE!

FEATURE 10  : Engaging Fonts and CTA Elements Included!

Look over Handpicked Text style Styles, Stickers, Shapes, Symbols and then some! Just Click, Drag and Drop!

FEATURE 11  : AI Image Generator with Latest SDXL Tech

You can Undoubtedly Create Limitless Pictures with Most recent SDXL Tech!

FEATURE 12  : Image Upscaler

You got a Small Image? Our Image Upscaler will Help you by Upscaling Your Images without Loosing Quality!

FEATURE 13  : Over 40+ Categories of AI Image Generation!

You can Now select from Over 40+ Categories of Image Styles like Anime, Art, Cartoon, Avatar, Diffusion Art, Realistic Image, Fantasy Style, Miniature, Portrait, icasso, Mosaic Etc.

FEATURE 14  : Background Remover

Admittance to Our Lead artificial intelligence Foundation Remover, where You simply have to Transfer a Picture and Framework will really do Rest in only Seconds!

FEATURE 15 : Advanced Image Editor

Astounding Utility to Alter every one of Your Pictures inside the Application. You can Add Channels, Resize, Yield, Draw, Add Test, Shapes, Stickers, Add Edges and Update Corners of Any Photograph that you select!

FEATURE 16 : Create Videos in 4 Format for Maximum Reach!

You can Make Recordings in Shorts, Reels, Square and Widescreen Configuration for Most extreme Reach.

FEATURE 17 : Inbuilt Subtitle Generator

No Need to Add or Do Any Hardwork of writing Subtitles! Just One Click and System will Generate Full Subtitle for you.

FEATURE 18 : Easily Add Watermarks to Your Video with Just 1 Click

Just Upload a PNG Image and System will naturally deliver the video with Your Watermark! Prevent Others from Taking Your Video and Get the Genuine Traffic!

FEATURE 19 : Not "English Friendly?" Translate Entire App in Over 150+ Languages!

With Just 1 Click, You can Use our App in your Native Language!

FEATURE 20 : Set Duration of Each Slide

You can decide the Duration of Each Slide Giving you Maximum Control Over Video

FEATURE 21 : Direct Access to Stock Library Inside Editor

You can Without much of a stretch peruse and Add Stock Pictures into Your Recordings Straightforwardly from Proofreader.

Extremely Simple to Involve Video Maker for Anybody - Easy to use, Zero Abilities Required

>>Get Instant Access Now<<

[source-timeslip]

Accessibility

The only theme I have been given for this project is "alternative control", a game that uses a form of control not commonly used such as the laser gun from Nintendo. I would also really love to explore the horror genre in this project.

Accessability

One of the largest reasons for creating alternative controllers for games is to make the game more accessible. An example of this could be the student at my college that made a game that used only one button, made for visually impaired people. The games themselves can also be designed to be accessible to as many people as possible and it is becoming increasingly common to have an accessibility tab in the settings menu of most games.

Making games for the deaf and hard of hearing.

The thing that took me off guard the most when watching this was how awful some subtitles are in games. Developers would rather stick to their brand identity than make a font that's easily readable. In future project it's going to be increasingly important to have alternative routes or information to bypass sound queues in my games. I don't know if I will have to add subtitles to any games I make but I can carry over the ideal subtitle look over to my dialogue lines. I think a game that does really well with this particular impairment would be Fortnite due to the visual sound effects option. I really love the clean UI and easily readable visual queues for sound effects in the game, aside from Fortnite specifically, a laid back puzzle game that you know doesn't have much to do with sound would also be great. I would stay away from a game like Hitman if you are audibly impaired just due to it not subtitling pretty crucial voice lines, I would also definitely stay away from rhythm games for obvious reasons.

Making games for people with visual impairments.

What surprised me the most is that unlike rhythm games which don't bother tailoring to the deaf or hard of hearing, games that bas themselves around colour almost always have a setting for colourblind people, such as Hue which puts symbols on each colour. I think the thing to take away from this into my other projects is to be aware of what colours I am using in my game, if I ever try to use contrasting colours, especially in a competitive game, I will have to keep visually impaired people in my mind to avoid my game becoming less accessible for people. A lot of competitive games would be ideal for people as they usually have settings to change the enemy colour to accommodate colour blind people. Other games that have a high contrast mode and a detailed sound scape such as a fighting game would be really good for a player with low vision. Although a lot of colour based games try to help there players, I don't think the same experience could be taken away from it so they would be the games I would avoid.

Games for people with motor disabilities

This is definitely one of the most difficult impairment to accommodate for as a lot video games do require complex motor functions to progress, such as quick time events. The fact that most developers do not add remapping for controller is probably the most surprising thing I'm learning from this video. Some motor impairments make reaching for certain inputs extremely difficult so remapping really should be a must. The thing I would try to integrate into my game would be an assist mode such as celeste or Mario odyssey. It wouldn't change the difficulty in the traditional sense but would more provide the ability for the player to enable certain things that would make it more comfortable to play with their impairment. A game that works really well to be inclusive to this impairment is the witness, which allows the player to control the whole game with just the mouse using a point and click style movement. Detroit become human would be a game to avoid with this particular impairment as it requires specific analogue stick movement just to interact with an object, making this easier would require the player to change the entire difficulty of the game. Most games with quick time events are usually not very accessible to this impairment.

Making games for people with cognitive disabilities.

I knew that flashing lights could trigger autistic and epileptic people but I had no idea it could also be brought on by certain patterns and just general over stimulation. It should be crucial for me to identify all the possible risks of overstimulation in my games and at a minimum, warn players against them. A navigations aid should also be introduced with the assist mode I was talking about with the previous video to stop players getting lost. For people with this impairment I would suggest some sort of tutorial, an assist mode and accessibility options to turn of effects that may cause over simulation. I would definitely avoid a game like beat saber. Beat saber can cause motion sickness and over stimulation. Games that use a lot of flash post processing would best be avoided for players with this impairment

Although accommodating to all of these impairments seems like a mountainous task, I don't think it fair to make a game that not everyone can play, especially if this is only because a players experience is completely ruined because they can't differentiate the enemies from their own team.

You can also combine alternative controls with accessibility.

What makes this specific controller so good for people with disabilities is that it is completely adaptable to fit the person. Whatever that specific person struggles with when using a normal controller can be helped by remapping the adaptive controller to fit that persons needs.

Another example of accessible controllers would be the quadstick which uses the inputs from a person blowing into one of the holes.

This is also fully remappable although I imagine it would take a while to get used to it.

[myfrenzi]

Accessibility Features in OTT Platforms

Enhancing the Streaming Experience: Unlocking Accessibility Features on OTT Platforms

In today’s fast-paced world, online streaming has become an integral part of our lives. Whether it’s binge-watching our favorite series or discovering new films, Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms have revolutionized the way we consume content. While we often focus on what to watch on OTT, it’s equally important to discuss the often-overlooked topic of accessibility features that can make the streaming experience inclusive for everyone.

Closed Captions for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

One of the most significant accessibility features on OTT platforms is closed captions. These text-based overlays provide a transcript of the audio content, making it accessible to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. Beyond its primary function, closed captions also benefit those who want to watch content without disturbing others, or even those trying to learn a new language.

Imagine watching a gripping crime thriller late at night, ensuring that your thrilling experience doesn’t disturb your sleeping family members. Closed captions enable you to do just that, enhancing the enjoyment of your chosen content without compromise.

Audio Descriptions for the Visually Impaired

For those with visual impairments, audio descriptions are a game-changer. These narrations describe important visual elements in the content, including actions, expressions, and scenes, that may not be discernible through audio alone. It adds depth and context, allowing visually impaired individuals to fully immerse themselves in the storyline.

Imagine watching a breathtaking nature documentary where the narrator describes the vibrant colors of a coral reef or the majestic flight of an eagle. Audio descriptions bring these visual experiences to life for those who can’t see, making it an inclusive and emotionally enriching experience for all.

Customizable Subtitles and Captions

OTT platforms go a step further by allowing users to customize the appearance of subtitles and captions. This feature enables viewers to adjust text size, color, background, and even font style according to their preferences. It’s a small yet significant aspect of accessibility that ensures viewers with specific visual needs have a comfortable and enjoyable watching experience.

Voice Commands for Easy Navigation

Voice commands have become increasingly popular on OTT platforms. They empower individuals with mobility impairments to navigate the platform effortlessly. With simple voice commands like “play,” “pause,” “rewind,” or “search for [title],” users can enjoy content without the need for manual controls.

What to Watch on OTT with Accessibility Features

Now that we’ve explored the importance of accessibility features, let’s not forget the primary reason we turn to OTT platforms — the content itself. Here are some recommendations for what to watch on OTT platforms that make excellent use of these accessibility features:

Breaking Bad (Netflix): This critically acclaimed series is available with closed captions and audio descriptions, allowing viewers to delve into the dark world of Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher turned methamphetamine manufacturer.

The Sound of Metal (Amazon Prime Video): This film offers an authentic portrayal of a drummer’s journey through hearing loss. Subtitles and audio descriptions help viewers immerse themselves in the powerful story.

The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix): Follow the life of an orphaned chess prodigy, Beth Harmon, with customizable subtitles and captions. The show’s captivating storytelling is accessible to all.

Soul (Disney+): This heartwarming Pixar film, available with audio descriptions, explores the afterlife and the pursuit of one’s passions. It’s a visually stunning experience made accessible to everyone.

In conclusion, while we often focus on “what to watch on OTT,” let’s also remember to make our streaming experiences inclusive. Accessibility features not only cater to specific needs but also enhance the enjoyment of content for all viewers. As we continue to embrace the world of online streaming, let’s ensure that everyone has the opportunity to share in the joy of storytelling, regardless of their abilities.

[mezzaluca]

op you are in luck because i have so so many that i keep a discord server JUST to index them all. ill try not to list too many here though ^^;

writing/vocabulary

hiragana + katakana, from tofugu, also pronunciation

i cant really help too much with kanji, because i use a wanikani (a paid resource), but i do have a pdf of remembering the kanji. it teaches kanji by using memonics, which abroad in japan explains about.

if youre willing to do flashcards every day, there is an anki deck for the top 6k words. the tango n5 and n4 decks also give flashcards with basic sentences

i wasnt sure where else to put this, but the moe way has a 30 day guide to help you start learning japanese. even if you dont follow it, they also have a bunch of resources here

grammar

tae kims grammar guide is the most popular, but i have a few others that teach grammar:

beginners guide to japanese sentence structure

tokini andy's grammar lessons, following the popular textbook genki 1 (he also has lessons following genki 2, and the intermediate textbooks quartet and quartet 2)

cure dolly's organic japanese. if you dont like the videos, theres a fanmade textbook, which is basically written as a transcript with images)

game gengo isnt a full on guide, but he teaches grammar using lines from video games as examples, as well as talking about if certain games are good for learning japanese, or plays a small amount of some games while explaining each sentence. i like him very much <3

immersion

news articles in easy japanese

anime with japanese subtitles

most (i think) anime streaming sites also allow you to remove english subtitles. if not this one does

jo makos anime/games readability list, with some transcripts, anki decks, and so on. game gengo talks about studying with video games here

read manga in japanese, you can also switch between japanese and english at any time

free graded readers

japanese novels, also for free

free visual novels

you can buy novels/manga digitally from amazon.co.jp, but youll have to set a fake japanese address. just use a public location and you should be good to go. you can also get physical copies imported using your real address 90% of the time (in my experience)

pixiv also has a novel section and has both original works and fanfiction

misc

yomichan is a chome extention that allows you to hover over words to see their meaning, 10ten is the firefox equivalent.

make sure your font is correct, for kanji reading

japanese/english dictionary

miami university teaches you how to set up a japanese keyboard for windows 11 and macintosh, its the third one from the bottom

It’s 9 pm and I just decided that I gonna pick up Japanese.

I’m gonna take learning hiragana, katakana and some kanji really slowly to make sure I know them well before getting into the actual language. (I didn’t do this with 한글 when I was a beginner in Korean & I kinda rushed learning 한글 and I’m paying for it now with my terrible pronunciation and reading but I’ve definitely gotten better 😅😅)

That way I can also make sure to progress more in Korean and Spanish while not being too stressed out about another language.

I’m also not like insanely determined to learn Japanese as much as I am with Korean…. so obviously I’m gonna take it lighter than Korean.

I think Japanese will go pretty smoothly for me as Korean has nearly the same grammar structure (correct me if I’m wrong) and I’ve heard that knowing Spanish helps with Japanese pronunciation.

I’ve obviously expressed that I still suck at Spanish even after 3 and a half years of studying it, but I’ve been told my pronunciation is pretty good 👍

I think I’m also going to use Korean or Spanish to learn Japanese. So instead of translating straight to English, I’ll translate to either Korean or Spanish. (probably Korean because I’m better with Korean and the grammar is basically the same)

I’ve actually seen many polyglots do this method and they said it helps tremendously with learning a new language AND reinforcing the language they’re learning with, so why not give it a shot?

It was either Japanese, Thai or Indonesian and to be honest, I didn’t want to fool with Thai’s tones yet and I don’t have much motivation for Indonesian. Possibly in the future though ‼️

Anyway, if anyone who’s self-studying Japanese sees this, please recommend resources. I’ve gotten some resources piled up, but I always love to have multiple options because I’m picky about my explanations. 🙏

[robins-egg-bindery]

Stilinski & Associates by ebjameston

(Stiles is a political fixer. Derek is the president's son. I've been watching too much Scandal.)

series by @ebjameston 568 pages / 148,497 words

Title Font: Gotham

Body Fonts: Adobe Caslon Pro, Permanent Marker, FELL Great Primer, Special Elite, Eurostile, Times New Roman, Kirana Script, Sun Valley, Dark Twenty, Please Write Me A Song

Volume One | Volume Two | Volume Three | Boxed Set

Read more on the process below the cut!

OKAY - let's get into it.

I knew I wanted to do these as separate volumes, since the length was decent enough to warrant it, and with this particular series, each fic ends off at a very good place for a volume break (don't get me started on the beautiful timeline design the author did, it's a class act in story construction & I highly recommend everybody go read this series YESTERDAY).

I did a lot of research on political books (boring) and ended up on the guidelines page for Joe Biden's branding (shoutout to good ol' Joey boy!) From there, the color scheme was easy! Got myself some Biden Blue & Delaware Bay and we were off (did you know Jill Biden has her own special palette?)

I ended up with these matching pattern papers in red, white, and blue, and I couldn't have gotten luckier. I think the geometric shape is creative, but not too distracting - since it is a political thriller. I also alternated the colors of the headbands, so the second volume has a blue headband while the first and third have a red - I think it just makes them look nice when they're all lined up together.

I used Obama's campaign font (Biden's is behind a paywall) for the Titles, and ended up with some antique/typewriter-esque fonts for the subtitles and timeline headers (to make it feel more government-official!) Overall, I'm very pleased with the cohesive look. I chose different government buildings for the title pages based on the content of each fic, and - yes, I'm very proud. I'm really not much of a graphic designer!

Now - onto the slipcase!

This is my first time making a slipcase, and while it wasn't very pretty during the construction, the paper covered up any mistakes I made. I watched a tutorial and then...just sort of winged it, with davey board and the same scrapbooking paper I used for the end pages (and what else was I supposed to do other than stars & stripes?) I think I'll only do this again for special occasions, but it was a fun experiment.

Six books & two slipcases later - onto the next project!